In Amazonia...

The water turns gray/brown/green. With each nautical inch we travel, our wake churns up the water so you can see the different shades in more depth. As we enter this vast rainforest, the temperature increases to an unbearable degree with an intense amount of humidity. Todays water conservation tip: shower with a friend.

Reading Day…Another Way of Saying ∆∆∆ Pool Day All Day?

After Dominica, we had two days of classes, one 'A' day and one 'B' day. Today we had a reading day. I woke up early and went up to the deck to grab my pool chair before it got too crowded. A good idea in theory, but it started raining about an hour later. After the rain finally cleared, I spent the rest of the day laying by the pool and actually do my readings. I'm still convinced that the captain drove into the rain on purpose. It did eventually stop raining though so I went out on deck and finished most of my readings for my next two days of classes. We enter the Amazon river tomorrow and I'm unbelievably excited. I'm swimming with the dolphins on the first day in the river. I'm hoping to do some kind of riverboat cruise down the amazon on the other days but we'll see what happens!

Dominica

Excerpts from my travel journals for my travel writing class and my globalization and development class.  I will try to blog some more interesting things once I get to Brazil.  We have only been on the ship for 2 days since Dominica, with 4 more days to go until we reach Brazil.  Everyone on the ship is going a little stir-crazy to say the least.

While visiting Dominica, I found some things very similar to the rest of the Caribbean in terms of trade and culture.  They watch American television, pay attention to all of the American sports, and listen to American music. They eat most of the same foods as the rest of the Caribbean and even some of the same foods as in America.  But, there are some key differences. 

They do not play most of the sports we play in America, especially football.  They have the stadium for it downtown, but they use it for cricket and fútbol.  English is the national language but when they speak to each other in a business or social context they use a unique dialect. Most of the citizens of Dominica are natural born citizens, and many of them have never visited 'the mainland'.  Even though they are essentially living in an isolated location, they are by no means isolated from the rest of the world. 

Some fruit and vegetables are grown on the island.  They have a greenmarket downtown that sells not only local goods but also international goods.  Their local products include but are not limited to guava, bananas, Kabuli beer, and soap (Kabuli is the original name of the island).  Because of the rocky volcanic terrain, the island is not suitable for the common crops in the Caribbean.  Therefore, this island is much different from the others in terms of trade and tourism.

One of the interesting stories on the island is the story of Sukie.  When he started working as a bread deliverer he had nothing but the clothes on his back.  Sukie saved up his money from his deliveries and eventually purchased the baker he was working at.  The bakery was so successful that he purchased the bakery next door.  He continued to purchase a lot of the stores and businesses in the downtown area and on the island.  Now, almost on every street corner there is a store owned by Sukie.

I did not notice very many unemployed.  If they were students, they were wearing the mandatory uniforms.  If they were older women, they were mostly working selling the 'local' souvenirs and trinkets.  Shockingly, Chinese people downtown operated a lot of the stores.  The men were working just as much as the women and many of them were working on the various construction sites on the island.

The aroma on the island of Dominica was different from my town in Florida.  Everywhere I turned, there was a different smell from an unidentifiable origin.  One minute it would smell of fried food, the next it would reek of sewer waste.  The senses were constantly being stimulated.  In the middle of the rain forest at the Trafalgar Falls, it was if you were taken back in time before pollution and overpopulation.  The beaches were a different story.  For miles, there was not one location on the black sand where human pollution was not evident.  Between the soda bottles, Styrofoam containers, and glass, there was not one place to sit on the beach without flies and other insects interrupting your relaxation.  Even if there wasn't garbage in your vicinity, the stench was constantly wafting out of the sewage run-off into the ocean.  It was disturbing to see such a beautiful place turned into ruins by modern human population. 

 

En Route to Dominica

As I write this, I am swaying like crazy on the MV Explorer. We finally left yesterday, January 20th at 12pm only to come back to Nassau at 6pm for the last 10 voyagers that did not receive their visas. My roommate was one of the 10, so I finally have a roommate! We have been sailing since 8pm last night and it has been rough. It's surprising to me because the trip from Nassau to Dominica doesn't usually have rough waves. One can only predict what's in store for us. A couple of people have already gotten seasick and I hope I'm not the next. The funniest thing to watch while we sway is people working out. They always look like they're going to fall over. Today is an 'A' day, which means I have 1 of my 4 classes today and it's not until 3:45 in the afternoon. Hopefully on future 'A' days I'll be able to read and study on the deck instead of having to hide from the wind and rain. The food is already a little shitty which is never a good sign. Think chef John's meatloaf leftovers made into chili, with a side of overcooked pasta. Let's just say I'll be buying a lot of protein bars and ready to make food in Dominica.
Besides for the visa situation, the bad weather and seas, and the food, I'm having a great time! I'm meeting a lot of interesting people with awesome stories and goals.

This Time Tomorrow...

I will be in the ocean on my way to Dominica!  My parents toured the ship today and saw the room I will be staying in.  Lets just say its going to be a little small...

Goodbye America, Hello World

It's surreal. I am actually in Nassau, Bahamas about to embark on my voyage around the world. First stop, Atlantis.
Well it started off very nice with lunch by the cow rays, then a walk through the aquarium. Then my parents and I had a nice nap by the pool. We came back to the room to take showers and get ready for dinner and the air conditioning was not working and we had no running water. KATE WALTON, NATALIE SHERMAN, and KRISTA MACKAY, Beta NOLA trip is coming back to haunt me! I had to go downstairs to take a shower in the 'transit lounge'. When I came back upstairs to my room, the maintenance man said we had to switch rooms because the air conditioning needed to be maintenance. Needless to say, this voyage isn't off to the best start. Especially since we have some pretty pissed off Sauchellis in one room. Let's hope Atlantis can figure this all out, because I would really like to come back here again.

Tomorrow is My Last Full Day in America

Oh wow. I can't believe this is really happening.  I still have so much to do tomorrow, on my last full day in America for 3 and a half months, and I'm obviously procrastinating.  I found a couple of pictures of the MV Explorer docked in Nassau and it is SMALL compared to the cruise ships I've been on in the past. Here's to not getting sea sick!!

That's the NCL Sky, the ship I went on last year for Spring Break

Daydreaming

Happy new year! I can't stop daydreaming about this trip. Embarrassing evidence: