Good morning from Jeffrey's Bay! When I left Durban I met up with some of the other volunteers and we travelled to Coffee Bay. Let me just say, it's probably the most fun place on the planet. We spent four nights at this beach getaway and stayed at the best backpackers I've ever been to. When we arrived they brought us to the bar and gave us a free drink and it only went up from there. Coffee Bay is a small place that we needed to take a shuttle into. The locals were very nice and a lot of the travelers were super friendly as well. This is a place you go if you need some serious beach therapy. So of course, staying on my streak of just chilling at the beach I did just that at this beautiful place. During the day I roamed the beach and relaxed in the sand. For lunch a couple of days we went to this place next door that looked like we were transported back to the 70's. It was hippie central. However, a lot of the white locals dress and have the relaxed feel of hippies and I loved it. They also had amazing home made ice cream there.
For dinner I mostly had the backpacker's meals. They were so delicious and very reasonably priced. The xhosa bread that they make in this area was so good. I'm pretty sure most of my travels has revolved around food and trying things and loving the indulgence. I'm alright if I gain a few pounds on this journey because I know when I go back to the village with little resources I'll loose those pounds pretty fast.
We said our sad goodbyes to Coffee Bay yesterday and hopped onto the shuttle back to Mthatha to then catch the baz bus. We met back up with Jason and Casey on the bus and all seven of us made the long journey to Port Elizabeth to rest for the night. This morning we woke up bright and early to catch the 6:45 am bus that took us to Jeffrey's Bay or "J-Bay". I just found out that I can play with lion cubs here for the equivalent of about 15 U.S. dollars. We shall see what today brings. I never know anymore what crazy things I'm going to get myself into. What a fun adventure!
Weirdly enough I find myself missing my village and wanting to be there. I think that despite the hardships I face there I'm really enjoying all the wonderful friends I've made and of course my puppy Hunter! It will be so hard to leave Africa behind when it comes time. Let's not think about that now...onto the next adventure!
Peace and Love,
Chels
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Vacation Adventures
Hello Readers,
Sorry I haven't posted in a while. As you know, I've been travelling for my vacation. Right now I am by myself at a backpackers in Durban, South Africa. Before we get to how I got here, let's backtrack to the beginning of my holiday and work our way forward, shall we?
I spent a night in the village alone on the Friday that we knocked off for break. Scariest thing ever. I didn't realize how dependent I was on having people living next to me to feel secure. Hunter had been taken a few days earlier to my boyfriend Jerry's village to be watched over by his mom for the month. This also made me realize how much I depend on having Hunter as a companion during the night. He may not sleep in my room but I think having a pet in the house provides a sense of security and companionship. I miss my little man.
On Saturday I set out to travel in a combi to Rundu and meet two of the other volunteers. Combis tend to break down in Namibia so I was praying to the travelling gods that I didn't experience this again like I did in the desert during my long weekend break. The travel gods were on my side during this trip. After treking to the end of the road in my village a car pulled up as I got there. This never happens. The last time I got a ride out of the village I had to wait 2 hours for a car to stop. Once I got in the car a very nice lady started chatting with me. I found out she is a nurse at the local hospital. She insisted that she come with me to find me a combi in Ondangwa. After we found a combi we said goodbye and I was on my way. I don't think I ever feel that my thanks is enough when people do such selfless things. However, a personal philosophy is to pay it forward. Next time someone needs my help I will certainly be there to do what I can.
Rundu is a beautiful part of Namibia with a river running along and palm trees everywhere. I spent the night at one of the other volunteer's houses. In the morning Jason, Casey and myself were on our way to try and travel to Zambia. To cut to the interesting parts let's skip to the cab ride when we finally got to the border. A man that looked Rastafarian pulled up and we were desperate to get to the border ASAP because it would be closing in a half hour and we would be stuck there. As we were driving along he informed us that it is bad to drink and drive. So his personal philosophy is to take your hand off the wheel, drink, and then drive. I don't agree with this at all but it was an amusing little joke.
We finally passed the border and got into another cab that took us to Livingstone in Zambia. This is a very touristy town with lots to do. We arrived at the backpackers we would be camping at. It's funny to think we were camping in the middle of this busy town. The first day a couple of us set out to go to Victoria Falls. I was very excited to see this beautiful place. It's one of the seven natural wonders of the world. We got our tickets and walked past two security guards. We were about to ask them which way to go until we saw a third man running away from them and the guards chased him and started kicking and punching him to the ground and took out their gun. It was time for us tourists to move on and find our own way instead.
The falls were beautiful and we rented a poncho to walk across the bridge. Otherwise you get soaked. If I was to go again, i'd just wear a bathing suit and skip all the nonsense. We saw a bridge in the distance that people were bungee jumping off of. We found our way to this bridge and Jason and I decided to make the jump. Unfortunately, we were signed up for a booze cruise on the Zambezi River that night and didn't have enough time to wait for the people to get off of lunch. We went back and did our booze cruise instead. It was absolutely gorgeous to watch the sun going down over the Zambezi. We also saw some hippos and their baby. Hippos make the strangest noises.
The next day Casey and I woke up to ride elephants. We rode an elephant called Medeenda. This means "dancing elephant, eating machine". They also called him the "free spirit" of the group. This was very accurate. He decided to go off of the path quite often to grab branches with his trunk to chew on. When it came time to have the rider ask him to stop to take a picture, Medeenda decided he wasn't having it and went off into the bushes instead to grab some more branches. Silly elephant. This reserve was a really cool place because all of the elephants had been rescued from terrible situations. For example, some of them had been in a drought or abandoned by their mothers and the people at this reserve took them in to train them. The elephants do two rides a day and in between they get to roam around wherever they please and swim in the Zambezi.
The next day Jason, Casey and I headed back to the falls so that Jason and I could do the crazy bungee jump off of the bridge overlooking Victoria Falls. Apparently it's the third highest commercial bungee jump in the world. Jason went first and I watched him jump into the canyon below. Next it was my turn. Once I got onto the platform my heart started beating rapidly and I was asking myself if I was completely bonkers for wanting to jump off of this bridge head first. Once they tied my feet together and asked me to shimmy to the edge I knew I was completely crazy. I tried not to look down as they counted, "5, 4, 3, 2, 1" and they I put my arms out like a bird and jumped off the platform head first into nothingness. The feeling was indescribable. I screamed so loud my throat hurt afterwards and the rush of the free fall was terrifying. Once I felt the bungee pull and knew it hadn't snapped and I was safe I enjoyed the upside down view of a rainbow over the water. Once I climbed back up and met Jason on the bridge we made the trek back up to Casey at the bar overlooking the jump. She had a hard cider for me waiting. What a good friend.
The next day the whole group packed up and we got on a 16 hour train through Zimbabwe. Then we got off and took another 16 hour bus to Johannesburg in South Africa. We stayed the night on the outskirts in a fun little backpackers and then packed up again to take the Baz bus to Northern Drakensberg. This place was breathtaking. It's up in the mountains with nothing around but nature. We stayed there for a night and took a nice walk. From there the group decided to split up. Some went to camp for 5 days in Losotho and others were going there for a few days. After hearing how expensive it was to get into this remote place I decided to go off on my own and come here to Durban to hang out on the beach for a few days. That's a completely free thing to do and it's nice to have some time to myself to relax a bit. I finished a wonderful book today while sitting on the beach. By the way, the Indian Ocean is wonderfully warm. Nothing like the Atlantic.
So here we are, back at the beginning where I am sitting in a backpackers in Durban writing this blog post. I'll be here for another day or so and then i'm going to do a coast crawl to get to Cape Town. Next stop is Coffee Bay which I hear is gorgeous. After that, who knows what's next!
I hope everyone is well.
Peace and Love,
Chelsea
Sorry I haven't posted in a while. As you know, I've been travelling for my vacation. Right now I am by myself at a backpackers in Durban, South Africa. Before we get to how I got here, let's backtrack to the beginning of my holiday and work our way forward, shall we?
I spent a night in the village alone on the Friday that we knocked off for break. Scariest thing ever. I didn't realize how dependent I was on having people living next to me to feel secure. Hunter had been taken a few days earlier to my boyfriend Jerry's village to be watched over by his mom for the month. This also made me realize how much I depend on having Hunter as a companion during the night. He may not sleep in my room but I think having a pet in the house provides a sense of security and companionship. I miss my little man.
On Saturday I set out to travel in a combi to Rundu and meet two of the other volunteers. Combis tend to break down in Namibia so I was praying to the travelling gods that I didn't experience this again like I did in the desert during my long weekend break. The travel gods were on my side during this trip. After treking to the end of the road in my village a car pulled up as I got there. This never happens. The last time I got a ride out of the village I had to wait 2 hours for a car to stop. Once I got in the car a very nice lady started chatting with me. I found out she is a nurse at the local hospital. She insisted that she come with me to find me a combi in Ondangwa. After we found a combi we said goodbye and I was on my way. I don't think I ever feel that my thanks is enough when people do such selfless things. However, a personal philosophy is to pay it forward. Next time someone needs my help I will certainly be there to do what I can.
Rundu is a beautiful part of Namibia with a river running along and palm trees everywhere. I spent the night at one of the other volunteer's houses. In the morning Jason, Casey and myself were on our way to try and travel to Zambia. To cut to the interesting parts let's skip to the cab ride when we finally got to the border. A man that looked Rastafarian pulled up and we were desperate to get to the border ASAP because it would be closing in a half hour and we would be stuck there. As we were driving along he informed us that it is bad to drink and drive. So his personal philosophy is to take your hand off the wheel, drink, and then drive. I don't agree with this at all but it was an amusing little joke.
We finally passed the border and got into another cab that took us to Livingstone in Zambia. This is a very touristy town with lots to do. We arrived at the backpackers we would be camping at. It's funny to think we were camping in the middle of this busy town. The first day a couple of us set out to go to Victoria Falls. I was very excited to see this beautiful place. It's one of the seven natural wonders of the world. We got our tickets and walked past two security guards. We were about to ask them which way to go until we saw a third man running away from them and the guards chased him and started kicking and punching him to the ground and took out their gun. It was time for us tourists to move on and find our own way instead.
The falls were beautiful and we rented a poncho to walk across the bridge. Otherwise you get soaked. If I was to go again, i'd just wear a bathing suit and skip all the nonsense. We saw a bridge in the distance that people were bungee jumping off of. We found our way to this bridge and Jason and I decided to make the jump. Unfortunately, we were signed up for a booze cruise on the Zambezi River that night and didn't have enough time to wait for the people to get off of lunch. We went back and did our booze cruise instead. It was absolutely gorgeous to watch the sun going down over the Zambezi. We also saw some hippos and their baby. Hippos make the strangest noises.
The next day Casey and I woke up to ride elephants. We rode an elephant called Medeenda. This means "dancing elephant, eating machine". They also called him the "free spirit" of the group. This was very accurate. He decided to go off of the path quite often to grab branches with his trunk to chew on. When it came time to have the rider ask him to stop to take a picture, Medeenda decided he wasn't having it and went off into the bushes instead to grab some more branches. Silly elephant. This reserve was a really cool place because all of the elephants had been rescued from terrible situations. For example, some of them had been in a drought or abandoned by their mothers and the people at this reserve took them in to train them. The elephants do two rides a day and in between they get to roam around wherever they please and swim in the Zambezi.
The next day Jason, Casey and I headed back to the falls so that Jason and I could do the crazy bungee jump off of the bridge overlooking Victoria Falls. Apparently it's the third highest commercial bungee jump in the world. Jason went first and I watched him jump into the canyon below. Next it was my turn. Once I got onto the platform my heart started beating rapidly and I was asking myself if I was completely bonkers for wanting to jump off of this bridge head first. Once they tied my feet together and asked me to shimmy to the edge I knew I was completely crazy. I tried not to look down as they counted, "5, 4, 3, 2, 1" and they I put my arms out like a bird and jumped off the platform head first into nothingness. The feeling was indescribable. I screamed so loud my throat hurt afterwards and the rush of the free fall was terrifying. Once I felt the bungee pull and knew it hadn't snapped and I was safe I enjoyed the upside down view of a rainbow over the water. Once I climbed back up and met Jason on the bridge we made the trek back up to Casey at the bar overlooking the jump. She had a hard cider for me waiting. What a good friend.
The next day the whole group packed up and we got on a 16 hour train through Zimbabwe. Then we got off and took another 16 hour bus to Johannesburg in South Africa. We stayed the night on the outskirts in a fun little backpackers and then packed up again to take the Baz bus to Northern Drakensberg. This place was breathtaking. It's up in the mountains with nothing around but nature. We stayed there for a night and took a nice walk. From there the group decided to split up. Some went to camp for 5 days in Losotho and others were going there for a few days. After hearing how expensive it was to get into this remote place I decided to go off on my own and come here to Durban to hang out on the beach for a few days. That's a completely free thing to do and it's nice to have some time to myself to relax a bit. I finished a wonderful book today while sitting on the beach. By the way, the Indian Ocean is wonderfully warm. Nothing like the Atlantic.
So here we are, back at the beginning where I am sitting in a backpackers in Durban writing this blog post. I'll be here for another day or so and then i'm going to do a coast crawl to get to Cape Town. Next stop is Coffee Bay which I hear is gorgeous. After that, who knows what's next!
I hope everyone is well.
Peace and Love,
Chelsea
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