Lekker Day in Addo 10/25/2012

Gabby inhales some fumes

BEN - Woke up today with no real sense of what we were going to be doing for the day.  We had a laid back breakfast and a bit of time to read before John put us to work.  The Aldermans are putting an addition on their backpackers that is to be their personal flat with full kitchen, bathroom, living room, and bedroom.  It’s quite nice.  We spent the majority of the day with a blowtorch in one hand, and a scraper in the other melting and peeling lead based paint off two different doors while inhaling almost certainly toxic fumes.  It was pretty satisfying getting long melted strips of paint off, but the combination of the hot sun and hot torch made for sweaty work.  It was just as if it was another day working construction as a day laborer like I did right after college.  We worked until about 4 when John called it a day and we headed over to see Hazel and Randy.  We quickly constructed a very cool tomato fence/gate simply out of bamboo and cut up stockings.  It looks pretty cool and was pretty fun to build.  I am excited to see our little tomato plants grow up!  It just so happened that as we finished, Hazel was pulling out a fresh chocolate cake from the oven that was to be served as dessert at the restaurant that night.  She gave us each a heaping portion and we devoured it instantly.  Yummm!  It reminded me of Wacky Cake from home with gooey chocolate fudge over a moist chocolate cake.  We were also able to pilfer some movies from Randy’s loaded hard drive and put them onto mine.  We will be able to watch them as we go to sleep although on my little tiny mini-computer screen.  We returned to the backpackers and helped with dinner, a dish they called Landmine Chicken, because it looked as a chicken would after stepping on a landmine (but was extremely tasty).  We waited for the family to eat, but John and

Our bamboo fencing to support our tomatoes

Cheryl’s son Josh, who lives in China, has been sick for awhile, and has taken a turn for the worse, losing his vision.  I felt bad for his girlfriend who was obviously juggling doctors, a sick boyfriend, and really worried, aggressive South African parents via Skype.  We decided to get out of their way and headed over to the restaurant.  We started a nice fire with a new form of fuel; coconut shells! It takes a bit to get them lit, but once they do they flame up and sound like a jet engine.  I should also mention the new character in our little family who returned from vacation today, Sarel (pronounced ‘Sah-rolled r’- l’).  Sarel is a 19 year old Afrikaans boy who runs tours into the national park and does some handiwork around the backpackers.  He is a really personable, nice guy, but also has some maturing to do.  We sat with Sarel, a cool Dutch couple, and an uptight, annoying German couple around our coconut shell fire talking about this and that and drinking some South African beers.  It was a nice, lekker (chill) scene.  Gabby and I went to bed and watched a few minutes of Star Wars before passing out.

Bamboo Shoots and Reptiland - 10/24/12

View of Reception

Weeds feed chickens, chickens poop, soil is eventually created

GABBY - This morning we woke up, unsure of what the day had in store for us.  Corinne showed us the ropes of reception, which was self-explanatory.  Basically, we had to take calls, which occurred about 3 times a day, record what they request, and show the backpackers around the hostel.  The most important tip being, do NOT drink the tap water.  There is only one spicket that you can use to drink out of and it’s located in the kitchen.  You will get sick off the tap water if you drink it since it is taken directly from the river.  After our brief reception tutorial, we headed over to visit Hazel and Randy in the garden.  Upon arrival in the restaurant, Hazel gave us a tour of her garden.  She instructed us a bit and put us to work weeding, planting arugula, mixing natural, composted fertilizer with the existing soil, and securing fences that were blown over by the wind and failing to support stalks of bamboo.  There is a white, domed structure sitting in the garden that is home to 7 chickens.  The theory behind this cage being, weeds and other compost go into the cage from the flaps up top, the chickens eat the food and then produce waste.  After a few weeks, that waste transforms into soil and the dome can be moved to another part of the garden, to create more soil in a different location.  The soil is then used for planting, which produce weeds, which then help to feed the chickens.  What a cycle!  After we finished our work, we sat inside and chatted for awhile with Hazel and Randy.  To our surprise, they began to confide in us and admitted that they needed to have a conversation with John.  They had received an offer that they could not refuse from a restaurant located within walking distance from where they are now.  The new restaurant provides a kitchen 5 times the size of their current one and sounds like Hazel’s dream job.  In order to commit to this new offer, Hazel would need to break her lease agreement with John and subsequently sever ties with the backpackers.  Shit is going down in Addo, folks!  Just as we were talking, Randy broke the sentence and ended the conversation with, “and that’s why permaculture is the way to go” indicating that John had just walked into the restaurant.  I sensed a perfect scenario for Hazel to break the news, so Ben and I went to work out back.  Ben took the saw and we carefully selected bamboo that was wide in diameter and tall.  He sawed while I approved the shoots and placed them in a pile.  We were going to use the bamboo to make a fence that would support the tomato plants that usually bend under the weight of the fat fruit.  As we were finishing up with our bamboo, we heard Randy’s booming voice calling us for lunch.  Hazel had whipped up some Portuguese chicken stir fry wraps.  All of the veggies, she takes from her garden, so they taste fresher than ever.  Ben wolfed his food down in less than two minutes.  I tried to savor it, but the wrap still managed to vanish in a flash.  Our sense to leave when John showed up in the restaurant proved to be correct, because they broke the news to him then.  They said that he didn’t exactly take the news well, but justified their decision with the phrase, “business is business”.  When our gardening had sufficiently impressed Hazel, we made our way back to the backpackers, which is only about 50 yards from the restaurant.  Our flat is located smack dab in the middle of the restaurant and backpackers.  Ben and I have begun to emotionally feel as in the middle as we were placed physically.

