India…the stuff for history nerds

I saw the Taj Mahal. Twice. Once at sunrise, and once at sunset. Who is jealous? If I were you, I would be. Pictures do no justice to the Taj. It is huge! Huge and marble. Huge, marble, and the 8th wonder of the world. Cool huh? I got there, stared for quite some time at what was right in front of me, took about 200 pictures, and then approached the Taj. I just had to touch it. And I did. I touched the Taj Mahal. For a history major, this was pretty fantastic. I also went inside the Taj. I put on my little booties over my shoes, took a deep breath, and there I was, standing inside this marble madness. Incredible. Agra also provided us with more examples of Mughal opulence. Along with the Taj we also visited Fatehpur Sikri, which were sandstone palaces and Agra fort, which was this massive Mughal fort. Both of these were pretty incredible sites as well. The next day we visited the Gandhi museum. The museum was actually the very place that Nathuram Godse shot and killed Gandhi. And I was there. It didn’t really hit me until after we left that this was the place of Gandhi’s martyrdom. It also hadn’t hit me, until after I left, that I had walked on the very path that the great Gandhi had once walked on.

India- the stuff that’ll make you laugh or perhaps think is ridiculous

Now for the stuff that wont break your heart…

Rickshaws = the most absurd invention ever. I don’t even know how to explain this mode of transportation to you. It is a three wheeled, three passenger (but people squeeze up to 6 or 7 into), motorized mini car/scooter. They were “equipped” with no doors and certainly no seatbelts. I don’t really know what else to tell you, except I was concerned for my life every time I got in one and I was thankful every time I got out of one. These things are nuts. Or maybe it was just the drivers are nuts. One of the two. You definitely wouldn’t dare stick a limb out of the vehicle for fear a passing rickshaw, bus, or motor scooter would perhaps take that limb off. And I like all of my limbs, not going to lie, so I definitely kept them inside the rickshaw at ALL times. It was almost like a Disneyland ride. This experience also included ridiculous rickshaw drivers that tried to take you everywhere you didn’t want to go. If you said you wanted to go to one place, they would try and stop at a few other places first (so they could get commission). One driver even told us that the place we wanted to go was closed due to the holiday. However, I am no fool, I knew he was lying. The tourist people on our ship had just told us how to get there and how much we should pay the driver to get there. Silly rickshaw drivers.

Going to the restroom in India= super fun. In India, they don’t believe in western toilets, or so it seemed. They prefer the “squat toilet.” And yes, the word squat is in the title because that is what you do, you squat. There is a little hole in the ground, which is equivalent in India to a western toilet. You simply stand over the hole, hold your pants up, lean back, but not too far back, cross your fingers that you don’t urinate on yourself, and do your thang. Most girls that we traveled with preferred to “hold it” until we arrived at our westernized hotels. However, I was not one of these girls. If I had to pee, I was going to do it. And a squat toilet was not going to stop me. I also enjoyed the lovely perfume that came from the restrooms as well as the flies that appeared to be taking them over. Probably not the most sanitary situation that I’ve come across, but you deal, and use lots of hand sanitizer. And did I mention they don’t believe in toilet paper either? If you want to not “clean yourself” with your hand, you must bring your own toilet paper. It’s a good thing I packed a zip lock baggy full of tp before I left the ship. I needed it.

Monkeys. Yes indeed there were monkeys throughout my travels in India. Monkeys at the Taj, monkeys at the train station, monkeys in the trees, monkeys eating popsicles, monkeys jumping on people. Who would have thought that India would have so many monkeys, just hanging out? My first encounter of the monkeys was at the train station. They (about 4 or 5) just came down from the rafters and began to play. They climbed on the stairs, jumped in the trash can, and for kicks, attacked some people. One man was walking down the stairs and all of a sudden, bam! A monkey jumped on his back. He simply swatted at the monkey and that was the end of that. Once again, mom, have no fear, Semester at Sea warned us to stay clear of any rabid creatures. And being the good girl that I am/ being petrified that a huge monkey would jump on me, I kept my distance. For those of you reading this from Boulder I am going to make a quick analogy for you. The monkeys in India are the like the raccoons in Boulder. They eat all the garbage and are therefore huge and really don’t care about people, they think they rule the world. Too bad we all know this isn’t true. Silly monkeys…

