Namibia part II!

Alright, sorry for the radio silence everyone, its been a busy week and a half!

 

Alright so Namibia. Its beautiful, the people are friendly and the US dollar is worth 10 of theirs. Its an amazing place.

The first morning after watching the little girls sing and dance Sean and I took off in search of coke for me and cigarettes (BOOO) for him. The trek out of the port was about a mile and a half and we had no idea where we were going. I guess it was obvious because a worker by they name of Jonas offered to show us out and then gave us a walking tour of the city and took us to the supermarket. We were sure that he was going to ask for money for leading us around (they would have in Morocco and we were still assuming everyone wanted as much money from us as possible) so we ended up tipping him about 5 Namibian dollars. Then a girl with us whips out a box of Oreos and 200 Namibian dollars and shoves them in his hand. He was speechless because looking back at it I don't think he was going to ask for anything. As we're walking away the girl realized she gave him $20 not $2 like she wanted. Hahah bummer.

I got back to the ship, inhaled lunch and made it down in time for my FDP to the Natural and Geological Wonders. This was incredible! We drove around (about 5 per car) up the coast with huge sand dunes to our right and the sea immediately to our left. We then drove inland to a place where after the ice age the earth's crust cracked and lava pushed up and hardened into basalt. The black basalt ridged the brown granite rock of the crust and it looked like there were just dinosaur backs rising up out of everywhere. They called it the "moon scape." The iron content in the rocks was so high that if you hit on basalt rock against another is sounded like metal on metal and the natives call this area the "singing rocks." It was quite the experience. We got back in the car and drove through the moon scape stopping at several different plants. One was called the !nara plant. (the ! in the front represents a click sound which is in use of the native !shosa language) This plant creates an entire ecosystem based on the large, watery fruit it produces. A single fruit when mature can hold over 1 liter of water. The roots of the plant are able to search out water 20-30 meters below the service. There are a male and female plants and they coexist however they grow separate from each other. The other plant we saw was a 600 year old plant called the Welwichia plant. It looks like something out of Jurassic park and the little shop of horrors put together. It was also massive and there are plants that have been found in the Angolan deserts to the north that reach up to 2,000 years old! After these plants we got to try some local food.... oysters. I didn't try them but I can say that I tried the fruit chutney and also the salt and vinegar flavored cheese crackers, the spare ribs flavored potato chips and a citrus granola bar. All... interesting, but not bad. After that we drove around in the moon scape, over a barren land with over I believe 100 type of lichens per sq meter (which makes it the most diverse flora area in Namibia. It even rivals the areas to the north with over a foot of rainfall a year.) The last thing we did was go visit Dune #7, which is the tallest in the area at about 150 meters tall. The sand was so soft! A lot of people went to the top but I stayed relatively close to the bottom due to the fact that my knee was killing me.

After getting back to the ship Vanessa, Alex, Jordan, Megan and a random kid named Charlie all went to a restaurant/bar called The Raft which was in the lagoon and up on stilts. As this was valentines day we couldn't get a table but the bar was fun and we ran into some Norweigan guys and lots of SAS people. It was really fun and we got to shove all 6 of us in a cab.. 5 of us being in the back seat.... good laughs.

The next day I woke up early to be ready to go kayaking by 7 am. I got to watch the sun rise and we drove out (past the largest salt flats in the world) along a very long sand bar to the end where the light house was situated. We got into some kayaks and took off into the water. On our way to the end of the sand bar we passed 2 of the 22 seal colonies that live on the coast of Namibia. We paddled around for about an hour before we saw them. Dolphins. Everyone got so excited that we raced to catch up with them. For about a half an hour we moved with the dolphins and one of them breathed, I kid you not maybe 5 feet from my kayak. I can only describe it as magical. We had some competition from a lot of catamaran boats out dolphin gazing but they also herded them over to our less threatening surface boats. It was very cool to but constantly watching and anticipating where and when the next dolphin would surface. Very cool

I got back to the ship around noon and of course everyone was already out on other trips and doing other things. I ended up disappointing myself by taking a 3 hour nap on the ship while waiting for people to get back. I wasn't comfortable walking out and going into town by myself so I didn't have much of an option. But once everyone else got back we ended up dressing up and going to the pizza/bar that the girlfriend of Vanessa and Alex's tour/guide owned. We met the guide (Herman pronounced "air-mon") and his girlfriend there and had some pizza and drinks with them. Vanessa, Chris and I went back after that and everyone else went out to a dance bar and got back LATE.