We asked Corinne if it would be a good idea to check out the reptile center.  We were told that we would be working there once a week, cleaning out cages and feeding some of the animals.  The reptile center is located just down the road; about an 8 minute walk from the backpackers.  We walked in and met a girl named Angie in her late 20’s with fire engine red hair.  She was friendly, but seemed busy so Corinne gave us the tour.  We viewed some love birds while Corinne explained how to feed them.  She opened a door and without any warning, we were inside of a cage.  Ben narrowly avoided stepping on a tortoise who was notorious for escaping if the door wasn’t closed properly.  I was OK with being in a cage with tortoises, but then I saw the giant black eagles perched in the far corner.  I couldn’t believe we were standing in the same cage as dangerous birds of prey.  We knelt down along one of the cage walls to play with two hooligan monkeys.  All they wanted to do was steal the rings off my fingers.  They had tiny hands and nails, but were strong little buggers.  We left the tortoise/eagle cage and moved into another cage, which I hoped would put me more at ease.  The next one was occupied by three jackals.  Are you freaking kidding me?!  Jackals are wild dogs that I would not want to cross paths with in the wild.  Now I was trapped inside of a cage with three of them.  There were 3 of them and 3 of us… one for each of them sounds like the right math.  They happened to be more scared  of us, but they are still wild animals, and all wild animals can be unpredictable even if they’re tamed.  Just think back to Siegfried and Roy... yikes.  Anyway, we moved farther into the cage and saw 2 lynxes.  They were hissing at each other and in the next cage over.  Sometimes the cats are in the mood to be handled, but today the female pregnant cat was cranky and pissy.  Finally we entered the most feared and dreaded section:  Snakes.  They had a wide variety of venomous as well as harmless snakes.  Some were tiny, and could be mistaken for a lizard.  Then there were anacondas, boa constrictors, puff adders, rattlesnakes, and pythons.  If I volunteer there, I can tell you right now that I will be nowhere near those slimy, reptiles.  We concluded the tour by hanging out with some meerkats.  Thanking Angie and meeting another employee Darrel, we said goodbye to the animals having no real sense of what we would be doing there.  It was a nice tour, but I would not feel comfortable or confident just walking into a cage with wild animals.  Arriving back, we were consumed by the smell of soup being brewed in the kitchen.  We were able to experience Kate’s cooking for the first time.  She is going to school to be pastry chef, but her cauliflower soup kicked ass.  John got a text from the restaurant requesting Ben to go over and help out with the bar.  I was a little jealous because I really want to help waitress, bartend, or even cook.  Hopefully I’ll get a chance in the weeks to come.  Corinne is their head waitress and Hazel never seems to need much help on that front.  Ben came back raking in a whopping 30 rand from tips!  It’s about 4 dollars, but it’s better than nothing.   

Real Life Lion King 10/23/2012

BEN - Well today I had every child's Lion King dream fulfilled.  We woke up, made a quick breakfast and lunch and headed off with Corrine who was going to drive us through the park.  We got to the gate and paid our entrance fee (R38 for South African Nationals, R150 for international, damn!) and just like that we were in South Africa's 3rd largest national park with the two rules being 1. Don’t get out of the car and 2. Do not run over any dung beetles.  We started bouncing along some dirt roads looking for animals.  Within a few minutes we had spotted a large tortoise on the road, some exotic birds, a fox, a monkey chilling in a tree, and a dung beetle rolling a giant ball of some kind of shit all over the place.  The whole park is covered in bush that when you look from a distance, doesn't seem to stand very large, but is actually quite thick and is about 8-10 feet tall.  This makes for a landscape where you can turn a corner and find some giant megafauna that you have only seen in your dreams or some talking cartoon.  The first such of these were zebra (pronounced ‘zeh-brah’ here) literally right next to the car grazing, while in the distance a bunch of heartbeast, a type of antelope with big curly horns.  I couldn’t believe how close we were.  Multiple times throughout the day I had to remind myself that I wasn’t in some theme park with animatronic animals, I was in freaking Africa, and these were wild, beautiful animals.  With every new animal came an absurd amount of pictures as my telephoto lens did its job (although some of my pictures are disappointingly washed out).  We continued on and saw kudu, ostrich, warthogs galore (very weird animals), and even a rock monitor (big lizard trudging alongside the road).  Eventually we found a herd of elephants and watched as the mammoths came out of the bush and meandered across the road centimeters from our car.  There was even a little baby elephant with his momma.  So amazing.  The other huge highlight of the day was the lions, 2 males and a female who just happened to be lazing in the grass beside the road.  Where the hell am I?!  There are only 9 lions in the whole giant park.  We got extremely lucky.  Within the span of a week I have witnessed the top of the food chain on both land and water (great white shark).  It was clear they were the top of the food chain, laying in the sun without a care in the world.  They were just like my cats at home, rolling onto their backs with their legs in the air; beautiful and terrifyingly powerful at the same time.  We stayed with the lions for a bit watching their cat nap.  On the way out of the park we had to drive slowly as one lone male bull elephant was blocking traffic and walking down the middle of the road for about 20 minutes.  We made our way back home for some spaghetti with the Alderman family.  As we were helping cook, I asked John about planning a trip to Lesotho, and how to do it.  Within five minutes he had called his buddy, and gotten us another volunteer position at the closest hostel to Lesotho on a horse farm in the mountains.  Awesome.   We are very excited about that opportunity and both hope it comes to fruition.  We talked with John a bit as he told some funny stories about dealing with thieves, and fights he’s been in.  He is quite a character.  Another superb day.  T.I.A.

First Day in Addo - 10/22/12

GABBY - We woke up feeling anxious and excited to meet the mysterious John and Cheryl from Orange Elephant Backpackers at the Port Elizabeth (PE) airport.  I have been communicating with Cheryl since February after discovering the volunteer opportunity on an internet site called workaway.info.  We departed from our 99 mile backpackers and drove to the PE airport to say goodbye to trusty, ole’ Maria.  Our agreed upon plan was to meet someone outside of the Budget car rental at 10:00 in the morning.  11:00 quickly rolled around when Ben and I decided to phone Orange Elephant.  The Budget employees were getting a bit peeved after these two people with bags of luggage took up their whole row of seating and then proceeded to ask to use their telephone.  Ben worked his charm and heard Cheryl’s voice for the first time on the phone.  They had gotten the dates mixed up, but were able to pick us up anyway.  She reported that John would be there in an hour from now (11:00).  Instead of pissing off Budget more, we waited in a coffee shop inside the airport for an hour before returning to our post outside.  At around 12:15, a white truck pulled up next to us with an Orange Elephant Backpacker logo stuck on the side door.  A burly, bald, white South African named John greeted us and helped us get our luggage in the truck.  John speaks so quickly and incomprehensibly, that I swear he switches mid-sentence from English to Afrikaans.  We drove “home”, stopping at a Spar and hardware store, while making small talk.  We talked about everything but what Ben and I really wanted to know – what we would be expected to do at the backpackers.  On our way, he explained that Addo received a third of its total rainfall in the past week and that there was lots of flooding in the area.  We pulled into a squishy, muddy driveway, which made the truck slide.  Orange Elephant Backpackers is located right outside of the Addo Elephant National Park.  We were greeted with 3 barking babies named Ninja, Dopey, and Lucky.  Walking in, we met Cheryl, Corrine, and Kate.  Cheryl is the mamma of the house and seemed a bit shy, but sweet.  She also was really sick with the flu, so I’m assuming she wasn’t as bubbly as she usually is.  Kate is their daughter who looks and seems a lot like her mom.  She sneaks in some witty comments here and there, which make me chuckle.  Corrine is a volunteer, like ourselves who is from Germany and has been volunteering for 2 months already and plans to leave in early December when her boyfriend gets here.  She has beautiful red hair and piercingly blue eyes.  Corrine showed us around the place, explaining policies and answering our questions we were too afraid to ask John in the car.  We share our flat with Sarel (who isn’t here yet), which used to be a barn for horses.  Our room has two twin beds pushed together, a dresser, mirror, desk and supported by white, concrete walls.  We walked over to the restaurant and organic vegetable garden and met Hazel and Randy.  Ben and I were pleasantly surprised by their welcoming attitudes.  Randy is a Canadian and extremely passionate about permaculture  He immediately took Ben aside and started preaching to him about the state of the world, government, and of course, organic farming.  Hazel took me into the kitchen and introduced me to her two smiling Xhosa speaking sous chefs.  She clearly knows what she likes and will not let anyone or anything get in the way of her cooking.  She cooks with all vegetables directly from her garden, which is strategically planted with vegetables ranging from arugula to tomatoes to green beans.  I really enjoyed spending time with them, because they were both so passionate, energetic, and friendly.  We relaxed for the rest of the day, reading, writing, and internet surfing before eating a dinner cooked by the man of the house.  John put together a slow roast with potatoes and butternut squash.  We ate in front of the TV watching Pawn Stars and Storage Wars (my favorite).  Ben and I debriefed about the day and fell asleep wondering what tomorrow would have in store. 

Last Day on the Route - 10/21/2012

BEN - We were a bit sad to say goodbye to our new friends at Wild Spirit.  We had a great time hanging out by the fire last night.  Before we left we decided to do a 20 minute hike on a trail that promised another waterfall that was on the backpacker’s property.  We climbed almost straight down a slick, wet trail to a stream where we saw a nice waterfall.  Once again, we were tricked as we approached the waterfall and found its giant big brother falling from a mossy cliff way above.  Another amazing scene.  We hung out and took pictures for a bit before hoofing it back up to the car.   On our way out, Ola, the owner told us to give Orange Elephant Backpackers her regards, and if for whatever reason it didn’t work out, we could always come back and volunteer for her.  It’s nice to know we have that option if for some reason Addo does not work out.  Anyway, we started driving toward a highly recommended hiking trail at the Robberg Nature Conservancy, a little nub of land sticking out into the Indian Ocean.  This little peninsula is a series of sheer cliffs that we hiked atop and watched giant ocean swells crash against the rocks below.  The hike got our hearts pumping as we reached the highest point where we found what we had come for, a seal colony.  Some were basking on rocks in the sun while the main pack was in the water, jumping and plunging in the giant waves.  We sat and watched them for a bit and then continued on our hike.  We got to the middle of the peninsula which was intersected by a giant sand dune that ran to the other side and down to a beautiful secluded beach.  We ran down the dune to the beach where we basked in the sun and put our feet in the cool water, we even saw our first African Oyster Catcher.  We snacked on our final ration of cake pops before heading back.  The trip back up was extremely steep.  It was Michigan’s Sleeping Bear Dunes to the extreme.  We hoofed it and were pretty sweaty by the top.  We continued hiking and only got lost once which resulted in climbing directly up a cliff full of fynbos bushes on a very small not-really-a-trail trail.  Tired and hungry, we found our way into the town of Plettenberg Bay for a tromazzini, a delicious Panini with foccacia bread and mozzarella and whatever other toppings you would like.  After pigging out, we drove the two and a half hours east through gorgeous Tsitsikama National Park to Port Elizabeth.  We checked in at 99 Mile Beach Backpackers, and actually had a TV in our room for the first time!  We each took showers.  I was surprised to get iced by my lovely girfriend, a nice throwback to the States.  She’ll get hers.  We went out to a final dinner, just the two of us (even though we weren’t that hungry after our tromazzini feast) and fell asleep watching old James Bond movies, our only channel option.  The next day we would arrive for our first day of volunteering work.  I fell asleep uneasily pondering all the different possibilities that we could face tomorrow.

