Hey everyone!

Sorry it’s been so long catching up. I’ve been told people are wondering if I’m really still traveling.. but I am!! Well here’s the last couple (or six haha) weeks of my voyage!!! Enjoy..  

After leaving South Africa, we were headed to the little tropical island of Mauritius. But before spending the day on luxurious beaches with crystal clear waters, an unexpected medical emergency had us stop at an even smaller island which was pretty much off the charts. On the early morning of March 2^nd, 2011, the MV explorer was granted permission to enter the restricted perimeters of Diego Garcia, a British owned territory occupied by United States military forces which is absolutely prohibited to civilians. Although I do not know details, I know there was a lot of negotiating and debate whether or not we would be allowed to such restricted areas; one of the main concerns was that our ship had been taken over by pirates and forced us to demand help. But given our urgency need for medical care, the military agreed to come aboard armed and with extreme caution, thoroughly search our ship and then allowed the three community members to go with them in order to be airlifted to Singapore. It was pretty intense seeing all of these Marines in uniform with huge guns right outside of my cabin when I woke up – what a morning!! The entire process took a few hours just to insure we were who we claimed to be, search the ship and transport the three. As curious as the military was about us, you can only imagine how curious we were, knowing no other civilians have ever been granted permission to enter the waters of Diego Garcia. They all wanted to talk about why the hell all these college students were in the middle of the Indian Ocean in the first place; they wanted to hear about the countries we had already visited and where we were going next; they weren’t as big and bad as they looked!! On the other hand, a wide variety of rumors were going around the ship as to where we really were and what was secretly happening on this island, why it was so secret. For the most part, the conclusion came to the island being a CIA black site prison for terrorists. But honestly, who knows nowadays… all that matters is that I can say I was at Diego Garcia and those in need received medical attention!

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On the morning of Sunday, February 27^th, 2011 we arrived to Mauritius at about 8 AM. Fortunately no face-to-face immigration was required so we all got off of the ship fairly quickly. We only had about ten hours to spend on the island so we decided to make it a beach day after we felt how humid and intense the sun was (I thought I was back in Africa!). Before taking about a 45 minute drive to the beach, we needed to find an ATM and so we walked through an open air market to get a few souvenirs and check out the port area. Open air markets are definitely a must see while in foreign countries; not saying I would recommend buying or eating from them but the culture is phenomenal. All of my senses were going 1000 miles an hour; unrecognizable fruits and veggies of vibrant greens, yellows, reds and oranges; I could smell spices being cooked I still cannot put a name on; locals speaking in all of these tongues that sound so foreign – the whole 20 minute experience was intense! The particular market in which we were roaming through was mostly of Indian decedents (as is much of the island) so it gave us a little preview of our next port of Chennai, India. Overall, the downtown port area seemed very clean and the people were very pleasant.

We got to the beach around 11:00 AM. As always, I was nervous for the drive because you never know how traffic typically operates from country to country. I was relieved when I saw that they actually obey traffic lights and seat belts are required. Phew. Before we went to lie out on the beach we grabbed a bite to eat, had a few drinks and played cards at a little bar by the water. It was so relaxing hanging out with all of our closest friends just having fun laughing! For the rest of the afternoon we waded around in the water and talked with people; some were locals and others were vacationing to the island. Mauritius is basically our Hawaii to the Europeans and South Africans. Many of the vacationers were interested in SAS program and kept asking about all of the countries we had visited and where we were going later. There was one local boy around our age that just wanted to hang out with us; it was funny because he didn’t speak English and we didn’t speak whatever he spoke. Anna could communicate with a little bit of her French but for the most part it was sign language and head nods – story of my life on SAS. (Sorry if I come home speaking with my hands and talking to everyone like they’ve never heard English haha) The water was unimaginable – even after living in Hawaii for a year with crystal clear waters I was still so impressed at the temperature and color of the water around Mauritius. Unfortunately our beach day trip in Mauritius came to an end too quick like always so we headed back to the ship a few hours early in order to make on ship time. When we arrived to the port there was a huge line, as expected, of last minute SASers rushing back being sure not to get dock time. What I couldn’t believe was how intoxicated some individuals had gotten in such a short amount of time, one of which needing to be hospitalized. I’m not claiming to be an angel or anything don’t get me wrong, but it’s sad when people fail to take in other factors that normally don’t affect us at home. Alcohol clearly dehydrates you – AND we’re in the tropics sweating AND accidentally swallowing saltwater while swimming. I’m sure people drank the same amount as normal but it just happen to kick everyone in the ass twice as hard. Even scarier is the fact that the Mauritius hospital couldn’t even perform standard testing that we would expect in the United States; they had no idea if drugs were involved but testing couldn’t be provided – they had no idea what they were working with therefore didn’t know how to treat the individual. Foreign hospitals scare the shit out of me worse than anything on this trip so far! BUT on a lighter note, Mauritius was definitely a successful day for me but I’m ready for Asia now!!

