New plan

Dec 31, 2010

I made the definite decision not to go on the spring trip for all the resons I enumerated. I also decided that I would update the photos of this trip on the blog because the band width of the ship makes it impossible to put very many of them onat a time and I have lots. I shall probably do it slowly!!
In the meantime, Salt Lake: full of snow and cold, Charlie and grandkids visited for a week so I did not make any plans and saw them between their ski trips, tried to get rid of my latest and last ship -cold. My latest problem - when will the weather be clear enough todirve to San Francisco? Right at the moment, I don't think I'll try it. I don't w ant to be stuck in the middle of the great western desert in the cold and snow.

San Diego

. Dec 13, Monday, San Diego

We just docked. Its 8.30 am and a beautiful day. We now await word from Kathy to disembark and go through customs. As it will probably be 2 hours, thought I would update my blog.
We have had a fantastic week of goodbyes. An absolutely riveting commencement, believe it or not beca;use they are usually so dull. Each speaker was beyond belief. I don't know how they managed to find such talent! I copied some of it onto my computer so it will be there if anyone wants to hear it. Also a pre-port spoof on the faculty and staff by the students which was hilarious.

A possible change in p lans for me. I was planning to go on the Spring 2011 voyage in order to get out of SL cold winter. There were several problems: the short time to prepare, the difficulties of meeting the ridiculous requirements for the Indian visa, and the fact that I have bee sick so much of this trip which requires me to talk to my Dr. re what if anything I can do about this. Then, the other night I was sitting with Denise and Gerry at the Alumnae ball and telling them about this, and Denise said that they had an apartment in their basement that I could use if I wanted to get out of Salt Lake and they live right next to Charlie in Mill Valley (Corte Maderas) I e mailed Char. and he said it sounded interesting and I was welcome, ao now I have this decision to make!! I think I am leaning toward San Francisco. It would e neat to spend a long time there and get to know Chase and Baily before they are adults. I will have to call SAS and see what they say and then decide. Stay tuned!

Japan to Honalulu

Kobe

Unfortunately my cold got worse and turned into bronchitis so from Shanghai on I really didn't do much, Just stayed in my cabin, took medications and slept. One of the minuses of this trip is that any kind of illness goes through the ship like wildfire. Most people get sick, and then get well. I suppose, because I am old, my sicknesses always get worse and turn into something else - usually bronchitis.

I was supposed to meet my friend from the Icelandic horseback trip in 1992 ,who lives in Tokyo ,and spend the weekend with her there. She was going to come to Kobe and we were going to take the bullet train to Tokyo and then I was going to meet the ship in Yokahama. However, I decided that I had better cancel. She wrote back that she was also sick so maybe its just as well we didn't try it. Disappointung, but perhaps we cn do it on my next trip.

I did take a short SAS trip to Kyoto and saw some Temples and gardens which did not do anything positive for my health. These were very beautiful and needed to be seen with plenty of time to sit and absorb the scenery. It was a holiday though and crowds and crowds of people were everywhere. Busses were given parking times and spaces and people were marched through without being able to stop in order to make room for the people on the next bus. Japan is very overcrowded and I suppose they have done a very good job in handling this by strict organization so everything has a place and time and everyone does the same. I do not think it would be very pleasant though to have so little freedom to be spontaneous. Japam's infrastructure is superb and I love heated seats in public restrooms!

Japan to Honalulu

I still remained mostly confined to my rooml Did hear a few funnies: Someone asked "what is the elevation at sea level?" and "do these stairs go up or down?" Also our Almighty Dean changed the International dateline for us so that we would not have two Thanks giving dinners but had two days of Saturday, Nov. 27th. Is it surprising that none of us ever know the date and day.? We measure it by time between ports like "We haven't done this since Shanghai" etc.

Shanghai

Hong Kong to Shanghai: This was a very quiet week. We had the memorial service and then had two days of classes before arriving in Shanghai. Word is that we may never get any closure on the cause of death of our student because Vietnam does not require an autopsy. The Administration has been doing drug testing for most of the week, so it is supposed that they think it was a drug overdose.

Shanghai:

It is much colder here than anywhere we have been for sometime. Coat and jacket weather. Our first day here was like last year. I stayed in my cabin trying to get rid of an impending cold. The second day I went on the SAS city tour. We drove through the new part of the city. The buildings are all new. having been built since 1995. They are extremely modern looking, in many weird shapes and very tall . Quite impressive. The Bundt, the main thoroughfare of the city. is lined on one side with old buildings from the English and French colonial times and contains every upscale store you have ever heard of. On the other side is the river are all the new skyscrapers. We went to a garden in the middle of the old quarter with a palace. I can't remember its name. This was a very tranquil and beautiful place even though it was crowded with tourists. After lunch we visited the Shanghai Art Museum and a Buddhist Temple. Then dinner and a chinese acrobatic show. On the way we got caught in a traffic jam caused by a huge fire which apparently killed a lot of people and was on the US news ..Shanghai has just closed a World Trade Exhibition and the decorations and lights for this are still up, making the city at night very colorful. One more very impressive and beautiful city which .rivals or surpasses anything in the US.

This is an example of the architecture in Hanoi.

At 10.15 last night the loudspeaker announced that there would be a comumnity meeting in 10 minutes. I knew something bad must have happened for them to call a meeting so late, so put on my clothes and went up to the Union. Dean David announced that at 5.30 pm a student had been found in his room who was unresponsive to medical attention and pronounced dead. The police and Consular Services were now on board to investigate and access to the ship was closed. We would be kept up to date and were asked not to speculate in the meantime. Classes were cancelled and a ship's memorial service was held at 2 pm. No word yet as to cause of death.