Wild Spirit: The Crags - 10/20/12

GABBY - We woke up, gathered our things, and set off in the rain towards Plettenberg Bay and eventually, The Crags, home to our next hostel, Wild Spirit.  We heard that Wild Spirit was the hostel to stay at from both Paul in Wilderness, and the receptionist at Island Vibe in Knysna.  It was only a little over an hour’s drive, so we took our time and pulled off at a crafty shopping area called Old Nick’s.  Paul has seriously hooked us up with many things to do.  He has not led us astray once, so we followed all of his suggestions, Old Nick being one of them.  It was raining a decent amount, so running in and out of shops was a perfect way to spend our time (and money).  Ben and I perused the different shops and I was able to get my mom a nice Christmas/birthday present (can’t reveal because she may be reading).  I’m not sure if Ben enjoyed it as much as I did, but I honestly had a blast walking around and soaking in the local merchandise.  We left Old Nick’s and made it all the way to Plett Bay before stopping and buying an adapter, bottle of pinotage, and 2 candy bars from the local Pick N’ Pay supermarket.  Finally we turned off of the main highway, the N2 onto a pothole ridden dirt road leading us to another long dirt road to Wild Spirit.  We turned down the driveway to observe and avoid mini canyons in the dirt road followed by loads of potholes.  We turned a corner and saw 3 large horses fenced in close to the entrance of the hostel.  We walked in and were directed by a scatterbrained receptionist who had only started working there a couple days before.  The rain was still coming down by the buckets, which was unfortunate since we were in prime hiking territory next to Tsitsikama National Park.  The backpackers was really into sustainability, having its guests take their own trash with them when they leave.  We sat by the fire, read and wrote for awhile before becoming in tune with our stomachs and realizing we were quite hungry.  We had seen a little farm stall only about 2 minutes from the hostel, so we braved the dirt and potholes once again to check it out.  Before we left, I noticed something crossing the road a little ways up.  I looked a little harder and concluded that it was a pack of baboons!  Ben ran to get his telephoto while I just slowly started walking towards them to get a better look.  I think they roam pretty freely around the national park and the hostel. There were probably 20 or so baboons that crossed the road.  After the baboons had left our sight, we drove to the farm stall.  We were greeted by a crowing rooster and mooing cows.  The store specialized in local cheeses, which were up for tasting.  We settled on a block of sharp cheddar, a loaf of bread, a tomato and some last minute cake pops.  We have been longing for the cake pops ever since.  They were just small balls of cake on a stick, like a lollipop, covered in a hard shell of dark chocolate.  You could snarf it down in one ecstasy - filled bite, but you would most certainly want to stretch the pleasure for at least 2 or 3 bites.  We just got one each, but regretted it when that one was gone.  After the farm stall, we made ourselves some cheddar and tomato sandwiches before returning to the fireplace to get dry and warm.  We were unwilling to hike in the rain again seeing as our hike in Wilderness managed to leave our clothes sweaty, wet, and stinking up the car.  I wasn’t about to repeat that with another outfit and pair of shoes.  Instead we enjoyed a relaxing day by the fire, greeting guests, and playing with Topaz and Savannah.  Topaz was a couple months old and was one of the cutest puppies ever!  All he wanted to do was nip and bite, though, trying to get used to his teeth, I guess.  A group of 3 people walked in, a man in his late 30’s, and two girls that seemed about my age.  They came over to warm up by the fire and we realized almost immediately that they were American.  We got to talking and found out that one of the girls studied abroad in Ghana and now lives there.  The other girl played for a Swedish soccer team right of college.  The man asked us where we were from and then hearing where I was from proceeded to tell us that he worked as an assistant coach for a small, liberal arts school in Pennsylvania called Bucknell.  I lost my shit.  I practically shrieked at the guy trying to spit out that Ben and I had just graduated from Bucknell.  He worked there from 2002-2005 as the assistant soccer coach.  What are the freaking odds.  We were in the middle of nowhere South Africa, these were the first Americans we had seen along the Garden Route, and one of them had worked at Bucknell.  I still can’t get over how insanely coincidental that is.  They worked with a program called Coaches Across Continents, which uses soccer as a teaching tool for social development in communities across the globe.  These 3 people get to travel all over the world talking to and training educators in soccer skills so they can use that as a means to construct a community that works together and understands each other better.  It’s a pretty awesome way to travel and get to know different cultures and communities.  Ben and I naturally jumped at what seemed like a dream job and got the dude’s card.  I plan on e-mailing him when I get home and checking out the possible opportunity to spend some time coaching soccer and traveling!  We hung out, listening to the rain on the roof, chatting it up with the guests and playing with Topaz until dinner.  We decided to jump on the dinner that the hostel was providing, which happened to be a lamb stew with slaw.  It was the perfect, warm, meal to end a rainy, cold day.  Ben and I drank our bottle of wine and fell asleep, our bellies warm and our minds happy.     

