Swazi the beautiful

What trip can you do when you have a  4-day, long weekend, live in Cape Town, and can't miss any days of work, but want outside of South Africa?

SWAZILAND!!!

Laura and I decided on Wednesday afternoon (no time to plan) to leave Thursday night to fly to Joburg, rent a car and make the 5 hour drive east to Swaziland, Africa. So that was our Easter plan...

We arrived into Joburg around 11 pm after some normal SA flight delays (or maybe it is just normal Kelly Baird luck), picked up the fabulous VW Polo (we so excited about the upgrade which we later learned we actually paid for...how is that for lost in translation) and headed to the Joburg GRS intern house to meet Katie and Ben. We slept a good 5 hours before waking up early Friday morning to start the Easter trek to Swaziland.

Buckley and the off-roading VW Polo (my next car)

My normal shotgun posture

After a 2 hour crossing of the border (imagine crossing the border with your whole extended family...well that is what is was...+ Laura and me) we headed into the Swaziland valley know as Ezuwleni.

Right away we were blown away by how nice the roads were. There were no street signs, but yet they had beautifully paved roads, with lights and advertisement placements along the road. There was modern glass construction everywhere that we had to ask ourselves…”Where are we?”

We were headed to Sondzelas backpackers on the Milwane Wildlife Sanctuary. However, the directions to get there were very unclear with no street signs to follow. But, do not fear…we had church ladies to help us. It was Good Friday so the streets were flooded with traditional dressed Swazi women and children coming from service. We stopped to ask directions (because girls do that) and a grandma and granddaughter were more than willing to help for a quick ride to town…which we graciously obliged.

We arrived at Sondzela, booked a night in a hut (all complete with a bird inside that was busy building a nest) and made ourselves comfortable with our neighbors…the warthogs. Then we did what all experienced travelers do…we took a nice 2-hour nap.

Upon waking up to a beautiful setting sun we made our way to dinner and wine (strategically taken airplane wine). 

At dinner we met two Afrikans-South Africa boys who were camping at the backpackers. We quickly became friends once we realized they were just as sarcastic as us and willing to share their cooler of beverages. We hung out by the fire, relaxed and discussed why they wanted to get out of South Africa so bad (low job opportunity post college due to a partied and near impossibleness of getting visas to other countries). The guards of Wilmane Nature Reserve and Sondzela hung out by the fire for a few to tell us how many wives and children they had and to ask why we weren’t married (a very common question in Africa). It was so refreshing to get to hear more about the culture of South Africa and Swaziland from locals.

Swaziland is the last remaining absolute Monarchy in Africa. The Kingdom is run by a King and his chiefs. The current King has 14 wives and takes a new wife each year through the “Reed” ceremony. So yes, having multiple wives is normal and encouraged throughout Swaziland. Unfortunately this culture norm also has led to one of the highest HIV/AIDS incidences in Africa (one in four adults are HIV +). The King spends lavishly, while the country suffers from draught, widespread hunger and a raging HIV/AIDS epidemic…tell me why a democracy is better again?

Saturday morning we woke up, had breakfast and headed out to do what girls to best…shop and relax.

The road out was not as easy as the road in. For the life of us no one could tell us which gate was for day and which gate was for night so we ended up off roading for a good 45 minutes before we discovered a way out (had to convince the guard to let us out the gate as opposed to driving another 40 minutes back the other way). However along the way we ran into these little guys. Love them!

We drove to the Swazi Candle factory which consists of a number of shops that are part of the World Fair Trade Org. and work toward providing hand made goods as a sustainable economy for local Swazis and most importantly local women. Needless to say Laura and I managed to spend a good 3 hours here and a good amount of money.

After a tiring shopping experience we decided we should drive around and see more of the country side.

We stopped off at a popular concert/amphitheater venue called House on Fire. It is a huge venue that has multiple restaurants, and open land to host festivals such as the Bush Fire Festival (limited to 4,000 people).

From there Laura and I made our way to our next stop…the largest golf and country club in Swaziland (The Royal Swazi Spa Valley)…for a look around and a possible spa appointment. And suddenly we had entered a whole new world…

We had found the high society of Swaziland and it was refreshingly not just whites. It was very mixed…something you don’t see in South Africa. Laura and I both happened to get lucky with 45 minute back massages…you know after such a stressful day.

From there we decided to head to a traditional Swazi food restaurant that is off the beaten path called Edladleni. We invited the boys from the backpackers to join us. The meal was amazing, but we ended up being the only restaurant participants due to the place being technically closed for preparation for Easter festivities the next day. In the pitch black we headed back to the game reserve (off-roading in the VW Polo hoping to not run into anymore zebras) to sit by the fire and drink some more wine.

Easter morning we woke up, checked out and headed to our next destination…the Malolotja’s Nature Reserve and Hawane Resort. We had called and got word that they were full, but decided to try our luck anyways. It was our luck day. The nicest old Swazi man was the receptionist who didn’t want us driving around looking for a place to stay so he offered us a lovely hut at the half the price if we agreed to have breakfast and dinner in the on site restaurant. Done and done!

Hawane resort is super quaint and beautiful…a perfect place to relax, read and hang out by the pool…maybe even horse back ride. Laura headed to stay out of the sun and I headed straight for it.

After 2 + hours sleeping/reading by the pool Laura and I decided we should go on a 2 hour horseback ride to the waterfalls…sounds lovely and painless right…

The ride started off fine. I was riding Brandy (coincidence I think not), Laura was on Mystery and our guide was on Surprise. Little did we know that the horses’ names would all come true.

 We rode for a good hour and a half (with a couple 20 minutes stops when Mystery refused to move for Laura and our guide literally had to stop the horse from bucking with Laura on its back) before coming to the waterfalls. The guide wanted us to cross the river and then head up a ridiculously steep rocky hill. After much prodding Laura’s horse crossed and mine followed…only stumbling twice on a rock half way cross the river. Laura and I stop to take a picture, congratulate ourselves on still being alive when we look back and realize our guide cannot get his horse to cross the rive. He is whipping it, heading up the hill to gallop across the river to no avail.

We wait a good 20 minutes before he is waving for us to come back across the river. Laura and I were happy to oblige now that we weren’t going up the steep rocky hill on horseback (and being fairly inexperienced at riding…a fact they didn’t care to take into consideration).

We get across the river and our guide says we will go a different direction. He proceeds to lead us up another step, grassy hill surrounded by bull cows. Thank god these cows are afraid of us because we are passing by their horns close enough for me to grab on if I was crazy. At this point I am pretty sure the guide is lost because Laura and I are in front leading the way most of the time (mostly because our horses could care less what we were asking them to do).

We finally get to a point where the only way down is straight down on a narrow path with a barb wire fence on one side, rocks and dirt for the path and trees hugging us on the left. We get to a point in the “path” where there is a huge rock blocking the path and a low hanging tree hanging over the rock. Our guide gets off his horse (not like horse is listening to him anyways…full of surprises) to lead it over the rock and to be able to come get us off our horses to lead them over the rock. Instead…Mystery decided to jump over the rock with Laura on its back. Well good ol’ Brandy has liquid courage and decides to follow Mystery in the rock-jumping stump. However, when Laura goes over the rock she pushed the tree branch back which is perfect timing for it it smack me in the face as Brandy is jumping over the rock. As I am half way over the front of Brandy’s head I realize my only option is to stay on the horse or fall into the barbwire fence. I some how manage to hold on thankfully. I right myself up once on solid ground and see Laura and the guide staring at me in shock and asking me if I’m all right. I say “of course I am” like it is no big deal and we keep riding.

I take in the beautiful countryside while stealing “what the hell” looks at Laura. The guide finally loosens up (probably because we now are on our way back to the resort) and starts talking to us about “Obama land” (code for the US…hate it) and the history of Swaziland. We make it back to Hawane 3 hours later. Laura and I get off our horses, thank the guide for his superb planning and limp back to our room (just a little bruised already) for some dinner.

After the horse back ride and a good dinner Laura and I read in bed and passed out by at least 10 pm (minus the one mosquito that buzzed around my head all night).

Monday morning we woke up to check out of Hawane Resort and head to the Malolotja’s Nature Reserve (15 km drive away from the resort) to check it out before having to make our way to the border crossing. The Malolotja’s Nature Reserve is the last unspoilt mountain wilderness left in Swaziland. The reserve extends over an area of 18,000 hectares in north-west Swaziland, making it the largest proclaimed protected area in the Kingdom. The views are spectacular and the roads are ruff (good old VW Polo). Laura and I were kicking ourselves for not having more time to check out the land, but in general, we came, we saw and we conquered.

Sadly we left the reserve and headed toward the Swaziland-South Africa boarder crossing. The drive went quick minus Swazi police making their paychecks. There was no speed limit sign yet three cops standing on the road were waving people to the side and giving tickets left and right. Laura and I were just glad we had cash on us. It took a short hour to make it across the border and we were Josi bound.

  

5+ hours later, some much needed stops and a cool fire-burning sunset we were back in bustling Joburg. We spent the night and headed to the airport at 4 am to head back to Cape Town for a sure to be long day of work.

So far I have not come across nicer people than Swazis. They have a beautiful country and so much nature to share. Thank you Swaziland for such and amazing Easter weekend!

The reason I'm here...those other 200 hours during the week

So I know I have been slacking big time on the blogging...and instead of continuing to post about the amazing adventures I have been taking (don't worry those come next) I thought I should write about what I am actually doing here in Cape Town, South Africa, work wise.

I provide programme support for the SA programme Director and Country Director across all of the South Africa, Grassroot Soccer (GRS) sites (Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Kimberley, Soweto/Joburg and Alexandra). So what does that mean exactly (just now starting to have a good handle on it all)?

In each of our SA sites we run school based interventions that use the Skillz curriculum developed by Grassroot Soccer Global. There are different interventions ran for different aged children and different objectives. For example, for primary school children (9-12 years old) we run Skillz 1.1, whereas for high-school children we use Generation Skillz that furthers the kids' knowledge of HIV/AIDS, but also starts to address gender based violence and overall gender norm issues. There is also an all girl's after school programme ran called Skillz Street that addresses issues specific to woman and the heightened risk they have towards HIV/AIDS (almost 1 in 3 women, aged 25-29 living in SA, are living with HIV). Lastly there are holiday programmes run across all of the sites during school breaks in order to provide safe and educated places for kids to hang out. In addition to interventions Grassroot Soccer also organizes testing tournaments across all 5 sites which consist of huge soccer tournaments that incorporates HIV testing (provided by local testing partners) incentives for teams in order to mobilize more of the community to get tested regularly.

I tell you this because there is a lot going on...now imagine how this all gets done...

At each site there is a team of local community volunteers (called Coaches) that is trained by the local GRS staff (made up of community members that have worked their way up from coaches to being able to manage people and events). The local GRS staff must work to recruit new coaches (within their community), new schools (work with the Life Orientation (our version of PE/health class) teachers and principals at each school and schedule interventions that run continually throughout the year. On top of that we have other events they have to plan throughout the year connected with FIFA and football for hope centres, and other partners.

The Football for Hope Centre in Khayelitsha staff...with a few missing

So my job...is to support this whole process...(with help of course)

From a SA programme management side we must make sure that all sites are functioning (which includes anything and everything....finance, car logs, etc.), are reporting (everything is donor based so if its not being tracked its not being funded) and are hitting our targets (44,000 new kids will be reached in South Africa by GRS by the end of 2012).

It is, however, not just about supporting this process. It is about supporting the people that make GRS what it is....the coaches, the local staff...the local partner organizations. It is understanding what cultural implications there are, what development skills people have. How many emails and phone calls made before you get a response. It is, for me, taking a step back to realize that it is a whole different world here. Not better, not worse...just different. Efficiency here has an entirely different meaning and when someone says "ok" you better triple check with three other people before you can put a check mark on your to do list (I have a whole new check list system...). It is about enjoying the stories that each person has to offer. It is learning how to pronounce the hundred silent letters in names. It is about making their lives a little bit easier and about learning what makes their communities work. It is watching a four year old boy carry his 1 year old sister around because that is his job for the family. For every frustration there is a laugh and a smile and for that I am grateful and loving what I am doing.

