Jess, Me and my Roommate, Pam, at a Welcome Recpetion in RICO!

First Stop... Puerto Rico!

Well today is my last day in Puerto Rico and it has been amazing. Right now I am sitting in an internet cafe in downtown Old San Juan just reflecting on my last few days in port and wishing I didn't have to leave, but then again... I can't wait for BRAZIL!

The language barrier has been a slight problem here, and more of a problem that I expected. When I was in Puerto Rico before I was in a resort area where almost everyone spoke English and was able to point you in the direction of places that you want to go. However, when you really get off the beaten path things are quite different! I speak a little bit of Spanish and that has helped tremondously, but its still intresting trying to communicate. I can’t wait for India where I know nothing about the languauge.

Ok, so for the highlights of San Juan… here we go. The first day we were here I went into town with some friends and just did some exploring. It was great to not have much of a schedule and just walk around at a leisurly pace. There was a large number of students that had to get off the ship early to catch early trips, but the customs officals were great and did not really give us too much trouble, so the ship cleared realitivly quickly. I ate lunch at a local mexican café… I guess it wasn’t exactly Puertican food, but it was local and cute and fun too! After walking around for a while, I made my way back to the ship to get ready for the welcome recpetion that I attended at the University of Puerto Rico. What a fabulous welcome to the island! We ate great Puertrican food, talked with local students, and I learned to Salsa… yessss I can actaully do it! I got back to the ship around 11 and went out with my friend Jess from Penn State… she is so great, I’m sure you will be hearing lots about her, and we ended up at this little local hole-in-the-wall pub called Douglas’. We drank a few margaritas and actually met a guy from Latrobe who is a chef down here and is a huge Steelers fan! It was fun to talk to a local that also knows a lot about my home too.

Tuesday was another day filled with exploring the city and having fun in Old San Juan. We explored the forts on the island and ate more local great food. Then I was off to the Bioluminesence Bay at 6:30. The bay has these little algea like planton that when disturbed in the water by kayak paddles actually glow a light greenish-yellow. It was one of the most incredible things that I have seen while I was here. We kayaked around for about an hour by the moonlight and it occurred to me… I could never in a million years be doing this at home in the middle of January. I am learning that those types of moments are what this trip is all about. Learning to do things that I could never do before (salsa dancing) and seeing things that I never knew even existed (the bio bay) and eating things that I never ever thought of eating (and we will just leave it at that…).

Wednesday, today, I spent soaking up all of the last moments I could in Puerto Rico. I went to the beach this morning with a few friends. We then ate at this other local place called El Hamburger. Liz, Joanna, Jess and myself were probably the only four people that were speaking English in the whole resturant. But… we were able to eat for $20 which was such a good deal considering what we have paid for some of the other meals that we have eaten. Then it was off to the Bacardi factory. We took this little Ferry that cost $1 to the island that the factory is on. We toured the factory and there were a few free adult beverages at the end of the tour which was fun. I had no idea what went into the making and distilling of Rum and that the company has been around since the 1800’s! It was fun to see and something I figured that I might not have the oppurtunity to do again, so I went, and I’m glad I did.

OK… now for some real fun stories. Here we go…ready? Well On Tuesday-the 2nd day in port- I was carrying my phone around in my pocket since my cell phone actaully worked down here in Puerto Rico and somehow the phone fell out of the pocket while I was in the cab. I realized it right away that it was missing and so I freaked out and starting running after what was the cab that I thought the phone was in. Well, it turns out the same cab and the driver had actually left the complex where our ship was docked. But, the cab driver that I was running up to knew the driver of the cab that cell phone was in. So he agreed to help me find the guy. I jumped in the cab and we took off flying into to the city. The driver was weaving in and out of traffic, running red lights, and probably going 70 miles an hour. We got into the city in about one minute flat, which should have been about a 5-6 minute drive, and started looking for the cab. I was so paniced that I couldn’t even remember what the originial cab or the driver looked like so I was almost helpless in the frantic search. We then got stuck behind a horse and carriage, yes, horse and carriage going about 1 mile an hour. All I could think of was “this is not helping and all I am going to do is lose time.” There were also two little old ladies that were on the sidewalk trying to flag down the driver and he just flew right past them. The cab driver was so good to me and told me to get out of the cab because he thought he saw the other cab that my phone might have been in up the street. I sprinted across a busy street of traffic and started banging on the window of the cab and yelled at the guy, “You have my phone!” Meanwhile this poor man that I was yelling at speaks no English and is just jamming away to his Salsa music. I crawled over the seats of the van and sure enough my cell phone is on the back seat of the cab. I was so relived. I got back into the cab that I had been on the “high speed chase” in and the driver leisurely took me back to the dock. He starting telling me about his son and his family and how he was so glad that he could help me when I was stressed. Thank goodness for him!!

Alright, well thanks for reading this far. I know it was a lot to read. Keep the e-mails coming and mail is great too. I will be sure to write in Brazil!

My Cabin Number

Just a quick post to tell you that if you want to send me any mail, which I would love, include my cabin number so they can get it to me easily. Its #4026. Thanks! I promise there will be more posts to come (soon, I hope!)

Atlantis... What a Paradise!

Well… I made it to Atlantis! The travels this morning were uneventful except for the fact that I got out of bed this morning at 4:25 AM. Ugh… that’s early! My mom and I arrived in the Bahamas around 1 PM and just walked around a bit to explore the resort. It is so beautiful here! I have seen a lot of different resorts before, but nothing quite like this. The pools are unbelievable, the shopping is great, and let me just tell you about some of the yachts that are moored outside of the hotel. They are enormous!

There seem to be lots of SAS students here and it is so easy to pick them out. All you have to do is just look for the students with the luggage big enough to be body bags who are wearing college t-shirts. Everyone is so friendly and just really willing to meet people. I think many of us are in the same situation and don’t know many people that are traveling with us… so its great to have something in common with the other students. I think my mom and I are going to try to go into downtown Nassau tomorrow to get a closer look at the ship, since we only saw it from a distance on the ride in today. I will be sure to keep you posted.

Keeping up with me While I'm Away

I would love to hear from you while I am at Sea. Below are the addresses of the ports that I will be pulling into along with suggested airmail dates. Don't feel obligated to send postal mail, because e-mail is great, fast, and free... but if you do want to send me a letter (no boxes because they cannot guarantee that they will arrive and not be held up in customs) you can send it to:

Leah Rust
c/o: Exlorer
Arrival Date
Port Address
CABIN #4026


San Juan, Puerto Rico
Cruise Plus Service & Sales
1760 Fernandez Juncos Avenue
San Juan, Puerto Rico, 00909
Arrival Date: Jan. 23
Suggested Air Mail Date: Jan. 09

Salvador, BRAZIL
Oceanus Agencia Maritima
Av. Estados Unidos, 555
7th Floor/Room 712
40015-010 Salvador, BAHIA-BRASIL
Arrival Date: Feb. 1
Suggested Air Mail Date: Jan. 18

Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA
John T. Rennie & Sons
P.O. Box 702
1 Thibault House
8000 Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA
Arrival Date: Feb. 14
Suggested Air Mail Date: Jan. 31

Port Louis, MAURITIUS
Ireland Blyth, Ltd.
1 Queen Street
P.O. 53 Port Louis, MAURITIUS
Arrival Date: Feb. 27
Suggested Air Mail Date: Feb. 11

Chennai, INDIA
J.M. Baxi & CO.
3rd Floor, Clive Battery Complex
4 & 4A, Rajaji Salai
Chennai-600 001, INDIA
Arrival Date: March 9
Suggested Air Mail Date: Feb. 23

Yangon, MYANMAR
Myanmar Port Authority
Sea Horse Agency
347/1st Floor,
Mahabandoola Road
Kyauktada, Yangon
MYANMAR
Arrival Date: March 16
Suggested Air Mail Date: Mar. 02

Ho Chi Minh City, VIETNAM
General Forwarding & Agency Co., Inc.
5th Fl. OSIC Bldg.
8 Nguyen Hue Avenue
Dist. 1, Ho Chi Minh City, VIETNAM
Arrival Date: March 26
Suggested Air Mail Date: Mar. 11

Hong Kong
Inchcape Shipping Services (Hong Kong) Ltd.
Units 1802-1805, 18/F
No. 3 Lockhart Road
Wanchai, HONG KONG-China
Arrival Date: April 3
Suggested Air Mail Date: Mar. 20

Qingdao, PRC
Penavico Qingdao
21 Wuxia Road
Quingdao, 266002
P. R. CHINA
Arrival Date: April 7
Suggested Air Mail Date: Mar. 24

Kobe, JAPAN
Inchcape Shipping Services
Kenryu Bldg. Room 502
6, Kaigan-dori, Chuo-ku
KOBE-shi, Hyogo-ken 650
0024, JAPAN
Arrival Date: April 11
Suggested Air Mail Date: Mar. 28