February 18th (Amazon Day1 Part2)

February 18^th (Amazon Day1 Part2)

Once we got off the plane at the airport in Manaus, our exhaustion had left us. We were all trying to contain our excitement.

The airport had a different atmosphere from the one in Salvador, probably because it wasn’t some ridiculous time in the morning. But the airport in Manaus seemed more lively and friendly.

Before exiting the gate, we all went into the bathroom. There, I saw the first Japanese person in Brazil. It was a mom and her son who looked to be about 3years old. That was nice. It made me feel like I was in a familiar place.

When we stepped out, there were tons of people eagerly waiting to meet whoever they were there for. Right away, we found a guy with a sign in his hand that said “MR. TASAKI AYA”.

Yes, I am a man and my first name is Tasaki.

I don’t know what this guy was expecting, but he looked a bit surprised to see 4 college age girls come up to him. He turned out to be a really nice person, very welcoming and cracking jokes here and there. He quickly scanned his sheet and told us, “And your guide will be…oh great! Black Moses!”

Yeah, that got us a bit excited. We had no idea what was coming.

So we all waited for a bit and a huge coach bus pulled up, all for us!

The ride from the airport to the dock where we would be getting on a boat was about 20minutes. The road was very rocky and bumpy, although it looked paved and all. There were tons of potholes which the driver had to keep on avoiding.

Oh, something about this trip that I had completely forgotten to mention. Us 4 girls had all signed up to go on the Amazon trip through SAS, but didn’t get it. So I had arranged to go independently and the other 3 had shown their interest. None of us had met until 2days prior to the trip. It was pretty cool. So that was the makeup of our group.

The bus took us through a place without much around except for a bunch of trees.

Then we arrived at a private dock, where we saw tons of private boats that were really fancy. So I guess that’s where the rich Brazilians come and relax.

We got onto a very simple two-story boat that was going to take us to our lodge.

We were officially in the Amazon.

The river we were on was the Rio Negro, the other large river that meets with the Amazon. As the name says, it was really black. We passed by some beaches, more nice boats, and lots of people on motor boats.

The sun was hot, even more than in Salvador, but on the water with the wind coming through it was nice.

It was hard to believe I was actually in the place I had long dreamed of, but random things would make me know for sure that I was.

Like the odd trees that poked out from between the normal looking ones. Or seeing the river go on and on with the thick rainforest on both sides.

It was great.

After about 25minutes or so we saw a small, but wonderfully bright beach with white sand. There was a small hut that stuck out into the water where the boats could dock. It was our lodge.

We were definitely in awe as we stepped off the boat and walked towards the lodge. The actual buildings of the lodge were covered with trees, but once we walked past the beach and the trees, we found ourselves in a hut that had comfortable looking chairs and tables. Everything was made from natural things, and nothing had windows or walls. It was beautiful.

In the reception area, we were welcomed with a special Amazon drink and plantain chips. The drink was this pink color and it tasted like a cross between grass and bland watermelon. Interesting. A lot of us downed a lot of it out of courtesy. The plantain chips were tasty and tasted close to potato chips.

After that, we were lead to our cabins. The walk from the reception was nice, with lots of trees on both sides of the path. We heard tons of scurrying around in the bushes and finally saw the source cutting across our path – a lizard. Once we saw one, it seemed like that was all we saw. They were very pretty, with green, blue, and brown. We loved it.

Our room (We had split up Rachel-Aya / Izzy-Katharine) was very basic, but was really cozy. There were two beds, 2 coffee tables by our beds, a shelf/dresser kind of thing, a small desk and a bathroom. Luckily, we had air conditioning. It seemed a bit ratty, but it was working wonderfully.

There was a notice that said that the water turned off for a certain time frame everyday, and that the AC had to be turned off whenever we were going to take a shower. That made us feel a bit like we were in the Amazon.

After we had settled a bit, it was time for our first activity!

We headed to the reception and waited for “Black Moses” to arrive, who or whatever that was. Then we saw a black man strolling towards us. He said in a chill and mellow voice, “I, am Black Moses.” So there he was, our tour guide that was going to make our stay fantastic.

We walked to the dock and was introduced to a Russian couple that was going to be in our group for the rest of the time. They looked like they were in their mid to late 30s, and the man was very round and ordinary looking while the lady was really quite pretty. We kept on wondering about what an odd couple they made. The man did not speak any word aside from Russian, and the lady spoke very minimal English. This was going to be interesting.

So all of us piled on to a small wooden boat with a small motor on the back and headed down the river. We went into an area where there was a lot of vegetation growing out of the water. The water really looked like coke, dark reddish brown. Moses explained to us that the high acidity of Rio Negro takes the minerals and chemicals out of the stones and leaves that are in the water, which makes the river have its color.

After our little talk was piranha fishing!

Now, there was another Amazonian adventure that made me giddy.

We were given simple fishing rods with raw meat as our bait, and headed out towards the bank of the river where trees and grass were growing. We put our bait in to the water, expecting vicious things to chomp down and start pulling right away.

We waited.

And waited. For a long time.

I felt a tiny tug maybe once, but nothing more.

So we all moved to another place.

And waited some more.

Where were those darn piranhas?!

We moved once again, and we waited.

Then one of the guides that had come with us felt something strong pull on his rod. The next second, his rod had been pulled away from him, and was floating in the water. He said that it was a cayman, which is a kind of alligator in the Amazon.

Now that got us a bit excited.

So once again we waited.

Again, there was a tug on the guide’s rod. This time he pulled hard and pulled up a fish!

It turned out not to be a piranha, but it was a good size and flopped around like crazy. It started out in the back of the boat, but flopped around all the way past the middle of the boat. It continued to do that for a good 15 or 20 minutes.

By then we had lost interest and had gone back to some more waiting. The sun was no longer high in the sky, and our exhaustion had started to set in pretty good. Our mouths were all kind of hanging open as we stared blankly into the water waiting for some vicious fish to tug at our rods.

After a looooooong time, and after the fish had done its last flop (I swear it was almost an hour after it had been caught) we all had to call it a day.

So we headed back, a bit disappointed but still in awe of the beautiful river and forest.

Back at the lodge, we all hung out on the hammocks they had in a gazebo. It was great and very relaxing.

Dinner was amazing, which made us all excited again. Good food always makes the day.

To top it off, we were able to enjoy a beautiful star filled sky. We were in the middle of the Amazon. What could be wrong?

February 18th (Amazon Day1 Part1)

Monday, February 18^th (Amazon Day1 Part1)

So there is obviously close to no distinction between Sunday and Monday, since I had practically no sleep in between the two days.

After rolling down the stairs to the gangway, I met Izzy and Rachel. We waited, but Katharine didn’t show up at all. I went to find her room, but completely blanked out on what room she was in so I went to the purser’s desk to check and ran again to her room. I knocked but no one answered. We kind of freaked out that she had gone out and had never came back to the ship, but the sign in said that she did. So we called her room and yay, she was sleeping and she just couldn’t get up in time. We all left, completely zoned out and had a swarm of cab drivers trying to get us to the airport. One guy even pointed to Katharine and said “Amiga! Amiga!”

When we finally settled on a driver, he wanted to charge us 80 US dollars. We got it down to 50, and although we knew we could’ve gotten it down maybe another 5 or 10 we were just too tired to even care.

The guy wasn’t a creeper or anything and he seemed to be good and up at 4am in the morning.

The ride to the airport was about 40minutes, and we saw a lot of things.

First there were the two major car accidents where cars were completely wrecked in both, with glass shattered all over the place. It was really nerve wrecking especially since we had seen a few cars drive by that were weaving through the lanes at an unbelievable speed. We also passed by a lot of favelas, which are the slums in Brazil, which we didn’t really see much of in the small area of Salvador. There were clusters and clusters of houses that were dark and desolate.

At the airport, we were a bit surprised to find a good amount of people and even a few open stores. The tickets we got were interesting. They were basically a wad of receipts, literally, on those smooth pieces of paper.

We attempted to stomach some chicken nuggets and juice, and then headed to security. To save time, we didn’t check any bags in and had our backpacks with us. They had a problem with something in my bag. Uh oh.

It turned out to be this multi-tool thing that I had packed. It didn’t really have a knife, but it did have some sharp things in it. It also had this screw driver thing with 6or so spare heads that had different kinds of tools on it. The spare heads were stored in a way that it made it look like a row of bullets or something, and I freaked out for second there when they took it out. I thought someone had planted some weapon in my bag! So that was funny in hind sight. They did have to take it away though, since I had no bags I had checked in and I had no way to bring it with me.

So I parted with my multi-jungle tool (it’s what it seemed like to me) in Salvador.

We were all excited, but exhausted at the same time so it was clear that the only thing on our minds was to just fall asleep on the plane.

It wasn’t exactly the most comfortable flight, but we made it through the 3hour flight to Brasilia where we had a 2hour layover. As we descended, the landscape of Brasilia spread before our eyes. It looked a lot different from Salvador. The colors we could see were the green of the trees, the red-brown of the dirt and roofs, and the white of the houses. It seemed much more structured and geometric.

When I stood up to get off the plane, I saw that my water bottle had leaked onto my lap and it had made a water stain that looked like I peed on myself. Seriously, I have an issue with liquid and planes. When I flew to Chicago from Tokyo before leaving for sea, I spilled tea all over myself in the first 20minutes of the flight.

So the first thing I needed to do was change my pants.

After that, we were stuck in a really small terminal until our flight left. There was one place to get food where Rachel and I attempted to buy food and things to drink.

I got this round bread that had cheese inside and it was sooooo good. The funny thing was we thought that we had both ordered bottled water, but for some reason only Rachel’s was bottled and mine was in a plastic cup thing with a lid on it. What???

Oh well.

Something really interesting I noticed in the airport in Brasilia was that there were almost no Afro-Brazilians. Like I had written in my previous entry, if you keep your eyes open the disparity between the rich and the poor are evident in a lot of places. The airport really was completely different from what I had experienced in the streets of Salvador. Everyone was dressed so nice and neat, many with designer bags and sunglasses. The fact that they had enough money to actually travel on an airplane also showed their wealth.

When it was time for our flight to board, we were tired of sitting and waiting. There was a long line into our gate, so we waited until the line got short. When we attempted to go in, we were turned down. Again, what???

Turns out that the gate was for people boarding the flight that was supposed to take off before us. It’s so funny when you have not a single clue what they’re yelling over the PA system. They’d probably done a million announcements saying that the gate was accommodating people who were supposed to be on the other flight, but of course we had no idea. It was time for our flight and we’d simply assumed that whatever gate was filled with people was ours. Haha for clueless tourists.

So we boarded our plane a bit later than what it had originally said. Again, we tried to cram in some sleep.

The flight this time was shorter than our flight to Brasilia. When we started to descend, I saw the thick forests of the Amazon and the rivers weaving through it.

Here, I have to explain about the meaning the Amazon holds for me.

After the frenzy of Oregon Trail and Where in the World is Carmen San Diego (both computer games that were really popular in the States when I was in elementary school), I had gotten a game called Amazon Trail before going back to Japan. This was a game where you canoe down the Amazon River while taking pictures and gathering information about all the wildlife that you encountered in the forest and the river. For food, you would fish. There would be major villages along the river where you could trade for things like machetes, harpoons and medicine. Your goal was first, to make it to the last village with the herbs and jewels that were requested by the king (which you got from trading and wandering in the jungle). You also wanted to try to get a picture of all the animals, plants and birds that existed in the Amazon. This game was actually pretty hard, since you had cannibal tribes capture you, weird diseases, and piranhas eating you.

So I had played that game with fascination for a long time. It was literally my childhood dream to go to the Amazon.

Now that landscape was right under my feet.

How exciting is that.

February 17th Salvador, Brazil (Day1 part2 CARNAVAL)

February 17^th (Part 2 CARNAVAL)

So after we got back to the ship, Priya and I fell into our beds and slept for about 3 hours straight. Yeah, we were exhausted.

When we got up, we had only 5 minutes to make it to dinner so we ran and had a quick bite in the dining hall.

After that we wandered past the piano lounge and found a bunch of girls congregating. I started talking to the few that I knew and found out that they were going as a huge group to carnaval. We decided to join them, so we rushed back to our rooms and got ready.

This time, all the money went in to our shoes and bras. And not just in any part of the bra, but on the side part of it. We were well aware of all the crazy groping that was about to happen.

At the piano lounge, there were close to 15 people which was pretty exciting. There were 2 guys among us. (the ship has like a 3 to 1 ratio of girls to guys) We were all really excited but honestly didn’t know what to expect.

We divided up into cabs and headed to Barra, which was the place the cab drivers recommended we go. There were 4 of us squished into the back seat of the cab, but the driver didn’t even care. I guess that’s how it is in Brazil.

The drive was about 15 minutes. There was a lot of traffic. Once we got as close as we could get, we poured out of the cab. Now came the whole fiasco about the fare. The driver wanted $25 US, and we only paid him 25 reals. We knew that he was jacking up the price because we were tourists and because it was carnaval. I think we ended up adding another $5 US, but it was alrite. The people in the other cab got ripped off though, and paid a ton more than they should have.

But they had no time to be pissed off. We were at carnaval and we had to stick close together.

So we walked towards all the commotion and lo and behold, there was the intersection all lit up and jam packed with people. It was crazy. There were so many people in the street, waiting for the trucks to pass by, and when you looked up, all the windows of the buildings were full of people. There was faint music, but it was mostly people singing and yelling. It was a great atmosphere.

I don’t know where they found these guys, but there were two guys there who had done SAS a few years back and they were backpacking the Americas. It was a pretty awesome coincidence. So they joined our merry group.

To get into carnaval mode, I got a large can of Skol. (the most popular Brazilian beer, kind of the equivalent to bud light in the States) I drank and thought of you Muna! I also got this popcorn where they poured something over it that tasted like a cross between maple syrup and condensed milk. It was really good. When we finished up eating, a truck came along with a band and it was AMAZING. The music was loud and so chill we were dancing, jumping up and down with all these people.