Over the Mountains... 10/19/12

BEN (from his journal) - We packed up and said goodbye to Fairy Knowe Backpackers, but not without some recommendations and another delicious omelet from Paul, the owner.  We decided that as rain was predicted for the day, we would do a driving tour.  We got onto the N2 (The Garden Route) where we set out for the town of George to catch the N12 up north to the Outiniqua Mountains.  It felt as if we had entered Middle Earth, soaring mountain tops with big fluffy white clouds at their peaks.  Beautiful.  We stopped a few times as we navigated up the windy road and made it through the mountain pass.  Once over the mountains, we entered sort of a high valley in between two sets of mountain ranges which was filled with vineyards, ostrich farms, and eventually the town of Outsdhorn.  On our way there I was able to see my first zebra, or as they say here ‘zeh-brah,’ although at a great distance.  The pattern was unmistakable though.  We passed through Outsdhorn and headed for the Swartberg Pass, the second mountain range to drive through.  We drove awhile, and eventually reached the foothills of the towering Swartberg Mountains, their peaks invisible due to a bunch of rain clouds slowly moving in from the west.  The road turned to dirt and became quite vertical and windy.  It took a long time to ascend into the clouds as we looked at the lush, fertile valley below.  We stopped occasionally, but the combination of the altitude, light rain, and cold wind made us reach for our sweatshirts and get back in the car quickly.  The views were spectacular as we eventually reached the highest point (all the while taking copious amounts of pictures) and the descent began.  The geology, climate, topography, and vegetation completely changes, as the rocks turned red and the bedding became sheer and vertical.  The vegetation was more that of an arid environment.  We wound our way down on the dirt road through an enormous red-rock canyon that reminded me a lot of Zion National Park in the Southwest US.  It’s amazing that this spectacular natural wonder is just there, no advertising, no hoop-lah, just a simple dirt road into one of the most beautiful scenic landscapes I’ve ever been in.  It would put many of the US’s National Parks to shame (and completely shits on New Jersey’s Delaware Water Gap).  Anyway, we finally made it down to the tiny stream that cut through the rock to form this amazing canyon and followed it out into the Karoo Desert, the flat arid land on the northern side of the mountains.  We pulled into the small town of Prince Albert where we stopped at the Lazy Lizard for an absurdly avocado filled sandwich and chocolate milkshake.  Our waitress was a beautiful 10-12 year old African girl who Gabby immediately wanted to steal and keep.  After wrestling away the beast of maternal instinct we headed out of town and drove east, parallel with the mountains to meet back up with the major highway.  Time to conquer another mountain pass, although this one didn’t require us to climb up into the clouds; it simply followed a large riverbed all the way through another jaw-dropping canyon.  At one point we stopped at a rest stop with thatched roofs to pee and saw that there was a small trail that said ‘Waterfall’ off to the side.  We decided to go check it out, climbed a few stairs, rounded a corner, and saw a small waterfall.  We walked over to check it out and our jaws dropped as we saw the real waterfall, a casual 60m drop through a gorgeous red-rocked canyon at a rest stop.  Just another day in Africa I guess.  We marveled and took pictures.  We continued back to Outsdhorn and beyond back down the Outiniqua Pass where we were greeted with a rainbow over the mountains.  We eventually wound our way back down to sea level and the Garden Route.  It was another hour drive to Island Vibe Backpackers in Knysna.  The place was cool and we treated ourselves to our first en-suite room which was a nice luxury.  We went out to dinner at the Knysna Waterfront and had some excellent sushi before heading back to the hostel.  Knysna is a cute coastal town, but is a bit touristy.  Another amazing day in South Africa.

Wilderness - 10/18/12

GABBY - We awoke from our slumber with enough time to make it to the breakfast we signed up for the day before.  The breakfast was placed outside for us on a picnic bench.  Ben had an omelet with bacon, mushrooms, cheese and tomatoes, and I had the muesli, fruit, and yogurt.  It was a breakfast that jump started our day that would be filled with a series of adventures.  Low tide dictated our morning plans of walking the beach.  We drove our car to a parking lot that was unknowingly a hot spot for paragliding.  The day could not have been more perfect for paragliding and beaching, but it was just about deserted.  We climbed down the tower of wooden steps cutting into the cliff to the sandy paradise below.  Walking hand in hand down the beach, Ben and I admired the mussels, colorful, vacant shells, and sea glass.  We got to talking about making a lamp shade out of sea glass.  That conversation was enough to send us off in all sorts of directions collecting as many pieces of sea glass as we could spot.  In the back of my mind I knew that we would be carrying everything we picked up in our packs, but I kept on collecting.  We filled Ben’s pockets with an impressive amount of brown and green sea glass and some opal shells that made the “you’re pretty, we’ll keep you” cut.  Finally we settled in one spot and read about 5 pages before realizing that the time had escaped us.  We were looking forward to a hike that Paul, the Fairy Knowe owner suggested that was going to take 4 hours.  Before leaving, we admired some experienced paragliders who played off the wind and discovered a dead dolphin up the beach from us.  We climbed the same steps to our car.  When we reached the top, we were enlightened by the fact that the paragliders were taking off from the patch of grass right next to where we parked Maria.  They were gaining control, running, and gliding off the mountain we had just hiked up.  On recommendation from Paul, yet again, we went to a beach front restaurant called Salina’s for some fish and chips before driving up to a lookout called Map of Africa.  We drove up a steep hill to a dirt road until we saw a woman standing in the middle of the road pointing to her left.  She turned out to be a volunteer tour guide that took us around and informed us about the area and what we were looking at.  Looking down from where we were standing, the landscape below looked much like the continent of Africa.  The confluence of two rivers formed a forested tip, much like the southern tip of Africa, Cape Agulhas and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.  After our tour, we drove back to Fairy Knowe, parked Maria, grabbed our rain coats, and set off down the path towards Wilderness National Park.  The hike began from Fairy Knowe, which was convenient and practical.  We took the more difficult Bosduif trail, which consisted of a series of switchbacks and steep stairs that resulted in a birds-eye view of Wilderness National Park.  It was getting cloudy and looking a bit ominous as we were beginning our descent that was going to bring us back to a trail leading to a waterfall.  It started to rain, but the canopy was thick enough to deter me from putting on my raincoat.  Finally we came upon a sign that told us to go right to the waterfall via the stepping stones.  It was raining decently heavy now and the water level was such that the stepping stones were completely submerged.  Ben and I wandered around aimlessly and unsuccessfully looking for another way to cross.  Eventually we looked at each other and knew we had a decision to make.  To cross the river, or turn back, which would inevitably result in a sense of disappointment -failing to reach the waterfall.  Ben said, “The camp counselor in me tells me that this is a bad idea, but the adventurer in me says hell yea, let’s do it”.  He looked at me to give away a clue as to what I was feeling, when I reached down and started taking off my hiking boots.  Ben led the way and I followed him, bare foot walking through a river to get to a waterfall.  Oh the things I would do to see a cool waterfall.  We hopped the fence to our trail and continued on unscathed.  Eventually, soaking wet, we reached the waterfall and almost collapsed with the sense of accomplishment.  It wasn’t the most beautiful waterfall I have ever seen, but it certainly seemed to be in those moments.   Ben whipped out a Tempo bar (my favorite candy bar in South Africa) and we went bite for bite under spray from both the rain and waterfall.  We high tailed it back to the stepping stones, where we observed a series of signs.  Among them was one pointing to a pontoon just down the way a couple meters.  I didn’t know what a pontoon was, so I was expecting a little rope bridge or something.  No, no, no it was a pully system that had Ben and I sitting on a raft.  Ben reminded me of Mr. Ornet from the classic movie African Queen, ensuring Katherine Hepburn’s (my) safety on the river.  It was starting to get a bit dark, and the sounds of the forest were starting to freak me out a bit.  I finally admitted my state of panic to Ben, so he started singing songs from “Newsies” to divert my attention elsewhere.  Finally we arrived back at Fairy Knowe safe and sound, but very wet and cold.  We showered quickly and went for pizza at Bongo’s before calling it a night.  What a day, what a day, what a day, yay yay.    

