A Burma Birthday Blast

Min ga lar bar (That’s hello/good day in Burmese)… This is a long blog so get a cup of coffee and relax.
We are currently in the process of floating back down the river and leaving this wonderful country. We docked in the Thilawa port, about forty-five minutes from Yangon, on Thursday night but had to stay on the ship until the next morning. The faculty and staff threw a party to celebrate St. Patty/Kelly and Jason’s birthdays that night. It was a lot of fun and we even had green beer (thanks to my buddy and former RA Tom who sent me with a box of JRB food coloring).
Kelly and I got a little bit of a late start on Friday afternoon when we set out to find a place to stay in downtown Yangon, to avoid the forty-five minute shuttle ride. We didn’t leave until around two but it was good because it gave me the chance to call home and talk to Mom and say thanks for the whole giving life to me thing. I didn’t think I would get to talk to her but Marcia came through and bought me a phone card as a b-day present. A BIG THANK YOU to her for that. Non-masters all the way. Oh and hello to Marcia’s mom who is reading my blog apparently. Actually my mom is reading Marcia’s blog too. I think that’s hilarious.
Anyway, when we got into town we walk around for about an hour searching for a guest house that was listed in the Lonely Planet guide book I have. We ended up asking a few locals and eventually finding the May Shan Guest House, which was listed under the “splurge” section because it was a whole $20 a night for a double room. Our place was sweet, a big double bed, a bathroom/shower which was odd because there was no differentiating between the two due to the lack of a shower curtain, and most importantly Air Conditioning. It was hot as hell here and I was pouring sweat every day. So after we secured our room, we went out to get something to eat and try and find the Trader Hotel, which was where the shuttle left us off and was serving as the SAS hub of operations. It turns out that for all that walking and wondering around we did we ended up a block and a half down from the Traders on the same street. Don’t ask it just happened. Okay so we walked up the street to Traders to exchange some dollars into Kyat (sound like chat) and find out where the Irish bar was so we could meet up with some other SASers to celebrate St. Patty’s day. Here is an interesting side note: the official exchange rate is $1=6 kyat but the hotel and anyone on the street use the conversation of $1=1050 kyat. Welcome to Burma, I mean Myanmar. It’s a good thing nobody uses the official rate or a beer would cost about $60 instead of about $2.
Kelly and I ended up eating at the Mandarin Restaurant, a little Cantonese place with great food that cost a whole five dollars for our meal and a few Myanmar and Tiger beers. Tiger is far superior to Myanmar as far as the beverage quality. A group of students ended up coming in while we were there and they sang Happy Birthday to me and the little old man who worked there brought over a candle that he light and had me blow out. When we finished dinner we caught a taxi up to the Sedona Hotel where the Irish bar was located. The bar was great, they had the place all decorated for St. Pat’s, green beer and a live band that was from the Philippines but played American music. The band had two girl singers, who each had kilts on, a great guitarist who rocked out “Hotel California” and another guy playing drums. At one point during the night I had to take in the fact that I was in Burma at an Irish bar listening to a Philippines band play American rock and roll. I love crazy international travel! When the night was through we took a taxi back to our place only to find that a giant locked gate was blocking the entrance to our hotel. At this point Kelly and I both just began laughing because we really didn’t know what to do. I don’t know how but I somehow managed to spot a button to ring the bell and this sleepy Chinese woman came and let us in through the gate. Apparently the gate goes up every night at midnight and you just have to ring the bell to get in after that. By the way that Chinese woman looked sleepy every time we saw her including during the afternoon.
The next morning we woke up and went downstairs for our continental breakfast which ended up being the same each morning, an egg, two pieces of toast, some bananas and watermelon and some coffee. I became hooked on the pineapple jam that they had for the toast. After breakfast we began planning our day and how we would celebrate Kelly’s 25th birthday. We ended up walking around the market for much of the day. I bought a longyis, which is basically a giant full length man skirt. It’s the traditional dress for Burmese men so I had to rock one. I had to have different people on the street help me tie it a few times and the people here seemed to get a kick out of seeing a crazy white boy wearing their clothing. Overall the people here were the nicest of all the countries we have visited. They are very peaceful and laid back due to the Buddhist influence. Even the beggars here were nice and polite. I’ve never felt as safe as I did here. They also rarely see white westerners so we ended up being a walking attraction.
