Brazil - Up the Amazon to Manaus

Our senses awaken as we leave the Atlantic Ocean and begin our two day journey up the Amazon River to the town of Manaus.  The intense smell of campfires and smoke fill the jungle as Brazilians prepare their breakfast and perhaps clear land for cultivation.  The air is a steamy haze of smoke and humidity hanging onto the trees.  Air temperatures soar into the 90’s while the river water reaches a shocking 88 degrees.  The water is a swirl of colored murals as different tributaries mix together.  The main river is a muddy rust color while the warmer, slower moving tributaries are jet black with names like Rio Negro.

Although 150 km wide at the mouth, the Amazon quickly narrows and the jungle embraces our ship for our entire journey westward.  We pass vast stretches where all we see is a wall of green sprinkled occasionally with small houses and villages that can only be reached by boat. 

The waters are peaceful and calm and we enjoy the break from the turbulent waters of the Atlantic.  The kids delight in their new activity of bug collecting as they capture beautifully camouflaged moths and shiny black beetles on the decks. 

On our third day, we arrive in Manaus, a city of 2.6 million people in the heart of the Amazon Basin, more than 900 miles distant from the next town.  We disembark in the midst of a heat wave, which is saying something when you are on the equator.  We have never experienced any place as hot as Manaus.  We weave our way through the town searching for shade in our sweat-drenched clothes, wondering how people can live here. 

The highlight of the Amazon is our overnight jungle survival adventure that takes us deep into the rainforest.  We have camped before, but we have never slept out in the jungle and we are apprehensive about the creepy crawlies and unknown creatures.  With only a few hours remaining until nightfall, our guide teaches us basic survival skills that include starting fires, climbing trees to gather fruit, drinking “water” from vines and blowgun hunting with poisonous darts.  With our fingers, we eat a dinner of grilled fish and fresh fruits beautifully displayed on palm leaves.  Yes, even the boys.

As the sun sets, the guides string up our hammocks amongst the trees.  We climb in and gaze up at the moonlit canopy while trying to get comfortable in our unusual environment. Our fear of bugs turns out to be unfounded and few bugs find us in the night despite a lack of mosquito nets.  After a surprise traditional dance by the bare-breasted natives, the night creatures take over and play their symphony as we try to fall asleep.

Brazil - Rio de Janeiro

As we sailed into Rio de Janeiro, it was obvious why the view from the harbor is considered one of the modern wonders of the world.  Christ the Redeemer sits at the top of one of the many forested peaks that encircle the sprawling white beaches and modern city.  Copacabana and Ipanema beaches are right in Rio.

Rio is a perplexing place because its famous beaches, busy downtown and wealthiest neighborhoods bump right up against the favelas (slums) that are scattered all over the city and its suburbs.  Historically, powerful gangs ran the favelas and crime was rampant in Rio.  The upcoming World Cup and Olympics spurred a huge crackdown in the favelas and police have regained control of most of the communities.  We toured the Favela do Alemão in Bonsucesso where gondolas, identical to those on a Colorado ski hill, were built to transport residents to and from work.  From the gondola, we had a bird’s eye view into the favela communities and activities.  As we walked through a safe section on a Sunday afternoon, the streets were rocking with music and happy people, and we had numerous greetings and even accepted an offer to try some grilled beef.  Despite getting a glimpse of favela life, we were disappointed that we didn’t get to have more meaningful interactions with the locals and understand more about the vibrant community there.

We also had the fascinating experience of attending a Candomble ceremony, a blended African/Christian religious ceremony where participants dance in a circle in a hot room until their personal spirit enters their body and they fall into a trance. 

In addition to our cultural experiences, we enjoyed one beautiful day hiking through the jungle to a deserted beach and one rainy day visiting Christ the Redeemer.  We could not see a thing from the high mountain overlook, but we got a great ghostly photo!

Argentina - Big City and Cowboys

As we sailed across the Atlantic from South Africa, we were exposed to three sides of Argentina.  The old: the still beloved Evita, who served as first lady and worked on behalf of the poorest Argentines; and the history of what once was among the richest countries on Earth, with European influences and South American riches.  The ugly: the aptly named Dirty War, which saw military dictatorship and people “disappearing” on a massive scale, still unaccounted for.  The current: a failing President; an economy in decline, with pegged exchange rates and foreign currency controls; a disgruntled populace, looking for improvements in their lives.  We were also prepared for a country that has a serious love affair with food and fun – including the tango, Argentine beef and dulce de leche. 

Buenos Aires was the largest city on our itinerary and it showed.  It was a bustling crowded place with numerous shops and restaurants and the highest concentration of McDonalds we’ve ever seen on one street.  It also had the grand buildings you would expect from a wealthy European-influenced city.  Grandpa Milton learned first hand why we had been warned repeatedly about the pickpockets on the subway when a couple managed to jostle him and make off with his travel wallet.  The surprise of Buenos Aires was the dogwalkers, sometimes taking up to a dozen dogs on a walk at a time.

