More updates...

I guess this will be my last blog update from the boat, as we've only about four days to go.

Since Venezuela, we visited Panama, Guatemala (two days) and Mexico (Manzanillo and Ensenada).

Panama was fun - a bunch of us hired a van and driver for the day and went under the Gatun locks, saw the jungle, went to Porto Bello. Probably not one of the most exciting ports, but it was okay. The day after, we went down the Panama Canal. One of the passengers said it well: "it's first time in my life I've gotten up at 5:30am to spend 2 and a half hours watching some gates open".

It's the third 'bridge day' we've had. That is, a day when the topmost deck is open for passengers to see scenery. The other days were the Suez Canal and the fjords.

Guatemala was one of my favourite countries. It's so beautiful!! And the people were lovely. I'd really like to go back some day.

The first day, we went to Antigua, which is a lovely, picturesque town with cobbledstoned streets, heaps of cafes, and every house painted different colours. I travelled with my roomie and a few Japanese girls.

The second day, some of us went to a volcano. This was the volcano that erupted only a few days earlier. The lava was still smoking as we walked over it!!

I loved the Central American food too. Tacos and nachos and tostadas and guacamole, yum yum. ^_^

Manzanillo and Ensenada were quite different as Mexican ports went. Manzanillo felt like more of a 'real' town. We met a local guy who knew everyone and showed us around. He took us to the docks and some fishermen had just brought in a sailfish, which they were cleaning.

Ensenada, though it looked more like my image of Mexico, had a nasty, insubstantial feel to it, like it was just an inflated tourist town. Everything we passed was for tourists; it didn't feel like a real place. Since this was our last port, lots of us grouped together and had a beach barbecue. A most excellent way to say goodbye to our final port.

Anyway, since I am finally updating again from my own computer, here are some snippets from my real diary, but I haven't had much time to update lately.


June 28

The last couple of days I've been feeling again that I'm a bit tired, that I want a break from being on the ship and with everyone all the time.

I want to spend a whole day by myself doing nothing, without any feeling that it is somehow wrong for me to do so. Not that anyone would really say that, but sometimes I do feel a bit weary.

Anyway, the second day of Venezuela was even better than the first. In the morning I went around La Guaira by myself. In the afternoon I went to the beach with a few young Japanese people.

The beach was a small beach with local people. A lady was surprised that we had found it. How did you know about this beach? she asked. Well, I said, we heard there was a famous beach nearby, and we took the bus here, and the bus driver gestured in this direction as to where the beach was.

As it turned out, we were a little way from the 'main' beach, but the one we were on was safer. She said most of the people here were neighbours who had known each other a long time. In fact, she added, it was the neighbours who had recovered this beach. A few years earlier, it had been buried by a bad mudslide. Even now, some of the five-star hotels around the beach were out of service

She also warned us - as our taxi driver had - to hide our cameras when we left the beach. We didn't need this warning. The Japanese guy with us who was taking the most photos, said that he had taken lots of photos in Caracas. He didn't have any problems, but he encountered lots of well-meaning people advising him to hide his camera. No doubt the danger is real and significant, but it is nice he encountered lots of friendly people concerned about him, and no people who were trying to harm him.

It seems most passengers had a good time in Venezuela and were able to have meaningful exchanges. A couple of people did have incidents, though. A girl had a necklace ripped off her neck, for example.

We met lots of nice people. A lot of local people were interested in the Japanese people.

And it was a nice beach, too! It was kind of a surf beach, so the waves were a bit strong, but it was fun. And the skimpy bikini-clad girls were such a contrast to the last beach I went to - in Aqaba, Jordan.