The six day stretch from Mauritius to India was the busiest/most stressful week of my life since it was time for midterms. I have always said this every week of midterms and finals throughout college but this time I’m serious! I think courses on the ship are definitely harder just because we’re studying material at an international level in a wide variety of countries we have never studied before; I love the challenge but I’m scared of being extremely bored in regular classes when I get home. I’m going to have a BAD case of USA fever… it’s going to be extremely frustrating not being able to travel for awhile. On top of midterms it was so stressful still worrying about things back home… bills being paid, what the boyfriend is up to, are my puppies ok, are my fish being fed… I know it sounds silly but God Bless Mom and Wayne for putting up with me and taking care of everything for me J I’m a VERY independent person as many know and having to rely on others to take care of things I normally do makes me feel more vulnerable than I ever have. Vulnerability has been the most uncomfortable aspect of this voyage thus far because it happens all day every day in a variety of ways throughout each country; but yet will probably be the one to make me grow the most.

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Speaking of me feeling vulnerable, I have one word… India.

India is a historically and culturally one of the richest countries in the world. The Taj Mahal, the Ganges River, the birthplace of Buddhism… not many countries can claim home to things like these. The culture, rituals, dress and foods date back to some of the oldest living cities in the world. On the other hand, as impressive and beautiful as site seeing was, the poverty, homelessness and inequality between the rich and poor couldn’t justify it (not that it should justify anything but I personally couldn’t handle it). Unfortunately, I was turned off really quick by India’s poverty levels; I plan to return and give it a second chance but my first impressions are kind of sticking negatively with me at this point. The lack of sanitation drove me insane when I saw kids and puppies playing in their own feces. And it’s unfortunate when I absolutely dreaded getting off the ship to walk to a damn cab because we would be swarmed by people begging for money, trying to sell us things then get to the cab and be WAY overcharged because we’re Americans. One cab driver even told us, since he is taking us to expensive mall, the ride is more expensive. If we went to a poor market 10 blocks further away down the road, it would be cheaper. Now I don’t care who you are, how the hell does this make ANY sense?

I was physically tired of arguing with people about being overcharged by venders and followed by beggers; one young kid followed me literally for hours and magically popped up on every corner I was on– I don’t know how he did it. I wasn’t the only one getting tired though. I’ll never forget one little kid probably 6 or 7 begging for food late at night in a train station, I said no once and he broke down into tears. I could tell he was simply tired. He had his little brother with him and tried selling his little brother for money. I kept saying no, no then he asked me to just please take his little brother to America so he can live better. I tried so hard to fight back the tears. It’s so unfair but it is impossible to give one kid a dollar but not the next kid, you can’t pick and choose. At first I thought it was kind of cool being seen as rich but I have come to hate having a lot of money in these poor countries – its really unfair. In general, India is a country loved and favored by many, I just wasn’t one of them.

Aside from the negatives, I did experience many positives throughout India… To Be Continued…  SOON I PROMISE