Singapore-Vietnam

At sea: Chennai to Singapore

At the post=port reflection group, as I was telling of my experiences in India this time, I realized that I had a much better impression of the country than I did last time.This was partially due to the fact that we went to a beautiful part of the country, and partially because we had much more information before we arrived than we did last time. We had more information on the Hindu religion and belief in reincarnation, for example,This makes it understandable that people are not so anxious to move up in the caste system . This will happen if they do good deeds in this life (at least that is how I understand it).

This was a very short trip. The ship kept watch for pirates through the Straits of Malaca.

Singapore: SundY, October 31

Singapore is a very beautiful city. According to our Global studies class and to various lecturers, it ranks very highly on all measures. It has one of the best education systems, infrastructure, economy etc. in the world.. It is clean, has many parks and trees, wide streets, and nice shops( It is very expensive, by the way!) In many ways it is rather like San Francisco without the hills.

I went with my India companions, Kathy and Dave, to the new Sands Hotel, built by the Las Vegas company, and looking exactly like Las Vegas It has a roof garden extending from one building to an other with an "infinity" swimming pool i.e. it has glass sides so it looks as if people are swimming over the edge. Quite something!

We then went to lunch at the Raffles Hotel Long Bar, where we had the required Singapore Sling for a lot of $$'s.

It would have been nice to spend more time here but we only had two days.

Spring Alums: Mary Jeanne Jones joined us in Singapore. ()She gave me permission to print the reason! You won't believe this! She got a d.u.i. and can't drive for 3 months decided so decided to cruise instead!

At sea again for two days and we reached Vietnam.

I remember Saigon from last year as being a very unappealing city with a lot of slums.dirt and pollution. However, I think this was because it was my first exposure to a third world city. I had not seen India or Ghana at that time. This year it does not appear so bad. However, not somewhere I

would like to spend much time.

Mary Jeanne and I decided to go to Hanoi and to the Ha Long Bay which had been highly recommended. We found a very helpful travel agent at the airport who arranged for a hotel and the drive to the Bay. Hanoi is a very interesting city. Most of the buildings are from french eroded limestonecolonial times They are about one room wide and 3-4 stories high with very ornate balconies and different colors. Our hotel was in the old section of town where the street s were very narrow and crowded and very dangerous to try to cross.(The trick to crossing streets appears to be to wait until there is a break in the cars and then stride out at a steady pace across, paying no attention to the motor bikes which will go around you as long as you don't flinch or stop). Our hotel was new and small with very helpful staff. It had a free bottle of wine in each room. The bus picked us up early in the morning and took three hours to reach Ha Long Bay where we boarded a junk for the 5 hour trip around the bay. The bay reminded me of Guilen , China with eroded limestone mountains rising out of the river. The rocks that were scattered throughout were also of limestone. We were able to kayak for awhile too which was wonderful. One of our SAS students rowed with me to provide some strength so we would progress and of course it took several people to lower me into and pull me out of the kayak.Then a long bus ride back to Hanoi.

The next day we had some time to sight see in Hanoi. We went to the big market and drove around in a bicycle rickshaw. Then had a lovely lunch at the Metropolitan

Hotel. Then back to Saigon and a day of rest before we leave to Hong Kong.

Entered

Back at Sea: Cape Town to Port Louis, Mauritius

We sailed out of Cape Town to rough seas caused by the meeting of the Atlantic, Indian Ocean and Antarctic Oceans .Also in the night we went through a big thunderstorm with lightning. I was in bed and not really awake and I kept thinking that we had been hit be lightning - maybe we had. I don't know. Anyway, lots of noise ,

flashes of light, waves splashing against the window, and bumps from either the lightning or hitting waves. It probably lasted for about an hour.

Back in classes I decided that it was time to try some other classes. Now we know who the really interesting professors are and also what I need to know more about. I think that in order to understand the countries we visit, we really must know some of the history that has made them what they are today. It is also important to know some of the culture, family structure, religion from a sociological and anthropological perspective in order to understand what is going on. I am therefore dropping my english class (not that I don't need it, but in order to take some other classes Dutch).

Spent some time with our Desmond Tutu special lecturer. Judith Mayotte, delightful lady who is american but now lives in S, Africa. She is the first Desmond Tutu Distinguished Scholar for his world peace project and is an inter-port lecturer . She has an amazing history of work with refugees, including being on U.N. commissions and a movie Emmy for a documentary on refugees. . She also lost her leg in Dafur when a food relief box fell which was being dripped from the air fell on her.

