Two Roads Split in the Woods

            So, the day after Honduras, there were lots of random things happening and I was trying to get pictures with everyone. In the evening, there was the SAS musical that the drama classes and other students had been working on. It was really a very good show and I really liked it. It was full of jokes from the voyage and even featured the Captain. The next day we had convocation in the evening. This was to recognize all of the graduating seniors on board and those who had earned a 4.0. I never thought I would actually make it, but I earned a 4.0. Ironically, this was my first in college, though this is one of the toughest semesters I’ve had. I’m glad I made it only to make all the time I spent on homework (rather than port or hanging out with friends) worth it. Convocation was very nice, though I didn’t really want to say goodbye.

            The next morning we were supposed to have all of our stuff packed at 1pm to start storing it for the cranes to take it off the ship the next night (that is everything you  couldn’t carry off the ship on your person as you couldn’t get back on once you walked off). Unfortunately, a girl had appendicitis in the morning, so bad that they were afraid her appendix was going to burst. Even though we were only a day away from the States, they had to call in an air transport to bring her to the hospital because it was so bad. They had to lift her from the back decks to the helicopter. I didn’t get to see it (we were told to stay away as it was ‘not a spectator event’ according to the Captain, but lots of other people still went up to see it). Anyways, hopefully she’s doing alright now but that was quite an exit.

            I’m home now, but I still don’t know what to think. I’ve seen so many things and done things I’ve never dreamed of doing (or seriously thought I would ever do) I’m just not sure what to think of that. I’m sad to be gone, I really loved the ship and the community that we had. One of my favorite things on this voyage was returning back to the ship at night, as it gleamed in on the water: A bright star in mostly dark harbors (there were a few harbors where there were other brightly lit ships but ours always had a special glow). It was such a relief to return ‘home’ after braving the day, out in the unknown. My psychology teacher had us all pick a quote that meant something to us as our final test for the class (yes, I know that isn’t really a final test) and originally I thought it was supposed to sum up our psyc class. Once everyone else started explaining their quotes for the whole voyage, I tried to think of another. The only one that came to mind is Robert Frost’s poem, the one with the over-quoted ending – “I took the road less travelled.” Truly, I have just done that – how many people can honestly say they have circumnavigated the globe? But this quote has followed me since 6^th grade MYP, when I entered an academic program as one of its founding students (and guiniea pig). They always quoted this to encourage us and convince us that it was worth it, wasting our lives on homework. That was what this poem had always meant, spend my time getting good grades and eventually it will all pay off…somewhere. Honestly, we all hated that poem because there didn’t seem to be an end in sight and it felt like they were just using it to sell us things we didn’t want. But now, it’s meaning is re-written. Some of my best experiences on this trip were the random ones, the ones where my friends and I just wandered somewhere. Why is it that the road less travelled is better? It is because the people there are really awesome, and the people are always my favorite part of anything. They make or break something. MYP, ROTC, UVA, SAS, I’ve loved them all because of the people I’ve met there. At the ‘reverse culture-shock’ discussion, one of the panel speakers described the trip as one to Neverland. Besides my blatant bias to all things Peter Pan (because that’s my favorite movie ever), I honestly think that’s a very accurate description. I went off on the trip of a lifetime, to lands I’ve never seen before, in a fairytale-like manner (what with the excellent service from all the crew) and basically got to be a kid (not including the classes). Well, it seems it’s time to grow up, I’m back now. We’ll see what changes God has made in me through this trip – only time will tell that. As a closing, I think the biggest thing I’ve learned from this trip that I recognize now (until I reflect some more) is the fact that there is a whole lot of good in this world. We all hear about all the bad stuff and it makes it sound like the world is much worse than it is, but there is good out there and it’s worth fighting for. I can’t tell you how many times my peers were taken in by complete strangers in all of the countries because they needed a place to sleep or what have you, but there were countless stories of Good Samaritans in every country. Plus, the innumerable other acts of kindness from all of the people we’ve met. Sure there were some bad things, muggings, thefts, etc. but there is hope. God is good and has kept us safe and shown us His wonderful creation. I know there is talk of the end of the world being soon, but I think we still have some time. I think of when Abraham asked God about if there are any good people in Sodom and Gomorah – so I think there are still quite a few good people in this world to be found before its destruction. That is just my opinion though, so take it as it is. As a conclusion, I think it is fitting to close this voyage with the following dialogue from The Return of the King:

Frodo: I can't do this, Sam. 
Sam: I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something. 
Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam? 
Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for. 

