South Africa

I loved South Africa. Cape Town is an amazing city with so much to offer. I spent two days there and didn’t even get to half of the things I wanted to see. The majority of my time in South Africa was spent on safari, we went to a private game reserve called Kapama and stayed at the River Lodge that was built only two years ago. The food, the people, the scenery, the accommodations were all top notch. To get there we took a plane to Johannesburg and then got on a historic DC-4 built in 1947 that brought us to Hoedspruit which is about 10 minutes by Land Rover to the lodge. Flying on the DC-4 was unforgettable. The pilot said that we’re welcome to use our cell phones during the flight, because there was no electronic instrumentation to interfere with. He also told us that it was normal for the old engines to leak oil, but if they stopped leaking oil then we should let him know. On our safari we saw four out of the big five, missing the leopard, as well as many other exotics. We got up each morning with a five a.m. wakeup call, tea was at five-thirty and we left at six for our morning game drive. During the morning drive we would stop for tea after a few hours and then be back around nine for breakfast. We had free time to nap or sit by the pool during the day and lunch around one. After that there was another tea time at four-thirty before our evening drive. During the evening drive we had a cocktail break around sunset and were back for dinner at eight. Upon reflection I think I could really get used to the vicious routine of eating opportunities. I know, I know you want to hear about the animals. We saw lions, cheetahs, elephants, rhino, buffalo, zebra, giraffe, kudu, impala, warthogs, springbuck, vultures, and many others. Lions were by far the most exciting to see, it was awesome seeing all their powerful features and confident gaze. We eventually returned to Cape Town were I went to the company gardens, as in the Dutch East India Company, in the older part of the city. It was really cool seeing all of the old world architecture in the middle of Africa. It's going to be really tough for another country to beat South Africa, but I'm excited to see what happens.

Brazil

Another great port. With the Bahamas and Puerto Rico in the rear view, Brazil felt like a real foreign country. The first day we got off the ship in Salvador and went straight to the airport to see if we could catch a plane to Rio de Jinero, on the last day of carnival, one of the busiest travel days in Brazil. We where lucky enough to get on a plane, and in just a few hours we arrived in Rio. Will had made reservations at the Copacabana Palace on none other than Copacabana Beach which is right next to Ipanema, which you may know from the Bossa Nova song “The Girl from Ipanema”. The hotel was first class all the way. We had people opening doors for us left and right, greeting us in Portuguese and playing along when we would try and speak it back to them. Thankfully they knew English as well. Included with our stay was one of the best breakfast buffets that I had ever seen, half of it was fruit another half was pastries and the rest was bacon, eggs, meats, cereals, and yogurts (I know my figures don’t add up, the buffet was that big). There was also a selection of about 7 different fruit and melon juices to choose from. On as side note: let it be known that henceforth my favorite fruit shall be mango or as they say in Brazil “manga”. We where there during mango season and I ate and drank mangos whenever I could, there was a restaurant that had mango juice that was more like a smoothie, but it was 100% mango and 100% delicious. The most impressive site I visited was the Christ the Redeemer statue. Located on Corcavado Mountain overlooking the entire city, it’s really an amazing site. Although it was kind of cloudy, we could see all of Rio for a couple of seconds as the clouds blew by. It also gave a mystic feeling to the statue being shrouded in white one minute and then clearly visible the next. Another highlight was going to a pro soccer game in the largest stadium in the world. We watched Flamengo versus V. Redonda, it was really great, although there where no yell leaders in sight, all of the Flamego (home team) fans where beating drums clapping and singing the entire game. The most impressive thing was the 30 foot bamboo flagpoles that littered the fan sections; some looked like pirate flags while others had portraits of their favorite players. These diehard fans wrestled their giant flagpoles, incorporating their entire bodies, for what seemed like the most tiring activity I could imagine. The last day Wes and I went to the embassy where we got the VIP treatment simply for being passport carrying Americans. Although, we couldn’t see a lot of the internal workings because of the strict security rules, it was great to see our tax dollars at work. Yesterday before we left I had a chance to see Salvador, it was the original capital city of Brazil so it has a lot of history and neat architecture. I one of the coolest parts was going to a capoeria school. For those of you that forgot capoeria is a fighting style developed by the slaves in Brazil in order to fight against their oppressors while still bound by their shackles. It is very rhythmic and uses a lot of kicking, twirling and handstand maneuvers. By now I’m sure you are growing tired of my rambling, and there is so much more to tell. But know that I am well, and excited about the adventures yet to come.

By now we are half way to Brazil. Puerto Rico was a blast, I tried some strange food, explored Old San Juan and put good use to the little spanish that I learned in highschool. For the first time I felt like suffering through spanish classes for three years was worth it. The first night I saw the "biolumenecent bay" where a large population of microrganisms that emit light live in the still waters, but the human eye can detect them when its very dark and they are stimulated by movement. Basicly it was a normal kyak trip until we got to the bay, and whenever the water was stirred up it would shimmer, like pixie dust... I know you're probably thinking "Riiight, Porter must have had some really good Puerto Rican rum", well I did but that was a different night altogether. So the "bio bay" was really neat, its a natural phenomena that cannot be capured by normal photography. And Puerto Rico has something like 3 of the 5 birghtest occourences in the world. As for the rum, I did have a great DonQ mojito with my even more delicious dinner of a mahi-mahi cerviche with a creamy rizotto and some asparagus the next night. On our last day I did a canopy tour where we took ziplines through the mango and palm treetops. Lots of fun and the scenery was even more beautiful (BTW I'm not going into anything reguarding the 70/30 ratio of girls to guys on the boat, but its really not too bad)

And We're Off

Today is my first day at sea, I woke up around 6:30 and went to the deck to see the sea sun and sky in all their glory. I'm still trying to find my sea legs, but I havent needed to take any nausea medicine so far, which is encouraging.

The Bahamas where great. We stayed at the Atlantis for several days leading up to my departure. I had the most fun meeting SaS kids at the water park on Tuesday. That night my parents took me to Graycliff, which is the only 5-star resturant in the Bahamas, amazing. The resturant is a house originally owned by a wealthy pirate, then proceded to change hands from british royalty and even was a US Naval post during the Cival War. When we arrived the host informed me that although they didn't allow shorts they had some pants on hand for me to change into, and I'm glad I did. Before dinner they sat us in parlor to look over the menu and decide on our meal while enjoying conversation and live piano. I had a nice juicy USDA Prime steak with delicious ceasar salad, I could definately taste the ancovie flavor in the dressing. Afterwards we returned to the parlor for some more drinks and a fresh hand rolled cigar from a Cuban gentleman that had been making cigars for 20 years. It was undoubtedly the best cigar I have ever smoked. We also met some great people over the course of the evening and included them in our after dinner festivities. One family who was also sending their son on the trip and a pair of ladies who where vactationing in the Bahamas.

Intro

Porter here, I created this blog to keep my friends and family informed while on my Spring 2008 Semester at Sea. I hope to update it often with pictures and stories of my adventures from each country I visit. As a reminder, here is my itinerary for your referencing pleasure. If you need more information there is a link at the bottom of this post that includes dates so you can know where I am from day to day.

Nassau, Bahamas
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Salvador, Brazil
Cape Town, South Africa
Port Louis, Mauritius
Chennai, India
Penang, Malaysia
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Hong Kong
Shanghai, China
Kobe, Japan
Honolulu, Hawaii
Puntarenas, Costa Rica
Miami, Florida

Detailed Intinerary