So it was about two in the morning, I had just finished writing my french journals due the next day. Tired, but hungry, I decided that moment was a good time to get some rewarding Ramen. Manning the the bar tonight was Courtney, the tall Jamaican bartender. The Filipina had her shift moved to the crew bar, so I'll miss having our midnight conversations, though Courtney's a cool dude. (Yes, he's a dude) Walking by as I ate was the Assistant Housekeepr, who I've talked to previously, but probably haven't had a conversation with since Barcelona. So we enjoyed a little conversation.
We started talking about this and that, the idea of coming on a second voyage, and Boracay being within two hours of his house. He lives in the Visayas, so this is to be understood. I only came to understand the island beauty recently... through my Sports Illustrated subscription. But he then said how you could find a nice cheap restaurant along the coast of the island and then after dinner just walk a couple yards to enjoy the beach. Boracay sounds like complete paradise.
We then talked about Croatia, which I got to enjoy, but he and much of the crew did not. As I was told by H/V Utility Man 2, much of the crew has to pay a hefty 17 euro fee for a visa. What he elaborated to me though, was a bit puzzling, as it this visa fee only applied to certain people. Filipinos, Nepalese, Indian, South African, and Jamaicans were the ones who had to pay, to his recollection. Meanwhile, all the Europeans could get in fee free. I know that Europe has immigration problems as a whole, with a lot of Africans trying to make their way to the northern continent, and farther Eastern Europeans being a pain in the side for many city policemen with pickpockets and beggars (as I'm told and through my experiences), I wondered what they had to gain by keeping these more exotic, colored foreigners out. And it's not like even the Filipinos are invading, the only Filipinos I met while in port were from another cruise ship, and I'm pretty sure they are Filipino American by this point. Also what is interesting is that this fee didn't exist until a couple years ago- the Assistant Housekeeper got into Dubrovnik free back in 2007. I can only wonder what the Croatian government is thinking.
The crew has been appeased somewhat, as the second day in Dubrovnik they had a big party. Concurrent with that was a large basketball tournament, of which the winner won a sizable cash prize. (Which brings me to an earlier encounter with the crew, I dropped by the basketball court to watch them play a little, one bar man related to me, "This is just like in the Philippines, right?" to which I responded "Yeah, except you're not playing in tsinelas!" They got a laugh out of that.) The Explorer has its ways of keeping the crew happy.
He then related to me his experience in Greece. Being of the Euro, it's not going to be a cheap place to visit, but I'll have my ways of seeing what I needed to see. Apparently from the Acropolis, you get a beautiful view of the entirety of Athens, so I'll look forward to that. He did mention that there is a noticeable Filipino population within Greece, however it is scattered, and won't be as easy to find as Little Manila in San Francisco or something like that. He did say that there's a Filipino store the crew likes to frequent within our port of Piraeus. I might try to make my way there and take pictures, maybe have a bottle of San Miguel. (On a side note, there is a Spanish San Miguel and a Filipino San Miguel. I like the Spanish San Miguel a lot but I actually haven't drank any of the Filipino one...)
(Leo)
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