Cherese’s trip
Cherese flew to Atlanta, Georgia, then to Nassau, Bahamas where the ship the SS Universe Explorer would depart. Cherese called us when she arrived. She was excited and met many of the students she would be traveling with. The following day, she went swimming with the dolphins on Blue Lagoon Island. Later, she said, one of the dolphins kissed her on the cheek and also took a fish hanging out of her mouth.
February 3, 1996, Cherese checked in at 7:45 a.m. to board the ship with 550 other students. Cherese was the only person from UCLA on that ship! They left port at 5:00 p.m. and headed to their first destination, La Guaira, Venezuela. They arrived on February 7th. Every time Cherese called, we only spoke for a few minutes. She would say, lots of kids are waiting in line to use the phone, so I'll tell you everything when I get home… But, she couldn't...
Venezuela was everything she was hoping for. When they docked, a traditional Venezuelan band came aboard the ship to play music and sing. It was exactly what she was hoping to hear, very cultural. Cherese felt anxious, excited and nervous about the Amazon Outdoors Trip, she was worried about all the mosquitos that might bite her. A small group of 16 students and the tour guides took several modes of transportation to reach their destination. On the Orinoco River, with a tour guide named Felix, Cherese had her first opportunity to speak Spanish with him. The group would be staying with a host family, who lived in a shack. They slept in hammocks under the stars and all night long they heard the sounds of birds, monkeys, crickets, chickens, bats, thunder and rain, and she said, "It was great." The next day while they were on the river fishing, Cherese caught a piranha in the lagoon where the water was infested with alligators.
Our family was able to learn some of these details during her travels from a personal journal Cherese kept during her trip...
February 19, 1996, they arrived in Salvador, Brazil. It was more difficult then she thought it would be to communicate with the Portuguese speaking citizens, but once again, she was able to use the Spanish language, and that pleased Cherese. The fact that Carnival was in place and the city was in such a state, negatively colored her impression of Brazil. The next day, Cherese and her new friends decided to shop.
They went to Pelorino Square and walked up and down the cobblestone streets where she bought a necklace, bracelet and a little pink tie-dye dress. On the Haparica Schooner Trip, they sailed to a beautiful island, and swam in the clear blue water. February 22, Cherese went on the trip of Historic and Contemporary Neighbors and visited a local school where she got to interact with the children. She said, they were wonderful and had the most beautiful smiles she'd ever seen that just light up. The children sang and danced for them and taught them hand shakes.
March 2, 1996, they arrived in Cape Town, South Africa. Cherese and friends planned a trip to Table Mountain. They took the cable car up and hiked down the mountain. It was very cold and windy. It took them 2 hours to get to the bottom, when they looked back, Cherese felt a great sense of accomplishment. Later that evening was the Welcome Reception at the University of Western Cape. There was a festival for the students, however, Cherese was disappointed there were very few students to interact with. Cherese and a friend, an African American from California, decided to roam on their own.
They were in the dorms and stopped to talk with a male student, a Zulu studying law, his name was Seth. Cherese noticed Seth would not make eye contact with her and would only speak with the other girl. When Cherese asked Seth if she was welcome there, he said the name of Amy Biehl, the girl from California who was killed there in 1993. Cherese had known about Amy, in fact her family didn't live far from our home. Cherese asked him how he felt about her being white and being there and he said it was okay, but Cherese still felt that he did not want her there.
Later, they departed by train and they were on their way to Madras, India. Cherese and Kristy, a fellow student, began talking about how they both wanted to help people and how great it would be if they could open some sort of orphanage or community center to help children and teenagers.
March 27, 1996, the last day of Cherese's life. We have been told the students flew from Delhi to Varanasi, where they viewed the Ganges River early in the morning, and later they flew back to Delhi. Then they were put on a bus for hours on the road that lead to 7 people's deaths. The itinerary had been completely changed without Cherese's consent or knowledge. The itinerary Cherese paid for, weeks in advance, was to fly from Varanasi to Agra. We believe that Cherese and the other victims would all be alive today, if Jill Wright, from Semester at Sea and the Institute for Shipboard Education, had not changed their itinerary.
After the tragic accident, the ship continued on to finish the voyage for the rest of the students. (please read semester at sea - A DEADLY PROGRAM on Cherese's website for more info about this tragedy)
