Jo'Burg, Kruger, and the End of Another Continent

After all the horror stories we heard about Johannesburg we were expecting to drive into a city where the sun never was shining, where there were fires burning and the skeletons of buildings towered over abandoned streets where only machine gun toting mercenaries roamed. Funny how preconceived notions can so vividly shape your expectations of a place. As it turns out, Jo'Burg was a pretty metropolitan city, and because tourists are advised to stay out of the city center our stay there was pretty uneventful. We did manage to visit the Apartheid Museum, which is one of the highlights of downtown. This is the real scoop on what has been (and in many ways still is) a very racially oppressed country.

A few days and a bad haircut later we headed north to Kruger National Park. Of all the places to safari in the world, Kruger is known as the head honcho. With the famed 'Big 5' (Lion, Buffalo, Elephant, Leopard, Rhino) all in strong numbers, this is a wildlife watchers paradise. Our excursion consisted of a one night stay in mock-up tribal village (far from authentic, and rather corny) and then two nights camping inside the gates. Every morning we would wake up at 5:00 am (occasionally to a large hyena pacing the outside of the boundary fenceof our camp) and drive through the expanse of this vast park, which is about the same size as Israel. Although we encountered what the guides called a few, "very slow days", it didn't rain, and we were lucky to see all of the Big 5. We tried our best to get photos of everything we saw, but a nice 35mm camera is in order to really capture any great shots. The only animal we missed a photo of was the Leopard, and although he was very close to the road when we saw her, she only stuck around long enough to flash her massive teeth with a growl before disappearing into the bush.

Shanon kept saying we were like little kids in a zoo, and she was right. I don't think we've ever had that much fun looking at a giraffe, an elephant, or even a lizard. Seeing these animals in their true habitat was absolutely spectacular.

After Kruger we spent two more nights in Jo'Burg, including Christmas day. I've got to admit...you get away from all the hype of the holidays and it really doesn't feel like Christmas at all. Pretty weird. Although they do celebrate Christmas here it's not quite as big as it is back home, so we spent the day lounging by the pool at our hostel...and that's about it. Our hostess was kind enough to put some tinsel around the breakfast table, but other than that there was nothing to remind us the day was different than any other.

Happy Holidays to you all and thanks to everyone for being so good to us. Our families and friends mean the world to us, and this holiday season we're thankful for all of you.

Stay tuned for more excitement...after a sleepless night in the Qatar airport we have arrived in a very different (eastern) world. So to you all, Happy New Year from Sri Lanka.

Coffee Bay and the Dragon Mountains

After you spend 4 days at Bulungula it is hard to compare any other stops to it. We left the shuttle from Bulungula and hopped on a taxi (crammed car with music blasting and apparently no concern for speed limits) which wound through villages and crouded markets until we got to Coffee bay, another surf destination and beach hangout.

The room was interesting and located across a river (via rock jumping when the river is low) from the main hostel building. We weren't that impressed with the place, but coming from paradise I think we were a little jaded. Most other backpackers thought this place was "the Bomb". The main beach was a short hike away from the hostel, and because it was raining (of course) we didn't do a lot of swimming, but I did make a friend who helped me build the best sand castle ever. The kids of the village were so cute and since they are taught to sing and dance instead of beg for change and candy, we got a few amazing songs for a small price. Jared even got a one on one soccer match on the beach.

We took a beautiful hike along the jagged coast to "hole in the wall" where only the crazy ones jump into the hole to be washed out to sea, luckily the surf was to rough to do it when we were there. We were talked into doing the hike with a group (aghh) but it turned out to be quite entertaining as there were two British girls who complained the whole time starting with the first 2 minutes. The scenery was spectacular and the toasties on the beach (flame grilled cheese with onion and tomatoe sauce) were delicious.

Jared and I ended the evening, sitting on the edge of a green cliff, with the ipod playing

and waves crashing all around us as the sun set. So peaceful, so great!

We left the coast and spent a few nights in Durban (big city, not much to say) and then made our way to the Drakkensburg Mountains. The mountains here are amazing, think of a mix between Hawaii's tropical lush green mountains and Zions jagged redrock cliffs and that is what these mountains look like. We took a hike through tropical forest and rivers to a beautiful viewpoint of the second tallest waterfall in the world. It was amazing, and the river had great swimming holes where a few were swimming and I managed to fall in. It was great.

Up next is Johannesburg, apparently one of the scariest cities in the world (or so all of the guide books and locals say). I guess if we manage to escape our hostel, we'll see what all the talk is about.

Upclose and Personal with the Xhosa

It's always been kind of a funny joke with us and a few of our friends to talk loud gibberish and make the occasional clicking noise. We're usually in the Utah desert, posing as natives and speaking some foreign tongue--and we always laugh, because naturally, we're just funny people. So, you might understand why Shanon and I smiled, even giggled a little, when we actually heard the the Xhosa speak and got to listen to the 'clicking' first hand. In fact, there are about 4 variations of the click (and many theories why it exists) and it is near impossible for someone hearing it for the first time to slip that 'click' into a word. Very cool to hear, still makes me smile.