So back to Saturday, Kelly and I decided to go to the Shwedagon Pagoda for sunset. The Shwedagon is a Buddhist shrine which is over 2500 years old and it is regarded as the most sacred of all Buddhist sites in the country. In the late evening the slanting sunlight enlivens the gilding and creates a glow from the 98 meter spire. I can’t even describe the beauty of it. While we walked around we talked to a few Buddhist monks including one who told me I looked very peaceful. You could feel the holiness of the shrine including the hundreds of Buddha statues that filled the pagoda. I’ve got lots of pictures. We ended up staying there for a few hours and we went to dinner at the Sakura Tower which had a great 360 view of the city. It was about 20 stories above the city and the meal was great and ended up costing about $10! Things here are so inexpensive at most place. To cap the evening off we decided to go to our first movie. We wanted to see King Kong but the theater didn’t have it (actually it was just down the street but we didn’t know that) so we went to see The Cave. I guess this cheesy, horror/thriller came out a few months back in the States and I can understand why I had never heard of it. The movie wasn’t that good but the experience was great. Did you know they play their national anthem before the start of movies here?
Sunday was another great day of sightseeing. We walked around and ended up going to the zoo. It was cool to see the different animals they have here and how close you can get to them. Kids were feeding the caged monkeys by handing them the food through the bars. I actually saw one guy reach down and pat a hippo on the head. It was crazy. After lunch we walked a ways to see the giant reclining Buddha in repose. We had heard it was big but I was blown away by how enormous this statue was. Best of all I was even able to find a patch on the walk there. We also found a store that sold hair dye and I am now a blonde again. Well sort of, it’s actually a bit yellow. The dye was from Thailand and had no English instructions. Best of all, Kelly dyed her hair too and now we are the cutest blonde couple ever.
Sunday night we met up with Jay and went out to a bar called ABC country pub. Once again I found myself in a bar listening to American music being played by a Philippines band. This time the singer looked like Troy Palumalu. His name was Skid and he was one cool cat. We talked to him for a while after they finished playing. The band also had a female singer come up for a few songs and she would sing old American songs from the 60s only in Burmese.
On Monday we checked out of our little guest house to much sadness. I loved that place. Kelly and I didn’t do too much except go see King Kong in the afternoon to escape the heat for a while. We were back to the ship by eight even with our shuttle bus breaking down just outside the gate. I had some RD work to get done for today and I had to get to bed early for my trip this morning. Today I lead a small group to a Buddhist monastery where we saw a performance of the traditional elephant dance (two people in a costume) and the game of cane ball. Basically it was hackysack with a whicker ball and actually it was quite hard to do. They had us try it out and we also had a tug of war contest with some of the locals. Actually all the people from the surrounding village came out to see us and there were a few hundred kids running around. The monastery actually teaches the poorer kids who can’t afford to go to government schools. I took my Ipod and let some of the kids listen to it. The look on their faces was great when I showed them it. They seem to like Bob Marley too. It was a great experience.
We had to be back on the ship by 11:30 this morning because we had to get out of the port by 12:30 because of the tides. Although right now we are anchored just off shore waiting for the river to get high enough to pass through. Right now it’s almost four in the afternoon (so it’s about 3 am back home) and I’m beginning to wonder if I could just jump off and stay here.
All in all Burma was my favorite port by far. The country was beautiful and the people were incredible. I was fortunate to have a great travel companion and she helped me have some of the best days of my life. If this is any indication to how 27 goes, I’m in for a great year.

India in our rearview mirror (which BTW no car has in India)

I don’t think I’ve still totally comprehended the time I spent in India. It is an amazing country and, though my experience wasn’t what I had hoped for, it is a place I will have to make it back to one day. I saw things in India that I can’t even start to describe here without taking up hours recapping and since we are already almost to Myanmar I just don’t have time. Here are some of the more interesting side notes:
The trip to the Taj was very cool but also not without road bumps. We took the train out of Delhi to Agra at around 5 am and the train station was an experience in itself. There are just so many people in India all the time. When we arrived in Agra we found out the Taj was being closed after 1 pm so we were unable to go at sunset like the itinerary had said. Instead we went in the morning after we visited the Red Fort. The problem was that since we were there around 9 am the early morning fog still hadn’t worn off. Normally the Taj is visible from the fort but once again our trip was screwed out of something. After wandering around the fort for a while we went over to the Taj. The gate we were supposed to go in was packed so after some confusion (not a shock on this trip where we had the worst guides ever) we were taken in a back entrance. In order to get there though we had to walk though this tiny winding pedestrian side street where all the locals stared out the window at us. We were walking past goats tied to the wall probably waiting to become lunch. It was interesting.
When we finally got to the Taj it was pretty amazing. After the morning fog burned off we had a blue sky as a backdrop for an amazing structure. I ended up walking around the grounds for a bit and then just sitting on the front side with a small group of students. How cool is it that I can say I just chilled out and relaxed on the cool marble of the Taj Mahal? Of course while we were sitting there some Indians came up and wanted their picture taken with us. This was the third occasion of a stranger wanting their picture taken with me and I now just embrace the situation and go along with it. It’s funny the way they just came up to me and smile and point to their friend with a camera. (I’ll try and get the photos upload at some point but with Burma’s strict restrictions on internet usage I won’t even be able to check my hotmail or yahoo accounts. I actually broke down today and bought an hour of internet from the ship.)
The rest of the day in Agra was another frustrating day of miscommunication but I did get to see some of rural India on our drive to the abandoned city. There is nothing like seeing cows just wondering down the street and eating garbage while people starve in the streets. By the time we got back to the train station that night most of us just wanted to get back to the hotel so we could go to sleep and get up to fly home. The train ride ended up giving me one good story. I decided to get the meal on the train and try some authentic Indian food and it wasn’t too bad. The food on our trip was pretty good and not as spicy as I thought it would be. The dish was some rice and curry combination as the main course and then a desert which was a brown goblet filled with a white substance. In my head I thought, “Mmmm a chocolate cup filled with ice cream.” The student next to me said she wasn’t sure that’s what it was but I was convinced so I broke off a piece of the cup and popped it in my mouth. “Nope that’s sand.”
After returning to Delhi and boarding our buses to go back to the hotel we got to see a fight between two Indian guys, one with the craziest eyes I’ve ever see had a belt and whipped this older guy in the head. The old guy grabbed a giant stick and chased after the guy with the belt. By this point our whole bus was watching and I think someone was taking bets in the back. I had five on the crazy eyed guy. Or bus pulled away before we could see the outcome but the last thing we saw crazy eyes was chucking a giant rock at the guy with the stick. Maybe they were just playing some crazy Indian version of baseball?
Adding to the misfortune of the trip our flight was delayed almost three hours because of fog and then on the landing we hit a pocket of turbulence that dropped us about a hundred feet in a second. All I saw was the stewardess hit the ground and assume crash position and I knew that wasn’t good. When we finally got back to the ship it was the sweetest site ever. I had to run out and go shopping but I did manage to find my patch (or badge as it’s know outside the US) and a magnet. I wish I would have got a patch from the Bahamas but I’ll order that online at some point I guess.
That’s all for now. Sorry family I won’t be calling home until at least Vietnam since calls from Burma are about $12 a minute. We arrive tomorrow night but we can’t get off the ship until Friday morning. Kelly and I are going to go out in Yangon to celebrate our birthdays. Kelly will be 25 on Saturday. How odd is that?

PS A few funny signs from India that I have to mention: “Don’t speed unless you have an appointment with God.” “Get your local STDs here.” (STD is short for Standard Telephone Dial)