SHARKS!!! - 10/17/12

BEN (from his journal) - We spent the night in dorm beds sharing the room with two Irish girls and a large snoring German woman.  We woke up at the crack of dawn to make our way to Gansbaii (pronounces ‘Hansbaye’) for some shark cage diving.  Turned out that the 2 Irish girls were also going, so we caravanned to the shark cage diving Mecca, where shark week is filmed, Gansbaii.  There are about a dozen different shark cage diving companies in one little  port.  For most of our drive, it rained pretty hard, but had stopped by the time we rolled in.  It was grey and the wind was whipping, not great weather for jumping in the Atlantic Ocean.  We met with our crew, about 20 of us and our skipper (who was a raging badass) who went over everything while we had a simple, but needed breakfast.  We got on the boat and set off in large swells and cool sea air.  Most of the ride was spent getting to know Edel and Emily (our new Irish friends).  Once we found a spot we dropped anchor and everyone put on a wetsuit.  Just like that, there was a tuna head in the water and there were great white sharks circling our boat.  Insanity!  When we were not in the water we sat up on the second level roof of the boat, were we got a sweet bird’s eye view of the carnage.  Multiple times the monsters breached and crashed back down into the salty water.  Then it was our turn and we jumped into the icy water and flipped the switch on zoos all over the world; we were in the cage and the sharks were watching us.  It was AWESOME.  That is really the only way I can explain it.  The sharks would attack the bait and swim right past the cage, so close you could reach out and touch them (if you didn’t want a hand anymore).  All that was separating us from one of the most deadly creatures on the planet was a few simple pieces of metal.  Gabby and I were able to get in the cage twice.  At one point a monster 4.3 meter shark came trolling around and under the boat.  He never came for the bait, but you could see his shadow take over the water.  Unreal.  We (i.e. Gabby) astutely brought underwater cameras.  I cannot wait to get those pictures developed.  We headed back to shore after a couple hours of admiring, had lunch, and said goodbye to our Irish friends.  Breakfast, lunch, swimming with sharks, and a hostel stay for R995, not bad.  Still cold, damp, salty, and a little sea sick, we had a four hour drive ahead of us to reach Wilderness, our next stop along the Garden Route.  I did the majority of the driving making it my first time driving on the right (wrong) side.  Everything went well except for some minor hugging the left line and not getting used to looking left for rear view issues.  Also noteworthy during our road trip was: off and on rain and thus cool mountain/cloud scenery, large fields and farmland, our first ostrich sighting, Baboon baboon baboon! Cries from Gabby and the subsequent baboon sightings, first elephant sighting in the distance (off the freaking highway!).  Only in Africa.  As we reached the town of Wilderness and the heart of the Garden Route, the scenery got more and more breathtaking.  We eventually found our way to Fairy Knowe Backpackers where a talkative, friendly owner and his two dogs greeted us.  Seems like Wilderness will be a fun place to explore tomorrow.  We went out for an amazing dinner at Blue Olive, local delicious food, and are now falling asleep in the oldest building in Wilderness (1847) in a beautiful double bed that overlooks the salty tidal zone.  Paradise.  Life’s not too bad right now.