When the truck left, another truck came pretty much right away and there were tons of fans on the back of the truck which made it even more loud and crazy.

After that one left, we all decided to actually go into the street and be IN the parade. We could do that as long as we didn’t go into the territory of the bands and their trucks, which were marked by people holding ropes and moving along with the truck.

Now this is where the true madness started. In order to not get separated, we all walked in a line holding hands or hanging on to each other’s shoulders. At first it was ok, but once the truck closed in on us we were pushed forward by the people holding the ropes. It was so much more fun though dancing in the street, because you were actually participating!

The people from the camarotes would cheer us on.

Once the street started filling up with more people, that was when all the groping and wild stuff happened. Liz was in front of me and she has blonde hair. The guys would try to kiss her and grab her hair. Then they would look at me and yell “Japonesa!” and do the same to me. I swear we were all grabbed so many times we didn’t even know what was going on. We mastered the art of wiggling and slashing left and right pretty quickly to get away from it though.

There were some parts where the crowd was so big that we were literally squished and some of the girls who did have some money in their pockets had them stolen. This was also the area where the mud started to get worse. Since it had rained earlier, that added to the spilled beer and made a whole slimy mixture throughout the streets. All of us were caked with mud, but we didn’t care at all. We were having such a great time.

At one point, we came across a stage that was set up on the side of the street and we stopped there to dance. It was so much fun, mixing with the locals and having kind of a dance-off. There were some girls in our group who were making out hardcore with some random Brazilian guys, but for some reason it didn’t seem to disgusting. We were definitely sucked into the atmosphere of carnaval.

Every time we were ready to move on, we would all make sure that we had everyone and would hold hands once again. We all held on tight. It really felt like it was our lives.

There were some intense moments though.

There would be a line of police force marching through the parade to keep everything relatively in order, and people would literally separate like a wave when they came through. There was no messing with them. We saw them sometimes carrying people that had been injured or gotten too wasted to even function. That really was a sobering scene.

We continued down the street for a while, trying to scope out a side street we could escape into. One of the girls, Caitlin kept on saying “I think all the guys think I’m a lesbian just because I have short hair, and they don’t mess with me.” That was actually true it seemed. So she became our protector, along with the other guys.

Oh, and it was around this point when all of us realized that one of the guys we initially had with us was missing. Now if this had been a girl, we would have freaked out but it was a guy so we kind of shrugged it off. In reality though, I think a lot of us were a bit concerned. Carnaval was not a place to be alone, especially if you were a tourist.

The crowd seemed to be getting rowdier as the night progressed, so we decided to make an escape. We literally ran and wove through the wave of people and got on to a side street. We looked back, and three of us were missing.

We had zig-zagged and made sharp turns, if they had let go of our hands there was almost no chance they would know where we were.

We had all sort of gave up and started reassuring ourselves that Caitlin was with them and she’s strong, blah blah blah when miraculously they appeared out of the crowd!!

That was a gooooood reunion.

So our walk in search of cabs started. We passed through streets that smelled like pee (which were a lot of them) and drunken people being supported by friends. We walked for quite a bit. It really does make a difference when you’re in a huge group of people. The security level is so much different.

We did pass by some fights though, that were pretty violent. There were some warnings to really stay away from those especially since weapons could come involved quickly.

The cabs were nowhere to be seen. We ended up walking all the way to the main street and were about to catch a cab when we saw Josh, one of the SAS alum guys that had been MIA a few hours back. He was sitting in a bus and saw us too.

The bus was stuck in traffic, and it was so hilarious because Josh crawled out of the bus window onto the street! When he was going through the window, the guy on the bus who collects the fares grabbed him and we all thought he was trying to pull him back in because it was dangerous. Turns out he was only trying to get the money from him. He didn’t give at all that Josh was trying to jump out of the window into traffic. Hahaha.

So that was another great reunion for us.

We had completely missed the chance to catch a cab, so we just walked along the road and asked random bus drivers that were stuck in traffic where they were going. SAS had warned us not to take the bus at night, but there were so many of us and a lot of people from carnaval that we didn’t care.

We finally found a bus that stopped at the bottom of the elevator, so we hopped on. Then began our long journey home. Added to the cab ride, we had moved quite a bit when we danced down the street in the parade. Plus there was a bunch of traffic.

I saw a clock on the side of a building and got a bit nervous to see that it was already 12:30. That was because I had to meet up with my Amazon crew at 3:30am to get to the airport, and I hadn’t even packed yet.

OHHHHH boy.

The bus got to the elevator and we walked back to the ship.

Once in the room, I saw it was a little past 1. I threw random stuff into my bag, washed my ridiculously muddy feet and fell into the bed for about an hour.

February 17th Salvador, Brazil (1st day part 1)

February 17^th (Part 1)

Our first day in Salvador, Brazil.

Dock time in Puerto Rico was 8am, but this time it’s 7am.

Priya and I watched with sleepy eyes through our window as we saw the skylines of Salvador closing in.

After a quick breakfast, we headed to the union for our diplomatic briefing. A lady who worked for the US consulate (I think) gave us a little talk, which honestly was a total bore since she had nothing new or interesting to say. And we were all itching to get off the ship into Salvador.

Our sea was the first to get our passports this time, and we stepped out onto the deck to take pictures. It was the most intense heat I had ever felt. And it was only 8 in the morning. Oh my gosh. We felt it was going to be a long day. The sun was seriously piercing our skin and wow was it bright.

Our glimpse of Salvador was different from San Juan. As I had read in the guide books, I could see the city divided into Cidade Alta (upper town) and Cidade Baixa (lower town). The two are connected by Elevador Lacerda, which is a huge elevator and the first one to be installed in Salvador. We were told never to walk between the two cities, and to always take the elevator.

The line of houses I saw of Cidade Alta all seemed extremely old and run down. They were all narrow and side-by-side, with some church looking buildings popping up here and there. Despite the poor conditions, they all had these colors that were still bright and visible. It was beautiful.

Due to the change in tide, our gangway was on deck 5 instead of 2 today. The line was massive and it took us forever to get out of the ship.

Today I had taken off all the jewelry I usually refuse to take off (3 rings and earrings), left my video and digital camera, and had not even brought a bag of any sort. I had a debit card in my leg pocket, my $25 worth of Brazilian currency spread out in 3 different pockets, and a disposable camera. (So I have no pictures to upload of Salvador yet) It was all due to the warnings we had received the whole way between Puerto Rico and Brazil. There’s no way you can be too careful.

So I have to admit I was definitely a bit nervous about what this country had in store for us. Crime seemed so common and, on top of it all, we were going to be there during carnaval when the crime rates shoot up even more. Hey, it’s the largest festival of the world. We had to brace ourselves.

Once we stepped off, we saw a group of men playing the drums and welcoming us. There were ladies in traditional dresses who tied colorful string like things to our wrists. I forgot what they were called, but they are traditional good luck charms that come from the Candomblé tradition.

