Cape Town Day 1!

Whew! Alrighty, so I woke up around 6:00 on the 31^st and ran up to the 7^th deck well before the sun found her way above the horizon. To my left were the dim lights of Cape Town and to my far right was the light house on the Cape of Good Hope, cruising over hundreds of ship wrecks that have been there since before Europeans came to North America. There weren’t too many of us up yet, but after about 20 minutes, when the first rays of fire were coming up behind Table Mountain, the starboard side decks were full of photographers and eager faces. There was no need for coffee to wake anyone up this morning.

We eventually docked around 8:00 or so and instead of having a diplomatic briefing by US officers from the State Department, Amy Biehl’s mother spoke to us for almost an hour. If any of you do not know Amy Biehl’s story, please look it up. She was a white American student working in South Africa on a Fulbright to help end Apartheid and on her way home from giving some of her black friends a ride in August of 1993 she was stabbed to death by an angry mob of black youth. In the international news she had a face and a name while her murderers had neither, only numbers. Amy’s mom said that this is exactly what Amy didn’t want, that she had always said that if something ever happened to her that she wanted to be a number and not a white face, because that is how it was always portrayed for blacks that died. 4 men were convicted of her murder, and in 19997 at the TRC Amy’s parents heard their story and met the men and their families and asked for two of the four to be given amnesty. Now those two are high up in the Amy Biehl Foundation hierarchy. Amy’s mom sees these two men, now with children of their own, as sons; their children as grandchildren. It was amazing to hear her story and how she coped with her daughter’s death. Also look up the book Mother to Mother; it is a book written by one of the young men’s mothers to Amy’s mother. This was my introduction to South Africa: the murders of apartheid and the miraculous organizations and relationships that resulted from them.

I had a short trip to a maritime museum for class, and then after some delicious lunch we rounded up and headed to the District 6 Museum. District 6 was a vibrant community of people of color and blacks that was deemed a White Only area by the Apartheid regime. Everyone was forcibly moved out, the houses and building bulldozed, and all the history of generations of people destroyed. One of our cab drivers said he used to live in District 6 and one day when he came home his house was gone. The museum commemorated the traditions and culture of the people there, as well as had many personal stories and a map of what the neighborhood used to look like. There were also places where people wrote their feelings and memories of what happened, and one quote was, “Apartheid regime is like Nazi-regime without final solution.” We learn so much about the Holocaust and so little about the genocides and racism that are still killing people today. The Jews got Israel, but what do the black South Africans get? District 6 is now acres of empty lots. The whites didn’t use it, they just couldn’t let people of color or blacks use the land. Why did I not learn about this earlier? Where was this in history class?

After leaving the museum we went to the Cast of Good Hope, which was built in the 1650s by the Dutch to fight the British. We couldn’t go inside because it was already closed but we got some pretty fun pictures outside. The whole time we were talking around Table Mountain was above us, covered with the famous Table Cloth, which is when clouds settle on the top and slowly roll off the sides. It was so freaking gorgeous! Eventually we headed back to the ship, but instead of taking 2 cabs we got one, so it was six of us plus the driver jammed into a taxi meant for 4 passengers. It was a fun ride. Our driver was from Zimbabwe and came to Cape Town to work because he couldn’t buy food back home. He’s been dating the same woman for 7 years and is saving up the money and courage to ask her to marry him. I was really happy that we gave him our business.

We got back to the waterfront just before 6:00 and Molly, Emily, and I took off running to catch a sunset pirate boat cruise. There were about 10 or so SAS people on it, some of which I had never met before, and the crew was a blast. We grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrred! for 2 hours together! We also met this sister, brother, and uncle from Malawi that now lived in Cape Town. Chicodi was 20 I think, Innocence (yes, that was his name!) was 21, and their uncle was Richard. And guess when Inno’s birthday was? April 13^th! Craziness. It was so much fun to just talk about whatever with people from around the world. That is what this entire semester is all about; the people. We also met a group of people from Iran and the woman and I talked politics for a while. She said that Iranians love Americans, hate their president, couldn’t stand Bush, and adore Obama. It is just amazing to discover more about my major from people from other countries.

After ‘Land Ho!’ we got some dinner and headed to Long Street, which is the main night life place. Molly, Emily, and I went to this place called The Waiting Room to try and meet up with Brandon Wolding, but we must have missed each other. It was a good night though, as Mollsy turned 21 at midnight! Oh, to turn 21 in a country where the drinking age is 18…. J Eventually we headed back to the ship and ran into some of the crew who were headed out, all snazzed up for the night. What a first day in what I hope to eventually be my home.

After lunch, which was, of course, a delicious buffet, we got to stop to take pictures in front of the Water Palace, which was a favorite quick get away resort of the royalty. It’s in the middle of a lake, which made it safe, but it’s only accessible by boat and we couldn’t visit it. It was there that we also got to see a bunch of dolled up camels, which made for some great pictures.

Next we headed to a local weaving cooperative. We learned that there are 300 families who are members of the cooperative, which is based in Jaipur and we got to watch some of the weavers at work. I got to tie a few knots on the loom, which made me a little bit nervous because I didn’t want to mess up the rug, but the weaver helped me out.

After we watched the weavers, we also got to see a man working on a block print tablecloth. He basically different blocks with different patterns in ink, then carefully lined them up on the cloth and hit them with the side of his hand. He repeated the pattern until the entire tablecloth was covered, then he’d get a new block with a new pattern, then dip, line it up over the first pattern and hit it to fill in the original pattern. It looked like a TON of work, but we got to see some of the finished products and they were gorgeous.

Inside the shop we were shown a bunch of different rugs. It was most definitely a sales pitch, but we learned a lot, too. There were hundreds of beautiful rugs hand woven by local workers and if I had the money, I would have definitely invested.

After the rug shop we were taken to an ancient observatory where we got to see huge old sundials and towers where they used to observe the stars. One of the enormous sundials could be used to tell the time “to an accuracy of twenty seconds,” which I thought was pretty good for an old school sundial.

There were several snake charmers outside of the observatory, which were fun to watch until Anand had purchased our tickets to get into the Prince’s Palace Museum, which was right next door.

One of the first things we saw at the entrance of the museum was two gangajalis, which were enormous silver jars. I took a picture of the explanation, so I wouldn’t forget what they were, so here it is.

“’Gangajalis’ are the largest silver objects in the world as per the entry in the Guinness Book of World Records. They were made in the Minstri Khana (one of the 36 karkhanas of Jaipur State), the City Palace, Jaipur by two silversmiths, Govind Ram and Madhav. Each Jar was made out of 14,000 Jhar Shahi (Jaipur coins) silver coins, which were issued form the Kapatdwara treasury of Jaipur State in the year 1894. The coins were melted into sheets of silver. A wooden mould was prepared and over that the sheets were beaten and shaped as the Jars. No shouldering was done. The entire process took two years and the Jars were ready by 1896. Each of the Jars weighs around 345 Kg (they’re each 5’3”). Ladders were made for reaching the mouths of the Jars. Maharaja Sawai Madho Singh II took these Jars, filled with Gangajal (Ganges water) on his voyage to England to attend the coronation ceremony of Edward VII in 1902.”

There was also a large group of women chanting and doing henna, which we decided to get on our way out. The tour around the Palace itself was pretty cool, but the thought of henna, which we’d been looking for, had all the girls distracted. As soon as our tour was over, we took over the henna area. It was only 50 rupees for a decent amount on one hand, which is a tiny bit more than 1USD. It wasn’t the traditional henna ink, just the faster drying stuff, but everyone got beautiful designs. Mine lasted a little less than two weeks.

After the Museum, we drove back to the hotel for dinner, and then hung out for a while. We had another 4am wake up call, so we didn’t stay out too late.

The next morning we caught an early flight to Cochin in the Indian state of Kerala to catch up with the ship.

That night we took a taxi into town and used the Internet, but didn’t stay out too long because there’s technically a curfew in Cochin.


Final Day in India

On our last day in India, Heather and I were on the same SAS trip to a freshwater section of the Alleppy Backwaters, which was about an hour-long drive away from the ship.

Cochin is in the south and much warmer than Agra and Jaipur, which definitely affected the scenery. Cochin was hot and a little humid, filled with lush greenery and palm trees. The Alleppy Backwaters are a huge tourist destination in India. You can rent beautiful, locally made houseboats and tour the waters for days at a time. Our guide told us that it’s a booming industry and we passed hundreds of these boats on our trip.
After one final beautiful buffet lunch on the waterfront we met our tour boat and started our two hours Backwaters tour. As we motored down the river we passed entire villages comprised of people who depended on the water for everything from cooking, to bathing, to fishing and gathering mussels. We passed women washing clothes and cooking pots on the edge of the water. We passed children rowing small canoes filled with the coconuts that grew on every tree. We passed mothers walking their children home from school, carrying the Spiderman backpacks as their little boys ran on ahead. We even passed a group of young boys playing a pick-up game of cricket and a man clambering up a tall tree to cut down a few coconuts.

The scenery was wonderful and the people were beautiful. Everyone was waving and smiling. On our way out we passed the village’s pride and joy, a long black racing boat that they’d used to win an important boat racing competition last year and were planning to win again this year. It didn’t look that big, but our guide said it could seat 100 men. The village owned the boat together.

After the tour, we drove back to the ship and by that time it was too late to do anything but get back on and turn in our passports before on-ship time.

India is beautiful.



Love,

Molly

Sitting on the train on the way to the Taj Mahal, I saw an Indian man reading a local paper in English. One of the headlines was, “Go Soft on Mothers who Kill Girl Child.”  It was incredible to see the headline firsthand. It made me sad. Despite the fact that dowry is now illegal in India, the practice has not completely dissipated and there are still families who kill their newborn daughters if they have more than two or three girls and no sons.

On a lighter note, we were on our way to the Taj Mahal in Agra, India!

When we got to Agra, the bus took us right to lunch at another gorgeous hotel. We ate a delicious lunch and then found out that there was a rooftop balcony with a great view of the Taj! I didn’t have my camera with me, but wow, just wow. The roof looked out over the back gardens of the hotel and the flowers were in full bloom and there were delicate fountains all around. The Taj Mahal dominated the horizon, its white marble dome gleaming in the sunlight. I was immediately in awe of the Taj and that was before we were even there.

When we finally did get to the Taj, we walked past a bunch of mom and baby monkeys on out way to the gate. I have pictures!  The line at the gate was divided into men and women and took a long time to get through because they’re super strict about what you can bring in (basically cameras and water, nothing else).

I don’t have the words to do justice to the Taj Mahal. It was absolutely majestic and awe inspiring. Plus, the story behind the building of the Taj is so beautiful and romantic!

After the Taj, we went to the nearby Agra Fort, which has a much less romanticized history. The Agra Fort is a redish brown colored walled castle within viewing distance of the Taj. It was the home of royal family for a while before the capital was moved. Later, it was where the emperor’s youngest son imprisoned him for the last eight years of his life. The son declared his father unfit to rule, locked him up and overthrew his oldest brother to take power. The emperor’s favorite and most powerful daughter chose to spend eight years in the Agra Fort caring for her ailing father until his death. Despite his imprisonment, the emperor was always within view distance of the Taj where his beloved wife was buried. When he finally died, his body was entombed next to her.

There were even more monkeys running around at the Agra Fort, which always make me smile. After the Fort, we went back to the gorgeous hotel for lunch before embarking on a three-hour bus ride to Jaipur where we checked into our hotel, ate dinner and I crashed instead of going to the dance club upstairs. Note: the pillows and comforter at that hotel were the most wonderful, comfortable, delightful pillows and comforter I have ever experienced.


Day 4

Our wake up call wasn’t until 6am, which everyone was excited about. It was by far the latest call we got on the entire trip! The first part of Jaipur we got to see was the Pink City. It’s only one section of Jaipur, which is huge because it’s the capital of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Every single house and building is painted pink (and by pink, I mean varying shades of pink-ish/orangey). It was cool to drive through because it’s a famous historic district, but we were in a hurry, so we only got to stop for a few minutes to take pictures.

We were in a hurry because we were on our way to the Amber Fort on the outskirts of Jaipur. It’s built on a steep hill and there are two ways to get to the top. One is by jeep, but the cooler way is by ELEPHANT! I’ve made it a goal to ride elephants as much as possible on this trip. Anyways, animal welfare law dictates that each elephant can only make the trek four times per day, so even though there are a ton of elephants, there is also a long line of hopeful tourists every morning. The line was super long when we got there, but we all got to ride the elephants. While we were waiting in line, hawkers tried to sell us everything from t-shirts to little statues. I bought two wooden statues of Ganesh, the god of good luck and remover of obstacles, because I’d been meaning to pick one up and I’m a decent bargainer. I paid 100 rupees for each, which is about 2USD. Not the greatest deal in the world, but it was worth it. On the way back down I also bought a turban from a hawker for a friend back in Madison.

The ride itself was pretty cool because we got to sit with out legs dangling off the elephant’s left side, which gave us a great view of the nearby town, lake and the Beijing-esque wall protecting the fort.

The Amber Fort was yet another gorgeous display of architecture. “It was the ancient citadel of the ruling Kachhawa clan of Amber, before the capital was shifted to present day Jaipur” (this is what Wikipedia has to say). Two of the coolest things about the Amber Fort were the Sheesh Mahal, which is a room pack with intricately decorate mirrors, which I there were used to help light the room. The second most interesting part of the Fort was the carved wooden screen that hid the upstairs rooms from the courtyard. This was where the women were allowed to stand. They could still see what was going on below through the carved gaps, but the men in the courtyard couldn’t see them.

After the Amber Fort, we went to lunch.

To Be Continued

Know the Secret!

Oh Mauritius! What a hot, beautiful, wonderful place that is filled with even more amazing people. We docked around 8:00 and got off the ship around 11 or so. A couple of us headed into town to a market and it was pretty funny because three of us were bald and the forth had very, very short hair for a girl, so we got some looks. But that was just fine. We found this amazing market where the ground floor was a huge food market and then the loft above it was just stall after stall of clothes, jewelry, henna, spices, sugar, coffee, and teas. My friend Alicia got her whole head hennaed and my friend Rory and I were planning on getting it around our eyes but then the woman charged way too much. The exchange was 30 Mauritian rupees to $1 and the place was actually pretty expensive compared to the countries we had just come from. They also accepted USD most places, so there wasn’t as much guessing about the exchange as usual. A woman did some sega dancing for us and I even put on a skirt and tried it myself. I’m pretty sure my dancing days are over after trying to follow the traditional steps of sega, with all its hand motions and hip swinging! Coral Boral, it is perfect for you. J But check it out on youtube if you can find it, it is just gorgeous with big skirts, flowered hair, and beautiful women who look so strong and graceful.

After a couple hours of wandering around a bit we headed back to the ship and a couple of us went to an SOS Children’s Home for a couple of hours and just played with the kids. SOS is such an amazing operation. It is in over 100 countries around the world, the first being in Austria, and it is a place for children who come from bad homes, such as substance abuse, domestic violence, or sexual abuse, and also orphans. The children are placed in houses on a compound and this is their new family. The kids all have a mother who lives in the house with them and they are brothers and sisters. So instead of being in a big orphanage or foster home, the kids still have the family connectedness and reassurance of each other. Quite a few of the kids came up to me and asked me if I was a girl or a boy, and then when they found out I was of the feminine persuasion they couldn’t understand why I shaved my head….it was pretty funny. I had this one girl, Florina, on my back or shoulders for a solid hour, but any aches I had were smoothed away with the kiss on the cheek she gave me as we were saying goodbye. I wonder where she will be when she is my age? Will she leave Mauritius? What will she do? I asked our guide about working or volunteering at the village, but he said that he didn’t think they let too many foreigners work. But, there are SOS villages all over the world so I will check them out and round up a band of mothers or fathers to go out and give some kids attention with me.

After we got back it was past dinner time and a big ol’ group of us headed to Grand Bae, which was about a 25 minute taxi ride to the north part of the island. The island itself is only about 19 miles long and 8 miles wide, but the small, windy roads mixed with the mountains (it is a volcanic island that really resembles Hawai’i) makes driving take quite a bit longer that you would think by just looking at a map. But the drive was great because we went past so much sugar cane! Pretty much sugar cane in Mauritius is like corn in Illinois; you drive forever and it’s still surrounding you.

We were planning on just finding a beach to sleep on but one of the cab drivers and a couple of the guides throughout the day talked us out of it. So we went to a bar, got a couple of drinks, and just sat and took in the island night. We were the only SASers there for at least an hour, and then slowly but surely the place began to overflow with our fellow adventurers. Around midnight a group of us walked a bit down the road to a park that was on the beach and jumped in. I love my dear late night dips in Sunset Lake, but I gots to say it has nothing on skinny dipping under the moon in the Indian Ocean off of a tropical island’s white sand beach. Yeah, I just said that. J Oh life! What a world what a world, and you all have helped give me this adventure. Thank you so much.

After our dip we heard some familiar voices and found some friends hanging out in a pavilion with some locals. It was great to talk to these guys about their view of foreigners and how they view Mauritius, and to just have the pleasure of being with people who didn’t have any reservations about their home or speaking their minds to us. What a connection a smile can be.

Most people we met knew we were from the ship, but we are some of the only Americans that visit the country. It is a usual holiday spot for Europeans and Scandinavians, but since it is a solid 30 hours of travel from the US it is not well known among we Americans. But, let’s change that! It is amazing and beautiful and such a secret that we need to spread. Let’s get to it. J