The food was good too. I had carne mechado(?) and arepas and street stall hot dogs. I tell you, most of the street food is greasy and substantial. It's no wonder most of the people are larger. I noticed it especially after so long with Japanese people - most Venezuelan ladies are a little overweight, and many of them wear tanktops showing cleavage. It sounds like a weird observation on my behalf, but this is so unusual on this boat that it really stood out to me.*

*(Oh, I just remembered a funny moment from the Irish exchange tour. One of the Irish buddies - a middle-aged woman, slightly plump - took off her cardigan, revealing a tanktop and some slightly sagging middle-aged flesh and a bit of cleavage. Nothing bad, nothing dramatic, but the reaction of her elderly Japanese buddies was hilarious: 'aaggh! Put it back on! This is not Japanese style!' It was pretty funny.)

I'm feeling a bit seedy today, like I'm coming down with a cold. I have been very healthy all trip, apart from the first week or two, so I think I've done pretty well.


July 1

How good is this trip!! I'm still feeling a bit like I want to withdraw from people and not be too sociable. But I've had so many good times on this voyage.

Two days ago I went to Jamaica. I went with two teachers and two translators. We spent most of the day at the beach, snorkelling, swimming, lounging around and drinking cocktails. I had a hamburger lunch.

My experience of Jamaica reminded me a little of Vietnam. I enjoyed it, but I felt like I didn't really experience the country, didn't really meet any new people or learn anything. The places we went to were mostly quite touristy. Lots of people calling out to us to try to sell us things. (Since I was with all Japanese people, they called out a lot of "konnichiwa"s. Later, when I mentioned this to one of the girls, she hadn't even realised they were speaking Japanese; their intonation was so unfamiliar.)


July 3

As I type this I'm sitting on the lounge deck. Out the windows the jungles of the Panama Canal are passing by. Yesterday we went to Colon (Cristobal) in Panama, and today we are traversing the Panama Canal.

This morning I got up at 5:30; that is when we were arriving at the Gatun locks, at the mouth of the Panama Canal. Because it is necessary to go uphill into the canal - it is above sea level - we had to enter via a series of gates.

It was a slow process; when we began, it was still dark. There was a ship in front of us, too, so we could see that ship complete the process that we would follow. They opened up the bridge's top deck so we could get a better view.

Basically, as a ship entered one lock, the gates would close, and the water would be poured in, causing the water level to rise - surprisingly quickly, for so much water - raising the ship up to the level of the next lock's water level. It happened so smoothly that you could hardly feel yourself rising. I couldn't see the water pour in, so perhaps it came in from underneath.

The effect is to allow us passage from the Atlantic Ocean (Caribbean Sea) to the Pacific.

This canal used to be operated by the US. Recently it was taken over by the Panamanians. At first, people predicted failure, but they proved more than able at operating it. It costs quite a lot for a ship to pass through this canal, so it is a huge source of revenue for the country.

Actually, the canal has two 'lanes', so to speak, so we have passed various other, huge ships. I think we are the only passenger ship in the vicinity. All the others seem to have 'dangerous goods' written on them in large print...

After several hours, we passed another series of locks. It's interesting passing through the locks; the ship is attached by cables to these cars that run along tracks alongside the canal. I guess theses cars control how fast our ship should go. There is so little space between our ship and the sides of the canal; you look over the edge and all you can see is wall; it's amazing we don't scrape the sides. But once you leave the locks, it's much more spacious, and you can see the Panamanian rainforest and jungle on both sides of the ship.

Today we keep getting announcements to let us know what we're passing. They say that soon we might be able to see crocodiles... what do you think? I don't know... [Note: I didn't see any crocodiles.]

Right at the moment, we are arriving at a third set of locks.

***

We have a lot of guest speakers on this ship. They give lectures and presentations and workshops. As teachers, we often don't have time to attend these. Also, since Japanese is the default language, and we often have to listen to translations through headsets, it's easy to feel that you're only getting a summary of what's being said, and missing the meat of it.

As a result, the international coordinator often organises for us to have 'English-only sessions' with various guest educators. Then we can hear lectures directly, or hear about their lives, or do a Q&A session with them. It's great, because there are some really interesting people on board.

One English session we just had was with a hibakusha (atomic bomb survivor) who experienced the Hiroshima bombing as a 13-year-old.