The last day Vanessa and I went to Swakopmund and went to a trading market. There we met some native Heraro people who cover themselves with red ocher and butter. They dred their hair in it and cover themselves completely. A couple of guys who were traders themselves helped Vanessa negotiate with them because they didn't speak English and they didn't understand that a $5 US was the same as $50 Namibian dollars. It was really very nice of them and then we ended up talking with them about the US and our government and we made friends with a man named Kevin. I have his phone number :) and Vanessa has a picture wearing his hat. They also said they wanted to trade for stuff from the US since we had no money left. The only thing I had that I was a packet of powdered lemonade which I gave and in return I got a really cool carved nut with an elephant and Rhino on it. It was a cool experience. We left Swakopmund with a cab driver that made us switch cars so that it would make the 30 minute drive to our port and then half way there he had to turn around cause he left his license in the other car. We got back, went to the grocery store and then back on the ship. 

The next day was learning all about South Africa. Namibia was great and I want to go back!!

More on South Africa Later!

Hope you're all well. Lots of love

 

Em  

Namibia!

Tomorrow morning we get into Namibia!

We will be greeted by locals including a Children's Choir which is to be singing to us from on the pier after we get our diplomatic briefing. SOOOO EXCITED! Tomorrow I'm also doing my Natural Wonders guide (I don't think I'm going to be ATVing, which makes me pretty depressed but V and I might go sandsurfing on the third day while a group of our friends are sky-diving. After I get back we're all going out into Walvis Bay (pronounced "val-fish") for dinner and mingling with the locals.

We're also planning on sleeping on the deck if the weather and pollution permits.

Hope you're all doing well and I think of you often!!!

Emily

p.s. Teej, if you don't email me soon I'm going to never bring you your dirt. I swear. :D

Neptune Day... Better than 4th of July?

You Decide- My vote is yes.

 

In the tradition of Neptune Day, in order to make sure that sailors could handle the hot and expansive seas past the equator, a type of "light hearted hazing" was started including shaving your head or jumping in straight up fish guts, as well as swearing allegiance to Neptune Rex. (This might be added in by SAS, I don't know, I didn't do much research.)  In the morning Semester at Sea's experienced Shellbacks dressed up in ridiculous green and white costumes with tin foil shields and some out of tune marching snares and ran around the halls starting at 7am banging on doors, playing whistles and waking people up. Luckily, my room is over in a little offshoot that is mostly forgotten so my alarm woke me up and I was at breakfast by 8 before they finally got to my room.

We slept in our suites assuming that they might wake us up and shove us out the door for initiation but really we just got to go up and eat breakfast- which was nothing special. Getting up to the 7th deck we found that people had already staked their spots on the deck with towels, shoes, bags and water bottles (we contemplated just moving stuff and taking the seats, but decided we would be mad if someone did that to us so we just went to port side and took a couple chairs from there and tried to Tetris-style force them into place on the pool deck.) The kicker was that as 9 inched closer and tan-fanatics duked it out for the best sun-spots the crew came around and told us to put away all the chairs because we had to fit all 730 some students up on top deck as well as make room for King Neptune and his entire crew.

They made a big ceremony about what we had to do to become Shellbacks from our lowly pollywog status (standing in one of the shallow parts of the pool you get a pitcher of lime-green sulphuric smelling fish goo poured on our heads, we walk over to a lady-knight REGAL ANYONE!? holding a frozen large fish of some sort-kiss the fish, kiss the ring on our king's finger, ( who was actually captain Jeremy in swim trucks, body painted green wearing a long, white raffia wig and a foil covered cardboard crown) bow to the queen and then jump into the freezing pool to de-goo. After exiting, we were knighted by the security officer who was also dressed up and held a wooden, painted sword.

We (Vanessa and I) striped our clothes to our bathing suites and lined up... hearts pounding in excitement.

We went first while our friends waited and took pictures on the other side of the pool. We held hands and waited while the stink grew and grew. We got up there and when they poured the goo on, unknown to us, it was the bottom of the barrel, not a nice pitcher like everyone else. All the chunks, bits and pieces that sunk to the bottom got firmly lodged in our hair. There was erupting cheers from the crowed as we still didn't know what was going on until looking at pictures later, we were lost as to why we were treated special. We kissed the fish, who's teeth poked my lip: awkward, kissed the ring and jumped in the pool. Upon entering I have to say the only thing on my mind was getting out as fast as I could because it was so cold. This problem made me exit the wrong way and I think I missed getting knighted. Oh well. :) The weird part about getting out was that it was instantly warmer even with the wind and it wasn't expected. Vanessa and I took pictures while the other's were initiated and then we staked out our spots on chairs for the next 2/3 hours on the port side. (Left side, for everyone who is not used to the language). There we lathered ourselves with sunscreen and then lounged like we'd never lounged before. It was glorious. Periodically one of us would get up and get frozen fruit or some frozen-yogurt (no where NEAR as good as yozen frogurt but still delicious on a hot day.) Lunch was "meh" and since we were all sun-baked none of us were all that hungry. 

By they had thankfully cleaned since we all had used it to rid our hair and bodies of stink). The pool was filled with sea water and it felt absolutely amazing. Jordan loved how buoyant he was and told everyone who got in the pool to try it. Then we decided it was a good idea to try to make it into a whirl-pool. This actually worked surprisingly well and I think had we all the pool-goers in on it, it would have worked better. 

After pooling we changed and headed to the courts where we found the tournament already started but it was fine cause the teams got done early so we just scrimmaged with a few of the members and then Alex and Vanessa played on some kids team that were missing a few people. They won and then it was our original team's turn to play. I guarantee that this team is the only one of its kind on the ship because its the proud team of two type Ben and Em! Anyway, that team lost and if we lose again we're out of the tourney... which would not be fun. 

However before this loss we had possibly one of the best dinners I have ever had. Not due to quality of the food (although it was BOMB) but because it was straight up American BBQ food. Hamburgers, hotdogs, finger-licking BBQ Pork Ribs (I had 2 slathered in sauce), grilled lemon-butter fish, roasted potatoes, corn on the cob, baked beans, macaroni and potato salad, cole slaw, fruit (apples bigger than your fist, bananas, oranges, pears, plums, GRAPES, nectarines, pineapple), ice cream sundaes (THEY HAD RAINBOW SPRINKLES! which I ate sans ice cream I was so excited) and pound cakes. It was all cooked up on huge grills they busted out on the 7th deck and everyone gorged themselves and stole as much fruit as they could. It was quite possibly the best food-baby ever experienced. Soon after we played our volleyball game. 

Showers came next and a photo-swap. We were all so tired from laying out, volleyball and digesting that gigantic meal that we passed out nice and early.

 

 

Today we resumed classes and our ship is BOOKIN' it. We had all four engines running at 85% all morning and the wind on the sides of the boat was intense. Today was also cool because we crossed the actual geographic equator (though the point of direct sun-light at noon is still to come due to the earth's tilt and it not being an equinox). I was in Tropical Ecology at it happened at 3:23pm my time (8:23am-CO and 7:23am-CA). The only thing that I could think of was that I was crossing the line that my brother is currently residing on. Dylan, where ever you are I think of you often and I hope that Kenya is treating you well, soon I'll be back on the African continent in Namibia and I'll be thinking of you then too. Love you and hope your project is going well.

 

That's all for now. Hope everyone is GOOD!

 

Em 

I feel like this is applicable to life right now

Dance for me sweetheart while I strum my guitar,

You sure look pretty tonight

I've just come off the road and I could use some company

That would suite me just fine.

 

I've seen a lot of special things around this world,

You can see them too you can.

But that you ask I have no name,

I have no name.

I am known only as man.

I am known only as man

 

I'm a wanderer I have no place or time

I'm just drifting on this lonely road of mine

and if you like, you can come along with me.

But I promise you I am not the man I used to be

No, I promise you that I am not the man I used to be

 

You and I, we've seen our share of Ups and downs

Some so weary, just lost hope.

I can't change the past but who cares?

Cause love is all I've ever known,

your love is all I've ever known

 

I'm a wanderer I have no place or time

I'm just drifting on this lonely road of mine

and if you like, you can come along with me.

But I promise you I am not the man I used to be

No, I promise you that I am not the man I used to be

 

Ohhh, no. No No no. Whoa No no noooo

 

I'm a wanderer I have no place or time

I'm just drifting (I'm just drifting) on this lonely road of mine

But if you would, just accept me for me

Then I promise you that there a better man inside of me

I promise you that there's a better man inside of me

Lord, I promise you that there's a better man inside. of. meeeeee

 

I'm a wanderer I have no place or time

I'm just drifting on this lonely road of mine

I'm a wanderer I have no place or time

I'm just drifting on this lonely road, lonely road, lonely road of mine.....