India- the stuff that’ll make you cry

So….India. Wow. What a country. Distinct from anything I have EVER seen in my life. Coming into India I was told/warned/explained the “situation” of the country. But how can one truly be prepared for what they’ve never experienced before? I felt if anyone was ready for this, that I was. I had talked to several people who had been to India before and they were quite honest with me about India’s condition. Along with all of the amazing stories that they told me about India they also emphasized that they thought that India was one of the dirtiest, most impoverished, chaotic, and overpopulated places in the existence of the world. They then said bluntly, “be prepared.” So, that is what I expected. And I was prepared, or so I thought. The poverty in India just smacked you right in the face. It was blunt. It was frank. And it was not masked by any means. In India there were poor people everywhere, generally women, children, and the handicapped. On the streets, in the train stations, sleeping in their rickshaws, wherever they could. Tiny bodies were constantly begging for food or money. They would take their hands and make motions as if to signal eating and the desire for us to give them food. So, whatever food we had, we gave. Unfortunately, that food was only to those few individuals and only for that particular day. What were they going to do for food tomorrow I constantly asked myself. I have never seen such devastation, ever. I was most unprepared for the amount of disabled people who I came across. People with no feet and people with polio crawling on the ground just to move, people with elephantitus whose feet were the size of watermelons, people with cleft lips, people with skin hanging off of their faces, just any and every type of health disaster. These were the people I could hardly look at for fear that I would break down crying right in front of them. They were helpless, and it broke my heart. Over and over again. And as much as I love India, like love love India, I don’t know how much more of this I could have taken. Feelings that I had never felt before were present, and frankly, I didn’t really like them. I didn’t like feeling so depressed, so disheartened, so helpless, and I really didn’t like the feeling that I was constantly going to break down and cry. And I don’t cry.

Flippin sweet…

After working out for 2 hours Megan and I decided that we would grab a quick bite to eat before showering. This was rather out of the ordinary for both of us as we always shower after working out and before going to eat. As you can imagine, after working out for 2 hours we were completely sweaty/stinky. We were also seriously hoping to come into contact with as few people as possible while scarfing down dinner. But apparently God had other plans for us. Father and Mrs. Father (Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his wonderful wife) came to our table and asked if they could join us. Megan and I were speechless, looking up as if they were out of their mind to want to eat dinner with two really sweaty girls who were shoveling food into their mouths as if was their last meal. But apparently this was attractive to the couple and they sat down regardless. Megan and I chatted with Father and Mrs. Father for about half an hour about everything and anything. I was honestly quite nervous, not really sure what to ask or what to say, but somehow, words came out of my mouth and questions formed. I don’t think I have ever enjoyed a conversation more. Father is such a wonderful man with an incredible sense of humor and his wife is just the sweetest woman. Wohoo for a flippin sweet dinner with Father and Mrs. Father.