India: One giant urinal

Can you tell the tone of this blog from the title? If you said frustrated, you win! I am probably letting the cancellation of the Varanasi part of my trip bring me into a funk but I just can't help it. The last two days here in Delhi have been major let down. I have seen a few cool things like some nice Hindu temples and the Muslim tower and ruins that reminded me a lot of Rome but the vast majority of my time has been spent experiencing sites similiar to Chennai. The Taj is pretty much going to make or break this trip.
Everything here is sort of an ordeal. Case in piont: tonight I went out to find some pashminas (silk scarfs) and all I wanted to do was walk around and find a market for a patch and to use the internet. Of course it is next to impossible to walk anywhere around here unless you want to be run down like one of the stray dogs that wonder the street. I thought drivers in other countries were crazy but Indian drivers are insane. It's like driving in downtown NYC on crack, only instead of cabs you have rickshaws and instead of staying in the lanes people just drive everywhere. I saw a three lane road created into a six lane road today. What the f? Oh and I almost forgot about the lovely site of guys just whipping it out and taking a piss anywhere they want. I think I've seen about 20 acts of public urination today alone. Sorry I went off on a rant there... so I jump in a rickshaw and am driven around for about ten minutes and then the driver stops and asks some guy something (probably where to go so he can get a commission on taking me to a certain store) and then we drive for another ten minutes sometime with traffic sometimes directly at it. When we finally stop there is no internet place around but instead of arguing and getting back into his motorized death cart, I just give him the ruppees and wander down some alley to find this place I'm in now. India is way down on my list of favorite places right now.
On the bright side I think I have been able to upload some photos to my yahoo page. They are the latest one I have taken of Mauritius and my cabin on the ship. Also of the sea olympics and my beautiful girlfriend, Kelly. How funny is it that we have the same haircut? It's because of celebrating Neptune Day, which I don't think I have even mentioned and it happened before Brazil. To recap it, Neptune Day was the day we crossed the Equator. It's a naval tradition that the first time a person crosses they must be iniciated. First there was a cermony, then we were covered in a green slime of "fish guts" and then we had to jump in the pool, climb out and kiss a fish and pledge allegence to King Neptune (one of the Deans who dressed up for the part). Then it is customary to have your head shaved. A lot of people did it and a suprising number of girls too. Which is pretty cool in my book.
Okay that's about all for now. Another fun rickshaw ride to my hotel awaits me. Vishnu be with me.
PS Somebody leave me a comment so I know someone is reading this nonsense. And forgive any spelling and grammer mistakes, I'm too pressed for time to worry about them.

A quick hello from Asia

I'm in India. How cool is that to say? We arrived this morning and it is hot and crazy here. A fellow RD (Marcia) and I just took one of the craziest ricksaw rides to get to this internet cafe and the fun thing is we still have to ride back to the ship at some point. Basically it's like riding a motorized bicycle down the turnpike while people blare their horns and signs say "Go fast and meet God" pass you. I think I said "We are going to die" about ten times on our ride hear. I can't wait till our driver, David, gets back to pick us up and we can do it all again. The only annoying thing about taking any transportation here is that the driver has to take you to some shop before he will actually take you where you want to go. They make a commission for bringing people in to the stores and you cant fight it no matter how much you protest. Its best to just go along for the ride.
The bummer of the voyage so far is that my trip to Varanasi just got cancelled. We are still going to the Taj but now I don't get to see the holy city of Sarnath or Varanasi because of the terrorist bombings there Tuesday. I could go off on a rant about how stupid blowing up a holy shrine is and how killing in the name of religion is retarded but I have to explore this crazy country. No worries though things will work out.

Check out one of my fellow RDs website marciaatsemesteratsea.blogspot.com

Delicious Mauritius

Mark Twain once wrote that when God created heaven he must have modeled it after Mauritius and he could not have been more accurate. The three days in Mauritius were some of the most beautiful and wonderful days I’ve ever had. Twelve other staff members and I rented three villas in the northern part of the island called Mont Choisy with the intention of hanging out and relaxing away from the students. Of course getting away from the students is hard enough in a large country but on an island about 11 times the size of Rhode Island it’s next to impossible.
The students who stayed at our complex were actually very nice and respectful that we were there to relax. The only student problem we had involved a student who actually was staying a few places down but came to our complex to crash our pool. And this girl, who is one of my residents on the ship, literally crashed our pool. She was drunk and being dumb by running around the pool and she slipped and busted her head off the concrete. Here is how it played out: I was in one of the villas trying to teach a few of the staff members how to play asshole when Marcia, a fellow RD, came in and said she needed some sober to help a student who is hurt. When I got out there she was lying on the ground, foaming at the mouth and unconscious. Seeing her like that totally freaked me out. It brought back memories that I never really wanted to think about.
Fortunately Jay, the IT guy who is really cool, snapped into action and helped bring the girl back to consciousness and keep her from freaking out. She refused medical help and luckily one of the staff that was there was the ship’s nurse Monica and she checked her out and said she was fine.
After we calmed her crying drunk friends down and got this girl up and coherent. We all figured this drama was over and we could get back to our vacation. I went up to my villa to grab something from my room and as I walked back outside I saw this girl running by the pool again and of course she slipped again and cracked her head. About this time all us staff had the same reaction (excuse the language) “You stupid bitch.” She was unconscious again and we had to call the ambulance. When they got there the girl refused to go to the hospital which was probably a good thing since the driver reeked of alcohol. We decided to just have the girl’s friends walk with her back to her place and put her to bed. It was way too much drama for the night.
So besides that whole incident the rest of our time in Mauritius was incredible. The beaches were some of the most gorgeous beaches I’ve ever seen. It seemed totally surreal that I was just swimming in the ocean just off the coast of Africa. This whole trip has been filled with surreal moments like that. One of the funniest incidents of the trip was the lunch Craig (the director of Student life), Marcia, Kelly (who works in the bookstore) and I had at this hotel/restaurant we stumbled on during our walk through the small island village. All of us were in the mood for a hamburger and when we looked at the menu the burgers that they had listed were under the chicken section. So since we were confused Marcia decided to ask the little Indian woman, who spoke little English, if the burgers were indeed hamburgers. Marcia asked “Are the burgers hamburgers?” To which the women just seemed to give that confused smile people give when they don’t know what you are talking about and said yes. Marcia wasn’t sure so she asked again, “Are they cow?” Again a confused smile and a yes. Still unsure Marcia decides to ask one more time, “You know cow… Like MOOOO!” Yes, she started mooing at the woman. It was surreal and hilarious. The best part is the woman looks at us and without missing a beat says, “You mean beef?” I can’t even begin to describe how funny this situation was. We must have seemed like the most obnoxious Americans ever but we were the only ones there and how great of a story must that woman now have. I can see her going home that night and telling her family about these crazy Americans who started mooing at her.
The two days on the beach were not nearly enough. On our last day in Mauritius I spent the day walking around Port Louis with Kelly trying to find a patch and a magnet, the two things I’m collecting from each port. We had a great day and I got to call home and talk to Mom and Dad. (Sorry Rose that I missed you before you went to school.) I do miss everyone but I’ve been doing really well about not being homesick and trying to just enjoy the voyage.
We left Port Louis on time and without any student incidents. The next few days at sea were really stressful for me since the Sea Olympics were on the 4th. The Sea Olympics are my big event, an all day competition that pits the seas against each other in games like the tug of war, synchronized swimming, dodge ball, twister, limbo and overall spirit. My sea, the Arabian Sea Enchanted Leprechauns and the Mystical Pot of Gold, came in 7th out of nine but I was still proud of their effort and how they came together as a group. More importantly the whole day went off just about perfect. I was lucky in that I had a wonderful student, Kyle, step up and help me run the events all day. It was good that she did because I was running from one event to the next making sure everything was set up and troubleshooting any problems that came up along the way. When it was all said and done I got numerous compliments on how great the day went and how good of a job I did. It was a great feeling that people really think I did something really great and that everyone seemed to have a good time.
And now that my big event is over I’m in retirement. Bring on India. Hopefully I’ll find an internet café and get some pictures upload.

PS I know some of you have asked about the “special someone” I mentioned previously. Okay here is a little bit about her. Her name is Kelly, she is from Seattle and she is totally amazing. She is very soft-spoken but she has an incredible singing voice. She let me hear her former bands cd and I was blown away by her vocals. Steve you will really like the sound, kind of Postal Service.