 

-Marc Broussard "The Wanderer"

To All Pollywogs!!

Tomorrow, I don't know if you know, is the day we are to cross the Equator. It is known in the Navy and in many marine communities as Neptune day. I've heard that in the navy on Neptune day you either can shave your head or bite off the head of a fish. Here on the MS Explorer the hazing is slightly less harsh. Yes, instead of biting off the head, we just have heads and guts of fish POURED on us-if you so choose the option of shaving your head is still available and if you have hair longer than 8 inches you can donate it to locks of love. How sweet.

 

Apparently the rumor is they (the crew, teachers, life-long learners and all) dress up like crazy fish people and bang pots and pans to wake us up at 7. I'm not sure what they do next but then at 9 we have our "initiation ceremony" which takes us as Pollywogs (those of us who have never crossed the equator) to... whatever we get to be after we cross. Ha-ha. Its going to be a long party day. We have no classes and I have absolutely no idea if there are any activities planned other than massive amounts of sunscreen being used. Myself included and approx 90% of the ship will be soaking up the rays of the direct sun. I plan on using 45 every couple of hours. Most likely I'll still get burned I'm thinking. Its the curse of the whities. Luckily most of my good friends are incredibly white too so we're going to start the "I'm really white" club and take over the spots the "Tanning Club" scopes out everyday while they are supposed to be in Global Studies. (We're not really going to do this we're just really good at scheming while we lounge, which we are incredibly good at. Yesterday we sat at a dinner table for the entire time dinner is served: 5:30-7:30. Talent.)

 

So here is the email the entire student body got today:

 

SUBPOENA to all POLLYWOGS,

You are hereby requested to appear before the ROYAL COURT OF THE REALM OF NEPTUNE, in the DISTRICT OF EQUATORIUS, because it has been brought to the attention of HIS HIGHNESS, NEPTUNE REX through his trusty SHELLBACKS, that the good ship M/V EXPLORER is about to cross the equator and enter those waters accompanied by passengers who have not acknowledged the sovereignty of the RULER OF THE DEEP.

THEREFORE be it known to all Slimy Pollywogs that The Royal, King NEPTUNE REX, Supreme Ruler of all citizens of the deep, will, with his Secretary and Royal Court, meet in full session on board the offending ship M.V. EXPLORER on the 9^th day of February, A.D. 2009 at 0900 on Deck 7 aft, to hear your defense.

 

Regards,

-King Neptune and His Royal Court

 

In addition: All pollywogs with hair longer than 8 inches who wish to donate their hair to a worthwhile charity, should do so BEFORE undergoing the initiation ceremony, as only clean hair is able to be donated.

 

If there are any pollywogs who have brought hair clippers on board, your services are hereby solicited by King Neptune and his Royal Barber. You may help by bringing your clippers to DECK 7 aft, tomorrow morning. 

 

 

 

 

Another Update-

We are 3 days from the Equator, we have crossed the 30th parallel and the seas are about 10x more calm then they were just yesterday. The temperature gets warmer every second we inch closer to the equator. We are going to stop in Dakar for fuel and then head to Walvis Bay, Namibia.

 

We have 3 days there and I'm planning on a couple of semester at sea trips which count as field components for my classes and the last day Vanessa and I are planning on going to watch a group of our friends go Sky-diving and then were going to explore the city of Swakopmund. Its a city with heavy German influence due to the fact that Namibia was once a German colony.

Here are the descriptions for my two trips:

Natural and Geological Wonders of the Namib: Travel in 4x4 vehicles along the coastal road towards Swakopmund before heading eastwards toward the Namib-Naukluft Park. The Namib-Naukluft region is almost entirely made up of national parks, extending from Oranjemund, the restricted Diamond Area in the south, up to the Kunene River. In this arid region, water is more precious than diamonds. Plants have adapted to sprout at the first shower of rain and this is a magical place for photography enthusiasts.

The Namib is one of the oldest deserts in the world and known for some unusual characteristics. The central section is a shifting sea of warm, apricot-colored sand dunes, constantly changing with the play of light and shadow, depending on the time of day. The cold Benguela Current offshore captures vagrant moisture from the sea and the resulting fog provides vital moisture to the area’s flora; some unique specimens have evolved here.