Hermanus - 10/16/2012

GABBY - This morning, we stumbled out of Stumble Inn and set off for Hermanus.  Hermanus is most widely known for its whale sightings.  We wanted to go there for the whales, but also for the Great White sharks just down the road in Gansbaii.  Ben was still a bit uncomfortable driving on the left side of the road, I guess learning through observation, so I hopped into the driver’s seat and drove south from Stellenbosch to Hermanus.  After weaving through some of the side streets (a bit lost), we arrived at Hermanus Backpackers where we met the owner of the hostel, Hayley.  Hayley was an incredibly energetic woman in her mid to late 40’s who had a spunky, friendly, vivacious way of looking at life and interacting with people.  She gave us a tour of the hostel showing us the bar, braii area (South African BBQ), and our dorm rooms that we would be staying in for free.  We uncovered a deal in the Coast to Coast backpackers’ handbook that allowed us to shark cage dive and spend a night at Hermanus Backpackers for 995 rand.  The rand to the dollar is about 8 rand to 1 dollar.  We were staying a night and shark cage diving for $113.59. Pretty sweet deal, with seemingly no catch!  She shared with us some of her favorite things to do in Hermanus, so we set off on an exploration day.  Not 5 minutes into our hike along the Atlantic Ocean did we see a whale.  We later discovered that it was a Southern Right whale.  We never saw one breach, but throughout the day we saw numerous fins, tales, heads, backs, and bellies.  We walked along the rim of the ocean to the center of Hermanus where we ate tapas for lunch.  Ben insisted on getting potatas bravas, which is a staple side dish in Barcelona and beloved on his travels there 4 years ago.   They weren’t the same, but still tasty.  We headed back to the hostel via the cliff trail.  The trail took us under heavy canopies of leaves and vines and wove us around the contour of the sea wall.  We saw these really interesting, big, red and black grasshoppers along the way which we named, Fred, Ethel, and something else, not Lucy or Ricky.  We tide pool searched on the jagged rocks by the sea for awhile before heading back to the backpackers and cleaning up for dinner.  We went out for sushi and ordered a bottle of red wine.  We came back to the hostel and went outside to have another drink and play some pool.  Ben whooped my butt as predicted.  Hopefully I will be able to practice up so I can beat him one day.  We headed to bed seeing as we had a pretty early, eventful, heart-pumping day ahead of us.  

Stellenbosch - 10/15/12

GABBY - Ben and I woke up to the hot, African sun, which was a bit surprising since the wind knocked a tree down into the electric fence last night and made a clicking noise similar to a metronome.  After packing up all of our gear, we set off on our 20 minute walk to the Waterfront.  We had our backpacks and other small bags as well, which made for quite a heavy load.  We made it about halfway when we decided to hail a taxi.  Good thing too, since we got the car rental location wrong.  “Budget doesn’t have a car rental place by the Waterfront” our taxi driver said, so we checked the confirmation and realized that it was actually in the center of Cape Town.  I’m glad we went with the taxi because that would have been a long walk.  We got our car, a blue Honda which we named Maria, and we were on our way.  I took the wheel since I have more experience driving on the “wrong side of the road”, as Ben puts it.  We had to get one last Kitchen sandwich before we headed out of Cape Town and onto our next stop.  We must have passed it, so I made a speedy, total legal (not in the US) U-turn and got us some love sandwiches for the road.  They were out of aubergines, so I tried the honey mustard sausage instead, which proved to be scrumptious.  We drove on the N2 until we reached wine country.  We arrived at our backpackers, Stumble Inn in Stellenbosch, South Africa around 11:30.  We had plenty of time to explore the town, known for Stellenbosch University and more importantly, their wine!  I had been to Stellenbosch 3 times during my study abroad experience, but never overnight.  We rented bikes from our hostel and took off down the streets towards some recommended wineries. I liked Ben’s quote about the bikes in his journal, “The bikes were old, uncomfortable, and rickety, but we were not, so we paddled off in search of a wine adventure.”  We made a right turn up Devon Valley road and pedaled and pedaled and pedaled looking for any of the vineyards that the hostel dude told us about.  We were looking at our map when a car pulled over and wanted to know if we knew of a lunch spot.  We exchanged information: we helped her find food, she helped us find wine.  We kept trekking until we found Clos Malverne.  We walked up to our first vineyard, looking for a wine tasting when we saw a man, about Ben’s age, appear at the door looking a bit inquisitive.  He asked if he could help us, we replied that we were looking for a wine tasting.  He told us that he was closed on Mondays.  My heart fell through my butt, seeing as we were so thrilled to have found our first winery.  I was crushed, and my face must have shown it because he seemed to take pity on us and invited us in for a glass.  His exact words were, “Come on in, it looks like you two could use a glass.”  We walked into the dining area of Clos Malverne and I lost my breath for the second time that day (the first was pedaling up that wretched hill).  The dining room had a window showcasing the jaw-dropping, breath-taking view of the Stellenbosch mountains, vineyard, and lake.  Tears came to my eyes as we took a window seat in the vacant restaurant and sipped on an ice cold glass of Clos Malverne’s own Sauvignon Blanc.  I think that was the first time that I have truly enjoyed white wine.  The guy that let us in was extremely friendly and hospitable.  He wouldn’t let us pay for the glasses of wine, which was just another testament of amazing humans can and should be.  I told Ben that he should start writing a book of all the amazing experiences he has had with hospitable people.  Most have occurred during his 70 day canoeing trip from Vermont to Canada.  We discussed going to another winery, but decided to end our bike tour on a good note.  On our way back to Stumble Inn we ran into a group of school kids walking home with their guardian.  They all stuck their hands out to give us high-fives.  There were so many of them that we started to slow down.  In no time we were swarmed by these kids, all trying to get high fives, hugs, or any type of attention we were willing to give.  We talked to the care giver, who shouted “Ayoba”, which I later found out meant cool, great, oh yea!  The caregiver insisted that we take the kids on bike rides.  We each took a young boy on our handlebars and took the kids for a ride up the road a bit.  I hugged the boy tight and tried to talk to him the whole ride.  I found out his name was Gavin and he liked the way the wind felt while he was sitting on the bike.  It felt so great to interact with children again.  The kids were full of so much energy and excitement, which was contagious.  After pictures and a long, Bittner goodbye (my family’s long goodbyes), and hugs we left feeling alive and fulfilled.  What an incredible experience to have on a nearly deserted road on our bikes.  We could not have predicted that, not in a million years.  We returned our bikes, showered, freshened up, and drove to Asara to finally have a wine tasting.  We pulled in to a driveway lined with trees on both sides and got out to take a look around.  After seeing the driveway, we were glad we hadn’t taken our bikes and decided to shower.  We were in a whole other proper world, certainly one without dirt, sweat, and bike grease.  We tried three different wines that tasted delicious in their own ways.  After our tasting, we went to dinner at Ryneveld ˚5.  We shared a carafe of red wine before gorging ourselves on specialty burgers.  This restaurant had a very trendy, artistic vibe and served fabulous grub.  We weren’t quite ready for bed, so we went to Bohemia, which is a bar close to the university.  We spent the rest of the night drinking brandy (South Africa’s equivalent to America’s rum) and cokes, flirting (with each other), people-watching and singing chapel choir songs all the way home.  

