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!

SAFARI in South Africa

We had to take a plane and then a 3 hour bus trip to get to this national park, but as you can see it was so worth it! The hippo's are camera shy, but the lion didn't even flinch with a truckload of us shining a spotlight on him from 15 feet away. We saw much more than I can post...will do a slide show when we get home if anyone is interested...birds, millipedes, fascinating plants. Oh, and jackals, springboks, and monkeys. And of course Dan has pictures of the meals they served at the lodge. Imagine how it feels to observe these majestic animals, then come back to a buffet of wildebeast and springbok stew. I feel so very fortunate to have had this experience....I hope this ecosystem can survive the human juggernaut. Now on to Ghana.

Cape Town, South Africa

Capetown was great fun, and extraordinary to look at with Table Mountain looming over everything. Our ship docked at a wharf teeming with tourists and locals enjoying all the waterfront restaurants, shops and taverns. It felt just like a coastal city in the U.S. except for all the shops selling African souvenirs. We had a lovely Italian dinner there, and a fantastic Greek lunch. It doesn’t get any better than that. We started hiking up Table Mountain, but the wind was fierce and we stopped after 30 minutes. That was enough to get some exercise and good pictures. Our friends Warner and Nancy made it to the top, determined souls!

I worked on a Habitat for Humanity house one day with a group from the ship. The children playing all around were so sweet, to each other and us, very cute. They had made a go cart out of wheels from a baby stroller, a piece of re-bar (with a sharp point sticking out) scraps of wood and a plastic milk crate. They put various toddlers in the milk crate, then 2 more kids climbed on and several others pushed them down the road. It was priceless. The neighborhood had a lot of tin shacks, with outdoor toilets, but they were very proud of the Habitat homes. One family invited us in: the sofa took up the whole living room, there were no closets, but a roof to keep out rain, and real walls to keep out the cold and they were thrilled. It was an honor to get to work on the house, we helped get the whole roof on in one day. Many hands…

We had learned about the Truth and Reconciliation Committee so instrumental in resolving racial conflict after Apartheid. It was an extraordinary endeavor, and things would have been much worse without it. Nevertheless, friction remains. There is a huge new stadium for the World Cup in Soccer next month. The CEO of Oracle bought a yacht and docked it near where we were docked, so that he would have a place to stay when he came to watch soccer. (see pictures) Next day: Safari!

Magnificent Mauritius

On March 23rd we arrived at Mauritius for 2 lovely days. It is an island country of 1,267 sq. mi and 1.2 million people, 550 miles east of Madagascar. The guide book says it is 11 times the size of Washington D.C. It is a melting pot of Indians, Africans, Chinese and others, with French and English influence from colonial times. Besides being an "island gem in the middle of the Indian Ocean" it has a stable democracy and one of Africa's highest per capita incomes. (not saying much, I know, but seemed to have good quality of life from my perspective.) Danny led a snorkeling field trip, and I went hiking with friends...As for quality of life, the pictures speak for themselves. I'm not ready to come home yet, but am really missing everybody. Maybe you could meet us in Capetown! Many thanks for all the comments that keep us anchored to home!