Bill Seney's

Semester at Sea: Rock 4

13 Sep 2005

Salvador, Brazil!

After we cleared immigration I took a bus tour of Salvador that focused on the architecture of the city. The city has a number of striking buildings, much different from the usual run of big city designs.

After the tour I walked with Pat and Della (mental health staff & Bursar respectively) while they went to the market near the port.

First, a message to anyone who reads the following and has family or friends on Semester At Sea - the students involved have already called their families. If the following is news to you it means that it did not happen to anyone you know.

Two Semester At Sea students got mugged this afternoon in the upper town market district of Salvador Brazil. The two women, K. and M., went out to do some shopping with a group of other students in the market area of Salvador. They were not dressed richly (jeans or shorts & t-shirts, much like what the native Brazilians were wearing), and they were not flashing their cameras around but they were obviously tourists. They started out in a large group but as the afternoon went on people started following their separate interests and drifted apart. K. & M. stayed together and were in a well populated part of the city when the attack occurred. One of the attackers grabbed K. by the neck and tried to drag her off, at which point M. came up and beat on him to try and get him to let go. Another local grabbed her and tried to drag her off. K. started screaming and lay down, refusing to go with her attacker, while M. hauled off and punched her attacker in the face. At this point the attackers grabbed the student’s cameras and ran off. M. considered trying to grab her attacker, but given the possibility he had a knife decided discretion was the better part of valour and stayed with K. instead.

While there were a number of people nearby they only stood and watched – apparently the attackers were members of a local gang and the bystanders feared retaliation if they came to the students’ aid.

K.’s scream’s brought another SAS student and a local who spoke English, the police were called and the students taken back to the police station to provide an artist’s sketch and look at mug books before the police brought them back to the ship. Once on board they met with the dean, who talked to them about the incident and arranged for further care. The SAS program has both medical and mental health professionals and one of the counselors talked with them during dinner as part of a preliminary evaluation with further sessions planned.

Perhaps the students might have avoided the trouble had they been more aware of their surroundings but once the attack occurred they did what they needed to do to protect themselves. They were smart and tough and fought back and I shudder to think what could have happened had they gone with their attackers.

There are always dangers with travel to foreign cities but this incident had made me even more convinced of the value of the Semester At Sea program. The students were able to return to the ship after their attack – a place where they could feel safe and with friends, and where they had access to a full range of support services. It would have been much worse had they been traveling alone and had only a room in some hotel to go to after such a traumatic event.

14 Sep 2005

Up at 0430 for the 0500 meeting before departing for the Amazon!

Based on previous Amazon trips and the experience of one group in Venezuela (24 out of 28 sick) we were a bit paranoid about traveler’s diarrhea so I was taking prophylactic Pepto-Bismol (2 tablets after each meal, plus 2 more at night) while a few people were on preventative Ciprofloxacin. Our physician was a bit hesitant about using antibiotics this way but finally decided that with the nature of the trip and the traveling involved it was an acceptable option. Our trip leader carried a first aid kit with Imodium and treatment doses of Ciprofloxacin as well. Fortunately our precautions, including copious use of hand sanitizer, worked and no cases were reported on our trip.

We were met by our tour guide and bussed to the airport where we flew (Boeing 737-300) South-West for two hours to Brasilia, the national capital. There we changed planes and flew (Boeing 777) North-West for three hours to Manaus , about 1200 kilometres (720 miles) from the mouth of the Amazon. Manaus is also where the Amazon and the Rio Negro join.

We arrived at the airport, where on arrival I was handed an advertising flyer for a 42 inch Phillips plasma TV! (The price was 7550 Reals or US$ 3000). This is not what I expected in the middle of the Amazon rain forest, but you have to understand that due to tax incentives Manaus is a centre for electronics manufacturing in Brazil and produces TVs and cell phones for export to most of South America. The Amazon is navigable for ocean going vessels (not super-tankers or the largest container ships but still respectable sized craft) as far as Manaus, which has a population of 1.8 million.

