Holy Guacamole, I’m in Peru!

Our ship docked in Peru in the Port of Callao, very close to the city of Lima. While a lot of my friends flew off to Cusco and Machu Pucchu, four of my friends and I got an airbnb in Lima and stayed there the whole time, and I don’t regret it. We were specifically in the cute little coastal town San Miguel, and it was really fun.

The first day, we went to a truffle making class at a chocolate museum. It was just us five and the instructor who was super nice. We got to take truffles with us. Afterwards, we walked around, found a cute lunch spot, ate some typical Peruvian food, then went to Kennedy Park where there were a bunch of stray cats. It was super fun. One just came and sat in my lap. That night, we went to the food store to get some snacks and food and I got the ingredients to make guacamole and then I made the best guacamole ever. It was SO GOOD.

We also paraglided in Miraflores. It was so much fun. My instructor was a guy named Eduardo. We introduced ourselves and he asked me how I was feeling. I told him I was nervous and he said “me too.” So that was comforting. Haha. He didn’t really tell me what was happening or any information, we just put on the harness and he got the kite in the air and then we were off. It was crazy and so so cool. We were in the air for around 10 or 15 minutes. We talked for most of the time and he was a really interesting guy.

Another day, we went surfing. It was such an amazing experience. I thought I was going to be really bad at it because I was bad at the on land portion of the lesson, but once I got in the water it was so much easier. I got to stand on the board on a wave a few times! I really enjoyed it and I’m hoping to do it more in Costa Rica.

We also spent a day just walking around the downtown area, shopping, talking to locals, etc. I got a lot of souvenirs. Everything here is made out of alpaca fur and it’s SO SOFT!!

Thanksgiving was while we were in Peru, and we had plans to cook, but after coming to terms with the fact none of us were good at cooking and our airbnb’s kitchen was not well furnished, we decided just to order a pizza. We also got a cookie pizza and it was delicious. Best thanksgiving meal ever! (just kidding)

I’m happy because from now on we’re just in Spanish speaking countries. In Peru I got to speak a little bit of Spanish and it was fun. I also bought a book in Spanish so we’ll see if I’m able to read that. Hopefully I will but who knows.

I’m writing this blog a bit late so we just docked in Ecuador. We aren’t allowed to get off the ship until tomorrow.

Until next time,

Rebekah Joya

An Uplifting Experience

Yesterday, we went through the Panama Canal. It was SO COOL! We woke up at 6am (a regular thing for me now honestly) and went on the bow to watch. It was such an uplifting experience. (Get it? Because the Panama Canal takes you up? haha) It took all day to get through so there weren’t any classes which was really great. I think we all really needed a day on ship without classes to just hang out.

Yesterday was also the finale day of the SEA OLYMPICS, a three day event. There were many fun competitions and it was a great way to bond with our shipmates. I didn’t really do much to compete besides make the music video for my sea, the Baltic Sea. It ended up tying with another sea, taking us to being tied for first place! We had a quick competition on stage to break the tie and MY SEA WON! This means we get off the ship first when we get to San Diego but honestly I don’t really want to because I’ll just have to sit and wait for my friends to get off too so whatever. So happy we won though. It was so cool.

Also, all semester I’ve been stage managing a play on ship and tonight is our first performance. So many exciting things happening all at once! I’m really excited to see how that works out.

Besides for that, this week has been pretty good. Time is really winding down, which is so sad, and there’s a lot of work to be done. I’m done with most of my big assignments for this week so I’ll probably just be chilling out for the rest.

This was just a short update blog. It’s currently 1800 (6pm) (dinner time!) but we have a lifeboat drill in a couple of minutes so there’s no dinner until 1900 😦 I have to go put on my life jacket and get ready.

Love,

Rebekah

The One Where I Didn’t Do Enough

Trinidad taught me a lot of things. The first is, two days is definitely not enough in a place. Not even close to being enough.

The second is something I already knew, but a good reminder never hurts. Sometimes, your plans can get messed up, or your plan of being spontaneous can not work out, but you can still have a good time. You just have to try.

Trinidad was my first port with absolutely no plans, and now I know that maybe plans are good. Day one we left the ship around 9am. We were planning to walk around, go to some shops, then go to the beach. It ended up not working out as we planned. All the shops were closed because it was Sunday. We were walking around, unsure of what to do, when a taxi van thing pulled up next to us and asked if we wanted to go to the beach. At this point, we didn’t know what else there was to do, so we agreed. We got in and we drove all through the mountains to get to a beach on the north coast. It was pretty and we stayed there for a few hours. A lot of SAS people ended up going there. Like, a lot. It was crazy how many. Also, a lot of them got drunk and fulfilled the stereotype that we’re just a bunch of rich kids partying on a ship for a semester. It was really sad honestly.

After that, we went back to the ship. We showered and all that and then Danie and I were planning to walk around to find food. We started to walk but realized it was a kind of shady area and it was starting to get dark, so we turned around. We decided to order a pizza to the terminal. I mean, sure, it wasn’t a culturally immersive choice, but it’s exhausting having to try new things constantly. We just wanted some Dominoes. So I looked up the nearest one and we called them and asked if they’d deliver to the cruise ship terminal. They said yes and we told them our order and she told us it’d be twenty minutes then hung up. After I hung up I realized they never asked for my name or phone number or anything but we figured it’d be fine. After thirtyish minutes, we called back, and they had no record of our order. So we placed the order AGAIN and hung up. We waited a bit and called back and again they didn’t have our order. WHAT. So this time we placed it and they asked for my phone number. I gave it to them and they said they couldn’t place the order unless we had a Trinidad phone number. So I hung up because I didn’t know what to do. this whole time we had been sitting by the port gate because we thought we were going to get the pizza delivered, and we had been talking to the security guard. We told him about our dilemma and he ended up calling and placing the order for us. He was so nice. After that, it took a little bit longer until we finally got it delivered to us. All in all, we waited like two hours for the pizza. Felt like home.

Then we went and sat in the terminal and ate the pizza. It was a good pizza.

The next day Carolyn and I walked around the town. We got some souvenirs, went in a lot of little local shops, etc. It was cool because the shops and a lot of things about the place reminded me of home. We basically just had a chill day wandering around.

Overall I wish I had done more in Trinidad. I was super excited for this port but we just didn’t really plan it well and we didn’t really end up doing much. I still had a great time but at the same time it could have been better.

Anyways, we are off through the Panama Canal to Peru. We made some plans for there so it should be great.

PS: I can acknowledge that it’s sad my most exciting story from this port has to do with trying to order a pizza. oops haha

I have a Brazillion Things to be Thankful For

Brazil was definitely one of my favorite places I’ve been, ever. Although we were there for six days, the longest we’ve been in any country, I could have easily spent double or triple that time there.

The first day was half spent in Salvador, the port where we were docked. It is such a beautiful little city. We spent this day just walking around, admiring the beautiful little buildings in all colors of the rainbow lined up on cobblestone streets. We ate a lot of tropical ice-cream and talked with a few local people. It was great.

Around 4pm on the first day, three of my friends and I headed to Itaparica, a little island about forty five minutes away. It was small and local and really cute. By the time we got there and settled, the sun had set and we were ready for dinner. We went to a little restaurant in a marina, stargazed for a while, then went for a walk on the beach. While walking on the beach, we ran into some local fishermen bringing in their nets full of crabs and fish and other creatures. We asked them if we could observe, they said yes hesitantly, but after a while they warmed up to us and started talking to us. They spoke Portuguese and we didn’t but we made it work. They were really fun and it was so cool to talk to them. Once they finished, we went back to our bed and breakfast to sleep.

We spent the entire second day at Itaparica as well. We woke up and got breakfast at our place, it was amazing. There were fresh juices and jams and breads and all types of goodies. After breakfast we spent a few hours at the beach, then we went into town to get lunch. We found another beach with a dock that all the locals were jumping off, so we joined. Locals kept trying to talk to us, but it was really hard. I can’t wait till we hit all the Spanish countries it’ll be so much easier there. We chilled there until the sunset, then we caught the ferry back to Salvador. It was hilarious trying to get from the beach to the ferry dock. Taxis were impossible to find in Itaparica, so we went into a bar and asked the people working there if they could call one for us. Somehow, we ended up in their mom’s car. She was super nice but it was pretty funny.

The morning of the third day, I took a six hour bus ride to Lencois, a cute little town on the edge of Chapada Diamantina National Park. As soon as we got there, we hiked to a little waterfall in the park. Although it was just half an hour in, I could already tell that the two days following that we would be in the park were going to be beautiful. We went to dinner then I met up with some of my other friends to walk around the town.

The next day we woke up and had breakfast at our hotel. Again, it was AMAZING. Brazil does breakfast right. After that, we hiked to a beautiful waterfall in the park. We swam under that for a while, then went to a cave that we walked through with flashlights. Super cool stuff. After that, we went to a natural swimming pool area. A few of my friends and I did a zip line into the water, which was terrifying, then we just hung out there. Lastly, we went to a mountain and hiked it to watch the sunset. It was so peaceful and beautiful and amazing.

The next day we hiked to a natural water slide for the morning. It was super cool to slide down slippery rocks into the natural pool until I hurt my knee and start bleeding everywhere. Soon after they patched me up, we hiked back to town. We had lunch, and went back on the bus to go back to Salvador.

The next day was the last day in Brazil. My friends and I walked around Salvador. As the day went on, it ended up being just Danie and I. We walked around this nice little beachy area by a lighthouse, got two acai bowls, and chilled out. I wish we had time to go swimming and walk around more, but alas, the ship was calling. Eventually, we headed back to the ship for our farewell barbecue.

Sidenote: the Salvador skyline as we sailed away was the prettiest skyline I’ve ever seen in my whole life. It really was beautiful, just like the city and Brazil as a whole.

It was crazy to get back to the ship and hear about all the adventures other people had. Some went to Rio, to Iguacu Falls, to the Amazon… everyone had unique experiences that sound amazing. I really want to come back here and do everything. Brazil is diverse and beautiful and I 10/10 would recommend.

Love,

Rebekah