Pre-school programme in Khayeltisha

Along with helping SA programmes with the above I also work part of my time helping the Country Director with business development next steps (how to go after the private sector corporate social investment sector and how to target the government entities that get funding from the SA, the US and the UK). Lastly I am filling the communications gap by doing the monthly newsletter (just let me know if you want a copy), helping to plan major visits to the sites and answering other random communication questions...

So if there is an email outstanding from me or a few hundred owed skype calls please know that I will get to them I promise, but in the mean time that is why I have been slacking at blogging! :)

Untamed- Table Mountain- Skeleton Gorge Hike

The Monday before we were due back to work a group of us (Chuckles, Audrey, Ribs, Durking and his two sisters and their boyfriends) decided to check out a Table Mountain National Park hike that was raved about. One of the hikes up to the top of Table Mountain starts at the base of Kirstenbosch Botanic Garden (15 minutes outside Cape Town city centre) and is ironically (wait for it...) called Skeleton Gorge.

A very beautiful start to an equally gorgeous hike

Aways have Table Mountain in the background

Most of the hike was in the jungle- 2.5 hours to the top

Audrey and I split off from the group and led the way up the stair stepper of a trail. Literally you had to keep stopping because your legs were burning so badly. Thankfully I have always loved running stairs. We made it to the top and waited for the crew. Chuckles and Ribs showed up next. We decided to wait for the "Durkins" at the reservoir at the top of this gorge. Amazingly there was a huge water source at the top of the mountain in the middle of no where. The water was cold, but there were a few other hikers that gave it a try. I of course immediately thought back to Discovery Channel shows about "I shouldn't be alive" and chose to observe from a nice rock.

Jungle to beach in 2 km

View from my rock

After waiting for about an hour and getting more annoyed (those who know me well know patience wise I am not the best at waiting around and organizing a group of people) that the "Durkin's" had not shown up the four of us left to go back to the trial head and see if we had cell reception. Humorously in the time we were waiting at the reservoir ("They will totally come here first before hiking anywhere else") the "Durkin's" had continued along to another 1.5 hour trail.

At about hour 4 of hiking and trying to find the "Durkins" we decided to head back down the trail. By now we were all tired and are legs were shaking, but still had a good 2 hour return trip to the car. I took the lead through the jungle and Chuckles, Durkin and I were making great time until I believe I made a smart ass comment about "I can get down faster" until I was falling on my butt, sliding downhill on rocks half on my shoulder half on my back and the only way to stop was to shove my left hand into the ground in between rocks. The good news is I stopped. The bad news was that I had dislocated me left hand ring finger to an extreme left angle.

Exact place I fell...took a picture on the way up  wanting to show how steep and beautiful the hike was

Once again for those who me know I do not like focused attention on me. Chuckles and Durkin didn't quite know what to do with me. I was shaking, and my fingers did not look right, but I refused to sit down. I don't really remember it, but somehow yanked my finger back into its socket. My hand was immediately swollen and throbbing. Chuckles and Durkin kept wanting me to sit down, but I refused and just wanted to get down the mountain. Mind you we still had 45-1 hour left to hike down.

At the bottom I nursed my hand while we waited for the rest of the crew to come down. I got home iced the hand and fell asleep. The next day at work I asked Dr. Janks (our in house retired doctor who gets asked way too many random medical questions) who told me to watch it, but if the swelling doesn't go down I should get it checked out...

About 20 days later of not using my leg hand that much and buddy taping my fingers the swelling at reduced somewhat, but there was a weird bump on my hand. Finally I gave in to the doctor's orders and went to get an xray. 2 days later, 1 xray and 1 hand specialist visit it was confirmed that I had broken my hand in multiple places during my little hike. I can honestly say that I did not do anything about my hand sooner because I did not want to deal with the logistics of trying to figure out where to go + how much it all would cost. Bad excuse I know mom.

Cant see it that well but this is my left hand palm facing up- fourth  finger down and there are the fractures

The good news is that I had waited so long that it was already healing and no cast would do more than what I had been doing. The hand specialist's direction to me..."Just don't fall on it again." Oh how I love Africa. To all my Oregon friends...at least no boot was needed!