This is the story she told us, in my words:
"It was August 6, 1945, in Hiroshima. I was 13 years old. At that time, near the end of the war, many school children had been mobilised to help build firebreaks to protect the city. So at that time, there were many children out in the streets, working.

I looked at the sky and saw a plane. I pointed to it; something white came from it. At that moment, I felt a great pressure and was thrown backwards. I was unconscious.

When I woke up, I had lost my senses; I couldn't hear anything, couldn't feel anything, and everything looked dark. I gradually saw people walking, very slowly. It was a horrible sight; I can't even describe it. Their clothes were torn, and they were burned, bleeding badly.

I didn't realise it at the time, because I was so out of it, but I was also badly burnt. 1/4 of my body was burnt.

People were trying to go to the river, a source of water. So I also headed that way. There was a baby crying, which suddenly brought back my hearing. I could hear the baby screaming. The baby, and its mother, were badly damaged. The mother was trying to feed her baby, but she was so hurt, and the baby was covered with burns. Even now, when I close my eyes and remember the sight of that baby, it makes me want to cry.

Everyone wanted to cross the river, thinking that to escape the city would be safer. At that point, I passed out. Someone took me to a school auditorium. I was there for five days, without food, without water. It took all my energy to speak, but I managed to say my name, and address, and asked for water, again and again.

Someone heard me, and they managed to contact my family. Miraculously, my family came. The city was burning, but I couldn't really understand it. I was half-dead, and slipping in and out of consciousness.

When my mother finally came, she was calling my name, 'Where are you? Where are you?' I could only answer in a tiny, weak voice, 'I'm here'. Eventually she found me.

For a long time, my mother wouldn't tell me how I looked when she found me. But I wanted to know. After many years, she finally told me. She said my head was round, like a basketball; swollen. It was black and rough, like toast that has been burnt. Underneath the skin, there was yellow pus, from five days of infection incubating in the hot August summer. So my parents tried to take off the black skin, and rubbed my skin with cooking oil to try to clean it.

For days I was between life and death, and my parents didn't really expect me to live. I had a mosquito net to protect me. The city was full of flies and maggots, thriving on the dead and dying; the whole city smelled terrible. Rescue workers coming in had to cover their faces to breathe.

While I was in the house, others came, with terrible stories. Like my mother's friend, who came crying. Her daughter had been trapped, half-buried, under their collapsed house. The mother couldn't get her free, and then the fire came. She was forced to eave her daughter, who was still alive, to be burned alive. Others made her leave, because she had two other children to care for. This kind of horrible situation was common.

As you know, even many of those who initially survived the bombing, would later suffer from radiation illnesses. My mother and sister both died from radiation poisoning. Since I survived, I feel that I have a mission. I urge you to use your youth, your courage, your energy, and your love, to do something."


July 4

Another first today - having a Japanese lesson in a jacuzzi.


July 7

Feeling a bit more and more like I want to get off the boat...

However, Guatemala was great. I feel really lucky. Seems that every port, I have a great time, and get to do just what I want to do. Considering that this requires hooking up with the right people (the people who are doing the same thing you want to do, at the same time, in the same style, and who are available at the time you want to leave), it's no mean feat.

Speaking of ports, I tried to think of some of the coolest things I did on this trip:

