Endless Summer Tiny World

While in Port Elizabeth (PE) I didn’t end up going to the Elephant Park and instead hung out with my british friends Nicole and Becca. They are really awesome and I get along great with them. PE is not a very exciting town, but it is a place you have to stay because the BazBus has a layover there.

The girls and I ended up walking into town and checking out their very old library and a curios shop, otherwise we just had a little lunch on the boardwalk and ended up at the hostel having a great time chatting with everyone for the night while some people made a Braai (BBQ).  The next day I split from the girls as they were going to stay in Durban for three days and I wanted to stay on the beach in the country instead of the city. I went out to Coffee Bay. The place was amazing. It is in Xhosa Country, and this part of South Africa has only been part of the country for 40 years or something like that. When they speak they make a weird almost clicking of the tongue noise, there are cows, horses, donkeys, sheep and even pigs all over, crossing the roads whenever they want and the people live in round huts with no electricity or running water in most of them.

The first day there I went on a hike with others from my hostel, including my two friends Cecelie and Elizabeth from Norway, and we went to hole in the wall. Which is a large archway out in a wall in the ocean. I couldn’t get over how our guide Joseph did the hike with us in barefeet, but most of the people out there don’t wear shoes most of the time. I actually cliff jumped into the arch, which was really cool, but not the most comfortable cliff jump I have ever done as the swells were large and I felt like I was gonna jump onto a rock. My jump was more of a bellyflop as the rocks were a little wet as well. We walked back to the hostel from hole in the wall, it was about 6 miles and took about 2 – 3 hours. It was beautiful though with a route that went right along the coast! Most of the time I felt like we were hiking on animal paths.

That night we got invited to the headman of the local communities’ house for dinner and dancing. The women started off by dancing and singing for us and then they served a two course meal that consisted of pap, a maize type food, and sauce and sweet beans with some other type of corn food. It was actually very good. We also got to ask questions about the local culture and customs and have them answered by the headman or the women. They even had us all up and dancing by the end of it!! It was super amazing to experience and definitely felt like you were in the real africa!

The next day Cecelie, Elizabeth, some Danish girls we met and I all spent the afternoon on the beach and then took the cheapest surfing lessons I’ve ever heard of! I think the 2 hour surf lesson costs about $4 USD for the board, wet suit and lessons. The best part was that the waves are always rolling in on this beach so there is so much less work… so much less paddling! It was definitely much easier than the lessons I took in Hawaii!! And I actually stood up!!! so it was very exciting!!

After coffee bay I met back up with the british girls in Durban for a night and then we headed on a bus trip to Swaziland. Another country!!  While in Swaziland we did a cultural tour where we got to a museum showing us traditional weddings and dance and then had a guide walk us around a community. This community was very similar to a township and they are always very sad to experience. But there was a very inspiring guy we talked to that was teaching young children to draw and play instruments!! We then got to have the local braai…. it was amazing!! some of the best meat I have had in South Africa!

The next day the girls and I headed to Nelspruit where we spent a night hanging out watching movies at the hostel before I had to say bye to them. I was so sad to see them go!! I really really enjoyed them, but they had a safari in Kruger to go to while I headed off to Mozambique.

I was planning to take a bus to Mozambique but since I hadn’t prearranged a visa the taxi driver told me I needed to take a minibus. These are more like 14 passenger vans that they fit 16 people into with fold down seats. I got on one and was at the very back corner squished like a sardine. We all smelled so bad as it is so hot here! I feel like I am melting everywhere!!! The minibus driver was super super nice and walked me personally through customs and getting a visa and all!

I am in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, and it is a big city mainly. The sidewalks are all torn up in places and it makes me wonder if that is a result of the civil war that was happening in the country years ago. It is so hot so I am very happy to say that I am headed up to Tofo, a beach resort area of Mozambique. I think you can go snorkeling with whale sharks there so that is my next adventure!! I have about 10 days here and have to back in Johannesburg by April 13 as I leave for a 29 day safari the next day!!!

The Safari is a camping safari. We camp the whole way and it goes through Kruger in South Africa, Chobe in Botswana, by Lake Malawi, and through the Serengeti plus Victoria Falls and Zanzibar. So I am very excited for the trip! I also found out my friend Chelsy from the ship is going to meet up with my in Kenya and travel with me for about a month or so!! So a lot of exciting stuff will be happening in the next couple months so make sure you stay posted and keep in touch!!!

I just tried adding pictures but it is telling me my pictures are too large to add to this site!!! Sorry! I will try to take my camera down a level so that I will be able to add pictures from here on out! I will try adding them to facebook as well!!

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