This is long, I apologize in advance. Please only read when you have some time.

I think Ghana will have been one of the most life changing ports I will have visited.

Ghana is extremely different than I expected it to be. First off, it’s dirty, but we all knew that. I was lucky enough to jump in on a homestay with a few friends, who were grouping up with another group to form 11 people for the homestay. We get off the ship the first day in the Tema Port. Tema is not a cruise ship destination, and nobody will ever accuse it of being one. It is in fact an industrial port. A very dirty, worn down, full of shipping containers, industrial port. But honestly, the port didn’t matter, the people did. The thing about Ghana in general that I will take away is the people. They are so nice, and they love the American people, the American government and above all our American products.

But I digress; (as I’m sure I will often due to my somewhat mixed emotions regarding Ghana) our homestay was with a man named Abraham. Abraham is amazing. His wife, Linda is from Canada and was a music teacher, but retired after meeting Abraham and moved to Ghana. Abraham is the type of guy you meet and completely understand why Linda would fall in love with him, and at times I think many of the girls we were with started to fall in love with Abraham. And to be honest, I think I fell slightly in love with Abraham, but not in any weird way. Regardless, we were picked up from Tema port and drove about an hour, rather, 18 miles into the City of Accra to go to the ATMs in the Accra mall. The Accra Mall is like nothing I would have expected in Ghana. There is a Puma store, Panasonic store, it literally felt like the Westminster mall did back in the late 90’s early 00’s, maybe nicer actually. We grabbed a little bit of stuff at Shoprite, which felt just like an American supermarket, and then went into another supermarket named Game which is actually a subsidiary of Wal-Mart.

After leaving the mall we started in on our three hour drive to the village of Dekpor. We stopped at Fort Prinzenstein, which was a slave fort used for the slave trade between the 1500s-1800’s. Highlights included seeing the dungeons, bathing/latrine quarters and the cannons on the roof. When we finally got to the village of Dekpor we were greeted by a huge cultural group. It was amazing, and to this day that is the coolest entrance I have ever made. We are greeted by drums and dancing, with a huge crowd. It is made immediately clear that the locals are very excited to welcome us Americans into their village. The kids were awesome, there were drums blaring, children doing local dance routines and it was an all-around great time. Towards the end they started pulling all of us into the circle to dance with them. It was awesome! We tried to do the local dances, but I think my favorite part was when all of us decided that we were going to pull out all of our favorite dance moves from back home. A girl Jamie pulled out the Berney, which to the surprise of all of us the native kid from the village, probably 12 or 13 pulled it right out with no hesitation!! It turns out that a handful of kids have seen the video and always joke around with it! I of course pulled a classic out of the arsenal… The worm! I got a ton of cheers from the crowd, and since I did it in the dirt I of course got super dirty, but it was all worth it when I saw kids around the village trying to duplicate the move hahahaha! After the dancing we all grabbed dinner, rice with a cow meat stew- apparently they don’t say beef in Ghana, how weird.

The night was fun, we found a little store place where we grabbed a few beers and kicked back. It’s really cool to be able to buy alcohol and stuff, can’t lie. One kid we were with, Joey, got a little carried away and ended up wandering around the village, Abraham, Ryan, Lindsey and I decided to head out and look for Joey. We walked around the village for about 30 mins jokingly whisper yelling Joey to odd places, like in the gutters, in planters and all over. We ended up talking all of us while sitting in the middle of the street under a streetlight. So about 2 hours later we walk back assuming that Joey has made it back to the house. The joking began again, and we decided to take a short cut through a gate about 50 yards from the house. As we walk through the gate Ryan looks to his right and says Joey. We all think he is kidding again but then he says “No really, Joey!” And surely, Joey is sitting on a log asleep! By this time its 2 or 3 in the morning and most everyone is asleep. I run to grab a bag of water for Joey and we get him back and tuck him in safe and sound. We finally get to bed, only to wake up in about 5 hours or so.

After we wake up, we have a nice little breakfast, and head to the school in the village. There are about 650 kids in the Dekpor school, and let me tell you something. Imagine a school in Africa and I’m sure you are pretty close to reality. Class sizes are capped around 60-70 and There aren’t traditional grades like in the states, they do school completely different. The Kindergarteners didn’t have a classroom. Their classroom was underneath a tree, it was heartbreaking. But they were all so proud of what they had, however little it may be. We all got to meet the kids and play around with them during the first break, they of course killed me at futbol, but it’s alright, my excuse is that I was too busy sweating thru my shirt. The coolest thing I think we got to do was teach class for about an hour. We had no clue what to teach, and Bryanna and I were put in charge of the Kindergarteners class outside. We decided to teach body parts in English, as they are really trying to push the children to learn English as well as the local language. What body parts discussion is complete without Head, shoulders, knees and toes?! Not one I’ll ever teach! That’s for sure. We played around with the kids a little more and I decided to take penalty shots as the goalie instead of playing full on futbol, I’m a decent goalie and played it when I was younger, so I think I went like 20 for 21, only letting in one goal.

We all grabbed lunch at around 2:30 and as school was getting let out we were challenged to a game of volleyball by some local kids. We of course obliged, and let me just say these kids were good at volleyball. I look at it as America vs. Ghana. The Americans had a come from behind win in the first game, followed by domination by the Ghanaian team. The third game found the Americans losing despite a 6-0 starting rally. Like I said, these kids are good. After the game we say our goodbyes, take our final pictures and head back to the house to take a motorcycle tour of the village and to meet the 3 kings of the village. They were extremely nice and were eager to welcome us to the village. An interesting tradition is when meeting the Kings they will all take a shot with you. So there I found myself in the middle of Africa taking a shot of dry gin with the king of the village- chalk that up on the list of things I never imagined I would be doing. The tradition is the king pours you a shot, you pour a little out for your ancestors, then take the shot and pour any remaining alcohol out for the ancestors again. We did this with all three of the kings, needless to say we felt pretty good the rest of the night. We rode back to the house and were treated with a similar cultural experience as the first night, but this time with adults, not children. I have to be honest and I was extremely wiped from little sleep, but the kids were a little better than the adults! Regardless, I had a great time, and then there was dinner. We had Fufu. What is Fufu you ask? Fufu is a ground up corn product that has a super slimy texture and almost no flavor. You don’t eat Fufu with a spoon or fork; you eat it with your hands out of a brothy soup. It is really an experience, and I hope I can find a place with Fufu so you all can try it sometime.  After dinner we all went to bed super early like all responsible college students due when there is a store selling beer right next to the house, right? Wrong. Finally got to bed right around 1.

We woke up at 8 again the next morning; we all got dressed and jumped in the car to head across the village to go through a local shine routine. It was really kind of weird. They gave us local fabric to wrap around ourselves in a makeshift robe, and we walked a little bit barefoot into the shrine. Their tradition includes taking another shot, giving some to the ancestors and all, but this was of a local gin which came in a plastic water bottle. I definitely can say I poured most of that out for the ancestor’s haha. We then bathed in holy water, and said a prayer. After that we jumped back in the can heading into Accra to the Arts market. The Arts Market is crazy. They all sell crazy cool masks, shirts, and just general African Knick Knacks. Unfortunately the ship has an anti-shot glass policy which is super lame so I haven’t been able to keep up my collection… But I was able to find some neat stuff, including some gifts for some lucky individuals. The arts market is crazy, and not exactly in a good way. In a way where you get super annoyed from people making you try to go to their shops and such. Imagine Mexico, only 20 times worse. Not even exaggerating.

