Tour De Ghana!

This is a good one!

It all started in south africa, my friend Michael and I were planning on doing a lot of high risk activities! Although it didn't work out due to weather, we still had 3 more ports. We all knew Ghana was gonna be awesome but we didn't expect a lot of things that happened. It all started with arriving that morning, mike and a lot of others that ended up joining in decided to bike across Ghana. 150 miles! We got off the ship in search for bicycles, what we didn't know is that they would end up being the crappiest bikes we would ever ride. We walked into town, got some money from the ATM and found a few street vendors selling bikes.

We went over there and the brakes, pedals, handle bars all destroyed. Flat tires, missing tubes and barely any paint. We thought we scored big time.
We bought the bikes and the owner said he would fix everything and give them back to us within a few hours so we left, walked around Takoradi for the remainder of the day. It was a blast, we played soccer with a few of the kids and hung out a lot of the time. Honestly it was constantly over 100 degree's all day. We drank out of bags of water and I don't believe they were BPA free haha.
Anyways at the end of the day, we made our way back to the bike shop and picked them up. We tested them and rode them around but we didn't  test them as hard as we probably should have! The plan was to leave the next morning, get a good night's rest, hydrate up and get an early start. We ate breakfast in the morning on the ship and we were burning up at 7 A.M. We knew it was going to be a rough day! We got our bikes and within 60 seconds of starting, my pedals, gears, and chain all fell off completely! I could barely stop my bike I just jumped off. Cody and Marine Mike's bike also broke within 10 feet, one lost a tire literally just popped off and mike's chain popped off. Our first thought was "DAMN IT!" After trying to fix them for roughly 4 hours we finally got out of town and slowly but surely started making our way to cape coast.
We had the shortest leg the first day, it was so hot we drank over 1 gallon of water an hour. None of us had pee'd all day, just sweat everything out. We were absolutely disgusting! It took nearly 6 hours to finally reach a town where some of the guys decided to drop out and take a cab to cape coast. Phil (roommate/machine) decided that he wasn't going to quit! I was with him all the way, roommate love haha. So the 9 that started 5 ended up continuing, Phil, Cody, Marine Mike, Shaun White Mike and Me all decided that we would continue on, we kept a good pace, 13 mph until cody's tire popped. What a party pooper! We all decided to shop and take a look, we found a table on the side street and took a look, it was a european tire...we had american tools! We just looked at each other and sighed! Cody yells "you know what this means? BONDING TIME!"
We were in the middle of a jungle, we had been biking with flashlights, sun went down about an hour ago and probably in the most dangerous part of Ghana ..the side of a highway! Fortunately I had planned ahead and bought a sim card for my phone in case of emergencies! Although there was a lot of testosterone involved so we didn't think about the phone. A man approached us and said "Hey guys! Don't you know it's dangerous out here?" We just looked at him and thought "duhhhh, we aren't here for fun". He said "I have a gun!" We just froze! Phil went and hid behind a tree, cody grabbed a stick and a pineapple, Marine Mike and I are staring into the barrel of a hand made pistol that had a 410 Shotgun shell...and there goes shaun white mike saying " Awesome man...Can we see it!?" I literally just about killed him, as did all of us.
This guy pulls his gun out and starts pointing it at all of us. We were literally freaking out, we didn't know what to do. We tried to diffuse the situation by saying we were his friends and that he spoke amazing english. He wasn't really buying it. He told us that we should go to his village that was right through the bushes, at that point I just thought "you showed me your gun, no way I am going anywhere with you."
He looked over at the stick cody had brought over and said "that's not gonna hurt me!" At this point I knew I had a phone and I needed to use it. I called a friend that had a car and was following us to make sure we were safe. I gave him a call and told him that he needed to get to us like RIGHT NOW! I told him that he could find us on the side of the road flashing flash lights. Literally within 15-20 minutes Max shows up and saves the day. The guy with the gun knew he was clearly out matched so he decided to leave. At this point phil is still in the "never give up" mentality, he's a brainwashed student that goes to a military school, totally makes sense.
I was with phil till cody turned into our mom and started cussing at us and all that. After 20-30 minutes of trying to talk phil out of it we cabbed it the rest of the way to cape coast. We stayed at a beautiful beach hostel that night, even took a dip into the ocean. Felt absolutely amazing!
The next morning we all realized that our bikes were done, phil's and Shaun white mike's bike were okay though so they kept going. Our group ended up splitting up, it then became me, gary, and juan and zach!! We ended up going to the cape coast castle, kukumb nation park and then to accra on the worst bus ride ever! When we got to accra, we stayed at Gary's  best friend's uncle's house and had a blast! More about that story some other time. There's tour de Ghana for ya!

Stay tuned for Morocco!
-Raj Patel

Adrenaline Junkies

South Africa was awesome, it started out with waking up super early to catch the sunrise and I don’t regret it one bit. Cape town is gorgeous! This port was by far my favorite, so much to do and so little time. As we open the door to the deck 7 balcony you get hit by an amazing view of Table Mountain! The sun wasn’t out at this point yet but there was enough light to see the beautiful view. It was also very chilly as they were beginning their winter when we arrived. Phil, Matt, and I just had a great photo-shoot as the sun came up.

