WE'RE BACK!

I was brushing my teeth at 6:00 a.m. when all of a sudden on the loud speaker (emphasis on LOUD) Neil Diamond was singing "Coming to America." It was blaring all through the ship, as people came out of their cabins and gathered on the aft decks to watch the sun rise. Magnificent. Then we walked to the forward deck to see Ft. Lauderdale into view. The sun was so warm and welcoming, the sky clear and blue. When we docked at 8:00 a student was playing the bagpipes, parents were cheering from the pier, and soon the students were talking to those parents on their cell phones, "Look toward the back of the ship, I'm in the orange shirt waving at you from the 6th deck", etc. And now, it is 10:30, and we are back at the computer lab, which has been my nemesis throughout the voyage) waiting,waiting for passports to be stamped. It is so weird to have said all our goodbyes, not without tears, and then be milling around, chomping at the bit to get off the ship. And get to StarBucks! See Y'all soon!

So Long Salvador !

Salvador, Brazil was interesting. People who traveled to the waterfalls had an amazing trip, as did those who traveled to Rio. The Amazon trip would have been amazing also, were it not for numerous cases of food poisoning. Dan and I decided to stay in Salvador (he had a lot of grading to do) and just take day trips from the ship. Not 2 hours after we first walked from the ship into the old, historic part of the city did we hear about several purse or camera snatchings, in spite of plenty of police standing around. Something fishy about this tourist area, but we still had fun. We later heard about a handful of people who used ATMs at BANKS and had their accounts plundered. You'd think their tourist industry would not want this to happen... Salvador looks very Mediterranean, from the Portuguese settlers. The city is right on the coast on the edge of the second largest bay in the world (the largest being Hudson Bay.) It was a big port for the slave ships coming straight from Ghana. We went to an orphanage one day, 25 children, mostly toddlers, some infants and handful of older children. Volunteering there was a woman from Atlanta, whose son goes to the College of Charleston. You never know when you're going to run into someone from back home! She volunteers through Cross Cultural Solutions, for 6 weeks at a time, and loves it, even though it is heart wrenching. We also visited one of Mother Teresa's places where 4 nuns try to meet the needs of the many poor here. We took a ferry to 2 lovely little islands one day, from which Danny has already posted pictures. The last day a big group of students and faculty helped to paint a community center in a favela (that is what they call slum communities here.) The young men who had built the very rustic center are very inspiring, working to give the young people a place to go. So, in the midst of deplorable conditions there is hope and very positive energy. Enough said..on to Fort Lauderdale!

Last Post from Dan

As you can see from the number of posts I've made this evening, I am very bored without my wife, who will be back in an hour, at which time we are planning to go listen to Brazilian jazz with Stu, Don, Audrey, Amy, and perhaps a few others. (Note added the following morning: Three of us adventured out into this Bohemian area known as Rio Vermelho to a club called Sao Jorge and, unfortunately, because we had not made reservations, we heard little Brazilian jazz last night. We did enjoy a cerveja under the stars..almost as much fun.)

The last few days our thoughts have been drifting to how much we are looking forward to being with our kids, seeing the rest of our families, enjoying our friends, and returning to our lives in Pawleys Island. We miss you more than we could have imagined. Much more.

Our experiences have been amazing, and we have absorbed in these last few months a lifetime of stories. I'm not sure yet how I've changed, but I know I have, and I hope I don't bore all of you trying to figure out who I really am after all of this, what my place is in the world, and what I need to do to lead a moral life.

A few days ago I held a little girl in an orphanage in Salvador, Brazil. She cried when I tried to put her down. Finally, it was time to leave and I reluctantly returned her to one of the caretakers, and I walked away looking back through a haze of tears, her sobs penetrating to my soul. I wonder what her future is, and the future of all of the kids on this fragile planet that we are so awfully mistreating.

At the orphanage I also saw the Semester at Sea students playing with and hugging the infants and toddlers, brightening their day. I've witnessed this on several occasions, remarkable if ephemeral bonds forged between these privileged students and very less fortunate kids.

One young boy at the orphanage mistook a Chinese student for Jackie Chan, and spent the entire 2 hours trying to get this poor student, who knew no martial arts, to do some kung fu for him.

Sadness, wonder, joy, humor, celebration, hopelessness, and renewed hope on our long journey, and unmitigated excitement at returning to our little slice of this huge, complex, confusing world. Thanks for sharing and enriching the experience. ~dan

Dan Again: Brazil Photos

From Dan: Some Photos from Ghana

From Dan: Itaparica Island, Brazil

As you can see, Mary had a difficult day today on this incredibly gorgeous tropical island. As I write, she's out dining with friends. Rest assured she will soon gather enough energy to resume blogging.

Ghana, West Africa

In the 4 days we spent here I have come to love Ghana, its landscape, its history, and mostly its people(mainly the children). The coast reminds you of southern California, cliffs overlooking the ocean, waves crashing on the rocks. But its weird to see a "California" coastline with thirdworld structures. The city of Accra is very hot, dry and dusty...and flat and crowded. Most of the commerce is through street vendors, who sometimes combine their stands to make a mall of sorts. They also have drive throughs, but theirs are so advanced that the merchandise is brought to you- balanced on their heads- while you sit in traffic(Which is what we were doing when Danny got the picture of the taxi with its 2 distinguished passengers). The history is mainly centuries of the slave trade and colonialism, and finally independence in 1957, so Ghana is younger than I am. After a series of coups they have had a constitutional democracy since 1992 (can you tell I am reading from the Ghana Fact Sheet?). And the people...at first I was once again disdainful of the aggressive marketing of the vendors, "Come to my shop, I give you good price, you buy my jewelry, or cloth, or drums,whatever", but relentless and multiplied several times over. But it finally hit me, after how many poor countries, that these people are just struggling to survive. I have more admiration for the fishermen who work just as hard and don't annoy me, but now I have respect for the dignity of the others. There are also areas of the city devoted to mechanics, where men salvage parts from old cars to keep other old cars running. "Running" sounds inappropriate in the face of their horrific traffic jams. And women set up cooking spots among the broken down cars, and children run around playing, and babies are slung onto their mothers' backs, so day care is not a problem. I offended one Ghanian (that I know of) when we were talking about healthcare, and he said that they have to pay for it. I asked,"but what about the poor?" And he looked back and sternly replied, "Poor! What is poor? If you have two arms and 2 legs you are not poor. If you have a family you are not poor." I guess I agree, but typing this I just remembered the dump that Danny visited, where people live and go through the garbage and live off what they can recycle, just surviving the best they can. Absolute poverty? Yes. Poor? Never!