We head back to the ship and it’s time to leave Abraham. Although it’s something I want to leave for the last part where I summarize everything, I am going to instead say that now, as I am too eager. Abraham and Linda give me faith that love really does exist. I know that I am somewhat of a romantic, but whenever Abraham would talk about Linda he couldn’t help but smile, giggle and he just felt like a little kid. They give me faith that it isn’t just a thing that happens in movies, faith that love is real, and faith that even when you least expect it, love can find a way to make everything you do worth it. A lot of people took a lot away from their homestays but I really think that behind everything, I learned more about love than I did anything else. Not to say I didn’t learn anything else, but Love definitely takes the cake.

That night everyone went out to a bar in Tema called Manila bar. It was pretty nice, had everything we needed as well as an awesome outdoor dance floor, which only succeeded in making me super unattractive by sweating through my shirt, an all too familiar event for me as of late. I had some fun, and danced literally all night. It was a blast. We got back at about 2, went and sat on the observation deck for a while, and jumped in bed right around 3.

I was woken up at 8:50 and told we were going into town at 9, so I got dressed really quick and got going. We went into Tema in search of an ATM so we would have some cash for the day. Most of Tema is super dirty, and this portion is the hub of banking in Tema. We went around looking for one that took Visa ATM cards, made our withdrawals and headed out. We were all a little annoyed by the heat, and how tough finding an ATM was when we heard a shop playing a tune we all know and love. This Tune is Baby by Justin Bieber. We danced on the side of the road and attracted the attention of everyone within a block, it was pretty hilarious.

We negotiated a cab to Accra for 19 Cedi, and about an hour and a half later we arrived on the steps of the national theater where we paid someone 1 Cedi (about 60 cents US) to let us walk around the national theater. It’s kind of weird, you can tell they love this building, but it is only 20 years old and extremely run down. Random tiles missing on the floor, cobwebs in all of the lights, just really weird opposite forces colliding. After our impromptu tour, we walked outside and started talking to some locals who were catering an event there that night. We asked for a good restaurant, and they said they would take us to where they cook their food, which is a restaurant. We completely broke all of  SAS’s rules and jumped in their van (after establishing our safe word, Liverpool, to be used in case we got uncomfortable), and they took us to their restaurant. It was in a super nice Tennis club, we got a full large lunch for only 11 Cedi, it was great! We went back to the art market, but not before being scammed by a cab driver who dropped us off the wrong place and told us to head the wrong direction. We then get completely lost in Accra in not exactly the best part of town. We found another cab and jumped in it to take us to the art market.

At the Art market we ran into Abraham again! We ended up sitting around with Abraham learning how to play a local instrument until around 5, and then Abraham negotiated a cab ride back to Tema Port. The 18 mile drive took us an hour and 45 mins. It sucked. We got back, ate on the ship… pasta and potatoes had never tasted so good haha. We all met at 9 and headed back out to the same place we went last night, full of SASers again. I decided to gamble a little at a little casino next door, lost about 6US and called it good. We ended up coming home at around 1:30 again, hung out on the observation deck, and called it a night.

The last day I woke up at 8:45 to get to my 9 AM FDP, and I’ll be honest, it was pretty much one of the biggest waste of time and money that I’ve ever had. We got back an hour early, and it didn’t even seem like something that was worth my time. However, they are required and there goes one less FDP I will ever need to do on this trip.

I get back, eat lunch on board, and meet up with everyone. We decided we would run by a duty free shop and maybe pick up some snacks. I’ve never really been to a duty free shop before, but I don’t see why they don’t call them liquor stores. We bought a few beers, and I am happy to say I did shotgun a beer In Ghana. What more is there to do in life? I hope to find out in South Africa!

In conclusion, Ghana taught me a ton. Be happy what you have, because there will always be someone out there who would swap places in an instant. People with very little take nothing for granted. Buying a bag water for 10 Paswes on the street is a big deal to the lady selling it. Justin Bieber is listened to in Ghana, and it can be the turning point. And I think the biggest thing was confirmed by Abraham and Linda, Renewing everyone in the group’s faith in love. I loved my time in Ghana, and I would love to spend more time in Dekpor at some point. Lastly, sorry it was long, but I hope it was worth it!
South Africa in 4 days.
What a life it is.