            

Part 2

            So today was one of the only days I could sleep in, so I did. That meant that I woke up too late for breakfast. My friend and I went to the seventh deck to order breakfast and while we were up there, the crew started doing some drills. Trying to get back to our rooms before all the doors got locked for the drill, we got stuck in the main lobby and then were able to get to the stairs near my hall. It was kind of cool to see what they were doing as we’re usually just in our rooms to be out of their way. We didn’t mind the fact that we couldn’t leave the ship as it was literally monsooning outside. I mean downpouring – you couldn’t see that far because it all just turned to grey rain. We hung around the ship until there was a break in the rain and then went to the stores right outside the ship. Originally we were going to go into town as those stores would be much cheaper but we didn’t want to get drenched if it rained again. It was a good thing we didn’t go that far because it downpoured off and on all day. So, we did our final shopping and just relaxed on the ship. It’s too bad we didn’t get to see that much of Honduras and it’s ironic that it rained the only two days we were actually on vacation, but I can’t complain. We had gorgeous weather all of the other days so it was ok. 

Honduras

So, originally we were supposed to go to Cuba, but then our State Department was slow and there were other problems. Unfortunately, no Cuba, though this would be the only time we could probably ever go there so that’s a bummer. Plan B: Guatemala. They made trips, one of which was going to see the Mayan ruins. I was so excited for that because I’d never expected to actually see Mayan ruins, but how cool would that be? PSYCH The State Department decided that Guatemala was too dangerous with the drug trafficking going on there so we weren’t allowed to go. What did that mean? Honduras! Except, Honduras was also too dangerous so…Roatan! A resort island off the coast of Honduras with restrictions to this island (meaning no travelling from it or you would be in a load of trouble; also this meant that if you lost your passport you were up the creek without a paddle). I must admit, some of us were kind of worried about being on an island for two days as there were quite a few people who do not seem to have self control and now that classes were over it sounded like a recipe for disaster. Anyways, we finished classes and arrived in Roatan. I signed up for one trip because I really wanted to go snorkeling on my voyage. Honduras is supposed to have one of the best coral reefs in the world, right after the Great Barrier Reef and the reefs off the coast of Mauritius. We headed to an ‘underwater museum’ so we could see some Mayan ruins (replicas really) and reefs in one. I think the snorkeling equipment was better than that in Costa Rica because it fit better, though I kept getting water in my mask because the waves would slosh some water down my pipe. We got flippers this time, which I’ve never used before but they really are excellent tools in the water. It’s so much easier to swim with them that I don’t know why I’ve never used them before. It was so cool to swim and be only a foot above the coral (or at least that’s what I’m guestimating) and see it clearly. There were so many different fish and I really don’t have any idea what kind of fish they were but they were brightly colored. The coral had many different colors as well. I really liked snorkeling. After we had seen everything, we came back in and it started to rain. Oh, I forgot to mention the sand fleas. So, Central America has sand fleas and Honduras is notorious for them. Basically, there isn’t any bug spray or anything to prevent them from biting you so we all just had to hope we didn’t contract anything from them. Anyways, after snorkeling, we headed back to the ship.

Once back, I met some friends and we decided we wanted to walk to this other part of the island. As Roatan is basically this long skinny island and we were near the bottom East side, we were trying to walk around the bottom to get to the West side. It didn’t look that long on the map and the locals were telling us it was much too far (which we thought they just didn’t like walking like the locals in Vietnam) but we eventually realized that it was much too far away. We all squeezed into a van and drove over to the other side. Once there, we realized we were smack in the middle of all of the parties from all the other groups. We didn’t really want to be there so we walked along the beach until we finally found a place to eat. (by the way, it was drizzling the entire time). There was only one waiter who you had to find to place your order, but eventually we all got food. Then we went home and watched some movies to finish out the night. 

Panama Canal!

            How many times do you get to sail through a country? Exactly! Today was pretty awesome, even though I spent most of it doing homework. I woke up crazy early (0450) to see us arrive on the coast of Panama and the sunrise. We sailed down a river a bit until we got to the first gate. For those of you who don’t know how the canal works, its engineering genius at its best – nearly 100 years old too! (It opened in 1914). There is a lake on the top of the mountainous area that traverses the short length of Panama. Essentially, we dammed the lake to control for rainfall and its fluctuations and created several blocks on either side to raise and lower the ships. So, the first two gates end up raising the ship 85ft to be at the lake level. The first gate is at sea level when the ship enters. Then they let the water flow from the second area to the first until they equalize (it flows in tubes underneath the gates). They open the gates and let the ship pass through. Then repeat with the lake providing the water and the ship enters the lake. After sailing through the lake (which is the largest manmade lake in the world), you do the reverse on the other side. Simple, yet brilliant. Our ship had only a few feet of space on either side when in the gates, but we passed through easily. It was really an awesome experience.