Also played bridge with the two gentlemen from Bainbridge Island, Dave and Ron and Genevieve. We all agreed that this was something to do on "no class" days occasionally and not seriously. We played for two hours.We had a cultural, logistical and diplomatic briefing to Mauritius. While this island has an interesting history of colonization by the Dutch, Portugese, French and British, it seems that for us it will be two days of "spring break"

Port Louis, Mauritius, Thursday, Oct 14th

I awoke at 5 am and watched the sunrise and the mountains of Mauritius from my window. A good way to start the day. We cleared the ship and could go ashore by 10 am. and I went with Jack and Ann to try and find some loose beads for Jack and some elastic for me. I also needed a few drug store items. We took the water taxi fro the ship dock to the main part of town (a 20 minute walk if we had gone on foot), took out our maps and headed toward the market. What can I say! Uneven pavement with lots of steps, holes and other hazards. Jostling crowds, mostly appeared to be Indian, hawkers shouting "Best taxi, cheap" ,"you want this shirt". "what you want, I get it for you"and on and on and very hot and humid. After I was unable to find what I needed at three drug stores and Jack was unable to find his beads, I decided to return to the ship for the afternoon and rest for tomorrows Marine Biology FDP.- Thursday

Friday. Marine Biology trip (not really - mostly fun)

We did go to the Marine Museum. This is a government agency which is in charge of everything related to fish and fishing on the islands. I had a great deal of difficulty understanding the person who was lecturing. I did get that they have a lot of problems because the islands main business now is tourism. Tourists want large hotels which eat up the beaches and they want to eat fish The sea is being over fished. So the whole thing is not sustainable. The only good thing is that they do recognize that there is a problem.

After this, the main business of the day: a glass bottom boat trip to Ile de Deux Cocos, a picture perfect little island on the other side (the tourist side) of Mauritius, At $3000. peer night you can rent the island. I bought some island made rum for Xmas presents (I tried it. It's good) Some of the group went snorkeling. I did not as I was too full of lunch and the boat did not look very age friendly.

At Sea: Mauritius to Chennai, India

Parties. parties, parties: a"half-way" party, a birthday dinner in the Special dining room(4 star food), a raucous meeting to plan the Sea Olympics which will occur on Thursday. { I signed up to be a judge and am hoping I don't have to judge something about which I know nothing like soccer. India is approaching. We cross the equator again today sometime.

Next Day: (lost track of which day it is again)

Sea Olympics Day: Major competitive games. The students are divided up into "seas" )and the faculty, staff and life long learners were a "sea" too. We were the Nomer Sea. I judged the trivia contest. However, the other judge and I made ourselves irrelevant by being unable to tell which team put their flag up first, so they had to change the rules which left us out!!! Lots of fun all day. Nomer Sea won several contests and we came in third at the end. We advertised ourselves as having the wisdom (lll's) faculty(who give grades) and the Arch! and we gave no mercy!

Friday, Oct 22

Arrived in Chennai early in the morning. I planned a trip with Dave and Julie Weitz to Munmar ( where Maggie went last year and enjoyed very much) so we were picked up on the second day and first flew to Cochin on the west side of India. After an uneventful flight we landed in Cochin and found it much cleaner and prettier than Chennai with palm trees, modern houses and buildings behind the stalls on the streets. Our driver, N, was very adept at negotiating the traffic even though we were all terrified by the way all drivers here seem to drive. They pass on blind corners , stop just before killing people walking at the side of the road, ignore lines on the road and stop signs. Julie rode in front and her feet were tired from putting on imaginary brakes. It was a long drive through green country with rubber plants and huge bushes like our house plants. We moved gradually upward until we came to a cloud forest and the road started to have many switchbacks and hairpin bends. When the clouds parted every once in awhile we saw that we we Eravi

eravikulemre surrounded by high mountains with tea plants in all the open spaces. Our hotel was at 5000 feet, the air was clean and cool and the garden beautiful. We each had a cabin which overlooked the entire valley. We arrived at 3.30 and were told that tea was being served in the teahouse, a round open building with a thatched roof. We had cardamon tea and very delicious banana fritters. Dinner was too spicy for me, but desert was the best caramel custard I have ever had.

The next day our driver picked us up and took us to Eravikulam National Park. We had to wait for a bus to take us up on another perilous ride to the start of a path which took people to the highest peak and a look-out point. I did not go to the top. I stayed on a wall and observed the passers by and had my picture taken with various people who thought it would be cool to have a picture with a foreigner. Our driver asked us if we would like to go on an elephant safari so we went to a place where we could get a 30 minute elephant ride. I found the ride different from a horse or camel because it is so big and its steps are so large. But it was fun.

Our third day we drove back down the mountain to Allepei (sp?) Lake where we boarded our houseboat. To get to the boat we had to negotiate a broken bridge and a narrow platform onto the boat Our houseboat crew really tried to be good hosts by giving us a cocoa nut drink (horrible) but fell down on cleanliness. The air conditioning was minimal and it was now very hot and humid. However it was an interesting experience to see a community of houses built along the banks of canals with rice paddies on the other side. These people lived here, worked the paddies and did their bathing, laundry, dishes and everything else in the lake. Our cook cooked lake fish for us which I did not eat because I was not sure what all that pollution did to the fish. The others ate it though and had no ill effects. We spent a hot night in our cabins but were rewarded in the morning by dawn on the misty lake and little fishing boats floating by. At 9 am we were picked up and drove into Cochin for some shopping. I splurged and bought a scarf and some loose beads. We returned to Chennai to find a major thunderstorm and lightning over the airport. It took us awhile to get to the ship which we were now glad to see. Off with our grungy loathes , a shower and glass of wine and some cheese in the Weitz' cabin and then to bed. We sailed away from Chennai at 8 pm Friday.

South Africa Pictures

Cape Town, S. Africa F10

Saturday, Oct 2.

Arrived in gorgeous Cape Town very early in the morning before sunrise. Too early to get up to watch the arrival.We had an early diplomatic briefing which scared us all . Highest crime rate in the world, " You think its a first world country until you scratch the surface and you find it is very much a third world country","don't go alone anywhere". "always go in groups""hide your camera, don't look like a tourist, be careful", credit card scams, muggings etc etc. We wondered if we should get off the ship. But it was a beautiful day, and as soon as we landed, the city is so clean and beautiful and looks so benign that we forgot all about the warnings!

A day to go to Table Mountain. Three of us took a cab to the cable car. What a view!. We could see 360 degrees from the mountains in the west through downtown Cape town and then down the peninsula to to the Cape of Good Hope and around up False Bay. Absolutely fantastic. I hope I got good pictures. Haven't had time to look at them yet. This tripis a must for anyone coming here. Table Mountain is named because it looks like a table, but also because it gets a tablecloth of mist almost every afternoon. It also gets very high winds and is very often shut down.

In the evening we went to the gorilla theatre in District 6 for and evening WOZA. District 6 is the area in which in the 70's during apartheid, the government decided that only white people should live here, so they removed all the colored, black and asian community to various parts of the outlying districts of Cape Town called ''CapeTown flats", a bare and sandy area where little grows. There was no adequate housing,it was miles from transportation and had no infrastructure. They just dumped the people there. The whole area of the district was then bulldozed so that there was no return. A couple of churches(like the catholic and baptist who had international connections) were

left. This is prime real estate but it has never been redeveloped because there was too much protest. The theatre was very good, told the stories of three of the residents with dance, story and music. We had a delicious dinner of antelope, crocodile etc. stew and hamburger.

Sunday,

I had signed up for this trip because it was supposed to go to Robben Island (where Nelson Mandels was incarcerated for 27 years)but the ferry was broken so instead we went to the District 6 Museum. a tour of the city, and a Township.

Last year, when I went to a Township, we went with a local guide and saw some horrible conditions (three families to a bedroom, no water etc.) This trip was a very sanitized version of the Townships. We did not get out of the bus until we came to our restaurant, and did not go anywhere near the squatters areas. We did see however, the positive side of the Townships which demonstrated the resilience and energy of these black communities . The restaurant was a concrete building which had been added onto bit by bit. It was not very large, just room enough for our group. Very clean, very nicely decorated. A local band played for us. The lady who had made it told us her story. She worked as a maid in the 50's or e60's for 40. rand a month (about $5.00)and one day she came across a receipt for wine and cheese for the household for 40 rand. She said to herself "I am worth more than a piece of cheese and a glass of wine" She got another job in addition to starting night school and over the years began to build onto her house. She started various little businesses selling secpmd hand items and went to cooking school. She now has this restaurant, which won an award for the best ethnic restaurant in Cape Town plus a small gift shop with local art work. Locked iron gates guard the premises and she let us in and out. An amazing lady.

Tuesday. A day of rest. Went to the Mall (just like a US mall) and bought a new toothbrush. I was very tired from the first two days.

Wednesday.

Went on the Cape Peninsula Tour. We drove south to the Cape of Good Hope and around the peninsula to come up the other side of table mountain. The scenery is indescribable (at least by me!) Great mountains rising out of the ocean. Picturesque little villages. Bishops Corner, the "old money" part of Cape Town. Very upscale areas and miles of lovely beaches. A mediterranean climate with lovely bright spring flowers. A place one would really like to live. A place to die for. Much nicer than La Jolla or S. Calif but then, once again, men sitting at the side of the road trying to get a day labor job Here an there a Township too far from possible employment for people to get to work even if they were able to find employment.

Thursday.

This was the day we were supposed to go Great White Shark cage diving. It dawned cloudy, windy and nasty. Diving was cancelled I had mixed feelings about it. I really wanted to go, but on the other hand I was afraid of getting cold or not being able to get into the cage. As it turned out, some people did go the next day and froze in rough seas and did not see any sharks. I spent the day recuperating again, and went to the modern dance African version of the opera "Carmen" produced by Michael Williams ( our spring preport lecturer, and director of the Cape Opera) at the University Theatre. Very good with a pre-performance lecture by Michael and a delicious spread of wine and hors d'oevres.

Friday

Went to Stellenbosch with the SAS trip. Another place to die for. We had been here briefly last year but had not had time to look around. Stellenbosch is a University town with old Dutch and Victorian buildings ,tree lined streets and quaint shops. I think everyone felt immediately at home here. If I were going to a college, this is the place I would choose to go for good feeling. Later we went forwine tasting to the Neetlingshof Winery in another lovely setting of gardens, lawns, vines and view stretching over the valley to the mountains beyond. I bought some wine. Later, back on our dock, we went to lunch at a fancy restaurant in the mall, I bought some Christmas presents and we returned to the ship in time to leave for Mauritius. Again, I think all of us felt that we had not had long enough in this beautiful but tragic place.

k

Captains Dinner, Kakum National Pk Canopy walk

Takoradi to Cape Town- F10.

Back at Sea; Takoradi to Cape Town

We are now Emerald-Shellbacks. We crossed the equator and the Prime Meridian at 0-0. We had to go 30 mails out our way to do this, but now I will have a picture of this memorable occasion. Actually, there is a professional video that was that I can download .

Spent my first day at sea getting my hair cut and having a manicure and pedicure. I now look a little more human.Someone also had a cocktail party in of the 7 th floor suites for Marguery who is leaving us in Cape Town.

Next Dayt

(now the days are becoming confusing again) was Neptune Day (another video) when many of the students and the Archbishop went through the ceremony, kissed a fish, had fish oil poured on them and got their heads shaven

But now we are getting into the serious stuff again. Movies re apartheid and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the terrible atrocities that were committed during apartheid. Our inter-. port lecturer is Louis Patler is a business man who advises Fortune 500 companies on business trends and has a best selling book on the subject .He was an activist in the 60's and 70's and told about an SAS trip to Cape Town in which they would not let the black students off the ship. He got on the loud speaker and suggested that no one get off. After they resolved this issue and everyone landed, three students, 1 black, one blond girl and another man took a car up to Table Mountain. Half way up a car came up beside them and ran them off the road, killing the black student and severely injuring the others. Archbishop Tutu talked about living as a Nobel prize winner and Archbishop in Cape Town and his children not being allele to play with the white children. The problems with the Townships' crime, aids, unemployment etc. are not being dealt with.

Friday (I think) A wine tasting party at 5. Then the cultural pre-port. Our choir class sang

the African National Anthem in the six languages of S.Africa and the Archbishop led it. (He is becoming more visible now) One day left and we will be there.

.

Takoradi to Cape Town- F10.

Back at Sea; Takoradi to Cape Town

We are now Emerald-Shellbacks. We crossed the equator and the Prime Meridian at 0-0. We had to go 30 mails out our way to do this, but now I will have a picture of this memorable occasion. Actually, there is a professional video that was that I can download .

Spent my first day at sea getting my hair cut and having a manicure and pedicure. I now look a little more human.Someone also had a cocktail party in of the 7 th floor suites for Marguery who is leaving us in Cape Town.

Next Dayt

(now the days are becoming confusing again) was Neptune Day (another video) when many of the students and the Archbishop went through the ceremony, kissed a fish, had fish oil poured on them and got their heads shaven

But now we are getting into the serious stuff again. Movies re apartheid and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the terrible atrocities that were committed during apartheid. Our inter-. port lecturer is Louis Patler is a business man who advises Fortune 500 companies on business trends and has a best selling book on the subject .He was an activist in the 60's and 70's and told about an SAS trip to Cape Town in which they would not let the black students off the ship. He got on the loud speaker and suggested that no one get off. After they resolved this issue and everyone landed, three students, 1 black, one blond girl and another man took a car up to Table Mountain. Half way up a car came up beside them and ran them off the road, killing the black student and severely injuring the others. Archbishop Tutu talked about living as a Nobel prize winner and Archbishop in Cape Town and his children not being allele to play with the white children. The problems with the Townships' crime, aids, unemployment etc. are not being dealt with.

Friday (I think) A wine tasting party at 5. Then the cultural pre-port. Our choir class sang

the African National Anthem in the six languages of S.Africa and the Archbishop led it. (He is becoming more visible now) One day left and we will be there.

.

Takoradi to Cape Town- F10

Back at Sea; Takoradi to Cape Town

We are now Emerald-Shellbacks. We crossed the equator and the Prime Meridian at 0-0. We had to go 30 mails out our way to do this, but now I will have a picture of this memorable occasion. Actually, there is a professional video that was that I can download .

Spent my first day at sea getting my hair cut and having a manicure and pedicure. I now look a little more human.Someone also had a cocktail party in of the 7 th floor suites for Marguery who is leaving us in Cape Town.

Next Dayt

(now the days are becoming confusing again) was Neptune Day (another video) when many of the students and the Archbishop went through the ceremony, kissed a fish, had fish oil poured on them and got their heads shaven

But now we are getting into the serious stuff again. Movies re apartheid and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the terrible atrocities that were committed during apartheid. Our inter-. port lecturer is Louis Patler is a business man who advises Fortune 500 companies on business trends and has a best selling book on the subject .He was an activist in the 60's and 70's and told about an SAS trip to Cape Town in which they would not let the black students off the ship. He got on the loud speaker and suggested that no one get off. After they resolved this issue and everyone landed, three students, 1 black, one blond girl and another man took a car up to Table Mountain. Half way up a car came up beside them and ran them off the road, killing the black student and severely injuring the others. Archbishop Tutu talked about living as a Nobel prize winner and Archbishop in Cape Town and his children not being allele to play with the white children. The problems with the Townships' crime, aids, unemployment etc. are not being dealt with.

Friday (I think) A wine tasting party at 5. Then the cultural pre-port. Our choir class sang

the African National Anthem in the six languages of S.Africa and the Archbishop led it. (He is becoming more visible now) One day left and we will be there.

.

Ghana

The next day I went on the canopy walk in the jungle at the Kakum National Park ,one of West Africa's surviving tropical rain forests We passed through many small town and villages all of which appeared very poor. Sanitation is almost non existent and people use the ground .

We arrived at the park and were told it was a steep climb to the canopy walk over a rough trail. There were some big steps and our ranger ignominiously piggy backed me up the last 10 steps!! (No picture!)The canopy was no problem and I have some nice pictures of that. A ranger helped me back down the hill. He said that I had now beaten his record for the age of a person making this hike!! We also got a short lecture on the many medicinal and other uses of the trees.

In the afternoon after lunch we had another concert and dance show by the village people. They used the same dances as we had seen at the workshop but they appeared much more authentic as this group was obviously not professional.

Yesterday we went to the village of Nzulezo which is a fishing village built on stilts on a large lake. We got there by about an hours' canoe ride. About 400 people live here using the fish from a lake for food, drinking the water, using it for a bathroom and washing their clothes in it . After another canoe ride back. we had lunch at a house on the beach , and then drove back to Takoradi through a rubber plantation and along the shore line lined with tall palm trees.

Tonight we sailed out of Takoradi to the cheers and wavings of all on the dock. Evidently this was a big deal for this small city as we are apparently one of the very few ships with passengers to sail in here. Our Dean, Archbishop Tutu and 5 students were greeted by the king in a special ceremony awarding the Archbishop some special award/ The pictures we saw reminded me of a National Geographic article showing the Queen and Prince Philip visiting some of the colonies!. It was all over the TV and newspapers here.

At the post port discussion group the overall feeling was that the people of Ghana are wonderful ,friendly, unbelievably hospitable and go way out of their way to be nice. An exception to this was in the market place where some people felt some discomfort because they felt that they stood out as being so different and were not entirely welcome. Also the fishing village women obviously did not want strangers marching through their home ( We could hardly blame them for this because even though someone was paid for this, it probably was not the women)

One of our lifelong learners' daughter was on the spring SAS trip and found out about children ,whose mothers are unable to supper them, who are sold as slaves, Young children are sold for $10. to fishermen,. who use the boys to dive into the water for fish This is very dangerous because the vegetation in the water catches and drowns or injures hem .The girls are used for sex and other services. They are worked 16 hours a day and many die. This,plus the tales we heard last year about the electronic dump workers , makes life for many people here very difficult.

I think LLL's are much more involved in service projects on this trip than last year.The parents organized a service trip to the area to help with the orphanage which is trying to get the slave children back and take care of them. They will continue to support them if possible. Another group of LLL's and students put in a water treatment plant at a village.

There is a different feeling on this ship. All of a sudden people are faced with the realities of what three quarters of the worlds experiences every day.

Sunday-Feb. 17.,2010
Back to the ship. I stayed in my cabin for the next two days trying to get rid of my cold which has now turned, as usual, into bronchitis. I got some antibiotics from the clinic and hope they work. We sail tomorrow for Ghana, stopping at Los Palmas in the Canary Islands for fuel. We won't be able go ashore which is too bad. The Canary Islands are a great European holiday resort which my father came to often.. I would have liked to have seen them.

I got the chance to get to know some of the LLLs a little better. Some of them have had some interesting occupations. One was chief of staff for a congressional committee and another was a secret service agent assigned to the presidential details of Reagan, Ford and Clinton. His wife, another secret service agent works on board as student security. An orthopedist, several people with their own businesses etc. All of them interesting and no kooks. The community is beginning to come together as it did last time and groups are begining to form.
I went to my classes but otherwise stayed pretty much in my cabin.

Spring Alums: We have at last found out why they keep the air conditioning so cold. It is to keep the mold down. That is also why they clean so thoroghly each day. We have the daily meeting in the faculty lounge, but because there are so many of us, it just seems as if we were socializing. Faculty is also there. Not like last time when we were in a corner and felt like you were missing something! Betty is a very knowledgeable and efficient coordinator If she, or Chris, a graduate student in environmental sciences, have a notice or someone has something to say, they take the mike and say it, but it is no big deal. It seems to run smoothly and I like it. The medical staff is much younger than ours and don't socialize as much with us. Deans both nice. David Geis seems to have learned everyones name on the ship!! Our Ghana presort last night was hilarious. The med staff always puts on a song and dance show to a song of "take you malaria meds, use condoms and don't drink too much" They are great. Last night my marine biology prof., Tim Wood, gave a dead pan talk on how to use a pit toilet that had no toilet paper. I wish I had taken my camera for both of those th

ings.

Arrival in Ghana Wed. Sept 22

I had signed up for a Drumming and Dance Workship under the direction of the Afrique Dance Ensemble, a professional and well known group. As I was still suffering from the bronchitis I elected not to participate but just watch. This was a mistake, because even though I enjoyed the music and dance part, not participating is boring. I got some good ..pictures though.

On the drive though Takoradi the poverty is striking. There is not a single house or building that doesn't appear to be in need of repair. In spite of the talks given us by the preport lecturer and student, explaining the history and current progress of the country since independence which sound very positive, the reality is that this is a very poor country in need of a lot.

Thursday

We arrived at noon as expected and the ship was cleared by 2.This is the last day of Ramadan and most places are shut. They thought that there would not be any trouble over the guy who is threatening to burn the Koran, but to keep our eyes open. I went down to the bus to see if I could go on a trip going to Rabat. There were four of us waiting but I was the first and so got on. The others did not.. The drive through Casablanca showed a pretty clean city with, unsurprisingly, white houses. The road to Rabat was flat and the fields on either side dry and bare. Rabat was also not very interesting. A city, and maybe a country, in cultural transition. Old walls and fortresses dating back to the 12th century plus modern buildings. We visited the king's palace,in which he does not live, and the casbah which reminded me of a Cycladic village in Greece, with narrow winding streets and colorful doors. This was a half day trip and we only spent a couple of hours there but it is not a city I would plan on revisiting.

Friday, Sept 10

We left at 8.20 for the four hour trip to Marakesh . As we approached the city, the countryside changed with little Berber villages making their appearance. It was still very dry and red but the fields became less flat and we could see the Atlas Mountains in the distance. The city of Marrakesh reminded me of Santa Fe. All the houses were red. Apparent;y a lot of famous people have houses here which they use occasionally as they do in other trendy places. I am not sure what the attraction is because it is very hot in the summer Our plan was to ride a camel to a Berber house, have lunch and ride back. However we were told that, due to the size of our group (two busloads) we would go by dune buggy and return by camel. My dune buggy driver was a very handsome Arab. Unfortunatly he did not speak Engliish and we both spoke french "un peu} but we didn't know the same words! Lunch was an elaborate affair and we all sat on the floor around round table and dishes were brought and put in the middle. The correct thing to do is eat with your hands, but they decided to give us forks and spoons. We all ate out of the same dish and did not have plates of our own. Food was good, but I am still a meat and potatoes person who does not like new foods so I didn't eat very much. After lunch, there was some dancing and then to the camels. They were smaller than I expected and had quite delicate bones. Their saddles were blankets with a metal handle in the front and rear and no stirups. Th ride was quite painful because ones legs are spread apart and there is nothing to rest your feet on. At one point, the call to prayer came and I tried to take a movie of the camel with that in the background. Too bad it came out blank! I was very glad to get off the camel and found me legs had become numb and I couldn't walk very well!/

Saturday

I developed the first cold which is going around the ship so decided not to go on the mornings' tour. I did go to lunch though as the bus picked me up. After walking for a few minutes through the hot dusty street though I decided that it would not be a good idea to go to the bazaar which I had been looking forward to.and where I had planned to buy some leather things. I went back to the hotel and went to look for a pharmacy. I found one but it was closed. A man came up to me and said he spoke English and could he help me. He wrote down the name of another pharmacy and then asked me for money. I said I had no change but could give him an american dollar. He said $5 and I said no way and walked away. Apparently this type of behavior is not unusual.

Cadiz, Spain

We had our first pre-port tonite, and for Spring alums, you would be interested to know the approach was completely changed. Our Dr. (Chris) and one of the nurses did a very funny flamenco dance to the background on the screen of some cautions and suggestions of things to avoid while on shore, Everybody laughed and I am sure also listened as it was not presented as prohibitions but as cautions, "which we are sure you guys wouldn't do anyway."A much more positive outlook. It would be interesting to see a comparison the results in incidents.

Saturday, Sept 4- We arrived in Cadiz early in the morning. It was was still completely dark at 7.30 am. (I think Spain is a time zone of its own) We cleared the ship be 9.30,. and I went off to the first trip which was advertised as "whale watching" We were immediately told that due to the levant winds (winds from the west, very strong and very dry) we would not be able to go to Tarifa but would instead go to a bay by Gibralter and look at dolphins. I have seen plenty of dolphins in my life but, no matter I would like to see Gibralter. Our guide was a young man with a varied background. His mother Australian, father Scottish. He was born in Hong Kong and lived all over. A bright and engaging young man.We drove through the old part of Cadiz. It has cobbled streets, old and elegant buildings and churches and is charming. The new part is just like any other city. Cadiz is the oldest town on the Iberian Peninsula. On our way out of town we passed through salt marshland farming country and a "white town" built that way as a protection from the heat. We arrived at our research boat in the very commercial town of Alcarzar and set off on a two hour cruise under the Rock of Gibralter.(which I was more interested in than the dolphins). I was also very interested in watching the dynamics of a young family sitting near me. They had two children, ages about 1 and 3. The little girl was being held and kissed by the mother as she fed her a bottle. The little boy had a pacifier but obviously wanted to be held. He knocked the bottle out of the babies mouth. The mother snatched the pacifier from him. Everyone screamed. It was wonderful to watch sibling rivalry develop. It ended with the father taking the baby and the boy repossessing his mother.

Sunday, Sept. 4- Bullfight

This trip was led by Carrie Douglas, a Prof. of anthropology and author of the book" Bulls, Bullfighting and Spanish Identity" We learned that the bulls used for fighting are coddled and receive special treatment and food all their lives until the final 20 minutes of the fight. Bullfights usually take place in conjunction with a fiesta, as did the one we saw. We drove from Cadiz l ½ hours.The drive took us through olive groves, dry pasture land and "white' villages and up a switchedback road to a little village . The bullring was made of stone from the mountains and was built into the side of the hill. It was quite small so we were able to see very clearly and we had front row seats (high enough above the ring so that there ws no danger of the bull jumping over!!)

The bullfight was a "corrida de toros" or the highest form of bullfight. It is very structured and choreographed and divided into three parts. But first comes the parade; the servants on horseback, the three matadors (waving to the crowd) the picadors on padded and blindfolded horses, the bandarillas,short beribboned sticks, carried by men on foot and lastly two mules who will drag the dead bull out of the ring.

After they have paraded around and left, a flourish of trumpets and the bull is let into the ring. He rushes around the ring, charging everything in sight, and the matador stands to the side observing him. He may go out and do a few turns to test him out. Then the picador comes in on his horse carrying a long stick. The bull charges the horse and the picador plunges his stick into the hump of the bull just behind his shoulders to make a mark in just the right place so that the matador can place his final sword. The horse does not get hurt. The bull is then distracted and the bandarillas are placed by two men on foot, who dodge the charging bull and place their mark. The matador now comes in to do his show. Matadores are like rock stars in Spain and are paid equivalently. They are elegantly dressed and perform what can only be seen as a dance with the bull. The purpose is to show how brave and in control of the bull he is, how near to the dangerous bull he can get, and how beautifully he performs by hardly moving his feet but having the bull charge around him. After the bull is tired, the matador will get his sword for the final kill, which is an elegant but powerful thrust to the hump. It is very important at this point that the bull's head be down so that he can reach between the horns for the correct space which will kill the bull by severing his spinal cord and aorta. The bull dies almost instantly. Of course, at any point, something can go wrong and various disasters can occur. This did not occur at this fight.

I was expecting to find all this pretty cruel and repulsive. However, because there seems to be a lot of respect for the bull and a pretty fast death, I did not find it so. The matador is "macho" to the extreme but quite beautiful in their artistry. Bullfights would never be my activity of choice, but seeing this was an educational experienceI am glad I had

Afterward we went to another village and had tappas and wine. Much too late for me, but this is the Spanish experience.We got home at 1 am!

Monday, Sept 6 A day of rest!!

Tuesday Sept. 7

I had made arrangements with our guide of last night to get tickets to the Andalusian horse show in Jerez, a little town near Cadiz. One of the other LLLs, Pat, came with me. We decided, since we really didn't know where we were going, to take a cab in order to be sure that we went to the right place. It cost $50. We also decided that we would recognize the ship and could therefore get back by bus, $3.00!! The Escuela Andaluza de Arte Ecuestre, was a block large collection of buildings with stables, training rings and an indoor show ring. This is the original of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, with the same advanced dressage training, but with Andalusian horses. These are very large animals, probably 18 hands, in perfect condition and very well muscled. They performed for 1½ hours and I think I have some very good pictures which I will send as soon as I can get into my blog again (don't quite know why I can't at the moment and the IT people will not be here till Thursday am). We set sail on Wednesday nite for Casablanca and arrive Thursday at noon. Hope I can post my blog by then.

Thursday am. Got the blog straightened out but unfortuately the videos of the horses and the bullfight will have to wait for a home showing. The band width here will not allow a video and I didn't take any stills of these two events

A2 or

thurs. Sept. 2.2010

I just re-read my first blog posting and saw all the errors I had made. Poor Jim, I didn't mean o call him "combative" I meant "competent." Sorry about that!

We have now changed our way of looking at the day and date from Tuesday, August 31 to A2. Our classes are scheduled on A days and B days ,.. every other day, with gaps for port visits. It won't be long now before I will have no idea of the real day and date.Our time is now changing 1 hour a day forward. It is a little confusing and, as I had been warned by Mary Jean, makes one very tired all day. In addition, both my roommate and I are electronically challenged and are unable to set our alarm to go off at the right time.

All the classes seem to be pretty full of students who, of course, have priority, So I was unable to get into the class I really wanted 'Video Journalism' because it was too full. This was very disappointing as I had counted on it all summer to help with my videos. Guess I will now have to find a class in Salt Lake when I get back. I got into "travel writing "though which may help my descriptive abilities. I am also taking "marine biology", because it would be nice to know something about what we see. The Prof. in this class is very dynamic and enthusiastic and is making even tides and tectonic plates interesting to me.

We have a meeting of the LLLs every night at 5.30 in the faculty lounge during the cocktail hour. With 63 people in our group we pretty much fill it up. It looks as if Desmond Tutu and his wife, Leah, will come to this. I guess he really does want to be called "Arch" !! His wife is a very charming lady who has back problems and prefers to sit. He is totally informal and runs everywhere . and has a great sense of humor. I got a chance to talk with her for a second or two. He sat at our table tonight but it was not possible to take advantage of this and have a conversation because people kept coming up and introducing themselves. It must be tiring to be a celebrity.

SAS Fall 2010 Start

I had mixed feeling for the last few days before leaving. I was excited to be back in the stimulating environment of te ship and afraid that this trip would not be like the last one: there would be different people, different classes, maybe different expectations and programs…. where are all my old friends? ….would my house: will it burn down? 9 Jim seems like a combatant and organized person, but I don't really know him)….would my luggage get lost ?…and on and on……

Andy, bless his heart, got up at 3.30 to take me to the p lane. My journey was long but uneventful and I arrived at Halifax hotel at 9.30 pm. The next day, took a cab to the ship- Oh beautiful ship. It was like coming home.
One of the security people recognized me and then Jane and Dwight Allison (who are on the ISE Board and come to see ships off), then later several of the dining room stewards and a couple of the staff so it was not all new faces (although, of course there were lots).

After unpacking and trying to divide up our cabin, we had an LLL meeting - 63 people - several of them with young children. All look interesting and their names will come later! We have two coordinators - BettyWaldron, who has bee on many, many trips and done this before seems like a very competent and vivacious person and Chris, who looks very young and has been a Lindblad guide,and is here with his wife who is on staff too.

We were then all invited to a cocktail party for parents of departing students. The Captain talked about how he planned to out maneuver the two hurricanes, and the various deans and staff introduced themselves and then our "very special guest" Archbishop Desmond Tutu ( who wants to be called "father" or "Arch"!) was introduced to a standing ovation. What a beautiful, unassuming, warm and funny person he is. He told the parents that their children were in safe hands but would be returned to them changed by their experience (and would probably have changed their politics) and be more compassionate than previously and that the future of the world was in their hands. He set a very positive note.

Yesterday we had orientation all day and now classes begin. So more later

I have decided that it takes too much t ime to figure out this blog every time I want to post something so I will now make an e-mail list and send my news and photos on it. If you would like to be on this list, please e-mail me at amcdonald2571@yahoo.com. I think this will be easier!!

All paked and ready to goc

All packed and ready to go

Start around the world

Jan 13th. Packed all my bags (took too much stuff). Left for San Diego