I need to explain here a little bit about Salvador.

Salvador is the capital of the state of Bahia, and due to its location it was the center of the slave trade back when Brazil was a colony of Portugal. Because of this, the African population is still extremely large and is at about 85%. (Brazil as a country has the second largest number of Africans outside of Nigeria) The culture reflects this in the music, food, and religion as well. Religious practices of Candomblé and of Yoruba are common, and ingredients that come originally from Africa are used frequently as well. Capoeira is a popular combination of dancing and martial arts that was created when slaves tried to create a form of self defense without being noticed by the colonialists.

So that’s the basic of Salvador.

Once we stepped outside of our dock area (we were literally docked in this port where tons of cargo ships and stuff come in) we were swamped with cab drivers offering us to drive places. We fought our way through and headed for the banks to get some cash.

At the bank, there was a long line of SAS students and it was quite a wait. Right after I got my money, I stuffed it into my shoe. Yup, another precaution.

Priya and I headed down to Mercado Modelo, which is the largest market around. On the way we passed by a ton of buildings that were a bit run down and without many people, since it was carnaval and it was a business district.

We made a stop at a small pharmacy where I bought a bottle of water.

When we got to the end of the road, a bay opened up in front of us, with vendors and people, people, people. It was definitely exciting. There was a long line of people that seemed to be waiting to get onto ferries. To where, I don’t know. But the line was all Africans and a lot seemed to have much of their belongings with them.

The first purchase of the day was made by me being all touristy. I got a coconut from the vendor, who chopped the top open with a machete and stuck a straw in it. I can’t say it was the best thing I had ever had, but it was refreshing in the hot sun and I was satisfied holding a coconut in my hand.

We proceeded on to the market which was inside a large building. In front of it was a restaurant space where many people were sitting and drinking beer and eating. There was also a Capoeira performance going on. We were watching when a young boy who was part of the performance came up to us and started asking us for money. I knew there was more to come, but it was hard ignoring and rejecting him.

It’s the reality that a lot of people who beg for anything here, young or old, simply trade those things in for drugs.

We went into the market and saw lots of colors, sounds, and PEOPLE. Many tourists wandering around in awe among the heat and excitement. Now, I’m definitely not used to bargaining, since it’s a very unfamiliar culture in Japan or the US. But I had to. That’s how they do it here, and in most of the places we’re going.

So I was thinking of possibly getting a knock off Ronaldinho soccer jersey, and I succeeded in getting the price down to 25 reals (about $12.50) but by then I wasn’t even interested in buying it. So I just got a pack of postcards.

Outside of the market on the other side, there were lots of other vendors. Many walked around with beads hanging from their arms and they would try to sell them to you. We found an interesting booth that made dresses, bags, and belts out of pop can tabs. It was so fun seeing the stuff and I saw a belt that was made of green and yellow pull tabs that I really liked. So that was my number one souvenir in Salvador.

There were tons of booths with jewelry, art, and bunch of other things. I had heard that hammocks are a popular souvenir in Brazil and I saw many. I wanted one so bad but I have no where to put it, so I resisted. Good job me. I have not been wasting money on stupid things. (No, the belt is not stupid)

Most of the vendors were shirtless guys who had elaborate tattoos on their bodies which were also interesting to see.

Now here’s another thing about Brazil. The country is proud to say that they do not have that bad of racism. Instead they have classism. It is the number one country in the world where the disparity between the poor and the rich is the largest. An interesting thing to note here is that race and class are still tightly linked. We saw not a single vendor that was of lighter skin color. Something to keep in mind.

So we headed from the market on to the gigantic elevator. Before that, I stopped and bought acaraje which is one of the traditional Bahian foods. I think it’s originally from Ghana. It’s black eyed peas mashed up and rolled into a dough-ish thing, fried in dende (palm oil). Then they stuff a paste which is usually made from different spices, nuts etc. To top it off you usually put dried shrimp and hot sauce. It was interesting, a flavor I had not experienced.

The elevator was a fast ride up. It was not the best elevator ever, and I wondered how safe it was. But so many people ride it everyday, and it was the only alternative to walking up the “forbidden” path or taking the cab. Plus it was free during carnaval. (as opposed to the usual 5 centavos, which is like 2 cents)

At the exit, there was a plaza with some people selling stuff again. The view from there was phenomenal. You could see the whole bay and the houses that stood between the two cities.

This part of the upper city is called Pelorinho, and it is a historical city that is a UNESCO world heritage. The city was definitely different than usual due to carnaval. All the stores were closed and instead, there were food vendors in front of every single closed shutter. Festivity was definitely in the air. Music was playing from boom boxes, and we saw the huge trucks that were going to be in the parade.

These trucks were really something. They are huge and the bottom 15 or so feet of it was all amps that were HUGE. Then they would have the place where the band would play and then usually more space for fans and such to stand on. If you purchase a shirt, which goes from about $20 up to $700, you get to be on the trucks or walk right along side them. The popular bands are obviously the ones with expensive t-shirts. A lot of people usually purchase tickets to the camarote, which is a room or balcony along the road where you can see the parade comfortably and SAFELY.

It was only a little past noon so people were just getting warmed up. (The carnaval had been going on already for a few days at this point) There were lots of families, and a lot of the kids were dressed up in costume like clothes.

We were just walking along, when a group of boys about 8-10 approach us for money. When we ignored them, the boys started calling to me trying to get attention. What was funny was that they called me “Japonesa”. It was kind of cool actually, because this was the only country I had ever been to where people did not assume all Asians were Chinese or Korean. I had not seen a single Asian yet in Salvador, but I guess the Japanese really do have a big presence in the Brazilian community.

It started to rain while we were scoping out a place to eat lunch. And oh my. The raindrops were ridiculously huge. They were the biggest drops I had ever seen in my life. It was really amazing. We had fun walking in it at first, but we got drenched pretty fast so we stood at a bus stop for a while. While we waited for the rain to go away, we saw many men dancing to the music that was coming from a boom box with giant amps. These men were old, like in their 60s, but they knew how to dance. It was in their blood. They looked so happy doing it too, just moving their body however they wanted to.

We actually saw a restaurant right by the bus stop and we decided to go in. The menu was entirely in Portuguese and most of the stuff we had absolutely no idea what it was. Priya is vegetarian so that was mega hard. We kept on trying to tell the guy that she ate no meat, but he didn’t seem to understand. So she ended up ordering some random dessert off the menu which turned out to be this huge slice of cheese with guava paste on it. Interesting…

My food turned out to be absolutely amazing. It was chunks of beef cooked with vegetables in a watery gravy thing that came with rice and beans. It makes me hungry just remembering about it. Yummmmm. So I was really excited about my food and wanted to tell the waiter that it was really good. The sign you’re supposed to use when something is good is a thumbs up, but I completely forgot about that and made the circle with my thumb and pointing finger. Now this sign is supposed to mean something vulgar in Brazil. The second I did that, I totally remembered and took it back. Haha. There’s some cultural experience.