Drive through the Swakop River Valley, a dry riverbed that seldom flows, to the "Moon Landscape", a vastly eroded valley, which has an appearance similar to that of the moon’s surface. Spend time exploring this area of deep chasms and interesting geological features before continuing to "Welwitschia" Valley, where literally thousands of Welwitschia Mirablis plants litter the ground. View these fascinating plants, which were discovered by Dr. Friedrich Welwitschia in 1859. The plant is a modified tree, producing a single, turnip-like stem that can be more than three feet thick and five feet tall. The adult leaves develop from this stem. At first glance, there seem to be many leaves, but closer inspection reveals only two, up to ten feet in length, split into many sections by the harsh, dry winds. This weird plant produces its first flower after about 20 years and has a lifespan of at least 500 years. Along with the Welwitschia plant, the valley also hosts a variety of interesting lichen plants.

Return to Walvis Bay via the dune belt to Dune 7. Stop en-route and enjoy a refreshing treat of fresh oysters and soft drinks. Orange juice and salty snacks are also provided. Drive through Walvis Bay, visiting the lagoon and tidal flood plains before returning to the ship. Depending on the time of year, a variety of water birds, including flamingos and pelicans may be seen.

Eco-marine Kayaking: A two-person kayak is an excellent vehicle from which one can not only feel and smell the ocean but also have a chance to observe marine wildlife "up close and personal". At the coast from Walvis Bay, there are opportunities for leisurely kayaking with excellent sights. Sea birds are in abundance, including pelicans, terns, plovers, cormorants, sandpipers and flamingos, From Pelican Point, one can paddle amongst seals and occasionally dolphins.

These both sound awesome to me and I'm excited to see where they take me!

We have one more day on sea and then we have 5 days in South Africa. I have something planned for each day:

1- A field component about Authors in Cape Town for my Lit class, then a Jazz safari with local musicians throughout Cape Town and then a massive out-door concert at the end where if you bring your own instrument you can jam with the musicians.

2- Operation Hunger: an NGO whose mission is “to create partnerships between vulnerable households and caring people to combat malnutrition which, when suffered by children, undermines the nation’s health, education and economic potential.”We will be traveling to Squatter's villages and witnessing what Operation Hunger does everyday to help the people.

3- Amy Biehl foundations Visit: Amy Biehl was a young American Fulbright Scholar who was stoned to death in South Africa in 1993 where she had gone to help in the struggle against apartheid. She was very interested in working with disenfranchised voters in the country and had worked there previously, studying multi-party elections in various African states. Her parents, Peter (now deceased) and Linda, and their family have established the Amy Biehl Foundation Trust to continue their daughter’s work and have been highly supportive of groups concerned with the lasting effects of apartheid. In the townships you will see the impact of apartheid and continuing racial discrimination on poverty today.

4- DIVING WITH GREAT WHITE SHARKS!!! AHHHHHHHHHH SOOOOO EXCITED!!!

5- Elandsfontein Fossil site (which is for a class but I'm still excited about it anyway!!) The Elandsfontein Fossil site is located about 1 ½ hours north of Cape Town and consists of a major fossil exposure dating to about 400,000 years ago. A human cranium (late Homo erectus) has been recovered from the site, and we can see the original specimen before we leave. We will travel in 4 X 4 vehicles and will be accompanied by Dr. Graham Avery, Curator of Archaeology, South African Museum.

All in all I'm pretty darn excited for the ports coming up. I hope everything goes well.

Until next time-

Em

Morroco was.... Authentic!

Morocco!!

First off, the weather in Gibraltar was so intense that we had to dock in the harbor overnight to ensure we got the fuel on the ship. This took much longer than expected and it took away a day we had in Morocco. My trip was booked independently through a kid (who went through a Travel agency called “Authentic Morocco”) named Ryan. Ryan has organized several trips for various countries and I checked out the place and it seemed pretty legit as well as an itinerary very similar to what Semester at Sea was doing only like $200 less. When we found out that we were losing a day we flipped out and Ryan called the Company from the ship. They handled it well and we had our own driver so we were basically free to choose how we wanted to re-arrange our trip. We thought we were pretty lucky compared to the SAS people who’s entire trip was cancelled.