Much love,
Matt

So yesterday was Neptune day. I now have a shaved head. Neptune day is a day when pollywogs become shellbacks by crossing the equator. Neptune day is pretty crazy. We are woken up right around 7am to a parade of stewards in the hallway playing the drums and crashing cymbals. They then come over the intercom and say that we have angered King Neptune by crossing the equator in the Amazon and not performing the ritual, we are told to put on a swimsuit or old clothes and go get breakfast.

I went up and grabbed breakfast with the gang I’ve been hanging out with and head up to the pool deck. The ritual of Neptune day consists of getting a weird slimey substance poured over you then jumping in the pool. Needless to say I was pretty excited to be one of the first people to jump in line, and Max and I were definitely those guys who did cannonballs to splash everybody. After we jumped in they had started shaving heads and there was a huge crowd around cheering everyone on.

Max and I jumped up front and they went to town shaving our heads. It was pretty awesome because when they finished I stood up and threw my arms up and everybody cheered! It was pretty cool, not gonna lie. They then called on me as the god of Neptune and everybody bowed at my feet…. Just kidding, but that’d be cool. I hung out upstairs for a good 3 hours until everyone went down for lunch. My friends Kael, Benedict and Ryan all got mohawks, and Kael looks super goofy haha. We all went down to Hannahs room and she touched up all of our shaved heads and mohawks.

The next thing on the agenda was lunch! It was Taco Day! They set up an awesome taco bar for us, all the fixings!  It was the best lunch thusfar, and I ate far too much. It’s crazy to me that they give us days off of class for things like Neptune Day, but I guess that’s one of those things that makes Semester at Sea great. It’s been a hell of an experience, and we are going to what I am sure will be a hugely eye opening experience in Ghana.

Shoot me an email! Mathew.Schnitzler.S12@semesteratsea.org  

Much Love,

Matt

So Brazil was awesome. There are few ways I can sum it up better than that last sentence.

 

I can’t believe the opportunity I have been afforded. We booked a 3 day, 2 night “amazon mystery tour” which was an awesome deal, but I never expected I would feel the way I do about it. There are some things that are hard to put into words, but here we go: We walk off port and meet our tour guide, His name is Rinaldo. He has dreads down to his knees, informing us he hasn’t cut his hair in 10 years, a beard down to about his pecs (which hasn’t been cut in 5 years), and tattoos all over. Naldo led us to a bank where we all pulled out a couple hundred Reals (which is deceiving, our rule of thumb is 1 R$= .50 US). After pulling out cash we went to our boat, which I have to admit was probably one of the cutest little things I have ever seen. We jumped on the boat, and headed to the meeting of the waters where the Rio Negro and the Amazon meet. The Rio Negro is a dark color, and the Amazon is more of a milky dirty color. I recommend you all check it out on Google if possible.

After the meeting of the waters we went to a little fish farm place where we fed these huge fish, they were literally like 5 meters long. How we fed them was really cool, we tied a fish on a crude fishing rod, and then we pretty much dropped the fish in the water, they pulled the fish off, while we pulled them out of the water. It was crazy, I have some pictures and videos which I would love to show everyone, but I guess that will be in 3 months haha. After the fish feeding we went to a little lake place and saw these huge lilies and there were a couple caiman hanging out. This was a gorgeous place, but the platform we were standing on was extremely sketchy and I am surprised it held all 13 of us.