Xiamen, China - seeing 6-year-old Chinese kids breakdancing
Da Nang, Vietnam - riding around the streets of Hoi An on the back of Glen's bike, getting clothes hand-made for me
Singapore - eating a terrific vegetarian meal in Little India, throwing peanuts in Raffles Hotel
Safaga, Egypt - running into the desert sunset
Aqaba, Jordan - going so near the Saudi Arabian border, meeting a huge family of kids, seeing the desert dawn
Port Said, Egypt - making a human pyramid in front of the pyramids
Piraeus, Greece - eating all my fave Greek foods with a view of the Acropolis
Naples, Italy - getting a random personal guide around the Herculaneum
A Coruna, Spain - tapas and red wine
Le Havre, France - finding a random little market in the funky streets around our hostel
Copenhagen, Denmark - eating hot dogs from a street vendor in the rain; finding ourselves in the 'best bakery in Copenhagen', finding snails and ladybugs in the lush greenery
Gdansk, Poland - stumbling across the Corpus Christi festivities and breaking off a tree branch
St Petersburg, Russia - getting off on my own for half an hour to order a cappuccino in a local cafe in RUSSIA!!!
Helsinki, Finland - sitting in a beautiful green park watching some ducklings diving for snacks
Bergen, Norway - seeing the 11pm sunset over the water, setting off through the fjords, second-hand bookstores and an awesome reindeer hot dog!
Dublin, Ireland - finding Oscar Wilde reclining in the park... hearing about the solstice at New Grange... scones at an Irish cafe... the long library at Trinity, and all the intriguing stories on display...
La Guaira, Venezuela - flying around the mountain roads in an open jeep, with views appearing around every bend, and ships flying in the sky
Montego Bay, Jamaica - pina coladas on the white sand beach!!
Cristobal, Panama - imagining a haunt of pirates in an sea-side fortress, the vultures flying around...
Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala - sitting at the foot of the cross... walking on smoking magma from a recent volcano eruption... running along cobblestoned streets in the pouring rain...


July 9

(Manzanillo)

In the afternoon I went with some others, and we met this guy who offered to show us around a bit. He knew everyone in the town - he said the settled population of Manzanillo is not very large - and was calling out greetings to everyone walking past. He took us to the fishing docks. There were brown pelicans flying; ?herons fishing. A fisherman had just landed a big sailfish, and we got to watch them cleaning it. Our self-appointed guide cut off a small piece of the meat and offered it to us. The freshest sashimi I've ever had. ^_^

Then we went to a local bar; we passed heaps of people from our ship sitting at the restaurants along the way, but the bar had only local people. The bar owner - also a friend of our guide - brought us tostadas (fried tortillas) with ceviche, frijoles, guacamole and other things. One of the dishes was lizard tongue???!! With lime juice, it tasted okay.

We had beer - the glasses were rimmed with salt and had a little lemon juice in them. It was zesty and refreshing. ^_^ A rather cute young guy who plays guitar in bars came and played and sung lots of songs for us. He was really good. ^_^

***

There is going to be some kind of singing contest where people try to mimic famous singers. I saw an ad for the applications in the ship paper, but I didn't go. I wasn't very interested in it. But at the teacher's meeting they wanted to have one male and one female teacher participate, and one of the guys was already doing it.

Since I have become known as 'the one who sings', I was the choice.

I decided to do Britney's 'Hit me baby one more time'. Vocally, it's not too difficult, and I can kind of do her voice. I think I can borrow a schoolgirl skirt. I have the other necessary items, if I can get someone to help me braid my hair. (I don't think I can source a blonde wig...)

The problem is I'm not relaxed enough... still not looking forward to the 'being theatrical' bit... I didn't really want to participate in this, and I'm a bit nervous about it, like dancing.

(In some small way, though, I am looking forward to singing on stage a little bit. There is something about being on stage that I do like. When I do get on the stage, I feel like 'oh, these are those familiar faces' - the audience on this ship is not too scary. And this is probably a good step toward more confidence, right? First I sang at acoustic night, just sitting on the floor with other people nearby; not really directed at an audience. Next I sang at the grand finale of the Okinawa festival, with lots of drummers and dancers, but in that case we had a backing band, a co-singer, and it wasn't a competition; all I had to do was just sing.

Now it's actual performance. I guess it will be good for me, right?)


July 12

I feel very good today.

Last night I participated in the talent show. I'm not going to say I was very good, or that I was even one of the better acts. I wasn't. But once I got up on the stage, I felt like a different person. I didn't feel nervous and I enjoyed strutting around.