Cheers to South Africa

When this voyage ends it will be interesting to reflect on each country and decided what country was the best. Right now South Africa has moved to the top of the list. There are a few reasons for this:
First off we got to finally get off the ship. The fact that it took eight days to cross the Atlantic Ocean and we had five nights where we had to set the clocks back an hour was not pleasant. The lack of sleep and just having to be stuck about the ship was really starting to make the entire shipboard community a little cranky. Of course when we rolled into Cape Town there was major fog and they shut the port down forcing us to anchor a few miles from the coast. So we could see land but just couldn’t get there. I was thinking about swimming for it but then a few of us noticed about a six foot shark swim past the smoking deck and I thought better of it. When we finally cleared immigration at around 1400 (2pm) everybody was so eager to get off the ship there was a line down each hall.
So what did you do in Cape Town you ask? I discovered Castle beer is delicious. With an entire week and no trips planned I figured on getting a lot of relaxing time and the bar scene in CT was pretty tight. I don’t want it to seem like I spent the entire time drinking but the best stories I have come from nights at the bars. Then again it’s that way back home too.
When I wasn’t spending my Rand (South Africa’s currency) on Castle I did get out and explore during the days. I hiked to the top of Table Mountain, about 3000 feet, with the former Mayor of Cape Town. The view from the top was incredible and I took my customary picture with my Terrible Towel looking out over the ocean. The hike took about four hours and we had to go up the back of the mountain because two weeks earlier there was a giant fire on the front because some bloat from England didn’t put out his cigarette properly and almost burned down the whole mountain. I could still smell the ash in the air.
I spent one day traveling with a student down the coast by train to a small naval town called Simon’s Town to go check out the naval cemetery. Kaylee had to go check it out for a class assignment and I told her I’d go with her so she didn’t have to take the train alone. It ended up being really fun. Simon’s Town was really peaceful and quaint and a nice change from the busy downtown of Cape Town.
Of course I went to Robben Island to see the former prison the held political prisoners like Nelson Mandela. Our tour was guided by a former prisoner who basically was imprisoned for trying to demonstrate against the racist and corrupt government of South Africa before the nineties. South Africa’s history is fascinating because they have generally moved past the in-fighting among the races by using hope. Families have forgave those that killed their family members all in hopes of moving forward and finding a solution to the problems that created the circumstance where hate ruled. It is something the world should look at as an example of what is possible if we ever want peace and justice for all.
Anyways, I spent a lot of time hanging out and getting close to a lot of the staff and crew from the ship. I have made a lot of friends form the left coast including a very special someone who is something amazing. But I’m not getting into that here. Just know that I am very happy right now and I think this may have been one of the best weeks of my life.
There were a few unfortunate things that happened in Cape Town. We had to dismiss two students for drug use and we had a third student leave for medical reason. We almost left one student in port because he was passed out in the bathroom of one of the tequila bars that was just off the ship. Four of us student life members were searching through the bathrooms of the bars trying to find this guy who was left by his friends. It was a fun little night and I was actually having fun running around.
So we are back at sea now and I’m busy planning for the Sea Olympics which are on March 4th. We only have about a week left and with three days in Mauritius there isn’t much time left. It’s a good thing I thrive on the pressure of a deadline.
Alright I’m off to supervise pub night. I basically watch the students drink and make sure they don’t act too stupid. Sound like fun, huh? It’s getting me around the world though so it’s totally worth it.
Peace
PS Yes, the water does flow in reverse direction in the southern hemisphere but we have jet propelled toilets in our cabins so I can only because of the sink.
PSS I got to see the super bowl the night after we left Cape Town. A big group of students and staff watched it in the Union on the giant TV. The game wasn’t that great but at least we are champs. I almost cried.
PSSS I tried to put my pics up but the computer screwed me and I’ll have to try at some later port. I only have 15 minutes left on the web.

