TravelBio

Namibia: a country of only 2 million people and twice the size of California, the second least populated country on earth. The only person who had been to Namibia out of all the passengers on the MV explorer (including the crew) was the hairdresser from South Africa. I didn’t know what to expect, but I ended up having a great time. Here is a recap of the five days I spend there: MV docking in Walvis Bay Day 1 When we were cleared to enter Namibia at around 10:30 Henry, JR, Rob (Henry’s roommate) and I got off the ship and took a walk around Walvis Bay. We stopped at a bank in the center of town to exchange US money for Namibian dollars. The exchange ratio was just under 8 USD to 1 ND. After stopping at a local bar to get an early start on beer tasting, we had to make our way back to the ship because I had an SAS trip planned at 1:00. A group of about 25 kids got to meet with three Peace Corps volunteers and hear them talk about their work experience in Namibia. After the t...

Here is a wrap up of the five days that I spent in Salvador, Brazil: On the Saturday that we arrived (9/10), we had a pre-port meeting in the union at around 8:30, and then the ships crew handed out our passports and we were free to go. I met up with two other guys and we took a walk around the old historic center of Salvador.  Salvador is divided into a lower and upper section; the boat dock was in the lower section, but the upper city is much bigger and has most of the old buildings, restaurants and markets. To get to the upper city you had to either take a taxi or ride a large city elevator, which only cost five cents. After we finally found an ATM and got some Brazilian currency (reais), we found a small local restaurant to have lunch. The traditional Bahian (state of Brazil where Salvador is located) food consisted of several different kinds of meats, rice, beans, tomatoes and carrots. We all enjoyed the meal and it only cost us 54 reais total (one USD is worth ab...

Even though we officially crossed the equator on Thursday night, we celebrated on Friday, which was referred to as Neptune Day. Leading up to Friday the staff and crew would not provide any details about the events; the only info the students had was that there were no classes and there would be some sort of celebration. In the morning the crew went from cabin to cabin playing drums and banging on our doors to wake us up. After breakfast, we all went up to Deck 7, and the festivities began.  The crew had several buckets of what was supposedly fish guts (I think they might have mixed fish oil and Gatorade), and they scooped it out with a pitcher and poured it on the students. After you got the mystery liquid poured on you (it was all voluntary), then you jumped into the pool. After the pool, we got out and kissed a ceremonial fish. Another tradition is to shave your head when you cross the equator, so they had several chairs and clippers set up. A few dozen people got their...

After reading my last blog post, it feels like it has been weeks since I got to the Bahamas. So much has happened in so little time. Here’s a little overview of what has been going on since then: On Wednesday night I met my roommate at the Atlantis; he goes to the University of Colorado and from Seattle, Washington. We stayed at the hotel that night and met some other people from SAS who were at the Atlantis. On Thursday we hung out with a few other people at the hotel beach and the water park. In the evening we went out to a local bar in Nassau where dozens of other people from SAS met up. Then on Friday morning we checked out of the hotel, got a taxi, and prepared to start our trip around the world. The Atlantis Hotel complex in Nassau The main hotel tower, Atlantis more of the Atlantis Nice pool, I think I'll keep my distance! View of Nassau from the SAS MV Explorer Small and cozy quarters The line to board the ship took about an hour to get t...