The best part was afterwards, we went to the fiesta party to say goodbye to the Guatemalan students who are on board. The last few days, we've had some Guatemalan university students on the ship; they've been learning about nuclear abolition (one of the themes of our ship this voyage) and doing some presentations of their own. We have had a number of guests on this ship, but these guys are my favourite guests so far, because they're so friendly and nice, and they all speak English, some of them very fluently.

One of the translators asked me if I'd do the Britney song again for the Guatemalan party, because most of the Guatemalan students had missed the show, since they were upstairs watching a movie about the atomic bombings.

So I did. This time, it was a smaller group and a friendlier atmosphere, and and once I was there I let rip. Actually I like being on stage. ^_^


July 15

Otsukaresama desu! Today was my last day of teaching!

I tried to make it a nice last day - for the last part of class, we had snacks, and chatted, and wrote final messages in the class diary.

We went to Ensenada a few days ago! It was our final stop. We had a great time. Actually, I didn't like Ensenada itself very much. It was so touristy it made me feel rather nauseated. Although we have been to places with a tourist industry - Jamaica was full of tourist shops, and so was Hoi An, in Vietnam - this was the first place where I felt like 'there's nothing to this town *except* tourist shops'.

Of course we only went to the main streets near the port, so it may be that Ensenada at large is a wonderful town, full of culture and vibrancy.

I did enjoy some coffee, quesadillas and a fish taco (the local specialty), though. ^_^

Anyway, we got out of the town and bought loads of groceries at a supermarket, and betook ourselves to the beach. Some of the guys had, unbelievably, bought portable barbecues in Norway(!). By portable barbecue, I mean tinfoil packages with coals inside and grills on the top that could be set on rocks, lit, and afterwards filled with sand to extinguish them.

We set up on the beach and had a marvellous barbecue, and really relaxed. There were about 12 of us.


July 21

Aaahhh... the teaching program is finished at last. The last few days were supposed to be the grand finale. Unfortunately I got rather sick again - seems my last week on the boat is mirroring my first week on the boat - and couldn't fully enjoy them. So I am really glad that today is a free day to relax.

Yesterday I spent the whole day in the showroom. Sorry, that was a lame joke. Actually, I did. Yesterday was only one hour.

See, as we've been travelling west, we've had many 'jisas'. 'Jisa' means 'time difference'. Usually it means putting the clock back an hour, though a couple of times we had half-hour jisas, and we also had some jisas where we lost an hour's sleep.

After losing so many hours - the time difference between the ship and Japan growing all the time - we finally hit July 20, which was designated a one-hour day, when we would cross the dateline and essentially regain all our lost hours. So when the clock hit midnight on July 19, it became July 20 for an hour, after which the clocks were turned back an hour, and it became midnight of July 21st.

On July 20th they had an event in Broadway which was 'one day in one hour'. It was really funny. They took us through a fast version of a typical day on the ship. if you are interested, such a day consists of:
-guy in a bandana shouting at the sunrise
-radio stretching exercises
-morning prayer chanting
-introduction of famous historical figures
-open English/Spanish class
-lunch
-self-planned event scheduling
-events
-taiko drumming
-port orientation
-etc etc

***

Anyway, that's enough diary from me. Next time I write I'll be in Japan again. Looking forward to seeing you again soon. ^_^

Hello again

A quick 'hi' from Guatemala! This is the best internet cafe I've ever been to. Actually, it's not an internet cafe - it's a waterside restaurant with free wifi, not far from the ship. We're sitting outside next to some palm trees, looking over a pier - straw-thatched buildings, yachts, the Caribbean, and a beautiful sunset.

Today we went to Pacaya volcano - which erupted only a couple of weeks ago - and walked over the smoking black lava. It wasn't hot to the feet, but smoke was steaming over it, so desolate it felt like being in Mordor.

Yesterday we went to the beautiful town of Antigua.

Next stop is Mexico - two ports - and finally, back to Japan!