Brazil

Yes, I have been slacking in keeping up with my blog. Here’s the thing, life aboard the ship is 24/7. There are always people around and since I’m somewhat of a social butterfly I find it hard to sit down at the computer and actually write. But you have my attention for the next hour until lunch so sit back and enjoy.
Here’s what has happened in the past week. Brazil, or Brasil as the natives spell it, was incredible. The five days in port seemed to be over before I even realized it. Spending three days in Rio de Janeiro was a great experience and I am so glad I went. I was worried about being a trip leader for the trip since it was the first overnight trip and we had been warned that the students may go nuts but they were all great. Mark, who is the Assistant Director, and I spent almost all five days together and since we’ve been back I’ve been a bit lost not having him around. The great thing about Mark is that he is fluent in Spanish and though the official language of Brazil is Portuguese, Spanish is spoken much more than English. It was like traveling with a translator, although there were many times where we ran into people who just spoke Portuguese and we had to try and communicate with hand signals. It’s kind of fun trying to communicate with someone who has no idea what you are saying. I don’t know why but I found myself trying to speak slower. Like that somehow was going to help.
Anyway, the night before we got to Brazil we had our pre-port logistical meeting but it was more like just a warning session. The way SAS informed us made it sound like everyone in Brazil was basically out to steal your wallet and maybe stab you along the way. It made many of us feel somewhat afraid to even get off the ship. We were also warned that we immigration was going to be a pain because Brazil was going to make us go through face to face inspections, including being photographed and fingerprinted. Basically doing to us what America does to Brazilians when they enter the US.
We arrived in port around 8am and the view was nice but not as good as Puerto Rico. Salvador of Bahia where we ported is made up of two cities on a giant hill. To access the upper city you must take an elevator that costs 5 centavos (about 2 cents US). Mark and I spent the first day in port just walking around the upper city checking out the old city. The streets were all cobble stone and there was a lot of beautiful buildings. Like an idiot I didn’t take my camera because I was so paranoid of being robbed and ended up missing out on a lot of good shots but I’m going to hopefully get someone else to share their photos. We ended up having lunch at a little restaurant on the second floor on an off street. Every meal in Brazil was delicious. This was a Bahian dish with shrimp, coconut and oil over rice. Oh and these giant beers that they put in there own little cooler that is just cool as hell. The waitress was great because she spoke NO English and it made ordering quite interesting. Just point and hope for the best is my theory on eating in all these countries. I hope I don’t end up eating dog in China.
After lunch Mark and I walked around doing some shopping and checking out the sites. I was trying to find a soccer jersey and a bandana but I was determined not to pay more than 25 real (about 12 bucks) for the jersey. I bargained with a few different vendors (all in broken English) but never got the right price. I figured I still had four days to go so there was no rush. Almost forgot that the whole reason we went up to the upper city was to exchange money. An easy task you’d think but when you have to pay to use the elevator and have no Brazilian cash, it turns into a challenge. Someone ended up paying for Mark and I basically just slipped through behind him. Someone made a good point about me in that I just seem to fall ass backwards into great situations and it is so true but more on that later.
By the end of the day we were beat and we had to get back to the ship for dinner and to get some rest for our early morning wakeup call. Our trip to Rio was scheduled to leave at 4am. I was going to go to sleep early but at dinner I ran into Myrna, the bank lady of our trip, and she told me that she had got the AFC championship game sent to her and we were going to watch it in the Union at 8pm. So of course sleep took a backseat to the Steelers. It was great to watch football. I realized I even miss the stupid commercials. It was also funny that although I knew the result of the game I was still nervous when they were playing poorly.
My alarm rang out at 3am and although I got about three hours of sleep I was wide awake. It’s funny how on this whole voyage so far I’ve never sleep less and had so much energy. At 4am we gathered our group of 50 students and set off for the airport and Rio. When we got to the bus we realized we forgot our medical packs and I had to sprint from the bus back to the ship to grab them. It was 4am but when it was still hot out. When I got back to the bus I was pouring sweat. I’m starting to realize why I have eaten so much but gained no weight. I was worried we wouldn’t get to the airport in time to go through security and catch our flight but Brazilian security is a joke. There is no id checking and they barely look at your bags when they go through security. How bad is it? Quick jump ahead- when we were coming back from Rio and were just about to board the plane one of my students came up to me to show me her ticket. It seems they printed the wrong ticket for her because she had the name of another girl from our trip on it. Thing is the other girl had the same ticket. That never stopped security from letting her through to the gate though. When we thought we had it figured out and boarded the plane the girl found out there was some guy on the flight with the same seat as her. So to fix it they just let the guy ride up front with the pilot. That’s right he got to ride shotgun. Got to love Brazil airlines. Another note about flying in Brazil is that they apparently have the shortest runways in the world. When we stop they basically slam the brakes on and stop. I ate the back of the seat on our first flight.
So once in Rio we met our tour guides, Fabio and Marcelo, and hit the group running. We went to a traditional Brazilian gaucho-styled churrascias restaurant where they basically just walk around with giant slabs of different meats and slice it right onto your plate until you explode. I think I ate about two cows worth of meat. It was great. After lunch we went up to the top of Sugar Loaf mountain by a series of cable cars to check out the view of Rio. It was nice but it was a bit hazy and the view wasn’t all that it probably is on a clear day. When we finished we were off to the hotel to check in and then have our free time to explore. The hotel was sweat. SAS does hook you up with 5 star accommodations. Mark and I went out to wander the city and while he was in the pharmacy buying cold medicine I stood outside to people watch. As I’m standing there on the sidewalk I notice a guy riding a bike with a giant basket on the front riding toward me. I noticed him checking out some hot Brazilian chicks butt and I decided to watch to see if his being distracted would cause him to crash into a pole or something (how horrible am I) but instead he stopped next to me and asked me what sounded like “My friend, do you like butts?” I was like “What?” And he repeated the question and then pulled what appeared to be a small bag of marijuana out of his pocket. I was trying to figure out if this was really happening. I told him no thanks and they said Oh and made a snorting motion like he was doing coke. I just started laughing. I mean how is it that I’m on the street in Rio for ten minutes and some guy is offering me drugs. He said okay, gave me a high five and went peddling off. It was sort of surreal. That night I stayed in to watch some CNN and get some sleep from a long day.

