Sub-Saharan Trip

 The first place I went in Sub-Saharan Africa was Mauritania. This site was used during the 12^th to the 16^th century as trade routes. This site gave me a new understanding of how life was back then. It was so interesting to see the buildings in ruins. They aren’t like Mayan ruins; they looked like kind of like sand castles.  I learned this was a hot bed for Islam during this time period. By the time I toured through half of it I felt as if I could blow my nose and sand would come out, it was very dusty. It was  interesting to learn about the way the bought,sold, and traded in this 400 year time period.

  

I decided to get a little more adventurous and went to the Tomb of Askia in Mali. Built by Askia Mohamed, the emperor of Songhai around the 1495, this tomb almost liked like a porcupine. I’ll be honest I was kind of hoping for a legend about how when you enter to tomb you become cursed. But there were two problems, one: they don’t actually let you into the tomb, and two; I guess those tales are pretty much confined to Egyptian tombs. Still it was very interesting to learn about emperor Askia, and his work in Islam, which he made the official religion of the empire.

 

The Caribbean

In the beginning of the year travel opened between Cuba and America, so I decided to take a trip. When I arrived in Havana the sweet smell of Cubano, a local sandwich, was there to greet me as I took in the beautiful scenery as I was thrown back to the 50s. When the U.S. cut all relations with Cuba in the fifties, Cuba was left fairly isolated from the world, leaving Cuba frozen in the time of the Cold War. Same cars, same architecture, and same culture.

The first place I went was El Castillo do los Tres Santos Reyes Magnos del Morro or, El Morro. This is the perfect example of Cuba being stuck in time, even though it's been there much longer than the 50s. Built around the year 1600, this fort was built to protect the entrance of Havana Harbor from any unwanted guests. Surviving many battles it still stands guarding the harbor.



Another adventure I had was at a place called Cayo Piedras del Norte. Located three miles off land, Cayo Piedras del Norte is a man made reef made purposely of sunken boats and planes as a place for marine life to live.

Iguazu and More!

Latin America here I come!

When have you seen the awesome power of nature? I just recently visited the Iguazu Falls in Brazil and Argentina (it's in both of them) and was reminded of that terrifying but oh so beautiful power. 62,010 cubic feet of power crashing down 269ft every second to be exact. To put this in perspective this thing is three time bigger than Niagra Falls and compared to the tallest waterfall it is still much wider. That's power! Speaking of power have you ever touched Jesus?



I hadn't so i decided to visit Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janero, Brazil. Now when you get to town you look up and you think "Oh it's not that big" you are dead wrong. That statue that they started building in 1922 is 125ft tall. Talk about intimidating for the demons living there! "Well did you touch Jesus?" you ask. I'm sorry to say, no. I couldn't even reach his toe.