Cape Town Exploration 10/14/12

BEN (from his journal) - As I sit here on giant granite boulders overlooking Camp’s Bay Beach and its beautiful blue/green waters, giant waves, and white sand it hard to imagine how I got to this paradise and what has happened in the last few days, weeks, and months that has lead me here.  After my return from Expedition 2012 and another successful summer at Camp Keewaydin, Gabby and I decided it was finally time to do it; to travel around the world together.  We took the month of September to catch up with friends and family, regroup and plan for our trip which in the end just lead to a lot of eating, drinking, catching up on TV shows, and losing all semblance of physique that I had gained from paddling every day.  However, we were able to put together a base line itinerary with some amazing opportunities.  

       This leads us to October 11, and a very long flight from JFK in New York to Johannesburg, South Africa.  It was a 14 hour odyssey crammed into coach; One of those flights where the guy in front of you immediately becomes your worst enemy as he slams his seat back into your lap (which you subsequently do to the person right behind you).  So 3 movies and many hours of restless sleep later we landed in ZA.  Another 2 hour flight brought us to Cape Town.  We caught a bus and cab and found our hostel for the next three nights, A Sunflower Stop.  We have a small double room in the Green Point Region which is right near the Waterfront.   We got ourselves settled and headed to the Waterfront where we gorged on sushi.  Awesome food for awesome prices.   We walked home soon afterword and passed out like old people at 7 as jet lag took its toll.  

     We woke up Saturday morning and headed straight for Old Biscuit Mill, a huge open air market with great food, people watching, and music.  We had some crepes and smoothies and bought our favorite sandwiches in the world from The Kitchen (chicken, avo, mayo, lettuce, tomato, feta, onion, oil, vinegar, special ‘Love Sauce’).  I also learned to navigate the mini bus system.  Basically you walk in the direction you want to go until one beeps at you whereupon you cram into a van full of people and pay less than $1 to go anywhere.  We navigated our way up to the trail of Lion’s Head and hiked up which included rock scrambles, ladders, chains, and the hot African sun.  At the top we were greeted with the most spectacular view of Cape Town and Table Mountain that anyone could ask for.  We played with our cameras and took lots of pictures, using new knowledge that we had recently learned from a photography lesson.  We also enjoyed our delicious Kitchen Love sandwiches while taking in the view.  It was spectacular.  After the climb back down we caught a cab back to the hostel where we took another trip to the Waterfront for a solid seafood dinner at Quay Four followed by a romantic ride on The Wheel of Excellence, Cape Town’s Ferris wheel.  A bit sun burnt we again passed out quickly and happily after another magical day in Cape Town.  This morning we woke up and headed for Camp’s Bay, the beach!  We had a quick brunch and went to a pristine beach loaded with people enjoying the hot sun.  We made our way to large boulders where we planted ourselves, wrote this, and watched surfers.  It was fun watching the waves grow as the tide slowly crept in.  We eventually packed up and scrambled over some boulders to get back to the street where we hiked along a main avenue until we reached Clifton (This while always surrounded by the jaw dropping beauty of the 12 Apostles, Lion’s Head, and Table Mountain).  We went to one of the Clifton beaches where we relaxed and slept on each other for a bit.  We made our way to the hostel, took showers, and booked our next few hostels.  For dinner, we decided to go to Tank, one of Gabby’s favorite sushi places from studying abroad.  We walked a bit to Cape Quarter, but were devastated to find that Tank no longer existed.  I should note that on the walk there we saw a fight between two guys who were yelling at each other.  One picked up a broken bottle, and we got outta there.  We decided to get a cab all the way back to Camp’s Bay where the night had turned so windy that the wind was blowing water off the tops of the waves.  We found a place along the beach for some calamari and sushi (of course). We returned to the hostel and packed up for another adventure tomorrow.  It still hasn't really sunk in as to what we are doing and what is to come.  Every day feels like a new adventure in paradise, which I am definitely OK with.

Leaving the US 10/11/12

GABBY:  After a bit of delirium waking up at 5:30 in the Ramseyer’s humble abode, I came to the realization that I was going to be in Cape Town in less than 48 hours from now.  I was actually returning to Cape Town after studying at UCT (University of Cape Town) for 5 months almost exactly 2 years ago.  What a surreal feeling to be journeying back to the place that became my home to many influential and vital moments that helped shape the 22 year old girl you see before you today.  And to be doing it with Ben!  What an amazing opportunity set before me.  We were driven to JFK by Joel.  One last Jersey Boy bagel breakfast sandwich of Taylor ham, egg and cheese and we were off to fight the rush hour traffic into NYC.  We arrived at JFK around 8:30 am and went through the long, drawn out process of getting to our gate.  I paid a man to Saran wrap my intense backpacker’s backpack to keep my straying straps from getting caught on anything.  Checking luggage, security, and finding our gate all ran as smoothly as it could.  Ben and I made some last minute goodbye calls to family and friends before boarding SA 323 to Johannesburg, South Africa.  14 hours of movies including, “Spider Man”, “Rock of Ages”, and “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” – don’t worry anyone...it’s just a movie.  We eventually made it to Johannesburg and rushed a little to our connecting flight to Cape Town.  We arrived in Cape Town after passing out on our 2 hour flight around 1:00 pm on October 12^th.  It’s good to note that we are 6 hours ahead of our friends and family in the United States.