The next morning we were off to the Christ de Redeemer statue. It’s an amazing statue and it towers over the city of Rio. It’s like having the Statue of Liberty mounted up on Mt. Washington. After we visited the statue it seemed that every place we went in Rio I could see the statue looking down upon me. While the Christ was great the best part of going there was the ride to and from the statue. I was in a van with all the crazy guys from my floor and I got to hear all there crazy stories from the night before. Stories I can’t really repeat here but I’ll tell you all later. When we came back down the mountain we rode in this twelve seat open jeep that was likely used by the US military in Vietnam. It had no first gear, sputtered and actually said property of US government on the dash. We nicknamed our group of guys Team Fabio, after one of the tour guides, and asked our driver to run over as much crap as possible. He spoke no English though so he just floored it most of the time to keep us happy. It was crazy. Before lunch we stopped on a street corner to see these three guys playing samba music on the corner. Brazil is so laid back and fun.
Alright it’s been almost and hour and I’m barely halfway through my story so I’m going to have to hustle up if I want to eat lunch before I have to go to the office for my hour of work and then afternoon meeting. Here is what I will have to tell you all about at a later date:
*The highlight of the trip was playing soccer with these kids from the poor favellas at a social program that is intended to keep them busy and off of drugs. Me and a bunch of students got schooled by these kids who were 12 and 13. We lost 3-1 and this one kid put a move on me that sent me falling down as he just went right around me.  I wonder if I will see some of these kids playing professionally later in life, but I think Brazil is just full of talented soccer players.


*I saw one of the most beautiful sunsets ever on the beach at Ipanema and I have some great pics.

*Our last day in Rio I went hang gliding over the rainforest and then out over the ocean, landing on the beach. The first couple seconds are a rush when you just basically run off this ramp on top of the mountain but then it’s very tranquil and relaxing just gliding over the world.
*When we got back to Salvador I only had one more day in Brazil and I ended up wondering over to a skateboard competition in the morning. I went so early I ended up hooking up with the crew that was building the ramps and getting run around this fort where the competition was being held basically with VIP access.
*That afternoon the field office set up a trip to a soccer game. The field office here rocks and Karen works her butt off. The game was an experience but most of the 400 students who went seemed more interested in getting drunk then actually watching the game. I had to segregate myself from the group and ended up watching the game with a bunch of locals who actually enjoyed the game of soccer.
*Super bowl night about 12 of us hardcore Steeler fans watched the box score update on yahoo and then celebrated the victory as we cruised out on the Atlantic Ocean.

Okay I am out of time. I miss everyone and I’m having a great time. Sorry I am probably forgetting a bunch but I'll tell you all when I get home.

And by the way I am VERY proud of my sister who got a $10000 a year scholarship to Point Park!