From the airport we went to our river boats. These were about 30 metres (100 feet) long and carried a crew of about half a dozen plus 30-35 passengers. Semester at Sea filled 4 boats that traveled separately but met up several times during the cruise, and also had people in a lodge on the river.

Our first stop was the meeting of the waters, where the Rio Negro joins the Amazon. The Amazon originates in the Andes and carries considerable amounts of light clay silt, while the Rio Negro is a more placid river with large quantities of decaying vegetable matter that give it a darker colour. The demarcation line where the two rivers meet is quite dramatic, with the lighter Amazon waters on one side and the darker Rio Negro waters on the other.

From there we sailed up the Rio Negro, where we spent the rest of our time. The decaying vegetable matter makes the Rio Negro acidic (a PH of 3 – 4), which keeps it free of parasites and mosquitoes and safe for swimming. In the evening we transferred to motorized canoes and went piranha fishing (catch & release) which was interesting, then as night fell our guide used his flashlight to find a caiman (South American alligator), which he caught with his bare hands so we could see it and take pictures. The one he caught was about 0.75 metres (2 feet) long so it wasn’t terribly dangerous but it could still give a nasty bite if he wasn’t careful.

After this we returned to the boat and climbed into our hammocks for a good nights sleep. After sunset on the river it was quite comfortable and I had no trouble at all sleeping.

15 Sep 2005

The next morning started shortly after sunrise with an option swim and breakfast, then a 3 hour nature hike. About half an hour in I had emptied me water bottle and was feeling the heat so I decided discretion was the better part of valor and turned back. One of the guides escorted me back to the boat where water, shade and rest soon had me feeling much better. A group of Semester at Sea students from another boat had joined us for the hike and a couple of them got wasp stings, but the tour company had a doctor along and they were looked at and treated on the boat.

In the afternoon we went to a local village where we saw rubber and brazil nut trees, shopped for trinkets, and the students and locals played soccer. (The Brazilians won.)

When we returned to the boat there was a beach BBQ and party. I ate and turned in relatively early as I was still tired and wanted to be at my best for the next day’s activities.

16 Sep 2005

The morning started out with another piranha fishing expedition, followed by a shorter (2 hour) nature hike where our guides covered survival skills like starting a fire, making shelter and sources of protein and other foods in the jungle. [See note at bottom after warning to the bug adverse for more details].

This was a shorter hike and I took along extra water so I made this trip with no problem. I had also been careful to salt my food at breakfast and eat a couple of bananas to balance my electrolytes.

In the afternoon we visited another town, where there was a large building that was being reclaimed by the jungle. The building dated from the rubber boom in the early part of the 20th century, and went through a number of uses (prison, school, leprosy hospital) before being abandoned in the 1960s. The jungle is slowly reclaiming the building, with trees growing in the abandoned rooms.

In the evening we met the other boats at the lodge for a wrap-up party, complete with Brazilian folk dancers interpreting local legends. Their performance was a cultural amalgam, mixing European music with indigenous dance and stories.

17 Sep 2005

We arrived at the Manaus airport just after midnight for an early morning flight to Brasilia, then back to Salvador (Boeing 737-300s on both trips), arriving back at the boat by 1530 (3:30 in the afternoon). I was in line to board the ship (it takes a while as bags are inspected for contraband – student’s can’t bring alcohol on board) when the Dean returned from the airport with Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Archbishop’s wife. They received a warm reception, with the students breaking into spontaneous applause and moving aside to allow them to go to the head of the line for boarding.

After unpacking I went back to the market and bought a loose-weave cotton shirt and pants for the tropics and returned to the ship, where I got a follow up on the 2 students who got mugged. Both stolen cameras were recovered and the Brazilian police have made one or more arrests. The attackers have been charged with attempted kidnapping, assault and theft and face a possible 8 to 10 years in jail. Beyond that details are hazy but we are all glad to for the news.

We sailed at 2300 (11 PM) and are currently en route to Capetown South Africa.

WARNING FOR THE BUG ADVERSE

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During the 15 Sep 2005 survival hike our guides collected some grubs from a coconut tree and we got an opportunity to sample them. The texture was squishy but they tasted like coconut.

- Bill Seney