We get to the port after an INTENSE night were the ship had to turn off the stabilizers to make a sharp enough turn in VERY rough waters to make it into the harbor alright (I was in the dining hall and plates flew off the counters and crashed and people where falling out of chairs…the skyline would disappear on both the top and bottom of the large windows, which from the 5^th deck perspective was a measure of how much the ship was rolling). The next morning a group of 23 gathered together and made the mile trek out of the mostly industrial and quite battered looking dock to find our bus driver, Yunnis. Yunnis turned out to be very cool but we had enough people that we had to split up into a small bus and the Toyota 4x4 Yunnis drove. The bus driver looked like a small squat man made out of leather and drove like a bat out of hell.

The drive to Marrakech from Casablanca took us about 2 hours on the way down and I was very surprised at how green everything was. With the storms and overcast sky we had it looked like we were driving through Scotland. It was absolutely incredible. You could see for miles and everywhere the landscape was dotted with Shepards, their flocks and little villages. There didn’t seem to be anything very modern until you pulled into Marrakech. The main street we drove down was pretty and had a lot of café’s and restaurants but the further we went though, the meaner the streets looked and the more haggard the people were. We eventually pulled over in a not-so-nice looking turn about and Yunnis asks us for lunch or the hotel first. We decided to drop our stuff off and then we could walk around easier. Here is where the “Authentic”in Authentic Morocco comes in. Our hotel (“one of the only ones in the old Media”-which is old Marrakech “with hot water!”–and it wasn’t hot at all) was worse than most of the hostels we wouldn’t even go into in Spain. The entire place had “sketchy”written all over it. Some people turned down their sheets to find they had pubic hairs and stains in their sheets (many of us didn’t have top sheets) and a select lucky few had bathrooms in their rooms. The rest of us had to make do with the Public wash rooms on each floor. There was one stall with an actual toilet, but no toilet paper, and two squatting holes. There was one sink for all three stalls and no soap. Most of the rooms with bathrooms also came with a rancid odor emitting from the shower drains. Take your pick I guess, public pee-hole or smelly drains.  

We were taken to a plush open-air lunch place to have a 150 Durham (the currency exchange while there was 8.77DH per 1 USD) lunch of traditional Salad, couscous, chicken, veggies, lentils and beans. The dessert was one of my favorite parts because it was just peeled, sliced oranges  with lines of alternating cinnamon and sugar over the top. The oranges in Morocco were absolutely superb and tasted like heaven. There were stands in the square by our hotel which made fresh squeezed OJ and it was the best I’ve ever had. Water, beer, wine and cokes were between 20-50 DH extra at the lunch. We knew we would have to pay for our meals but they took us to very specific places and we had no choice but to pay, which was annoying since we already had paid a good amount for our trip. They also required tips EVERYWHERE you go. We got had by this place. They made bank off of us.

A zippy tour guide of Medina named Muhammad met us after lunch and took us through sketchy back allies to a Saudi Royal Tomb, a crumbling palace (where many scenes of Gladiator and other famous movies were filmed) and a fixed price market with rooms upon rooms of stuff on thousands of shelves. This place is a gigantic tourist trap. We also went to a sort of apothecary where we learned about traditional Moroccan spices, rubs, teas and herbal remedies. They slathered us with samples and had us sniff “black seeds”which give off a very pungent odor that clears the head/chest/anything in between. He left us in the Souks market where our group of 17 girls and like 6 guys where the subject prey of all the shop keepers. Everywhere you went men would call out to you: “You have diamond eyes!”“Oh! American!”“Fish and Chips!”(this was a popular one and we still can’t figure out what they meant by it other than maybe they thought we were British) and all manner of derogatory terms for girls. We finally made our way back to our hotel, which we were trying to avoid like the plague around 10. I slept onto of my “comforter”in my clothes from the day before choosing it safe only to remove my shoes. The room was freezing and they had given us a top sheet and two very heavy blankets. I slept under those and still was freezing all night. Not many slept well and we had to be up and ready for Yunnis by 7:15. We grabbed a delicious breakfast from a woman making fresh naan (a flatbread) on the street corner with a honey liquid wrapped up. 5 DH for one of the most delicious things we’d had yet.

This day was prepared to make up for the indescribable sketchi-ness of the first day, however it didn’t start off well because it was raining and we were to ride camels. We were all so slap happy, tired and haggard already that when Yunnis and leather-man dropped us off for the Camels, the mangy, pathetic and dripping wet animals only made the experience that much more ridiculous. We laughed for most of the time and joked with the guys herding us around. Many of the camels were mad they had to be there and let’s just say their treatment wasn’t kind. One was pregnant and grumpy a many were very small and for our group of 23 they had brought 14 so we had to double up. We were lead around for 45 minutes through a small palm grove and my camel’s name was, I kid you not, Michael Jackson. We were soaked by the end and we didn’t have time to change before Yunnis whisked us away to our Atlas Mountain Authentic Berber Village. (There was no heat in either the bus or the car. The bus driver drove with the window down the entire time to try to de-fog the windows. It didn’t work. And we were all freezing.) We drove up into the mountains stopping at various elevations to take pictures, go to the bathroom and get snacks. We kept going up, and up, and eventually got into the snow, went further up and then over the top of the mts where the clouds stop. We drove, and when I say drove I mean we held on for our lives because the bus driver was taking turns with immediate drops and no railings and a pace which would not have been legal in the states, for another hour. We got to our destination after a 3 hour ride and it was breath taking. We didn’t interact with the people in the villages like the Semester at Sea groups got to do but we got to see the (supposedly) first castle of Africa and the place where the last Berber Prince resided. It was amazing and the sun was shining and the clouds were gone so we were finally drying off and warming up.

We then had a lunch made by a family in an offshoot of the palace of the same thing we had the day before; Chicken, salad, veggies and oranges for dessert. The place had a space heater and all took our turns in front of it. Another 3 hour car ride out of the mts, more incredibly views and more scary driving lead us back to Marrakech to be dropped off. We went back into the Bazaar (known as Souks) market which was literally down the ally from our hotel, to barter with the people, buy stamps, eat dinner and then go in search of a hookah bar. 5 girls and 1 guy left after getting back to the hotel to go back to the ship in Casablanca because they were so worn out and wouldn’t sleep in the hotel. The rest of us were mostly over it and had some good bonding experiences. (Some went clubbing and bar hopping in New Marrakech and a few of us stayed behind and hung out.) More frigid night temperatures and stiff joint upon waking the next morning too. Also, the only thing that made the call to prayer that woke you up at 4:45 and again around 5:30 from the mosque down the street bearable was the fresh Naan with honey and squeezed OJ in the morning.

Yunnis and leatherman drove us back to Casablanca because we were supposed to be visiting the King Hussein II mosque, one of the largest in the world and one of 2 open to non-muslims in Morocco. I say supposed because while we made it there and to the outside, we weren’t let in because it was past the VERY small window we had to visit. A girl named Sahar (pronounced like “Sahara”without the “a”) who is Muslim was the only one that got to go in and I’m glad she was able to. The guards told us to come back at 2 and so we got Yunnis to take us to a place for something to eat and then our plan was to go back to the Mosque around 2. We met up with the driver but Yunnis told us he wouldn’t take us back for 20 minutes because we only had him until 4. This was infuriating because earlier that morning it took us over 3 hours to get from Marrakech to Casablanca and before it had taken 2. We couldn’t figure out why they were driving so slow until we realized they were taking their sweet time so we couldn’t go into the mosque and they wouldn’t have to pay our entrance fees. We were livid. Eventually Ryan got Yunnis to take him, another boy and Sahar back to the mosque where they were refused entrance so Sahar ran around for 15 minutes inside and took pictures. The rest of us walked to the boat, got on early and got to wash our faces, feet and some took hot showers (even though we’re supposed to conserve water in port) and change our stinky clothes (which we all slept in again the previous night).

Despite the facts that the tour was a rip-off I met some incredible people and did have selectively good times. I don’t know if I was given the chance to return to Morocco again soon that I would take it but I think it probably deserves a second chance. Many of the people I talked to who did independent and SAS organized trips had amazing times and some had some questionable experiences too. I think it was a crap shoot. I think had our hotel been nicer, we would have had a much more enjoyable experience but the residing feeling of the entire tour was that we were getting as little quality as possible for how much we paid. Oh well, lesson learned right?

We now have about a week of school before we hit Namibia. We cross the equator and will be celebrating Neptune Day. I’ll keep you posted on what my plans are to do there and what all is happening on the ship. Sorry this post was so long! I’m impressed if you got all the way through it.

 

Love you ALL.

 

Em