On our walk back to the elevator, we saw some people already congregating together for the carnaval parade. There was a large group of people who were dressed in orange shirts who had a huge marching band in the middle and they were all yelling and dancing as they proceeded down the street.

We also saw tons of men wearing black mini skirts, black knee socks, black shirts with they stomach showing, tons of make up, cat ears, and water guns. They were being what you would stereotypically call “gay” and “feminine”. It was so much fun to watch them. They were very playful. Later we found out that they were all police officers and that it was a tradition to dress and act like that during carnaval. One of the things about carnaval is that it is a place to completely cross the barriers of class, race, gender and everything else that is your identity in your usual life. This really exemplified it.

So we got a good intro taste to what this whole fiesta was going to be like. Or we thought so.

We headed back to the ship after being out until only about 3:30. It was so exhausting, from the mixture of intense heat, nervousness of being robbed, and being in a completely foreign country.

worst day of my life

yes, i am actually saying that.
the most optimistic person in the whole entire world.
here's why.

as i wrote in my previous blog, this end of the week is brutal in terms of school work.
i was completely on top of things, and yesterday night i had just a paragraph to go on my paper due today and written half of my paper due tomorrow.
this morning i turned on the computer and was about to finish up my paper for today when the screen went blank.
a blue screen popped up and said something was wrong and if it was the first time seeing this message, to just restart the computer.
so i restarted the computer. only it won't turn on.
i tried a million times, did all the trouble shooting techniques i had used the last time my computer went weird, brought it to the computer guy on the ship.
no luck.

the conclusion was that i needed to take it some place to get it fixed.
WHAT THE HELL.
i had just sent the computer in to get it fixed in japan, paid close to $500 and it just bust on me in the middle of the ocean.
now i can't upload any pictures, which means i need to buy like a million more memory cards for my camera.
now i have to re-type my whole paper by tonight (yes, my professor said TONIGHT)
i have to write my other paper due for tomorrow.
i have to study for a test for tomorrow.
i have to read 100 pages for tomorrow.
and every single paper i need to turn in for the rest of the semester has to be typed in this compuer lab that is the following:
- towards the front of the ship which is really rocky and makes me nauseous
- always completely full (i sat in front of the lab waiting for a computer for 2 hours and no one moved)

i'm just crossing my fingers that a miracle happens and my computer recovers.
i had been taking such good care of it.
i didn't even turn it on much.

it's been 10minutes since i started typing this blog and i'm already in need to throw up.
the sea makes you turn in to things you usually aren't.
i have to finish these papers.
i have to pass this test.
they're all my first assignments.
i can't fall so early.
oh if only the rocking weren't so bad.
...wait a sec. i'm in the middle of the ocean.
tough luck aya.

February 13th

Tuesday, February 13^th

Mark your calendars. Today was my official seasick day. I headed over to the union for Global studies, which was my first class. The union, as I have mentioned, is probably the rockiest place on the ship. I was really hungry and I guess that made things worse, but I was definitely not feeling well. I tried to focus on the lecture, but it was getting harder to do so since I felt so nauseous.

So after global studies I hurried back to my room, ate some wheat thins and took a nap. After I got up, it was time for lunch and I managed to eat an ok amount. I had two cups of soup among other things so that was pretty nice. I took a seasickness pill and took another short nap. So much for the plan to get some work done.

I was actually planning to just sleep through my issues of the twentieth century class, but I forced myself to go and it wasn’t bad. Yay.

Those seasick meds do wonders. I try not to rely on it much, but days like this you just have to.

At 6:30 I had my first meeting for the GLBTA group leaders. I’m really excited for this group. The people I’m gonna be working closely with are great. Professor Murphy and her partner Sue, along with the registrar Dia seem like amazing people. And of course, Ryan and Drew are great. One of the big things we’re gonna try to do is connect with members of the GLBT community in each port. That would be so cool. We could learn about the challenges in each country, as well as inspire them with the situation in the US.

After the meeting, I treated myself to a pizza dinner on the 7^th floor deck rather than the usual dinner in the dining hall. Yummm. I had a good talk with the people who worked there (a guy from Jamaica and a girl from the Philippines) and I also met this guy named Vince who was from Hawaii. He was pretty cool. Talked about Japanese food and stuff.

And then another meeting, this time for the diversity committee leaders. There were a few girls I had already “met” via facebook. One of them had stayed in Japan for 2 weeks with her relative when she was in elementary school. She attended a public Japanese school for those 2 weeks and it was fun to talk to her about that. Then there was this other girl who had dated Andre that just graduated from LFC. She knew all the buildings and stuff which was weird in a way. You just never know who you’re gonna meet in life.

The day ended by having to move our clocks forward an hour AGAIN. It’s our third time in the voyage doing this, and it always seems to happen the night before the day I have 8am classes. This is just so mean. I want my sleep.

Monday, February 12 (i need to start being creative with my titles)

Monday, February 12^th

It’s been really rocky the whole day. It’s 11:30pm right now and we’re not allowed out on the deck since the wind is so strong. The clouds started to get thick around dinner time and it’s been windy and rainy since then. Our first storm.

I just got back from working out in the gym and it was great. I really do miss playing sports.

So I’ve reorganized the syllabus for each class and am kind of freaking out about the intense studying that lies ahead. Saturday morning we dock in Salvador, and up until then I have a hellish ordeal to get through. I need to read over 400pages total, take 2 tests, and write 2 papers. YIKES. I can’t even think about being seasick. Gotta tough it out. I was actually really nauseous after dinner, but I kind of ignored and read. It got worse but I ignored it even more and went to work out. Now I feel fine. Ah, the human body and its wonders. Haha

Highlights of today would be having lunch with Ryan and Tim. Ryan’s the one I’ll be leading the Gay-Straight Alliance with, and he’s also in my Gender, Class, Race, Ethnicity and Social Change class. He’s great. I’m definitely excited to work with him. Then there’s Tim, who I met briefly but talked to for the first time today. I definitely had a good impression of him automatically just because he’s really chill with Ryan, who’s gay. Any guy that’s not homophobic always gets my attention. Anyway, Tim is a really nice guy and was pretty excited for Japan and the food. We all had a good conversation about random things: the awesome opportunity we’re having, how we really want to learn, about education, Japan… Sweet. I’m finally finding people who can hold a good conversation.

On top of it all, clubs and organizations start tomorrow so I’m super pumped. Who cares if I have a crap load of work to do? Once I whip out my planner and it fills up, the motivation for studying spurs too. Hooray for Miss LFC at sea J

Sunday, February 11

Sunday, February 11^th

At sea, days of the week mean nothing. We have classes regardless if it is a weekend or not. But then again when we take into account the fact that we have no classes when we are at port, we need to cover a ton of material in a very short period of time. We have alternating A days and B days. I have 3 classes everyday, and for tomorrow I have to read a total of 90 pages of intense material. I already have a paper and 2 tests on Friday.

It’s really interesting.

But I’ve definitely been keeping up with the mega healthy schedule. I can’t even believe it myself. I go to bed between 11:30 and 12:00 (UNBELIEVABLE) and get up at 7:30 on A days and 6:30 on B days. I even try to eat breakfast, and I workout hardcore at least for 30minutes every night. WOW, right? Hahaha.