We then went Piranha fishing. It sounds awesome, but it was just like any other fishing, its’ really the luck of the draw, and I drew the short stick and didn’t get anything. However, the cute dainty girl Betsy caught a piranha. Naldo literally put his hook in for 20 seconds and caught a fish; it was amazing how much skill he had. The next thing we did was cruise to a nice little place to hang out until the sun went down, and on the way we saw a couple kids on a canoe with a Sloth and an anaconda. Sloths are cute as hell. I really want one. If anyone has one and wants to sell it, let me know.   The best part was after fishing we were able to go Caiman hunting. Essentially a caiman is an alligator or croc, but I guess they are a little different due to the geography. Naldo was really good at catching Caiman. We were cruising down the river and Naldo directed the driver right were a Caiman was, in the middle of the darkness and just caught it like it wasn’t a big deal. It was awesome. I was the first one who got to hold it after Naldo, and it was super cool. I felt like a little kid, between the Caiman, the Anaconda and the sloth, I Felt like I was at some crazy petting zoo. We got back to ship at about 7pm or so, and we set off to the place where we were going to sleep, on the boat… in hammocks. We ate around 8:30 and were in for a huge treat: the piranha Betsy caught, and the couple fish that Naldo caught. Piranha tastes like chicken, no lie. The meals were fantastic, and I am so impressed by myself with how much I ate as I am usually a pretty picky eater. Sleeping in hammocks was rough, but it was nice to be able to see sunlight when I wake up, as the inside of my room is super dark.

We woke up the next morning at 6am with the sunrise, ate breakfast and headed for a hike into the jungle. We get to a little village and Naldo runs up to talk to a local guide who would be leading us on the hike. His name was Marcos, and I’m not sure I will ever meet anyone like Marcos again. We set off into our jungle hike, and Marcos was not wearing shoes or a shirt, which was super crazy, I was wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt because I was afraid of mosquitoes and getting malaria, which I am proud to say I’m pretty sure I haven’t gotten Malaria yet. The Rainforest is terrifying. I hope I never have to go back. It is super-hot; my long sleeve tee shirt was completely drenched in sweat. When I got back onto our riverboat I rang out the shirt after realizing that there was not one inch that wasn’t drenched in sweat. I’ve never thought of myself as that heavy of a sweater, but after the jungle hike I definitely have to revisit my thought process. I probably lost 15 pounds in sweat alone. We got back from the hike and everyone took a 2 hour nap, and when we woke up it was 1pm, but it felt like it was at least 7pm. We went to a beach place where we all napped a little more, after that hike, and waking up so early there was no way anyone was swimming. After a delicious lunch, of something crazy local we decided we were going to sleep out in the rainforest, however when we got to the spot where we were going to leave the boat it started pouring for a good hour.

It was at that point when Naldo decided we should just stay on the boat again. But he had plans for us to go deep into the jungle again. We jumped on a little canoe that was powered by a small block motor hooked up to what was essentially a propeller on a long stick (Like the one they rode on in Around the World in 80 Ways if you follow that at all). We took this little boat so deep in the jungle. There were points where we had to turn off the engine because we were in grass that would mess with the prop. A sign of confidence from our guides came as we turned around 3 times because they weren’t used to going in while the water is so low. I can’t describe to you the density of the jungle where we were. It’s unfathomable to someone who hasn’t experienced it. The reason we went into the jungle was to see these gorgeous falls of a sort, nothing like Dominica, but there was some current for sure. It was pretty cool to take off your shoes and walk around. After a half hour or so we started heading back, which I was just as disoriented going out as I was going in, not to mention it was dark by then. I don’t know how these guys do it, but they knew the rainforest inside out, I wish I could share a picture of these guys.

When we finally got back to the ship we were in for a treat. We were parked (docked?) on a beachy area of the Amazon, and Marcos and Naldo made us a huge bonfire. We cooked our dinner over the fire too. We had chicken and sausage, and it was phenomenal. It was really good; I can’t stress how well I ate in Brazil. We ate and Naldo made us a couple drinks, the drink was called a Caipirinha cocktail, it was sugar, limes and some native alcohol distilled from sugar cane. It was delicious. Naldo had 3 bottles of this stuff and everyone ended up partying pretty hard in the middle of the Amazon. It was a blast. We retired to our hammocks at about 11pm or so, and woke up at 6am again the next morning.