Wild Coast to Garden Route and back to Cape Town

On Tuesday, December 20th the road trip began. Charlie, Rebecca, Durkin and I flew to Johannesburg where we picked up our rental for the 11 day road trip...a pearly white Tiida Nissan that had the most leg room in the back seat I have ever seen. We left Jburg and headed for Durban. Within the first 10 minutes of being on the trip car rules were made...no map the entire trip, the Zim bird we called Zimmy (wooden bird that the Zimbabwe interns had brought to us) would make the entire trip, the front seat passenger was not allowed to nap and must man the radio and lastly any and all car games were necessary.

Packed and ready to go

Logging expenses

Writing the rules

Andrew (driver) and Charlie (DJ)

Zimmy's position the entire trip

Back seat drivers (Rebecca and me)

After a good 3 hour trip (a few wrong turns due to no map) we made it to Durban and our first stop of the trip...a hostel named "Tekweni Goes Off" that was located right off of Florida Street which is where the best bars and restaurants in Durban reside. We dropped our bags off and made our way down to the Durban beach for some beers and a 30 minute job along the beach (weird combo I know). The beach scene was definitely different than the Cape Town beaches. The beach was packed with locals and we were certainly the minority. It was refreshing to see in comparison to Cape Town when sometimes you feel as if you are in a California beach town.

Durban bound

Hostel number 1

Hostel where Andrew and Charlie lost half their stuff...good start

Some awesome people watching

Durban at its finest

Andrew hated Durban for some reason so we thought this photo was necessary for him

After time at the beach we decided it was time to try out the Durban night life on Florida Street. The crew went to an Indian restaurant...spicy, but good. Then for a round of margaritas and finally some Cubana before the night was over.

Margarita please (not sure about Andrew's face)

There is a Gordon Street everywhere

Good food and lots of laughs

Wednesday, December 21st it was time to leave Durban and make the trek to Port St. John's. Another good 3 hour drive with lots of scenery and interesting towns packed full of people.

The best nap position ever

First sign for the Wild Coast

Typical signage...who wouldn't want to have a Ding Dong Day

En route to Port St. John's...please ignore the guy peeing next to the sign...supposedly people can go wherever and whenever along the side of the road and they are not shy.

We arrived in Port St. John's  and to the Amapondo Backpackers around 4 pm. We quickly decided to check out the beach, a quick nap (2+ hours) on the beach and then back to the hostel to get settled in and meet some people. Amapando comes alive at night. The bar becomes a club for the locals about 11 pm and from there on there is dancing, hoola hooping acts and even a few fire throwers.

It was a very relaxed, open, hippy hostel...

Cloudy view from the beach

No towels but naps none the less (Only two people packed towels so 4 people shared 2 towels for beach and shower)

My bed for 2 days...got hot as hell by 6 am and mosquitoes galore

View from the outdoor showers...if they weren't cold I would of stayed in them longer

Livestock wandered everywhere...drive at your own risk...literally...

Thursday, December 22nd we woke up to a sunny day in Port St. John where we were determined to hike somewhere and explore the landscape. After Rebecca and Charlie unknowingly offended the hostel tour guide (not knowing "bandanna boy" was the hostel hike guide) by asking him where we should hike because we didn't want to pay for the guided hike, the four of us started off with very little guidance other than "stay away from local wardens that will take your money." We discovered a cool lookout point with chains and ladders...totally safe mom :).

Gorgeous coast line

Shanty town amongst the coast line with million dollar views, but a 5 mile long hike downhill into town

Trying to capture the beauty

Trying to find some alone time

The lookout point discovery

Sending the boys down the cable first..

They didn't fall so I went next

Enjoying the edge

Classic picture pose

The never ending coast line

Hiking around the coast watching the tide come in and knowing we still had to cross back over...

Creep nap time with Andrew

Nap/reflecting on life

After a much needed shower we headed to a local restaurant called the Delicious Monster. During the 3 hour excursion it started to pour rain. It was peaceful until we realized the place was packed and our car was at the top of an extremely windy, muddy road. While slowly attempting to back down the windy road Andrew ran over a tree stump that cause the right side of the car to hang off a hill embankment. Charlie, me and Andrew got out to survey the situation while Rebecca got in the driver seat. Through mud and rain and all in flip flops (great planning) we finally got the wheels back on the road only to get stuck not being able to go forward and a sliding back into a tree. Being a rental car we were all freaked out. Out of no where a man who spoke no english showed up to our rescue. He helped get the car out of the 2nd stuck spot and we were finally able to get back up the hill and turn around to attempt the way back down heading forward. Wet and shaking we went back to the hostel and ordered drinks.

On Friday, December 23rd we departed Port St. John's en route to Coffee Bay. We stopped at a shopping centre to get petrol and buy some snack food. However when I say stopped at a shopping center it sounds easy. This was not the case. It took 40 minutes to get into the parking lot, and hour and a half to buy food and another 50 minutes to exit the parking lot. I have never seen so many people in one location and such poor traffic efficiencies. For some reason no one except us seemed in a hurry to get some where and three lanes of traffic exiting a parking lot meaning no one could enter the parking lot cause a stand still that no one knew how to handle. Thankfully traffic police finally sorted through the mess and we were back on our way. About 40 km out from Coffee Bay we saw signs for the Hole in the Wall scenic attraction. We headed that way to check it out through a horrible dirt road full of hills and mud. We kept scrapping the bottom and finally came to the conclusion that our little Tiida was not going to be able to make it down and back right when a British couple pulled up and said the road was flooded 10 Km down from us. Turning around was not so simple. Once again we found ourselves stuck with our wheels spinning and in the middle of no where. Suddenly a 5 year old local boy came out of no where. Without fail we all looked to him for guidance as Andrew backed up and attempted the hill with speed. Finally after 20 minutes and a 5 year olds help we were back on our way to Coffee Bay.

Durkin driving and me manning the radio

Zimmy...delirious at this point

Super bright colored huts along the way

View coming into Coffee Bay

The river you have to pass to get to  additional lodging and the beach

The river at low tide...so imagine high tide, a few drinks in and trying to cross...

Where we stayed for 3 nights...Christmas being one of them

Another view

On Saturday, December 24th we went on a hostel led hike around Coffee Bay and then back to the hostel for free vodka lemonades and a 100+ people Christmas eve dinner. By this point in the trip there were a couple of different groups that we had met along the way doing the same trip along the wild coast so it was good to hang out with somewhat familiar faces for Christmas eve and Christmas day. The majority of the backpackers along the way were South Africans on holiday, some peace corp volunteers and then a number of dutch and Norwegians.

Family picture

Walking toward the cliffs but they ended up being too wet to cross

View from up high

Waiting an hour to start the hike and annoyed we didn't just explore on our own

River leading into the ocean

Diverse plant life that grows along the coast

Hiking along

Cool look out point

Sunday, December 25th, Christmas Day we woke up to sunshine. Rebecca and I went to the beach by 8 am. In order to get to the beach you must pass 20+ bead vendors asking "Sister take a look at my beads" and then wade across two rivers to find the beautiful beach. Around 10 am we went back to get the boys and did some secret santa shopping for each other. The rest of the day we laid on the beach, read and played soccer with local kids who loved being able to kick a real soccer ball. Not a bad way to spend Christmas, but it certainly did not feel like Christmas. For Christmas dinner we had a traditional village meal that consisted of lamb and rice. The South Africans love their meat so if you are a vegetarian be aware.

Monday, December 26th we left Coffee Bay and headed to Chintsa, our next location along the Wild Coast. The road was full of pot holes and free roaming livestock. We nearly hit 2 dogs, 1 cow and 1 large pig. Seriously the livestock would be along the side of the road and then just dart out in front to cross the road. We arrived to our fourth hostel called Buccaneers in Chintsa bay around 3 pm. We checked in and headed to check out the view and then the beach.