It’s true though, how I’m so conscious about my health because I don’t want to waste a second of this awesome experience feeling the least bit ill.

So…

A recap of yesterday. Other than classes, I did 2 things worth mentioning.

First, I went to post-port open mic night. We are going to have one after every port, where people can just share whatever experience they had, read their blog, poem, whatever. I went and shared my experience at the mall, how I was the only Asian and blah blah blah. I wasn’t even planning to talk and had just gone there to listen, but am really glad I did. I got a lot of comments later from people I hadn’t had the chance to meet yet. So yay for that.

The other thing was that we had an activities fair where we could go and sign up for stuff we were interested in getting involved in. Finally. I’m really excited for things to start up because in all honesty, it has been a real struggle to find friends. I really feel like I have been thrown into a group of white Americans who I have a hard time connecting with. A lot of them are from large universities, are used to partying all the freaking time, and just think that this is a huge vacation cruise. I have felt baffled and simply astonished by how rude and disrespectful a lot of these students have been. I’m really hoping that I can find the good amount of descent people through different clubs.

I signed up for a bunch of things, but in particular signed up to have a leadership role in the GLBTQ group and the diversity planning group.

Drew, who’s in charge of diversity and spirituality, is so awesome and I love him. I was wearing my “gay? Fine by me” shirt (YAY FOXY!!) and he was like “oh why thank you”. Just thought that was cute. But yeah, it was a nice surprise to see people reacting to my shirt. Not a lot of people said anything directly to me, but I heard a few people saying to each other “oh, that’s a cool shirt”.

I’m also hoping to be active in the religious explorers, women’s Bible study, and SOS (students of service, which is a fund raising group).

So today.

I got up kind of early for an A day, since add-drop for classes was today and I needed to add another class to fulfill my credits back home. They opened at 7am and apparently there were students sleeping outside the registrar’s door to be first in line. That’s just crazy. So when I went there at around 8, I was number 165. Holy crap. I had already talked to the professor though, that I wanted to be in her class and she said that it should be fine. So wasn’t too worried about it. I really like her and the class. Her name’s Professor Zimmerman and the class is cultural perspectives on human sexuality. She’s here on the ship with her family: husband who’s a professor and 2 daughters.

During breakfast, we passed by St. Lucia island. That was exciting. The waves got really choppy when we passed by though. It was pretty rocky all throughout the day actually. Lots of people were seasick.

Around noon, we passed by Barbados which was again a bit exciting. It’s funny how land makes you excited after being on the sea for a while. The water doesn’t get tiring or anything though. It’s always gorgeous. I think it’s more of the rocking that makes us be a bit tired. In terms of myself and seasickness, it hasn’t been too bad. There are times when I feel a bit dizzy, but I swear that’s from the carpet in the union with the horrible patterns on it. I guess I do have mild seasickness because I get tired a lot. But I haven’t thrown up or anything and it’s not unbearable so it’s all good. I definitely feel myself becoming used to it too.

So another funny/exciting thing that happened today.

As most already know, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who won the Nobel Peace Prize a while ago for working to get rid of the apartheid in South Africa, is sailing with us for the whole voyage. I passed by him today in front of the bookstore. Here is the conversation we had:

Me “Hello.”

Tutu “Hi.”

Me “How are you doing?”

Tutu “Goody!” (raises his hand at me)

It was absolutely hilarious. He’s a lot shorter than me and a bit old. So it was just really unexpected and funny what he said, and how he said it. I really hope I get a chance to talk to him, although I need to be prepared for when that chance comes around. I don’t want to make a fool out of myself.

February 9th SAN JUAN (last day)

Friday, February 9^th

Last day in Puerto Rico.

Priya and I left at about 9:30am and decided to take the bus into Old San Juan instead of walking. The closest bus station was one road in from the main street, and the first thing we saw there were a bunch of workers doing construction on the road.

They seemed nice and we said hi as we passed. In front of the bus stop, there was a huge coach bus, along with a truck. They were with the group of workers, but the funny thing was that there were about 3 or 4 men wearing what looked like police badges. We later came to a conclusion that the group of workers were most likely prisoners who were doing community service or something. Interesting.

Once we got off at the bus terminal in Old San Juan, we decided to take the trolley to Forte del Morro which is the other big fort that goes together with San Cristobal. A lady started talking to us and she said she was from Argentina but has lived in Puerto Rico for 17 years. She was really interested to know how we as tourists evaluated Puerto Rico. She kept on saying her English was terrible, but in actually it was pretty good.

We stood and waited and waited for the trolley to come, only to find out that we were standing at the stop for a different trolley. We got on anyway and wow was it crowded. It was almost like the rush hour in Japan (ok, not as bad). The thing about the trolleys though, is that they have incredibly narrow aisles between the seats and once people squish into them it takes forever for them to get off at a stop.

We got off at the City Hall stop and made a stop at Walgreens. I bought earplugs (the ones you have Tenzin!) since we’re near the engine on the ship.

After that, it was a walk over to del Morro. On the way we stopped at a church, which was very simple on both the inside and outside. It really fit with the whole city of Old San Juan. Across the street from there we found a spice and jam store, which turned out to be the main store that supplied to the boutique I was at the day before! So I had hit the only 2 places in the world that carried these amazing sauces and jams! This time I got to try the jams and they were so good. I got a mango pineapple jam for my mom. It was heavenly. The lady there was really nice too. She had come over to Puerto Rico from the States and she was very eager to know about Semester at Sea so we chatted for a while. It seems that there are a good number of people who come and settle here from the States.

The walk to del Morro was really nice. This part of Old San Juan seemed a lot more high class and less touristy. The houses all seemed more taken care of and we also saw a lot more flowers and trees which gave us nice shades.

We had apparently taken a back path to del Morro, but it had amazing views of the water and we passed by a small park. The land suddenly opened up in front of our eyes and there was del Morro on top of a hill. To the right we saw a big hill that curved gently down towards the water. It wasn’t a beach though, since there was the old wall of del Morro that stretched all the way separating the land from water. There were tons of kids who were on field trips and lots of kites in the air.

It was an amazing sight.

From the top of del Morro we could see San Cristobal on the other side. In between the two forts was La Perla. Now this was the place I had read about in the guide books, the one place that said we should never wander into. It is called the most beautiful slum of the world. It really was. The houses still had the same look as those in Old San Juan, with vibrant colors, and the beach that it sat on was so beautiful. Deep blue and white waves. I took a long careful look at it with my binoculars and saw the sign that said La Perla on a concrete wall. It was really interesting. It was the only thing, along we a cemetery, that sat snuggled between the forts. One thing that was noticeable was that it was outside of the old wall that stretched between the forts. When you really look at it, they really did seem like the outcasts. I wanted so badly to go there and talk to the people, but of course no.

So del Morro was a great experience.

For lunch, we headed into a local sandwich joint called el meson (which was like the subway of Puerto Rico). I find I have just been really eager to communicate with people in Spanish. Restaurants are always the number one place to do that.

After lunch we set out to look for a post office to mail some stuff back home, and then we headed for the bus terminal again to go to new San Juan. We took the same bus I had taken the day before and I felt so used to it all it was kind of funny.

I was then back again in Plazas de las Americas, the mall. This time we went into the Borders they had there. It was interesting to see that English and Spanish books were just shelved all together. The magazine section was all English, except for a few magazines. The GLBTQ magazines were in the front rack and very visible, which was a nice surprise.

Since this was our last day in Puerto Rico, we wanted to buy some local sweets and snack. We found a kiosk which was overflowing with what we were looking for. The vendor was a young girl, probably a few years younger than us, and when we asked her which ones she recommended we just ended up getting a whole basket of cool looking sweets. We got blocks of guava and mango flavored jelly-ish things, squares of coconut molded together with sweet potato, plantain chips (yessss!).

After that we went to pick up some dinner at the Taco Maker, which is a chain we had seen a couple of times in Puerto Rico. It’s like the equivalent of Taco Bell, but it turned out to be MUCH more tasty. And then it was back to the ship.

We boarded the bus for one last time and said good bye to the city.

I can’t believe it went by so fast, and I still can’t believe I’m on this trip. But hopefully I’ve internalized a lot more than I fell like have. Thanks Puerto Rico, for your amazing energy and beauty.

February 8th SAN JUAN (2nd day)

Thursday, February 8^th

I kind of slept in, but that means 9am. I was taking a shower when I noticed tons of tiny red spots on my arms and legs. None of them itched, maybe one or two at the most. I kind of freaked, at first thought it was ticks or bed bugs.

Priya and I came to the conclusion that it might have been bugs from the night before since I had been outside at night. But then it was kind of weird since they didn’t really itch and they seemed to kind of spread. Allergic reaction??? I had never had one before and couldn’t think of anything I would’ve reacted to. Hmmm… We’ll figure it out.

So Priya and I headed out to Viejo San Juan again (Old San Juan). It was scorching heat again, but the shades and breezes were nice so we managed.

We just sort of walked around trying to find something interesting. We had seen tons of ice cream vendors and they all had 3 flavors: coco, pina, and parcha. We really wanted to know what this parcha thing was so we went into an ice cream place. Turns out parcha is passion fruit. So we had a nice sour frozen yogurt break.

Then Priya had to leave to go on her rainforest hike, so I was alone in San Juan.

I walked around a bit, went into some clothing and jewelry stores, and attempted to talk to some people. The people are very smiley here. I walked into a small, privately owned bookstore and asked the owner there what CD was most popular in Puerto Rico now. He showed me some salsa and reggaeton CDs and I ended up getting a reggaton CD that was a compilation of different artists.

For lunch I went into this café we had seen that said “authentic Puerto Rican café”. It was kind of a dim, narrow, hole-ish place. You just line up and tell them what you want, like the food courts in the mall. I tried to talk to them in Spanish, but I obviously stuck out and they started talking to me in English. Damn it. So I got crispy chicken, rice, beans and FRIED PLANTAINS! Haha. I’m obsessed.

The place started getting a bit crowded with locals. It was definitely full of workers on their lunch break. I felt like I got a good feel for the non-touristy part of the culture.

After eating, I really wanted to go to a mall like place where more locals hang out. So I went to the tourist information office. There, I was greeted by a man in his late 40s who asked me if I was Chinese or Japanese. When I told him I was Japanese, he got really excited and started to tell me that he had been in Japan for 2 weeks a few years ago. He had been dating this lady and he really really liked it there. He still remembered the name of every single city he had visited which was pretty amazing, since Japanese names aren’t the easiest things to remember. But then there was this really awkward moment when he started to talk about how his ex-girlfriend told him that people from Okinawa (the most southern island of Japan that have their own culture) were really different from the mainland population, and proceeded to ask me if their penises were different. WHAT THE HELL!! Luckily I was rescued by another lady that was working there who swatted him and told him to shut up. So that was that and I thanked them and left for the bus terminal.

On the way, I stopped by this boutique and found a shelf full of spices and sauces that were made in Puerto Rico. I got a bottle of mango pepper sauce. Yay, it made me excited.

The bus was a nice break from the heat. And it only costs 50 cents to get off anywhere. It was full of locals with some tourists here and there.

I was going to take this bus to Las Plazas de Americas, the biggest mall around. The ride turned out to be close to an hour with all the stops and traffic. It was really nice though, since I got to see a lot of the new San Juan as opposed to the Old San Juan we had spent the last day and a half in. The bus passed by a lot of schools and picked up kids. They all had uniforms on and not matter how big, tall, short, they were all so cute and charming because of their genuine energy and sincere smiles.

I saw two girls who were about 8 or 9, who had on uniforms that said academy of ballet and something. I also passed by a school that said musical academy. They were all elementary through high school level, it seemed, so that was interesting. There seems to be lots of specialized schools here.

When I got to the mall, the first things I saw were a Verizon wireless, Charlotte Russe and an American Eagle Outfitters. It was really funny. Almost every single store was identical to the ones that were in Hawthorne Mall or Woodfield back in Chi-town. They even had a Macy’s, Sear, and JC Penny at the ends. The prices were pretty much the same too. I have to note though, that there was no Abercrombie and Fitch or a Hollister. They even had the hat store Lids, but it was funny because the ones in the States would be filled with hats of baseball or football teams while the one here were just hats by sporting brands like Nike or Adidas. There were tons of students in their uniforms, which kind of reminded me of Japan and how students are always out and about wasting time after school. Only now these Japanese students seemed to be in a mall in America. Weird combination.

The biggest thing that was obviously different was that there were absolutely no Asians whatsoever. There were Caucasians here and there, but no Indians, no Koreans, no Japanese. I got more stares than I had in quite a long time. Every single person would do a double take, if not staring at me forever. It’s been an interesting experience. I don’t feel threatened or anything though. It just makes me feel like I have an even bigger responsibility of representing “my people”.

The people also seem to know each other pretty well. That and the fact that it’s really easy to get around places really makes me feel that this is a small island country, much more so than Japan.

I left the mall feeling pretty pleased, less touristy, and with a pair of partying sandals I got for $30. I definitely need a pair to scope out some party scenes.

The bus ride back was kind of exhausting. The weight of the day had begun to sink in and I felt myself nodding off at times. It was interesting how there is a sign in the bus telling passengers to not make small talk with the driver (probably so that thy won’t get into an accident) but this driver was like a comedian, chatting and laughing away with the passengers. The driving here by the way is crazy. Although I never really felt scared or threatened, I constantly lean out of my chair to see for myself that the bus didn’t actually squish the tiny little sports car, or the old lady walking.

I got off at the stop that seemed close enough to the ship, found out that it was indeed a 3 minute walk back, and felt satisfied with my knowledge of San Juan. I was definitely sweaty and exhausted, but it was a good day.

Februrary 7th SAN JUAN (1st day)

Wednesday, February 7^th

The night had been kind of unsettling. I woke up, probably because the rocking was a bit more than usual.

