Midterms for me are over! Now I am writing papers and getting ready for Mauritius which we arrive tomorrow. The other night was had the crew talent show, which was really run. For two hours the crew (dining staff, laundry, cooks, housekeeping and more) all got on the stage and sang, danced and more for us. It was so we would donate money to their fund which allows them to travel when were in port and more. The crew really does everything on the ship and makes life easy for us. Many of these people are on the ship for 10 month terms and leave their homes from all over the world. Although a majority of the crew members are from Jamaica, many also come from Europe and the Philippians.
Today I found out that I might be able to get on a safari that previously was full (it’s the cheapest one), a friend of mine wants to get out of it to save money and I would take her place! SO HAPPY! The lady from the office said I will most likely be able to get on! Grandpa helped me with a money boost to let me have this opportunity which I am so thankful for. This Safari is half of the price of the one I was going to struggle to go on (it was like 1,300).
Also mom booked our hotel rooms and transportation for Italy! It’s sad SAS will be ending before I know it. But I also can’t wait to see my friends and family. It’s been about 3 months now and I feel disconnected. World events and things happening with friends happen and I am across the world without internet most of the time. So I miss out on stuff like that. No worries though I am still having an amazing time on the ship J Having 5 days in a row on the ship makes you feel disconnected from the world even more though.
I am watching The Princess Bride as I type my day 4 reflection. As you wish.
March 9th
We woke up at around 5am so we could catch a boat and go down the Ganges for sunrise. Our Tuktuk driver picked us up at 5:30 and by 5:45 we were on the river. There were not a lot of people and it was really peaceful. As the sun came up people came down in waves to bathe in the river. Woman bathes in their sari and men stripped down to nothing. As they bathed they all prayed, sang and said chants. We floated by all of this and through the beauty and amazement, I couldn’t help but feel like I shouldn’t be here. I felt bad for the people trying to worship here with tourists constantly taking pictures or floating by on boats. Although I don’t regret having that opportunity I do feel as though they might have enjoyed their holy river more if people were not viewing them as a tourist attraction.
Our Tuktuk driver had no luck finding us a hotel, so before we tried a few more places he offered to go find a few more while we went back to our hotel and ate breakfast and napped before the day went on. It was nice to have almost 3 hours of downtime because we had been going on and on for so long. After we rested we ate breakfast (French toast) which was soooo good. We used the Wi-Wfi and then met up with our Tuktuk driver (we also called him our guide because he was so good to us). We looked for a few hours with no luck and finally he offered his guest house to us. We had no other choice so we agreed to first look and see it.
The house was newly built and made marble flooring. It was very beautiful, except it had no furniture and was in the middle of nowhere. We looked around and since we had no guy with us and we did not feel very comfortable staying here we started looking into our other options. Since the guest house was a “no” for all of us, there were no hotels because of the festival, and we had to be back to the ship on the 11th, On the 10th we had a flight from Varanasi-Delhi and Delhi to Cochin (our port). But since our layover was 30 minutes between the two flights and we soon found out our Varanasi flight was delayed, we knew our best decision would be to cancel our flight for the 10th ( and get 25% back)and book a new flight for that night. So with help from a really friendly neighbor we booked a flight for that night around 8pm so we would get to Delhi at around 10pm and stay the night in the city. It was not the cheapest option but to feel safe we did it. Also we decided it was our best option because
With the new peace of mind that we had a new plan, we left the guest house and started touring more of Varanasi. We stopped at a building that had a marble carving of India. It was pretty neat but what I remember most is outside there was a man putting on shows with a monkey. Although most people stopped and laughed at this monkey, I felt bad for it, for being commanded to do all of these things and be caged up. The little monkey looked sad. It was hard to look and I paid the man no attention.
After we went back to the Ganges river to walk along the shore for a good hour before we had to go to the airport which was over an hour away. It was bittersweet to be at the Ganges for the last time. It was sad to be leaving such a cultural wonder but at the same time Varanasi had been such a headache hahaha. So we went to the airport and ate dinner at a small restaurant. We enjoyed a nice dinner and caught our short flight to Delhi. We found a cheap hotel in the city and quickly went to bed because we were all so exhausted.
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