Part of our experience at Bulungula was a tour with a village Herbalist, who's name was too complicated to remember, and I didn't have my notebook, so lets call him Herb. He did not speak any English, but a translator from the lodge went with us to interpret. Herb carried a rusty old machete in his hand and led us through a steamy forest. He would stop periodically, and speak in a loud voice...the translator would then give us the description we could understand while Herb hacked at a tree root, tree trunk, or bush with his half-sharpened blade. In this forest he knows the secrets for remedies to common problems like headache, broken limbs, and snake bites, but there are also some much more personalized treatments as well. They described concoctions that will make girls love you, help bring you wealth, make your enemies forgive you, help you win in court, and even help with fertility. Most of these 'remedies' had the same process for preparation which involved grinding it up, boiling it in water and then either drinking it or bathing in it. I thought about grabbing some bark from the ''tree of prosperity'' and running for it, but I don't think it has the same influential properties if I were to try and prepare it on my own.

After the tour of the jungle we stopped in a local village and had a drink with some women who were harvesting beans. Shanon even gave them a 'click' of approval and joined in, while cats, dogs and chickens wandered about in the small blue hut. Then we visited Herb's house (all of them are more or less the same) to see his collection of dried goods and prepared remedies. All it would have cost was one cow and we could have bought prosperity on the spot, but alas, I didn't have enough money in my pocket.

Everything about this place, Bulungula, was incredibly enlightening. These people live in such remote locations in the most basic living conditions, and are spread out across miles and miles of wavy green hills that roll right into the Indian Ocean. The Xhosa travel long distances just to pay someone a visit, have a drink, or lend a hand. There were no real roads (only the very serious 4x4 road we arrived on), everyone traveled by foot, and the landscape was near surreal. Its a simple life that hasn't changed in a very, very long time.

Paradise Found at Bulungula

So we hit a highlight in South Africa. It is called Bulungula and it is literally out in the middle of nowhere (aka the Transkei, aka the Wild Coast). After leaving Cintsa and looking for more Africa, not California Africa, we found our way to a small remote Xhosa village on the edge of the world. It took us a couple different shuttles on terrible dirt roads, with cows and goats and kids randomly chillin' in the middle of the road, but as we were pulling in with the most amazing sunset and the beach waves rolling in, we knew the trip was worth it. We got our own round hut on the first night and the door opened to the most beautiful beach with the sounds filtering in all night. We did wake in the morning however to find a few cows grazing just outside of our door.
These Xhosa villages are spread out along the rolling green hills with a few round huts clustered here and there as far as the eye can see. It is amazing the slow simplicity of the people's lives here. The community where we stayed is very poor and very remote.

The Bulungula hostel that we came to is an amazing free trade hostel that was built and half run by a guy named Dave and the other half is owned by the village. He traveled the world to find the perfect spot for his backpacker and ended up finding it in his own country. The hostel has a great feeling and you can't always tell who is a guest, who is working and who the village people are. The villagers are always there, talking and laughing with the guests. There are also quite a few that have found jobs working at the hostel. All of the tours that the hostel provides are actually community run businessess that were started to provide tours to travelers that come to the lodge. If they have a skill, they can set up a tour for the travelers to try out. The hostel is always trying to improve the life of the villagers and increase their skills and education. It has created jobs for over 33 families and right now they are trying to build a new mud school to replace the one that collapsed for the 200+ kids that would come from around the village to learn. What a great thing.

One of the tours we decided to do was canoeing up the Xhora river. The day was beautifully sunny (weird!) complete with flying fish (at times flying into the canoes), a cold shower under a waterfall and sore, sore arms that didn't function so well toward the end of the river tour (when the wind started blowing hard, in the wrong direction). The local guide didn't speak a whole lot of english, but was a supreme paddeler for the lazy girl in the front. It is amazing how many jobs this hostel has created for this small village and how it makes the visitor and the villager interact. It is wonderful here and will definately be one of our fondest memories of South Africa.

Cintsa, and the Disparity of Young vs.Old

First and foremost, apologies for our lack of updates. About a week and a half ago we entered a new region of the country where life is not as well connected to the outside world as it was in Cape Town and some of the cities along the Western Cape. In fact, we have been in a very different world--an area called the Transkei (also known as the Wild Coast), home of Nelson Mandela, the Xhosa people, hundreds of miles of completely unspoiled coast line and a very different way of life than what we had seen so far.

Our first stop was at a place called Cintsa, which has a legendary backpackers (hostel) situated up on a hill and minutes from a pristine beach where the surf never stops pounding the coast. It was here that we realized (again) that we are a lot different than the 20-something crowd of backpackers who we often make company with. While they come for the party, we come for the solitude, while they socialize and make friends, we tend to hide out and do our own thing--at this place in particular, we felt like the married old farts. But enough about that.

