Its already been 5 days since we left Dominica and were only 1 day away from Brazil! The sailor's lifestyle is such a tough one. I usually spend my days going to class, studying, soaking up the sun or taking some sort of exercise class! Yes, I did say EXERCISE class! Ive been to Capoeira which is some sort of Brazilian fight/dance/exercise class.. that resulted in me hoping around towards the back of the class and staring out at sea! This whole living on a boat thing sure does get distracting. Later that night my friend Daniel somehow sucked me into salsa dancing, which yet again you can all imagine how that went! First of all I was wearing my creepy five finger shoes from working out earlier so that added to my awkwardness. About half way through the salsa dance we left since I wasn't catching on very quickly and strolled around the ship and went outside to watch the rain. There must be something magical about Amazon rain because when we practiced in the rain I was surprisingly better at Salsa! Anyways, we shall see if I am a sexy salsa master by the end of this Voyage! And today I am very proud to announce that I completed my very first Zumba Class! I'm sure in the morning ill be feeling the burn and what not…
1.25.2012
1.24.2012
Dominica!
(No not the Dominica Republic, but pronounce it is with a ghetto accent)
Dominica's amazing beautiful!! I woke up at sunrise to watch the boat pull into the island; it easily could have been one of the most beautiful sunrises I've ever seen! After suiting up and packing a small backpack for the I headed out with my friends Brittany, Lana, Cody, Joe, and Cameron we wondered into town where we hired a driver to take us around the tiny island! For just 15 dollars we explored the town by car and checked out the Bionomic gardens. After this we headed up the hills to swim in some secret waterfalls! On the way we stopped at some fruit stands to try the fruit of the island (although SAS advises not to eat anything that wasn't cleaned with good water- or anything at all) we also ran into a man on the road with a snake around his neck and a machete in his hand! So by the time we had arrived to those "secret falls" all the other drivers had decided to share the "secret" with all the other travelers on the island. Oh well! We hiked on down a pretty rigorous path to the two falls and swam for a tad. I mentioned in earlier post about attempting to develop Sea legs, whelp there's also this thing called land legs. It's when you're so used to the swaying of the sea and you finally get to solid land you constantly think it's moving. So, naturally I no longer have land legs and think there's a continuing earthquake! That made hiking all the more interesting!
After all the stumbling around we did we had worked up an appétit so we asked Benjamin to take us to his favorite local spot. We ended up at a unnamed restaurant that served two items; Curried fish and Curried beef. We all took the safer route and went for the curried beer.. it was really delicious! Following lunch we had Benjamin drive us to the east side of the island to Rosalie Forest where we had heard about a lodge with a tree house. After an hour drive through the Islands Mountains he had taken us as far as we could go, we walked the rest on foot until we finally found the reception. Their we were told that we could stay in the tree house up the hill for 20 bucks a person the only thing was that its was a 15-minute hike uphill through the rainforest, which was HUGE understatement. It was closer to 25 minutes of hiking an intense steep hill! Once moment (the hippie lady that worked there) finally got us to our tree she showed us that you must but wood chips down after we pee. We drank some Caribbean rum bottle and headed back town to the river to swim! The water was crystal clear and fresh... just what us stinky kids needed! After attempting to play jungle Jane and swing from a vine and failing I just splashed around with the others! We met the British man that owned the land next store and told us his property had a bar and to stop by! We followed the signs for the "bar" which actually turned out to be similar to a small hut- but hey the beers were cold! So we hung around and listened to the tails of his life! By this time the rainforest has turned completely dark except for the fireflies. This is when we realized we had left our flashlights in our tree…at the top of the massive hill. Imagine the adventure of six kids more or less hiking in the middle of a the dark rainforest! After many tumbles, bumps and bruises we made it back to the tree house and eventually fell asleep to the noises of the jungle and the rain taping our tin roof.