When my alarm went off at 6:15 it was still dark outside, but I saw the light of another boat or a ship. We were definitely close.

I took a shower and was getting ready in the bathroom when I heard Priya say she sees land.

The sun was gradually starting to shine on the water and we could see San Juan in the distance. We ran out onto the deck armed with cameras and camcorders.

It was simply amazing. The sun was rising just over the horizon and the mix of ancient forts and walls and modern buildings of San Juan lit up right there in front of us.

We had breakfast and watched the ship pull into port.

Then we all gathered in the Union to hear a welcome speech by the governor of Puerto Rico himself. He was young (the second youngest in the history of PR) and quite handsome. It’s definitely nice to know you’re being welcomed by a country.

Immigration wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It went pretty smoothly.

Finally we were off the ship and stepped on to the land of Puerto Rico. It was sweltering hot. Priya and I walked out of the gate right into the streets of San Juan. It was quite a walk to the actual city, and there wasn’t much of anything. We saw a McDonald’s, lots of run down houses, and lots of apartments and tenants. It was funny though, how even the run down buildings gave off such a warm and positive vibe in the hot rays of the Puerto Rican sun.

As the scenery became more city-like, with governmental buildings and neatly trimmed bushes and trees, the hustle and bustle caught our ears. We passed a couple of street vendors and I just had to buy something. I ordered a papas con queso at the next stand, which had a line forming. I had expected fries with cheese from the name, but what came out was a grilled cheese sandwich. Huh??? Although the name and what I got did not make any sense, it was really good. It wasn’t any old grilled cheese. It was more like toasted cheese. The outside was some sort of bread-ish thing I had never had before that was really crunchy. Yummmm.

When we approached what seemed to be close to the center of Old San Juan, we decided to ride the trolley. We were kind of lost trying to figure out how to get to Castillo de San Cristobal, when a kind man helped us out. He said to just take the trolley up.

Since he wasn’t sure exactly where the trolley stopped, we ended up having to ask a security guard who spoke no English at all. That was fun. We figured it out, but man was my Spanish sucky. Haha.

Then when we were waiting for our trolley to come, these two guys who were cleaning the street come and start talking to us. Again, I was completely lost except for some simple parts of the conversation. I must have said “como?” (a polite way to say what?) a dozen times! Bahhhh.

It was funny though, when we asked them their names they said Charlie and Johnny, and we knew it wasn’t true.

So anyway, we got on to the trolley safe and sound. The people were really interesting, a good mix of locals and tourists. Since it’s a free trolley, I felt like we got to see a good variety of people. We actually met a guy a little older than us who was from Germany. He was backpacking around the world and it was his 7^th month already! He had been to Nepal, India, Indonesia, China, Barbados, among other countries, and was planning to head to Trinidad and Tobago after Puerto Rico before starting school again in April.

He said he had an around the world air ticket, which contained 19 flights, for just $4300. I am so gonna do that someday.

So we crawled through the streets of Old San Juan (yes crawled, there was so much traffic) and we didn’t really see the fort so we didn’t get off. Then we were right back again to the stop we had gotten on at. We were on a trolley that didn’t even stop at our destination!

So we just decided to get off at some random street and try to find out way to San Cristobal, which ended up working better than we expected. San Juan is definitely an easy city to get around.

Castillo de San Cristobal was absolutely gorgeous. The weather was amazing and the view was breathtaking. We could see all of San Juan and Old San Juan; it’s buildings and the beaches. Every view was a postcard picture. It was surreal. (like everything else on this trip)

After that we headed to Café Maolin, which the ticket guy at the fort had recommended to us. It was really crowded, with locals and SAS students (damn, we wanted some hide out restaurant). I ordered Camarones Ajillos (garlic shrimp) with rice, beans, and fried plantains. It was sooooooo good. I chopped up the shrimp and mixed it together with the rice and beans, along with this special hot sauce that they had (which totally made me think of muna and tenzin). The fried plantains are amazing here. I could live off of them.

Ok, and then out in to the sweltering heat again. We headed for a pharmacy we had seen so Priya could get toothpaste and contact cases. It turned out to be a pharmacy/souvenir store/grocery store. I got a Spanish magazine and postcards.

It’s funny how Puerto Rico is. It’s the US sometimes, but then it is completely not at others. I still find it weird when I see the US flag being sold next to the Puerto Rican flags in the souvenir stores.

The walk back to the ship didn’t seem that bad but it was about 50minutes in the sticky mess of a heat. Ashley had joined us. We walked through a street that might have been a bit shady, although it was ok since it was day time. There were apartments and in front of the entrance, there were tons of sneakers hanging from the electricity wires.

I was completely oblivious to what they meant, but Ashley and Priya told me that they most likely meant that drugs were being sold there. Wow.

So once we got back to the ship, Priya needed to get ready for her trip so she kind of left in a rush. I was exhausted, but took a shower and washed my clothes before taking a quick nap.

At 7:30 I left to get on the bus to go to a reception held by the university students of Puerto Rico. I was in the bus to go to Caribbean University. When we got there, we were greeted by amazing music and performance. There were dancing girls on stilts, people with costumes and masks on, and a whole bunch of students clapping and cheering. It was quite a scene. We were ushered into an auditorium where we had a great warm welcome and a blurb about the university.

The main deal was in this outside space where tents and a stage were set up. There was amazing music and people were dancing, dancing, dancing. Of course. It’s Latin America. The performance that was going on was a whole medley of traditional dances and music. It was mostly chanting and drums, with colorful long dresses for the females (which they would hold the hems in their hands and flap around) and white tuxedo-ish suits for the males. The dance was actually quite amazing. The guy would bow to the audience, tipping his hat, and then he would move his lower part of the body in crazy ways while the drumming got insanely fast. The ladies would twirl around with their skirts flapping in many different ways. It was so lively and it made me smile.

They also served us this whole variety of Puerto Rican appetizers. I had fried plantains (yes!), fried chicken, fried dough-ish thingy, fried chicharron (cow intestines) and such.

As I wandered around, I met a guy named Robert who was an alumnus of the university. He was really chill and nice, eventually headed for the navy. He said he had lots of Japanese friends and that he liked anime. Good thing he wasn’t one of those creepers.

When the dance floor opened up for everyone to dance on, I joined the edge of the crowd. I totally wished then that my girls were there with me. Dancing alone without knowing anyone is not exactly the same.

But it was really weird how I felt in that atmosphere. Spanish being spoken, passionate Latin music filling the air… I loved it so much and felt genuinely happy. It was completely unexpected and so sudden, but right then and there I missed Marcos. I know it was him that really impacted my love and connection to the Latin culture. I felt so thankful and memories that I had not really looked back on, came back as fond ones. Wow. Never saw that coming.

In the bus on the way back to the ship, I sat next to this guy Theo who I had just met. He’s a mega chill dude from San Francisco and we had a good conversation. He’s one of those guys that’s really thankful for things that happen to him, has appreciation for life and, on a side note, kinda looks like Bob Marley.

So there was my first day in Puerto Rico.