Mother Nature must be keeping tabs on the blog, and maybe she read my last post about the weather improving, because as soon as we arrived at this backpackers paradise (it really was cool despite us feeling old) it started to pour. Luckily for us the beach is eerily beautiful when it's shrouded in clouds and sea-mist, however, not great for sunbathing and working on our thin Ozone-intensified suntans. The grounds of the hostel had a pool, along with a common area that looked out over the coast--there were also monkeys (baboons? Never found out for sure) loitering about, brilliant pink flowers in bloom that Shanon kept saying, 'smelled like Hawaii,' and a load of free activities--although most required favorable weather. All in all it was a great place to spend a few days, despite the rain. And we even made a few friends....but they are the ones who initiated conversation with us (they were old, too).

Natures Valley and Surf

We finally got a few days of sunshine, so we have been trying to take full advantage of the soakfree days. We stayed a few days in a very beautiful spot called Natures Valley. The hostel 'Wild tongue" was located far away from any town in the Tsitsakamma National Park. The views from our room were absolutely beautiful and even though it was too chilly to take a dip in their pool, we did get a nice hike to a waterfall with the lovely guide Cinnamon (see picture, reminded us of an old friend). The hostel had quite a bit of water damage from all of the rain, but they were lucky as some of the other hostels in the valley had to shut down for all of December (their high season) due to flooding. The only food around the hostel was a small family farm just a short walk which sold fresh bread, cheese and veggies.

Since I am definately too big of a wuss to do the worlds highest bungy jump off of the bridge in this area, we decided on a 2 hour zip line adventure instead. We zipped across waterfalls and cliffs and although it wasn't the biggest adrenaline rush we were expecting, it was a nice way to spend the day. Natures Valley (although short) was great and a peaceful escape from the busier beach towns that are all geared up for the hight of the Christmas season. After leaving this remote (and slightly snakey) place we made it to the small surfing town of Jeffreys Bay. Very cute place with, I guess, world class surfing. Jared and I commited to a surfing lesson (hey, when in Rome...) and it turns out Jared is quite the surfer (who new). I myself wasn't as graceful on the board but did happen to get up a few times in the hour that we were out there. We had such a blast, I think we may be revisiting this surfing thing again before we leave the coast. That night we watched a school of dolphins playing just off the beach behind our hostel. Amazing!

The clouds are rolling in now, but hopfully as we move up to "the Sunshine Coast" tomorrow, we will get some more sunny days where we can fully enjoy this amazing country. Oh yeah, did I mention that this country has the coolest money ever...

Traveling the Cape, Trying to Stay Dry

Were you all wondering what has happend to us? We feel like we've been neglecting the blog, but not a lot has been going on. We are moving along the coast now and I think the rain has finally decided to outrace us. We have spent the last few days in a small town called Wilderness. The hostel we stayed at was pretty remote and about 6 km away from the beach. There was a national park right next door with hiking trails, waterfalls, a river to canoe....but, since the heavy rains everything has been flooded. Clean up crews were hard at work trying to remove the evidence of the carnage, the national park was closed, and supposedly the snakes were out in full force (luckily we didn't see any though).

We are kicking ourselves for not renting a car here. Instead we booked a hop-on hop-off bus that picks up and drops off directly at hostels all along the coast. Unfortunately, their schedule is creating havoc with our schedule so it sounds like we'll get a few extra days in Johannesberg. Most unfortunate. We are also prisoners in some of the more remote destinations where it seems a car is the only way its possible to get anywhere interesting. Public transportation here is not reliable, and most people tell us it's not that safe either (taxis included), so we're at the mercy of infrequent bus service. Good livin'.

We did get a nice day in S. Africa wine country at a place called Stellenbosch. It was a good change from Cape Town, but of course the place had the snobbery associated with any fancy wine destination--think Napa Valley. Like the hard core bikers we are, we pedaled about 22 kilometers to get a good taste of the region--and also because we didn't have a car, making it our only option.

We also took a Township tour, which was an interesting experience. It's easy to forget that you're in Africa with so many wealthy white people everywhere, but just beyond the million-dollar homes and fancy streets catering to tourists and businesspeople you can see the way of life that most residents of the country live. The tour itself takes you to the heart of these areas for a first-hand look at the bleak living conditions. Shanon and I were the only two people on the tour (along with the driver/guide of course) and it was slightly intimidating, but we were definately safe. I can tell you more about it another time...but just know that it is a real eye opener to see something like this first-hand. We felt weird taking pictures so we don't really have any visuals for you, but just know it is incredibly bleak for so many people who just eek out enough to survive in the poorest of conditions. It reminded us to be grateful for how good we have it back home.


Hopefully we'll have more adventures to report on soon. Internet (and everything else) is expensive down here so we're trying to be extra frugal. We've spotted Santa a few times so we're hoping we to get a chance to sit on his lap sometime in the next few weeks. Happy Holidays to everyone! We miss you all a little more this month.