Pura Vida

            Today I went on a canoe excursion. There was a large group of us who went, so once we arrived at the beach, they split us into 4 groups. After getting life jackets and paddles, we got into these large canoes with stabilizers on either side (basically wings of wood to help keep the boat from flipping). We paddled around a cliff with all of these birds perched in the trees. Once around, we headed for this nice beach and stopped there. There was an opportunity to go snorkeling, so I decided to try it. They had put toothpaste inside the goggles to prevent the glass from fogging, but it kind of burned my eyes (even after washing it out). I never realized how difficult it is to control your breathing while snorkeling, I ended up having to practice breathing with my head out of the water until I could get the hang of it. Once I did, I tried looking for thigs in the water. It was kind of murky so it wasn’t the best for snorkeling. However, one of the guides found a medium-sized octopus and a starfish and brought them out of the water. That was pretty cool. After that, I followed one of the guides a bit into the forest and saw a small waterfall. Then, it was time to row back and head back to the ship. I wanted to do some shopping, so we took the shuttle back to Puntarenas and found a nice market. Costa Rica is quite beautiful and it’s too bad we only had 2 days to see anything there.

Costa Rica

Today we arrived in Costa Rica. The country is very green and mountainous with many beaches. I went on a ziplining trip that was in the forests. We got to ride on 8 different ziplines, with the longest one half a meter long. It was awesome, we glided over a large river and through the trees. Costa Rica has a rich climate, allowing it to have 5% of the world’s biodiversity, including a cloud forest and a dry rainforest. It also has quite a few active volcanoes. Known as the Switzerland of Latin America, they abolished their military as a statement of peace. One of the common phrases the locals use as a greeting is, “Pura Vida”, meaning ‘the good life’. After ziplining, I went back to the ship and met a friend to walk around Puerto Caldera. Turns out, there is really nothing to do in that little port town so it was kind of fruitless. When we got back, we met some other friends and travelled to Puntarenas to eat dinner. That is a much more touristy town, so at least we found somewhere to eat. Costa Ricans eat rice and beans everyday, even for breakfast. Many of their meals are variations of that with meat and other veggies. It is pretty good food overall. It was a fun day.

Thanksgiving in Hawaii!

            Happy Thanksgiving!!!! It sure didn’t feel like Thanksgiving at all today but it wasn’t a bad day either! The day before we had docked in Honolulu to refuel and restock, so I got to call everyone. It’s a good thing I did as I didn’t end up having time to call while on my trip. So, we headed up Maona Kea, the tallest mountain in the world (when you measure from its base, which is on the seafloor). We stopped partway up to eat lunch and acclimate to the higher elevation. The stop had this really cool flower that takes ten years to grow, will bloom during the tenth year and then die and restart the process again. This wasn’t a blooming year, but we still got to see the strange flower. It looked like thin aloe leaves that were silvery. Now, we actually had a very large group of people on this trip, but we were split into 12 so that we could fit into these elongated vans. This is because it is required to have 4-wheel drive as you ascend the volcano because a very large stretch of the drive is incredibly bumpy terrain. The State does this to limit the amount and type of traffic going up the volcano. Eventually, we made it to the top. We had passed clouds and could now look over a large part of the Big Island. Many of the volcano eruptions (look like hills) were very red and some had some other coloring (like green and brown). Our guide told us that this climate is very similar to that of Mars and so there are many tests done here. Also, they chose the top of Maona Kea because there are clear skies and no wind so that their calculations won’t be affected. We got to walk a bit to go to the peak, passing some snow (snow in Hawaii!!!?!) and taking measured breathes to get to the top. There was an offering pile of wood and other assorted things that the Hawaiian people bring to Pele (goddess of fire). Then, we got to tour Keck I observatory! That’s my maternal grandparent’s last name and it’s not that common - how cool is that?! I always knew they were here but I never thought I would ever actually go inside one of them. It was really quite amazing. They have a laser they shoot into the sky every single night (that’s right, 365 nights a year) and it has better resolution than Hubble. They have liquid nitrogen cooling the inside of the domes to prevent condensation from accumulating on the very large mirrors. It costs $2/sec to turn them on and move them! And they operate them every night, from the minute the sun sets till morning light! Pretty expensive! Oh, and the researchers can only work up there 3 days a week to avoid the negative effects of the thinner air. Thus, there is lodging part way up the volcano for them to stay at while researching. It was pretty cool.

            After we saw the volcano, we started heading down and went through a cloud that had drifted over the roadway. It was like going through a thick fog machine. I had seen this ridiculous bumper sticker in the store saying, “Beware of invisible cows”. Sounds ridiculous, right? Well, there are cows grazing on the sides of the road and I guess sometimes they walk onto the road in the middle of the cloud and then it looks like they are invisible. Pretty funny. Anyways, we then headed to a lava cave. I happened to have the geology professor in my group so he explained how lava caves are formed. When the lava is flowing (which it can go up to 40mph!), sometimes the top layer can cool and harden and then the hotter part flowing beneath can sink into the ground. This ends up creating a pocket that becomes a cave. Thus, there are few to no stalagmites or stalactites within and you can see the ridges in the lava from where it was flowing, kind of like a fossil. That was pretty cool. Finally, we went to rainbow falls which was gorgeous and had two parts of a river converge into a waterfall. There were also some enormous banyan trees right next to the river. It was pretty cool.