We all woke up again that morning and after breakfast we went into a little local village. We saw some of everything, and even hung out a local school for a while. The school was a little eye opening, the entire student body was something along the lines of 20 kids, aged 6 or 7 to 15 or 16, all wearing the same blue tank top with the Manaus City logo on it. There were two teachers who honestly did not seem any more educated than some of the students. I was however impressed with how the kids behaved and seemed like they were genuinely into classes. It’s kind of crazy to see how the locals live, and it’s crazy to think that these locals were better off than many of the locals across the world. They were educated, had fairly nice houses all things considered, and many of them had boats to get around the Amazon with.  It is always interesting to see the differences from Manaus, which for all intents and purposes is a big city, and a little village just off the amazon about a 2 hour boat ride from the city.

After we finished touring the village we jumped back on the boat and headed back to the port, by the time we got back it was about 4:30pm and we were headed back to the ship but not before taking a couple group pictures with Naldo and the rest of the crew. Naldo decided that he was going to walk us back to port; on the way he bought us all a round of Brahma, which is a local beer that kind of sort of not really tastes similar to a Coors light or something along those lines. When we got back to the port it was time to say goodbye to Naldo which was a really disappointing thing to do. We became pretty close after everything. It was sad to leave him.

We finally got back on the ship and took our first shower in 3 days. It was heaven. I’m a quick showerer so although I probably only took a 10 minute shower, that’s the equivalent of like an hour for normal folks. After my shower we went to a local Brazilian steakhouse which we had heard was a pretty ritzy place, but I had no clue what I was getting myself into. After a 15 Real cab ride, we got to Bufalo Desade. From my understanding of it, it is extremely similar to Rodizios in Denver and Ft Collins. It is officially one of the best meals I have ever had. We sat down and ordered drinks, but we were super hesitant to order a bottle of wine because everything was so expensive as this place was super nice. Bufalo was the most extravagant meal I have ever eaten. We had no clue of the price of the meal, but they started bringing out filets, and tenderloins, and all of these crazy cuts of beef, pork, fish, chicken, anything you could think of. After eating a few pieces of steak I ordered a glass of red wine, which was delicious, and we ended up deciding as a group (it was Kael, Ryan Murphy and myself) to buy a bottle of the cheapest white wine on the menu, which ended up running about $24US. One led to two, two led to three, and finally three led to four.

We felt like such huge rollers, bottle after bottle of wine being delivered to our table alongside the most amazing cuts of steak I’ve ever experienced. After this mouthwatering meal we paid (which was a terrifying amount of Money ($100US per person)) and headed downstairs to a cool little bar where everyone got drinks. I personally had a martini, and was promptly made fun of because most guys where drinking whiskey and scotch, which I have no taste for at all. We called for some cabs and a big group of us went to Crocodilos, a dirty dirty local club which was known for its cheap drinks. We bought a couple beers, danced, had a great time, and headed back to the ship at around 1:30am.

The next day I woke up and met up with the group at 11am and headed into town. We had a few Real left and wanted to blow it before we left since it wouldn’t be any good anywhere else. The local market had a ton of touristy souvenirs and I bought a little wooden sloth, super cute of course, a tank top with a tiger on it that says Manaus Brazil, and a little shot glass thing which has Manaus engraved. On the way back to the ship we stopped by a post office to grab some stamps for postcards, and a supermarket where I bought a few bars of chocolate to take back on the ship. In the port authority we grabbed some burgers and a big tube of beer, which was kind of like what they have at Senor Frogs, or the lube tube at Quaker Steak and Lube. We headed back to the ship worried that we wouldn’t make it on time. The on deck time was 3pm; we sprinted up the stairs, and swiped our cards at 2:58pm!

Brazil was an awesome trip; it’s interesting to see how much I enjoy countries that don’t top my list of countries I want to visit. These experiences have shaped my world view, and so far I haven’t left what really are the Americas. Our next stop is Ghana, on deck for my 5 days are a likely home stay with a local family and a few SASers, and an FDP: ACR55 the queen mothers of Ghana for my Human Rights and Conflict class. 8 more days on the ship!