The Five Rules to Live by Aboard the M/V Explorer

Many of you have read this on Facebook, the Five Rules given by our medical team:

#1 Don't GET BIT (Dogs & monkeys carry rabies, mosquitoes carry Yellow Fever and Malara, Pirana hurt!!)

#2 Don't GET HIT (They drive on the left side of the road in many of the places we visit. Look both ways before crossing the street)

#3 Don't DO "IT" ( STD's and pregnancy. Pregnant girls/women are sent home.)

#4 Don't GET LIT (Students who break the liquor rules are likely to be sent home with refund for the unused portion of the trip or airfare home.)

#5 Don't EAT SHIT (Always wash your hands before putting them in your mouth. Do not buy food
from street vendors ANYWHERE!)

Well, someone didn't follow the rules and more than one person was bitten by a monkey in the Amazon jungle. Word is that a girl was poking it with a stick!! The real/whole story will probably come out in a few days. Luckily the rabies medication was available here in Brazil or they would have been sent home for treatment. A Brazillian doctor came aboard the ship in Macapa today and administered the injections.

Special Dining

We left Manaus, Brazil yeaterday about 5:30 in the afternoon.  We will write more tomorrow about a service visit we did to an orphanage in Manaus. 

Tonight (1-28-11) 29 of us had a special dinner. We started with Champagne and assorted canapes, fried wanton and spring rolls.  Linda and I opened a nice Cabernet Sauvignon from South Africa along with a traditional Caesar salad followed by a creamy risotto with fresh vegitable threads and pesto jus.  We had an orange sorbet to cleanse the palate before the entree.  Linda had the roasted beef tenderloin rare with creamy mushroom sauce, gratin potatoes and vegitables.  I had a Priaucu filet, an amazonian fish, marinated and pan fried with a creamy butter sauce.  For desert we had cherries jubilee....ummmmm!!

We are still on the Amazon, we clear customs in Macapa and should be starting our trans Atlantic crossing heading Takoradi, Ghana tomorrow night.  For those who don't do well in foul weather, I an hoping for smooth seas.  I'll let you know.

I wish I could post pics, but the internet is slow as molasses.

Ciao....Tom 

New Friends

The ship is nearly empty today, during our five days in Manaus most people are off on various day and overnight trips into the jungle and several trips to Rio de Jainero. I'm glad we ventured into town Sunday and Monday as it has rained on and off for a good part of the day. We'll just relax and study on board today. The crew is busy cleaning and painting, the ship is immaculate inside and out. Although we were told not to expect "cruise ship" hospitality the crew are all exceptionally accommodating. The food continues to be very good and varied. We are looking forward to our first "special dinner" on Friday. These are served in a separate room with champagne, hors d' oeuvres, and a five course sit-down dinner.

During lunch on deck this afternoon we were joined by fellow Life Long Learners Betty & Boyd, who must be at least in their mid 80's. They are newlyweds of seven years. Betty is adorable in her polyester pants suits, coiffed white hair and Mac computer!! They are swimming with the dolphins tomorrow, and Betty takes her tape player on deck for daily water aerobics in the pool. She had treked in Nepal and biked/camped in the Arctic Circle in Finland. She just gave up tennis this year because, "I can't see the ball until it hits me". Yesterday they walked to the Opera House in town, quite a trek. They both communicate via e-mail and Boyd takes digital photographs and posts them on line. Hope we are doing the same in twenty five years!!

My Spanish lessons are calling.

Here's a bit of trivia about the rubber boom of the late 1800's in Manaus: some people were so wealthy not only did they buy their clothes in Europe, they sent them back to Europe to be laundered!! Wealthy women wore diamonds, their girls wore emeralds, and only the hired help wore gold.

Today, our second day in Manaus, we ventured into the city for lunch at a churrascaria and took lots of pics on the waterfront. There was much to photograph, including a sidewalk barber shop. We stocked up on sodas and snacks; once we leave Manaus we will be at sea for 10 days before arrive in Africa. (We'll be in Brazil on the Amazon for three days, but won't get off of the ship again until Ghana.) While on board the ship we spend much of our time on our balcony watching life on the Amazon pass by us. People arrive from villages all along the river to sell their goods and to shop in the city. The port is alive day and night!!! Tomorrow will be another "on our own" day. Tom hopes to find an internet cafe where he can download photos and we want to find the post office. Wednesday morning we will make a service visit to a local orphanage. I'm not quite sure what "service" we will perform, I'll let you know. Thursday afternoon we have a tour which explains the history of the rubber boom in Manaus. Early in the evening we will set sail for Africa.

We continue to meet new people daily. Tonight we talked at length with one of the waiters who was delighted that we knew his home island St Lucia. (We sailed there in 1977.) We also met some shipmates at the restaurant today, two girls who are excited about the "24-Hour Adrenalin Rush" tour they have scheduled in South Africa: cage diving with Great White Sharks and bungee jumping from a 6oo-foot bridge. (They are not telling their parents until it's over!!)

Some of you have read this on facebook, but I think it's worth repeating: yesterday as I took video of natives in a primitive canoe on the Amazon one of them took his cell phone out to take a picture of me on the ship!!

I'm putting a lot of time into studying my Spanish, hope it pays off. Classes resume Friday, we have no classes while in port.

Ciao

Sunday in Manaus, Brazil

Yesterday was Sunday and we found ourselves in the capital of Amazonia, Manaus.  I have been here before via Air Ambulance, picking a patient up from a cruise ship.  I had no idea how big this city was. Manaus has over 1.5 million people, but on Sunday very few people were out and about.  We toured the city, going to the richest and poorest sections of town and as usual the kids were the most interesting.  We also walked thru the morning fish market loaded with all kinds of creatures that were completely foreign to me. There were fish still alive jumping off the tables, fish heads and guts flying all over the place and blood draining on the floor.  It was such an interesting place...we will return in the morning.  In the banana market a vendor with a huge grin greeted us with a stalk of fresh banana, happy to see all of the kids from the SAS ship.  Later we visited the opera house built in the late 1800's during the rubber boom in Manaus when money flowed like the water in the mighty Amazon.  One of the girls performed opera at her university. I spoke with her this morning just before she was heading out to a jungle lodge.  She was hoping someone would have asked if anyone wanted to test the acoustics...she was dying to sing there.  I asked her how she liked the voyage so far and she admitted she had never been out of the USA before and they would have to dynamite her off of the ship in San Diego.  She was having the most incredible experience of her life.

Well, we are off to explore more of the city, we'll talk later.

On the Amazon

We continue to have the most incredible time on the MV Explorer.  Conversations with students and faculty are lengthy and substantial.  Just last night we spent hours speaking with 3 girls after dinner.  It was really heartwarming that they would confide in us their aspirations and fears with regard to this journey and how it has already changed their lives.  We have kind of adopted 8 kids who we see regularly, the latest we met standing in line for lunch.  Daniel was born in Kenya while his parents were missionaries and he has done mission work in both Kenya and Tanzania.  He has made friends with most of the other kids in our extended family.  We also have quite a mix of life-long learners with an array of impressive backgrounds.

Today Linda and I did a slide show of the Amazon for the young kids (4-10 years old)...lots of fun!!

Tonight there was an open mike talent show in the student union and believe it or not there were some really good performances and a few not so good, but still very entertaining.  A better than good time was had by all!!

We are still heading upstream on the Amazon making our way to Manaus arriving on Sunday, a total of almost 1000 miles from the mouth.  We have much we are looking forward to in the area of Manaus, hopefully I will be able to load some pictures from an internet cafe. 

To say this is going to be an amazing voyage would be way too much of an understatement.  We take each day as it comes with open eyes, ears and minds, ready for whatever should come our way.

I hope all is well for you guys.  Ciao

We all know that atrocities occur every minute around the world. On this SAS voyage we have been fortunate to meet some of the incredible people who choose to do something about them. We can now put names on the faces we see in the photos. 

Nepal has one of the highest maternal death rates in the world. There, 90% of the population have no access to health care. They have no natural resources and the government is corrupt, chaotic and non-functional. Mothers-in-law often dictate the care of women and do not allow them to seek needed medical care for things like a breech delivery. They believe it is better for them to die so their sons can marry a stronger woman. The average income is $212/year it cost $54/year to educate a child, so the expense of education is not "wasted" on girls.

There is a very high incidence of girls (ages 8-12) being sold into slavery. They simply "disappear" from their village. Once this occurs they have a life expectancy of ~3 years, as men in India and elsewhere believe that having sex with a virgin will cure AIDS. Nine years ago Semester at Sea professor Jeffery Kottler met Inu while he was on a mountain trek in Nepal. Inu was about to "disappear". When he asked how much it would take to keep her in school he was simply told it was very, very expensive. He kept pressing the principal and quickly discovered it was $54/year which he immediately gave to the principal to ensure her education. However, a traveling companion noted that the money went into the principal's pocket and Inu would disappear unless he told both the principal and family he would be back next year. He has been back for 9 years now and Inu is the first girl in her village to attend college. She is studying radio and television communications, on full scholarship, in Thailand. His organization, Empower Nepali Girls, has had great success in keeping girls in school, even so girls still disappear. You can find out more at www.EmpowerNepaliGirls.org

Dominica

We have spent two days on the West Indian island of Dominica. Tom traveled here previously (in 1968) aboard the Blaze with Ed Lewis, and Tom & I sailed here in 1977 during our month-long trip with "Unk", J.W. & John Scott aboard the Vulcan. (We later purchased the Vulcan from Unk and lived aboard for about four years and cruised the Bahamas for six months.) Since our last visit Dominica has made much headway in eco-tourism. The people are very friendly and tourist oriented. The highlight of our two-day stay here was a seven-hour tour which first took us to the Emerald Pool and Waterfall. A short hike through the forest brought us to this pristine site. Some enjoyed a swim, but the water was much too cold for we Floridians!! Next we stopped at the Carib Indian Reserve where we spent several hours learning of their life and culture and sampling many delicacies prepared for us by the villagers. A former chief and his wife were our guides. We watched a girl make baskets, a man extracted juice from sugarcane with a press hand carved with a machete, and we sampled many of the fruits which they grow. The village worked hard to prepare a feast of typical dishes including cassava bread with guava jelly, boiled and fried taro, curried salt fish, a typical cheese bread, and coconut ginger candy. The Carib are considered "second-class" citizens in Dominica (as opposed to the Afro-Dominicans), and face many challenges. But they have many modern conveniences including internet and cell phones. Living conditions are simple, including outside showers and cooking over open fire in addition to gas burners. They do have refrigeration and electricity. They grow and use many medicinal herbs with limited use of traditional medicine. We thoroughly enjoyed the time spent with these proud, hard-working people.

Heading to the Amazon Tonight

We will be leaving Dominica shortly. We made a short but exciting stop with all sorts of memories from visits in 1968 and 1977. Linda is writing more about this visit. I posted pics on gallery.me.com/reidttj, but they may not be labeled (not sure why). There are some older posts there as well.

Linda made a recent post,mistakenly, under the comments of "We're at sea". Look for them if you like.

We are heading out shortly for the mouth of the Amazon in Brazil. Once there we will head 1000 miles west, up the Amazon, to Manaus.

All is well here as I hope it is where you are.

Ciao...Tom

Our Journey has Begun!!

I'm using 15 minute increments of internet time at a coffee shop, so I will make short entries.

We left Nassau Wednesday Jan. 12th and arrived in Dominica Sunday, January 16th.

I guess I'll begin with our ship, the M/V Explorer, ship's registry Nassau, Bahamas: she is a beauty!! At 598 feet, in addition to the usual pool, restaurants, bars/lounges, gym and shops that a cruise ship has there is a library, computer lab, student union, and classrooms.

What a cool campus.

The day is ending, but not before we have had some really meaningful round table discussions with a number of students.  We were introduced to Andrew, a 2002 alumnus, who did a presentation on his NGO aiding the child soldiers of Uganda.  Afterwords, our group of 14 met to discuss the book Three Cups of Tea and how we may draw on his life experiences during our journey.  I was really amazed by how they listened to us and each other and the incredible insight and openness regarding their fears and expectations.  Each and every one of them had some significant input and all expressed the fact they have had so much to be thankful for in their lives, but are unsure of how they will handle the exposure to kids unable to get an education or dying from hunger or waterborne illnesses due to contaminated drinking water.  One girl had even done medical missions in Guatemala, Rwanda and one other country before leaving high school.  Another girl from Japan was worried that she would not be the same person after this experience.

One thing everyone is sure of... their lives will change after this voyage.

We are at sea!!!

Just a quick note letting you know that we are enroute to Dominica and will arrive on Sunday.  The seas were a little rough last night so a few were a little green around the gills. This afternoon the seas died down and everyone seem in better shape.  We have met some nice young adults (kids) who seem very interested in us and what we are doing here.

The internet has been very slow when we can get on so no pics to load now.  However you can go to semesteratsea.org and click on read current voyage blog.

Classes start tomorrow!!!

Ciao

We are on the MV Explorer!!

We left early this morning, 4:30, for the Ft. Lauderdale Airport in dense fog and found the airport shut down.  Luckily, we departed on time, but en-route the captain announced that the airport in Nassau was closed down because of fog, however we did land! Interestingly there was a couple on our flight we knew from Marathon.  We are on the ship now and it is beautiful and our room is the best we have ever had on a ship.  We have already met some interesting people.  Tonight there was a reception for the parents of the students who will board tomorrow.  Judging from many discussions we are so grateful for the opportunity to embark on this adventure and equally excited to see the metamorphosis of the students as we learn about and engage with different cultures around the world.

Tomorrow we plan to head into town to and get some groceries for the trip.  We leave for Dominica at 5:00 p.m.

Still unpacking, catch you tomorrow.

Notable Lecturers and Guests

I wonder who our guest will be? Previously SAS has had the following:

Fidel Castro (Cuban President)

Anwar Sadat (Egyptian President)

Indira Gandhi (Indian Prime Minister)

Mikhall Gorbachev (USSR President)

Corazon Aquino (President of the Philippines)

SHRM King Mohamed VI ( King of Morocco)

HRH Moulay Rachid (Prince of Morocco)

Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Nobel Laureate)

Mother Teresa (Nobel Laureate)

Nelson Mandela (First President of South Africa, Nobel Laureate)

Arthur C. Clark (Author of 2001: A Space Odyssey)

Pete Peterson (First U.S. Ambassador to Viet Nam)

C.H. Tung (first Chief Executive of Hong Kong after end of British colonial rule)

Wow, quite an impressive list!! We are very excited about our guest.

Semester at Sea: Where and Who

It looks like a well represented group of students, lifelong learners, faculty and staff.  Listed below are some demographics:

Confirmed students                              605
Student gender ratio                              women 66%, men 34%
Lifelong learners (us)                            54
Faculty                                                   40
Staff                                                       37
Schools represented                             250
International Students                          36
Ethnicity                                                28% non-caucasian
Top 5 majors                                        business, psychology, communications, biology and political science

                                                    
It seems we have all of our ducks in a row.  The missing pieces of the puzzle are our passports, which are supposed to get into our hot, trembling hands tomorrow.  Nothing like cutting it close!!

This is our ship, the MV Explorer.  She was built in 2002 by the well respected Blohm & Voss shipbuilders of Germany.  She is described by Maritime Telecommunications Network "as one of the safest ships afloat.  The U.S. and international health and safety ratings are in the 99th percentile.  She is one of the fastest passenger ships of its kind in the world.


MV Explorer Data:


Tonnage                        25,000 tons
Length                           590 ft. (180 m)
Beam                              84 ft. (26 m)
Draft                               24 ft. (7 m)
Max Cruising Speed      28 knots
Stabilizers                      yes
Air Conditioning            yes
Outside Deck Space       30,000 sq. ft. 
Passenger Decks           6
Pool Area                       7,500 sq. ft. 
Swimming Pool             1
The Union                      380 seats
Dining Hall Deck 5         470 seats
Dining Hall Deck 6         210 seats
Outside Dining (6)         110 seats
Faculty Lounge             138 seats
Classrooms                    9
Piano Bar                       104 seats
Passenger Capacity       836

Packed and Ready to GO!!!

We are all packed and ready to go.  We just got our last meds to prevent malaria, but we still do not have our passports/visas.  However, knowing that 2011 will be a great year, we are confident they will arrive before Tuesday the 11th.


Linda works 4 days this week and then the adventure begins.  We are soooo excited about each and every port as well as the time on the ship meeting new friends, exercising, and attending classes.  My goal is to return with an even better appreciation of different cultures, to share life experiences and to lose 15-20 more pounds.


Had a great dinner tonight with nephew Rob.  Spending time with Rob is always includes enjoyable conversation.

Happy New Year 2011

We had a really  great time at the First Night celebration in downtown Delray Beach.  The avenue was closed down, a huge Christmas tree by the "Old School", lots of families and friends enjoying the entertainment at various areas, sidewalk cafe's buzzing with expectations for the New Year and the joy of seeing so many people seemingly happy for the treasure of life.  After enjoying the truly impressive Celtic dance family (they will be at Bush Gardens for 3 weeks) and a great band in the Old School Theater, we wandered down to the tennis center.


In the tennis center there was a band playing on the stage and lots of families enjoying the festivities on center court.  Rather than a ball and typical of South Florida, but really cool, a Mercedes Benz was lowered by a crane to ring in the New Year.  Midnight was sealed with a wonderful kiss from the love of my life.  A spectacular fireworks show ensued and as those ended over 50,000 ping pong balls were shot into the air, falling like snow on everyone on center court.


The New Year started amazingly well and we hope it did for all of you as well.  It is going to be a great year!!!!

A HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR TO ALL