When we got off the ship, it was just Phil and I for the entire day, and yeah…we ball hard,  we decided to rent bicycles for the day and bike around cape town, I honestly think that was the best way to see that city rather than take a touristy bus. Thankfully our bikes were hybrid bikes (don’t really know what that means) but they worked and rode like a dream.  We biked along the coast for hours against the wind in every direction, up and down mountains and hills jamming out with the jambox blaring on my back. I got plenty of looks when people were trying to figure out where the music was coming from.

The photo’s I took during the bike ride also were some of the best I think I’ve taken. We biked for hours; the cost line along Cape Town is a sight to see and should not be missed for those who plan on going there at some point in their life.

After returning the bikes, Phil and I were in search of some sustenance. We went to a place called Mitchel’s and it was great, we also ran into Glenda (she was in charge of the campus store) we had a few drinks and some food with her that night since she was getting off the ship to go home. I love that lady to death, craziest person I’ve ever met!

The next day was action packed!! Shark Cage diving with Great Whites! Yeah, this took some balls, I was pretty stoked about doing this till I saw a video of a great white getting inside another cage just the day before we went, and it was no small shark, it just busted through the cage like it was a toy! It even made it to NBC and CNN!! But anyways, we drove two hours to gaansbai to start this adventure. The countryside of South Africa is also very beautiful, this country is the most beautiful country in the world in my opinion! After we arrived, we had a small breakfast and made our way onto the boat.

Myself and just about everyone else was on edge! Couldn’t imagine seeing one of the deadliest animals in the world in front of my face. We started to leave a chum trail for the sharks to pick up on the scent. It took right about two hours till we saw our first shark but when we saw them, they didn’t stop! It was 7-8 sharks we saw that day and all different sizes, about the size of killer whales! Near the end when we were about to wrap up a shark actually did come inside of our cage and Phil decided he would touch it!! I’m still pretty jelly cause he got to touch it haha. We drove back to the ship and went out to dinner and called it a night!

The next day It was just me and Sarah! We planned on skydiving, 4 wheeling, paragliding…just about everything that gets adrenaline pumping but none of that happened due to weather so we ended up going to see the cape of good hope, cape point and the penguin colony!!! It was also a very good day, we trekked around down town for what may have seemed like hours till we found someone willing to take us, it was pretty cheap for all the things we got to see. Once again, best pictures ever!!!

Over the next few days, we had an overnight wine safari! This was an adventure, we did this through the same company that took us shark cage diving and had a blast! If I were to tell this story it would take days so I’ll let the pictures do the talking. 

All I know is that I wish I could go back and redo it over and over again. The safari was breath taking, seeing all the animals in the wild! And for the last day, we decided we were going to climb Table Mountain…while the table cloth was on (huge ass cloud covering the entire mountain all the way near the base). So we begin our trek while its still mildly sunny. Then it starts getting windy which isn’t so bad, then we start climbing inside of the cloud, rocks are starting to slowly get wet and slippery…wind starts picking up more and more, 35-40 mph winds while we are tackling these horrendous rocks. We were told by our cab driver that we were stupid and that we should not do it, but of course by reading this blog by now you should know me pretty well - I do some crazy shit! 

After about 1.5 hours of climbing, we summited! We literally ran up this mountain, a few of the slower girls in the group made it later but the sense of accomplishment was there! Couldn’t see a damn thing past 5 feet but we made it! Now the harder part was going back down, once again slippery rocks everywhere and I decided to wear my Jordan's to climb this "hill". 

It took quite a long time to get down since the wind almost blew me off the mountain or the numerous times I slipped and had that feeling of imminent death. After making it down, I realized South Africa was soon to be only a memory; we went back to the waterfront to have some lunch and then made it back on the ship. South Africa is definitely a country I absolutely want to return to!  Alrighty ladies & gents, my fingers are tired!!!

Until next time, expect the wildest post for Ghana, cause shit literally hit the FAN!

-Raj Patel

A moment in paradise

Mauritius was amazing. It started out by arriving there at 8 AM.  When we got there we only had 8-10 hours--it was just Carly, Amanda, Sara, and me. It started out with going to blue bay.  We decided it was time to get away from semester at sea and just separate ourselves from society. We got off the ship and made our way into McDonalds: as SAS students you are pretty much broke to begin with especially if you had to pay some tuition, unlike some students who got to do this for free! Fortunately for me, I was accepted to the program and I had made up my mind that I was going to go around the world with just a bunch of random people! What a great decision, honestly. It was worth every penny. I met a lot of amazing people and I truly believe that I will be friends with them longer than some of my best friends back home. Sorry to Grant, Rich and, Devin, and Matt. I love you guys

           

We left in a cab where we met and amazing Indian driver that pretty much understood everything I was talking about. I know my Hindi was a little rusty but we had a great time, we watched a lot of Hindi movies on the way to the beach and honestly I couldn’t have wished for better friends! I really wish we had more time in Mauritius but the 8-10 hours we had there were legit. We got to blue bay and walked onto the beach and came to a conclusion that we needed to rent a boat.

           

            It only made sense that we rent a boat that had a glass bottom, we got some local Mauritian brews and decided to set sail into the middle of the Indian Ocean. Talk about an amazing boat ride haha, we had a lot of local beer and some Mauritian rum. I was kind of the hot mess in the group, I hate to admit it but after India, my time on the ship was pretty rough and honestly I didn’t care one bit. We went out and saw a lot of coral, some brain coral,  and some poisonous coral. The brain coral was one of the three in the world and it was the only one in the Indian Ocean. Shortly after we decided that it was time to go back to shore to get back before we missed the ship. In the amount of time that we were there I had thee 40's and almost over half a pint of rum. On the way back to the ship I made it all the way back to port Mauritius and ended up puking in front of McDonald’s and shortly after, I puked inside of McDonald’s. It was a good thing that I had amazing friends to look after me while I was being obnoxious! I ended up having my shirt changed inside the men’s bath room by Amanda. She’s the kind of girl that really doesn’t like to make things awkward, she clearly made things awkward, but thankfully she was there for me. I woke up sober enough to know that I was standing in line to get back on the ship but people were slapping me, feeding me food and making me drink water.  

We made it back on the ship without getting dock time and then slowly made our way onto the pool deck to eat some BBQ. I made it onto the 7^th deck and ended up passing out after eating one bite of my burger, I don’t know how I made it back to my room after passing out but thankfully Matt (my roommate) was there for me so I wouldn’t get drunk tanked. I woke up the next morning after 12 hours of napping. Great time in Mauritius!!

Next post is South Africa

Until Next time,

-Raj Patel

Home

India was fun; It started out with taking an hour and half ride to Cochin Airport. Kamu (Grandma) had arranged for someone to pick me up, his name was Jacob! On the way to the airport, a truck hit a car, and us yeah sounds pretty casual…cause it is! We were on a one-way road and all of a sudden a truck decided he’s not waiting any longer, he powers through on the road and plows the side of our car. We get out and assess the damage and then a girl on her scooter doesn’t brake fast enough and then plows into the back of the car. Overall I think it was a perfect start to India!

            I made it to the airport and I was the first to get there out of all the semester at sea students. I checked in and printed my boarding pass, I turned around and then all of a sudden all of semester at sea was there! I sat around and talked to some of the locals that were going to be on my flight to brush up on my Hindi and Gujarati. Good conversations were had with a guy from Ahmedabad (city closest to my house). We boarded our flight and man, I really noticed people were starting to stare, I know I’m Indian, but I thought I would have blended in a lot better.

         It was about 4-5 hours before I finally landed, first thing on my mind was tons of street food and what a better way to start that that pani puri and a sugar cane lassie? Roshan and Chirag (cousins) picked me up and took me out for dinner, shortly after we finally made it home. Right as I walked into my house, kamu was reading a book, I quickly threw my shoes off and ran over to her and touched her feet (necessity, pretty much a blessing). We talked for about an hour or so and then talked to my uncle for the rest of the time before everyone had decided to go to sleep.

            My time in India was mostly spent walking around town, meeting old friends and making plenty of new ones. The minute I got home, everyone knew. Small town problems, everyone knows your name, they know your family and for someone that tries to keep a low profile, too many people knew me! We went and shopped a lot, got shoe’s & pocket squares for my suit, plenty of shirts and a lot more stuff that was pretty useless. Ate food at my uncle’s restaurant, it was called mirch masala, really great food, got a tour of the kitchen and met the staff.

 

            Spending time with kamu and the family was great, I flew kites, went on to the farm and drove our tractor, saw peacocks and went to work with my cousin. I don’t know what he does for work other than point and yell. Its pretty much not even a job, I could do that from my house on the phone! We had one of his employees climb a tree for us to get coconuts and man they were delicious!

           

            The last day at home we made our way to the airport where I was also supposed to meet some of my family on my moms side, they were ecstatic to see me, they brought tea and a breakfast hahaha, we ate it in front of the airport and said our good bye’s before I made my way inside and started back for cochin. After I printed my boarding pass and made it past security, I saw a fight break out between a passenger and a ticketing agent, Airport security just watched as these two duked it out, I was not surprised in any way  that had happened, only in India!

            I made it back to Cochin that night and went back to the ship to meet up with some friends before going out that night. After everyone had made it back we all went out for dinner at a restaurant called the rice boat, which was fabulous. The next day Kayla, Carly, Sam and I all went on a back Water River cruise in allepey. The scenery was astounding! 

The tour lasted roughly around two hours, shortly after we went to get some henna done for the girls at a local’s house whose daughter was more than happy to draw on my friends with henna, It looked great! It was about that time to head back to the ship but Kayla needed to buy some sandals, I talked to the driver and told him to take us to a nice but cheap place to buy shoes. Her sandals cost 10 dollars, but they looked like they were worth a lot more, very stylish! We made it back to the ship and parted ways with our driver Shibu, what a great guy, we had met his family before making it back to the ship which was a great experience overall. India was a blast!

Next is Mauritius!!

-Raj Patel