Mauritius

Mauritius started off a little bit different than the other ports that we have been to thus far due to our late arrival (because of rough waters) to the island. And let me just shout out how fun filled rough waters are! Oh boy! Because we didn’t even pull in to Mauritius until around noon, I did not get up at a ridiculous hour to follow my usual pattern of watching the sunrise. When we finally did get off the ship, we did our typical wandering around town to check everything out. What we found out about Mauritius was that there really wasn’t much to it. The most exciting thing, I felt, about Mauritius, was that it was home to the once great Dodo bird (now extinct because the Portuguese ate them all). They also grow lots of sugarcane and have nice beaches and good Chinese and Indian food, but that is basically it. Not really sure what to do with ourselves because we couldn’t see any real Dodos, we decided to take a public bus to the botanical gardens. I love public transportation. This had the potential to be the most chaotic experience ever. The bus station, with probably around 100 buses was in Port Louis, where we were. So we found a bus, with the help of some locals, that would take us where we needed to go. The drive to the botanical gardens took about an hour providing us with a little scenic tour of Mauritius. Once we arrived at the botanical gardens we climbed trees, frolicked in the gardens, and saw ginormous Lilly pads. No joke, they were huge. This was pretty cool, except I got eaten alive for the second time on this trip by lots of bugs. My legs look like I have chickenpox. Yay! Oh, and one more thing. I almost forgot to tell you about our French friends. So, our ship was docked right next to a French marine ship in Mauritius. A ship full of French marines docked next to a ship 2/3 full of American women. Interesting…They spoke French and we spoke English. We tried to communicate with them because we wanted to tour their ship (I don’t know, something about battleships are pretty exciting), but this really didn’t work out so well. However, it did provide for a good time. They made it clear that it was “forbidden” to come on their ship, and when they tried to get on our ship, we made it clear that our ship was “forbidden” as well. After this “conversation” we asked if we could take pictures with them, which was quite exhilarating. One of the marines was fully dressed in his uniform, looking rather snazzy. When I took a picture with him he took off his really sweet hat with a funny little palm on top and placed it on my head. Then he and I posed, looking rather mischievous, creating a dang good photograph. Wohoo for French Marines. They were fun. That is pretty much all for Mauritius. Off to India…and I couldn’t be more excited!

Africa Part II

So a little bit more South Africa…The last two days in South Africa were spent exploring the beautiful winelands, climbing a ridiculous large mountain that overlooks Cape Town (Table Mountain), and wandering around downtown one last time. The winelands of South Africa were incredible. It was basically a lot of grapes and flowers with a lovely backdrop of mountains. We tasted all sorts of wines, key word here being tasted, don’t worry mom. We also tasted a few different types of cheese. And for those of you who know me well…this was my favorite part of the experience. The cheese was incredible. I especially loved the spiced cream cheese. So good. After our wine tasting we went to this restaurant called Moyo. This is the place that everyone on Semester at Sea goes to, so chances are, if you are reading this and you know someone else on Semester at Sea, they went here as well and enjoyed it a heck of a whole lot. It is a must. It is basically every childs dream come true. It is a restaurant in a tree. Or for lack of better words, a tree house restaurant. So not only are you eating lunch or dinner in a tree, but you are getting your face painted while they sing for you, in a tree. Ok, so moving right along. The last day in Cape Town Sarah, Megan and I decided that we would attempt to conquer Table Mountain. Everyone that had attempted to climb it earlier in the week had warned us that it was impossible and that we were going to get lost or frustrated and turn back around. Regardless of what everyone had said, we were determined to get up that bad boy. So, we got up at 7:30am and began our hike up Table Mountain. The beginning was easy. No big deal. We are all pretty fit, so we were practically flying up the mountain. Then, we could no longer see the little yellow footprints that guide you up the mountain telling you that yes indeed you are going the right way. We then decided it would be appropriate to make our own path up the mountain rather then give up and go back down. Great I thought, we are going to persevere and get up this thing one way or another. We are super. What a great attitude. Well, we decided the best way to get to the top of the mountain would be to go straight up, basically scaling rocks. Kind of scary and probably not the best idea. We had recognized that this was the wrong way, but decided to keep going regardless. It was only until James, a very nice outdoorsy man from far below, said that we were definitely going the wrong way that we decided to turn around. So we slowly made our way down the treacherous rock that we should have definitely NOT been climbing up. James guided us back to the correct path and we were back on our way to the top. Finally, after 3.5 hrs of hiking and scaling rocks (which should have probably only taken us 1.5- 2 hrs) we made it. We arrived at the top of Table just in time to see the cable car arrive, carrying all of the lazy people to the top who chose not to scale rocks like us. That was fun to see. Especially because they all looked quite refreshed when they arrived while we were in our sports bras, sweating like men, panting, and exhausted. They all looked at us in a confused fashion as if they couldn’t imagine someone to be so idiotic as to actually climb Table. It was all in all another good time. I wouldn’t take back climbing that beast for anything. Later that day, even though being a bit sore, we marched on to visit the District Six Museum. South Africa just has so much intriguing history, how could I, the history nerd, not learn about it? So we educated ourselves about the relocation of the individuals in District Six during the Apartheid. Following the museum we walked around town for a bit and made friends with some guys that worked in a surf store. They educated us in the culture of the South African surfer. Sweet brew. And then it was time to leave and I was sad. South Africa is/was AMAZING and I can’t wait to go back. Yay.