Benjamin had promised to pick us up from the forest the next morning around 10, so around nine we headed out to make the long trek back to the road he had left us on the day before. During the journey we recapped the nights and bruise and remembered all the weirdness that happened that night.. like Brittany jumping out of the window, my jungle Jane rope burn or the mystery of who broke the railings! We were relieved to see that Benjamin the driver had kept his word to get us. Once back in town we spent the day on the black sand beach soaking up the sunlight! Next stop Brazil!!
1.22.2012
1.21.2012
The last few days!
Bahamas Recap
The next day my other two roommates joined us on the island! There names are Dana and Brittany ( from Dana hills). We have completely overbooked our room so that we can keep with our budgets, resulting in a Brazilian version of rock paper scissors! We all went out for dinner and had the locals favorite meal… Conch fritters. Conch pretty much tastes like Calamari! After this we met our fellow SASers on the rooftop of the hostel and soon headed down town for senior frogs. As you all know im not really into doing typical tourist things, so after meeting a few new faces Brittany and I decided it was time to meet some real locals instead of the ones that hang out at senior frogs to pray on tourist. So I grab the rest of my roomies and a few friends ive made and we set out on the adventure to find a new place with some culture! Walking down the street we see our wondering friend Daniel pop his head out of a bar so we join him at a Karaoke Bar called Bahamas Joe's!! I immediately begin a duet of "since you've been gone" with a local black lady! Everyone else I was with took a tad bit longer to adjust to our new setting but eventually we were all singing and dancing to a mix of Bohemian and American music! After an hour or two of singing our hearts out we make the short stroll back to Towne hotel. I was up bright and early to board the MV EXPLORER- my new home for the next four months!
My floating home!!
So my friends Daniel, Dana and I thought it was a brilliant idea to take the 5 minute walk to ship with all our backs instead of catching a cab…When that five minute walk turned heavier and longer we wish we hadn't. But finally We were standing in the custom line to board the ship! After a few long lines I finally made it to my cabin where the first thing I did was rip the art work off the walll to find the back completely filled with messages from past voyages! The myths and rumors were true! That thing was filled with tons of good advice and some not so much. Since my cabin mate still hadn't arrive I started to explore the ship! While exploring I met dozens of new faces and bumped into people ive already met! The MV Explorer is actually very small compared to other ships, but still seems like a HUGE maze! Im located on deck 2 or "the dungeons" its literally the hardest floor to get to considering certain staircases lead you to forbidden halls. Due to theses off limit zones ive been going up and down so many stair cases, I like to think of it as the stair master. Yeah that right Cole, Im working out..sorta!!
After a few hours of unpacking and wondering my cabin mate Melissa finally shows up! Shes this sweet energetic city babe from Chicago! We both seem to be on the same page and have similar personalities! Cross your fingers that it stays this way for me! We were suppose to leave Nassau the evening of the 19th but we were delayed 24 hours due to about 20 SASers being stuck in Florida because of passport/visa mishaps. Luckily they finally all made it to ship but still are unsure if they will be able to get off the boat in certain Countries. Now that were finally all onboard we are hauling ass to catch up to our schedule and get us to the Dominica on time! Getting your sea legs is a tad bit hard when im awkward and clumsy on land! Everyone seems to swaying back and forth while venturing through the halls, knocking into lamps and falling down stairs in all! Luckily I have yet to encounter sea sickiness but some people have horrible cases and are sprinting (swaying) for a bathroom. Today was my first day of classes and it's a weird feeling writing Saturday the 23 on my papers. But thers no such thing as weekends on this voyage! The deal is we go to school while at sea and have no obligations while in port! And for the long stretches when it takes 10 or so days to get to the next place we get "reading days" every 4 days. During these reading days we can do whatever we please weather its catch up on school work or plan for the next country. Also, some of the days we will have activities such as Neptune day or the sea Olympics! Im apart of the Aegean sea!! The classes ill be taking this voyage are: Global Studies, Languages of the World, Cross Cultural Psychology and Cognitive Psychology!
I miss you all already keep me posted about whats going on in America and in all of your lives! Xxo