The highlight of our second day was “dinner in the dark”.  We joined about 40 shipmates and ate dinner in complete darkness to simulate the impact of being blind.  If you haven’t done it, it is worth spending an evening this way.  It certainly gives you a brief experience of what it is like to live as a blind person.  Christy wrote an essay on the evening so look for that at the bottom of this post.

Our third day featured a visit to a ranch in the pampas (grasslands), the home of Argentine gauchos (cowboys).  It was highly entertaining day featuring horsemanship demonstrations and a delicious BBQ lunch.  Jay wrote a piece about it for our travel class also posted below.

We only had the opportunity to scratch the surface of Argentina and will be sure to return sometime to explore Patagonia in the south and the rain forest in the north.

Christy's story is here!

Jay's story is here!

South Africa - A Magical Complicated Country

The lucky Orris clan returned to picturesque Cape Town, South Africa. Our second visit allowed us to dig deeper and discover a layer of South Africa that we didn’t see in 2009.   We added to our knowledge of South Africa’s history through our classes on the ship and our inter-port lectures, Bob and Alice Evans.  Desmond Tutu was supposed to have joined us on our voyage between Ghana and South Africa, but had to postpone the trip so he could receive some international prize.  The nerve of him! 

 

During our visit we tried to better understand apartheid and South Africa’s progress (or lack thereof) since apartheid’s repeal in 1994.  We struggled to understand how the South Africans could live so peacefully now with so much past oppression and so much current inequality.  If you want to learn more about apartheid and the current situation, you can read our essays in the next post. 

The highlight of our visit to Cape Town was our homestay in Langa Township. The townships are black and colored cities that were created by the Apartheid government to control the population and separate the white population from others.  Langa is the oldest township in Cape Town and has only 50,000 people.  The largest townships in South Africa have more than one million people.

We were apprehensive about staying overnight in the township and did not know what to expect.  Our fears faded quickly when we met our housemother, Mama Rachel and her granddaughter and great grandson.  They had a clean and spacious home and made us feel immediately welcome. 

The township had a huge disparity in income levels with expensive homes right across the street from shanty homes.  We spent the afternoon at Happy Feet, an inspirational afterschool dance project that kept kids off the street.  Read our stories and poems to better understand what we felt and experienced in the township. 

Another highlight in Cape Town was our connection with a group of Aspen Institute Fellows who just happened to be in Cape Town for their global seminar.  We joined old friends and some inspiring new fellows for dinner followed by a discussion on the future of South Africa.  Fellows from South Africa, Egypt and Nicaragua shared their personal experiences and enlightened us on the struggles that exist across the globe.    Our cheetah and bird rescue field trip that day ended with wine tasting that happened to be at the same hotel where the Fellows were staying!

  

In addition to these life-changing experiences, we did some more touristy things in Cape Town too.  We went to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was held for the majority of his 27 years of prison.  And we followed that with a full day trip with an insightful taxi driver who took us to see penguins and the picturesque Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point, the southernmost places in Africa.  We packed a lot into our 5 days.

Ghana Stories - Views from Christy and Jay

We have finally figured out how to upload links to word documents.  We had several assignments for our travel writing class and we linked them to this page.  See the documents below if you want to read more about Ghana.

Anticipating Ghana's Slave Dungeons - Christy

Expectations of Ghana - Jay

Anticipation of Ghana - Christy

Beyond the Comfort Zone - Encountering Ghana - Christy

Playing Fairly, Hard - Jay

Reflections of Ghana - Jay

Reflections on Ghana - Hell Dungeons - Christy

Ghana Reflections - Christy

Ghana - Our Favorite Port - Again!!

Ghana is engraved in our souls.  In 2009, it changed us more than any other country on our around the world trip and it rocked us again on this visit.  It is hard to describe why Ghana affects our family this way.  In an effort to demonstrate why, we will include essays we wrote entitled Anticipations of Ghana and Reflections of Ghana.  These come from our Travel Writing class, which continually pushes Jay, Christy and Luke outside our comfort zone – just like Ghana did for us on our visit. 

Below is the overview of our visit to put our attached stories into perspective.  

We packed in as much as we could during our four days in Ghana and tried to experience different parts of the country than we did during our 2009 visit.  For our home base, we choose a beach resort near Cape Coast that is only 67 miles from Accra, but almost 4 hours away due to the unpredictable traffic.  Although we were often stuck in traffic, we were never bored because vendors swarmed the cars with baskets on their heads overflowing with items ranging from grapes to toilet plungers.  You could do your day’s shopping from your car!