Africa Part I

South Africa hit me with a bang. A big bang. Day one I woke up quite early again for the sunrise. As our ship pulled into Cape Town the sun rose directly over Table Mountain, a huge rock formation/mountain that lines Cape Town. This was beautiful. Following our sunrise watching a bunch of us wandered around town just checking everything out, talking to everyone and anyone who would talk with us. This was great fun. That night I left for my safari in Kruger National Park. What a way to start off my visit to South Africa. I visited Kruger, specifically Skukuza in the southwest end of the park and a private game reserve 2 hrs from Skukuza, for a 3 day safari. This experience included staying one night in a bungalow and one night in a tent (yes, that’s right…I camped in the Bush with lions and other fun creatures). Not only was I blessed to see zebra, wildebeests, impalas, giraffes, kudus, hippopotamus, baboons, jackals, crocodiles, eagles, buffalo, rhinos, elephants, and other various creatures while on safari, but I was also fortunate enough to see a lion. Most kids who went on safari did not get to see one. ☹ for them. ☺ for me. Ok, so not only did we see a lion, but we saw a lion from about 3 feet away. As you can imagine, I was glued to my seat, jaw open wide, not believing what was sitting directly across from our vehicle. And this was no baby Simba (for those of you Lion King fans, you know what I am talking about). He was more like grown up Simba, or a Muffasa. You get the point. So to me the safari was a success.

Day 2 in Cape Town began with a visit to the Khayelitsha Township. This is quite possibly the most amazing thing that I have done so far on this trip. I have never seen anything like it. Millions of tiny shacks stacked right on top of one another. I was in awe. I had seen pictures of the townships numerous times before, but actually being inside of one was a completely different story. You were walking past and interacting with people who actually lived there. Once inside the township we were allowed to walk around for a bit and see the famous Vicky’s Bed and Breakfast. At the same time when everyone was checking out Vicky’s, a few girls and I went behind her B and B and found a childcare center. We asked if we could come in and the ladies working there said that it would be ok. And let me tell you, these kids were absolutely remarkable. They sang songs like “if you’re happy and you know it clap your hands” with possibly the biggest smiles on their faces I have ever seen, and other educational songs about the days of the week and the seasons. And they loved when we would take pictures of them. We would take their picture and then they would tug on our shirts and point to the camera in hopes that we would show them the pictures of themselves. As our exploration of the township continued we managed to go to two other childcare centers. Our trip leader had an impossible time trying to get us to leave the children when we had to get going back to the ship. The kids were glued to us and we were glued to the kids. We just could not stop playing with them. Along with the kids, I was thoroughly impressed by some of the women of the township and their desire to make a living. We stopped by a weaving center (I guess you could call it that) where numerous women of the township worked, weaving mats, bags, tapestries, and other crafts. This “employment project” is just one of the many that have been developed in the townships to provide jobs for those living there. I was, and am completely amazed at the effort put forth by these women to improve their and their family’s lives. This was a great day.

“Because you and I are made for goodness.” - Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Yesterday and today were incredible days. Not only was yesterday taco day (a very special treat for us), but it was also a day where everyone on Semester at Sea was blessed to hear the honorable Archbishop Desmond Tutu speak. When I think back about what he said I feel as if it is almost impossible to explain the impact of his words on myself and I am sure upon everyone else who heard him speak. He is simply inspirational. He believes that we, as young people, can truly make a difference. I do not want to sit here and try and type out his lectures or even attempt to give you a sense of what was said, because that would do no justification. However, what I will leave you with are a few quotes from Father.

“If we are going to get it right at all, it is because you say it must be different.”

-Archbishop Desmond Tutu

“The only way we can be human is together.
The only way we can be free is together.
The only way we can ever be secure…together.
The only way we can be free…together.”

-Archbishop Desmond Tutu