On our way to Chintsa

The fourth hostel

View from the hostel

Lagoon that surrounded the beach and was right below the hostel

View from our dorm room

A very relaxed place and cool design

Night view of the lagoon

That night we waded across the lagoon to check out a recommended place called the Little Barefoot Cafe (cafe started by 2 south african surfers) for burgers and pizza. We had to leave the cafe somewhat early so we could make our way back across the lagoon mouth before the tide got too high. After that we hung out in the bar, went for a midnight swim in the hostel pool and ran into a clan from Coffee Bay that showed up late after hitting and killing a horse in their mini cooper on their drive to Chintsa. Luckily everyone was uninjured but the car was totaled with the indent of the horse clearly outlined. Our crew went to bed in a full dorm room of 16 people. Rebeccca, Charlie and I woke up early to beat the morning heat and go for a much needed run along the beach.

Tuesday, December 27th we had to leave Chintsa in order to drive Andrew to Port Elizabeth (a 6 hour drive) so that he could catch an evening flight back to Cape Town because his sisters were coming to visit. We drove to Port Elizabeth, dropped Andrew off, had lunch in Port Elizabeth and then drove the 100 Km onto Jeffrey Baii.

Scenery along the way...

En route to Jbay

After many hours in the car we were ready to be there

View from the hostel called Island Vibe

Rebecca taking a break to read

Where we would eventually camp after our tent fiasco

Path down from the hostel to the wide open beach...yes please.

We arrived into Jbay around 5 pm. Our original plan was to get in touch with some colleagues of ours that were vacationing in Jbay for the break so that we could camp on their lawn. Unfortunately for us both of their cell phones were off. Our only option was to find a hostel and pray they had space for a tent. Luckily Island Vibe took us in with open arms. That is until we attempted to put up a tent that was borrowed from another friend. The tent we borrowed came complete with missing poles and mis matched tent pieces. After about 2 hours of trying to make this tent work, gawking and laughter from the other backpackers watching 3 Americans attempt the impossible, help from the owner of the hostile, 2 Norwegians came to our rescue with a 2 person tent to borrow. We quickly became friends, but were still dejected and confused by why it took them 2 hours to come to our aid. After that it was nightfall and we still hadn't gotten a phone call back from our colleagues so we drank the wine we had bought for them, made friends and settled in for an uncomfortable scrunched night in the tent. Lucky for us we woke up to a sunny beach day.

The failed tent attempt

Looks like an angry bird...and one that wouldn't survive a night of rain

Gorgeous back drop for a 2 hour tent build

Wednesday, December 28th we read books, went for runs and laid out on the beach all day long. The sun drained us all and we were back in our lovely tent by 9 pm for another night of uncomfortable rest. 

Thursday, December 29th we packed up by 8 am in order to give the tent back to our friends who were also moving on and left Jbay for greener pastures. We were on our way back to Cape Town and didn't have any definite plans for where to stop next. As luck would have it we stopped off in the land of the Tsitsikamma National Park at Bloukrans Bridge which is home to the longest "bridge" bungee jumping experience. The bungee jump is 216 meters of pure adrenalin. Charlie had already done the jump so Rebecca and I attempted to sign up. At first there were no openings so we headed back to the car only to be stopped and told that they would open 2 spots for us. I have bungee jumped 3 other times in New Zealand, but as I stood on the bridge with my toes overhanging the edge and people cheering me on my only thought was...why am I doing this again? Needless to say it was amazing and scary all at the same time. My ankles felt like they were going to rip off, but other than that it was a ride of a lifetime and well worth the $85 US dollars (considerably cheaper than New Zealand bungee jumps).

Pulling in

The bridge and all its glory

Enough said

Video of a random person's jump

Post jump

By 2 pm we loaded up the car and collectively decided that we were all ready to head home to Cape Town. 6 hours, plenty of gas stop snacks (all we really ate during car days) we rolled into Cape Town around 8 pm and couldn't be more happy. Tiida had made it safe and sound minus a bent in bumper which we were able to pound out and hand in without them knowing (remember we don't get paid). Plenty of quotes, pictures and laughter was had by us all for an amazing (and not so relaxing) road trip. Now back to work on January 3rd, but plenty of adventures still to come.

The long but much needed trip home