The first day, we visited a friend from the Aspen Institute, Patrick Awuah, who left his job at Microsoft and returned to Ghana to start Ashesi University.  Patrick created what others thought would be impossible, the top university in Ghana.  It is producing the next generation of ethical leaders who are staying in Africa to change the continent.  Ashesi, and Patrick’s dedication, are an inspiration to anyone who wants to make a difference in the world. 

Ghana is infamous for its part in 400 years of the slave trade, where 60 million people were taken from Africa.  Of the 60 million people taken from their villages, historians estimate that only 12 million survived the trip across Africa, their time in the dungeons and the horrific conditions of Atlantic crossing to Brazil, the Caribbean and North America.   We were surprised to learn that most of the slaves were actually taken to Brazil, with only a tiny portion going to North America.  Read the stories in our next post to get a glimpse into what we experienced during our visits.  Warning:  it is not easy reading. 

Our favorite experience in 2009, and again this year, was visiting a local village and learning from the similarities and differences in our cultures and circumstances.  This time, we visited a school and orphanage in the village of Equafo.   Our photos and essays try to reflect the energy and struggles of the children. 

We took over 700 photos in Ghana trying to capture the vibrancy of Ghana’s people, markets and towns.  Here are a few more of our favorites. 

Tenerife - Canary Island Paradise!

Since the Canary Islands had been added at the last minute to our itinerary, we did not know much about them.  The island of Tenerife blew us away with its natural beauty and the charm of the beach towns.

With only 33 hours to spend in Tenerife, we quickly grabbed a taxi and headed to the north side of the island to explore the beaches.  On our way, the taxi toured us around the larger than expected capital city of Santa Cruz and showed us stunning vistas overlooking the sea towns and volcano that dominate the island.

Upon arriving in Puerto de la Cruz, we found an oasis of unique swimming pools that included lava islands, fountains and caves.  The pools were built along the sea wall and waves crashed into the rocks and create sprays of textured water that we ventured dangerously close to.  After seeing these amazing (public!) pools it was hard to get our kids to do anything cultural that day. 

We tore ourselves away from the beach on our last day in Tenerife to explore the jagged mountains on the northeast coast called Monte de las Mercedes.   Our driver dropped us off in a chilly cloud forest and we hiked along the island’s old trail system that wound through villages, past goatherds and descended through several microclimates on the way down to the hot beaches below.  The scenery was striking and well worth the hike.  We drove back on a new and even more spectacular set of nausea-inducing roads that left us amazed at the beauty of the surrounding peaks. 

Someday, with more time on our hands, we would love to go back to Tenerife, hike the active volcano and explore the many other activities on the island.

Spain - Six Days to Explore Andalucía

After concocting a hundred different itineraries in our heads that included flying to Barcelona, hiking the Pyrenees, and visiting the sword making city of Toledo, we decided to rent a car and thoroughly explore the southern region of Spain called Andalucía.  Six days was not near enough time. 

We arrived in the Andalucían capital of Seville, Spain at eight in the evening, just when the city was awakening for dinner.  We had briefly visited Seville in 2009, but this visit showed us an entirely new side of Seville.  We loved walking amongst the bustling diners who sat at bistro tables lining the small cobble stone streets.  Everything was vibrant and alive. 

As we weaved our way through narrow streets that fed into a large square, La Giralda Cathedral greeted us with its candelabra lights.   We were mesmerized by the lights dancing off its spires and decided to see more of Seville at night thanks to a kind horse and his carriage driver.  The horse’s hoofs created a magical clicking on the cobblestones as we were pulled past the historic sites, palaces, fountains and parks.  

Our next destination of Jaen attracted us because of its famous castle hotel.  The hotel was built onto an original fortress and it looked and felt like the medieval home of kings and queens.  The cavernous dining and reception halls were the most spectacular we have ever been in and the town at the foot of the castle was charming.

Our adventure continued when we drove through the mountains along nausea-inducing roads, finally arriving at the town of Nerja on the Mediterranean Sea near Malaga.  If it had not been raining, we would have enjoyed the spectacular cliff-side beach.  Instead we discovered the Cueva de Nerja, vast caverns that stretched back for a mile and upwards for hundreds of feet.  It was the most fantastical setting one could ever think of for a movie and could well have inspired scenes from Lord of the Rings.

We spent the last night of our journey in Ronda, set along the top of a deep gorge that is spanned by a 18^th century bridge which is famous for the number of people who had been thrown off it during the Spanish Civil War.  We managed to not fall off the bridge (or be thrown off it!).

We arrived in our Spanish port city of Cadiz with only a little time to explore the town we had visited in 2009.  We had been away from the ship for eleven days and were happy to arrive back at our floating home to rest our heads and change our clothes!