barbados!!!!

Hello from Venezuela!! 4 intense days, several sleepless nights, 1 busted back (Rebekah) and 2 stubbed pinky toes (Matt – he keeps running into things)… So much has happened. Yet, very little of can be described properly in the text of an email. Matt was too sick to go to his Peace Boat bachelor’s party but recovered in time for Barbados. -------Side note: as we were sitting in the bar/restaurant on the boat writing this we were interviewed for a local Venezuelan government TV station. They said you can check out the broadcast on the net when it airs next Monday May 7th, at 4:30 Venezuelan time. Here is the info for any of you who can figure out when that will be in your local time. www.vtv.gob.ve. The show is called Senal (and maybe says Asunto Jovens.)------
Barbados was fabulous! We were thinking of a small casual sort of venue, but the moment we mentioned ‘marriage’ everyone stood up to offer some sort of help. It was very heart warming (of course). Luckily for us onboard this ship there are people of every background, hairstylists and make-up artists included. The past couple of days we were the center of a floating village where everyone was mobilized to organize a massive celebration. So we had two wedding events, one quiet on the beach, the other had 2 emcees, performances, greetings from the staff captain, presentations of gifts and a million cameras. It has been quite overwhelming but everyone has been so generous they have made it a real pleasure. We have so much more we can explain later, in person and at various times. For now this is where we will leave it.

Las Palmas!!!

Finally, we hit some hot weather. Most of Europe has been hitting us with cool brisk weather. Today, we landed in port and found a beach 5 minutes from the ship.

The other day we hit the half-way point! I´m not too sure what to think of time anymore. Our days are spent teaching and/or playing the part of entertainment for the passengers. Suddenly, 5 weeks are gone, and we´ve already travelled through half of the world.

At the same time, life in a massive floating tin bucket leaves us feeling a little isolated from the rest of the world (and its troubles).

Casablanca? Gibraltar?

Where are we? What's going on? If you all have been following our schedule, you would know that we were supposed to be in Casablanca by now. Well it's a funny thing... that terrorism stuff. The Peace Boat decided to skip that port for obvious safety issues, and drop all 600 of us off in Gibraltar.

the old city in DUBROVNIK

athens organic farm

Giza, Athens, Dubrovnik!!! - Where?

Egypt!! Crossed this off on our indiana jones tour of the world. 26 hours was not enough to really taste one of the pointiest wonders of the world. funny enough we've also started a list of places 'that we must go back to if we have the chance.'

Athens!!! reba and i split off and did non couple stuff. reba - checked out an organic farm (WWOOF - remember that from our oita-ken experience). i wondered around athens to all the touristy sites. be a tourist. there's nothing wrong with that.


Ahhh the pearl of the adriatic. the jewel of former yugoslavia. reba and i rolled on in yesterday and we're already in love with this little eastern european hide-a-way. if it weren't for all those tourist shops and $15 pizzas... nah... it's still beautiful.

entering into the suez canal

crossing the equator

selling my sketches for charity

eritrea - orphanage!!!

finally off the boat! EGYPT!!!

March 23, 2007
Crossing the Equator
Wear red and come to the party. We played global limbo with the Equator. At around 1:30pm we crossed into the Southern Hemisphere and had a group photo. How low can we go? Well just as far south as Mombasa for now.

Back in Kenya

Has it been 10 years? Really? We docked in Mombasa (Kenya’s second largest city and its busiest port). And do I mean busy. After getting off the boat, I quickly dealt my feelings of nostalgia to handle with the hordes of tour vans, cheap souvenir venders, smells of I don’t know what, and the DUST.

English SAFARI here we go! Well, there we went… out into the bush… deep into Tsavo National park. Although we were officially working for the English program on the boat to plan and facilitate an all English Safari, it was a treat to get a full-packaged safari tour (complete with a Kenyan singing and drumming troop).

A list of wild creatures spotted at 40mph…

13 elephants, 1 giraffe, 81 gazelles, 33 zebras, 1 dik dik, 121 giant ant hills, 45 dung beetles, 5 giant storks, countless other unidentifiable birds, 9 adult female lions, 1 helpless bird getting eaten by an adult female lion, 1 tour van sliding into another tour van and then getting stuck in the mud, 50 dust covered students, 10 sweaty and dirty teachers, and 2 overworked coordinators. .

1 April 2007

The curse of the blog. When can I ever get off this boat and find a reliable internet connection to update it? Where are we? What are we doing? These are the questions that I was planning on addressing in 19 countries. How can I at the pace we’re moving. A week ago we were in Kenya, and it feels like a lifetime away. A few days ago we jumped up into Eritrea and before we could even sit down and think about that HUGE experience we’ve landed in Egypt. We have the pictures to prove it all, but I’m finding it hard to find the words to describe it all. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures.