4:55pm
(*) – October 10th was the day the writing of this tale began. It took multiple days and many bulleted notes to finish this literary work. I would like to thank Kevan, Evan (for obvious reasons), and my planner “Franky” (in which the notes and itinerary of this adventure were jotted); without them this blog entry would never have happened. :-P
Introduction
I’m about to attempt the impossible. How can I possibly put into a blog entry all of the fantastic and amazing details of the Kevan and Evan Adventure Tour?! I will try my best, and photographic backup will be coming, but won’t be available for awhile (**).
Chapter 1
My vacation away from site started a week before the guys hit African soil. I was in Mbabane for our mid-service physical exams. This was not too torturous of a process, but I don’t care to repeat it any time soon. FYI – All tests came back negative! I’m healthy and without parasites, TB, and other not so nice infections. Other amazing PCVs were there with me, so we enjoyed the free lodging in the capitol city and the free evenings!
Since my birthday landed on the Saturday after the mid-service physicals, I was in town already. That day happened to be the monthly Baylor Teen Club meeting, so I spent the day with around 150 kids! They even sang “Happy Birthday” to me. How precious! In the evening I went to stay with some group 6 volunteers who had a movie night in the works. They made a cake and I made a cheese tray… perfect. :-) Throughout the day family and friends from the States gave me a call to pass along their good wishes. You would think that there was no way my birthday could get any better, but in the weeks to come I would find out differently. Thank you so much everyone.
While the guys were flying from the States, which seems like a never ending flight no matter which side of it you’re on, I was working my way up to the border gate that they were going to pass through on Monday September 20th. A new, and wonderful, PCV who lives near the border let me crash at her place Sunday night. Monday morning I was waiting at the border for glimpses of my first visitors from home and new travel companions for the following two weeks!
Chapter 2
Just moments after crossing the Swazi border (Ngwenya/Osheok), after the welcome hugs and customs questions of course, we started right in on the tourist activities. Ngwenya Glass was our first stop. There we were able to watch, from a walkway, men transform malleable, molten glass into all sizes and shapes of figurines, vases, and wine glasses. The glass they use is all recycled and turned in by community members to make a little money and reduce the amount of broken beer bottles on the side of the road. Other shops were perused and Swazi crafts and collectables were admired.
From Ngwenya, at the Northwestern corner of the country, we drove into Mbabane so I could run a couple quick errands and pick up food for that evening. The next Swazi destination was Hlane Game Reserve in the Northeastern corner of the country, near the Mozambique border. With a trusted guide named Senzo and a legit safari vehicle, we went out in search of some African animals. Within minutes we were instructed to get out. By a watering hole there were TONS of rhinos. We got way closer to them than I felt comfortable with! :-/ A crocodile and hippos were also spotted at this stop. Once we were back in the 4x4 Range Rover we came across even more animals: warthogs, impala, kudu, and ostrich to name a few. Then it was time to go into the Lion section of the park! We discussed how perfect the Jurassic Park theme song would be if played just then. :-P
Quite a distance away we saw a baby lion leaning against a fence. Other than that sighting we did not spot the illusive Kings and Queens of the jungle, but we had quite an experience with the largest animals in the kingdom. At one point we were practically surrounded by elephants of all sizes! We sat there for a long time just watching these amazing creatures. There was even a two week old baby! Senzo thought it would not be wise for me to try and cuddle with her, and the guys would not help me get her out of the park so I had to just look at the little cutie. :-P Once we decided to leave our big eared friends, Senzo warned us that our departure might anger a particularly protective Mamma. Sure enough, the moment we crawled closer to pass her she charged THROUGH a tree and chased us for a short sprint! We bolted with a full grown elephant on our tail!! Awesome.
The following few hours were spent on a Darryn/Zodwa guided trip down the Eastern side of the country toward my community and my home. The guys got a Swazi 5 Star lodging experience the next two nights at my fully inclusive hut hotel. :-) We spent the first night celebrating my birthday thanks to my personal currier service. My fantastic friends, Matt and Danielle, sent a surprise b-day gift with the guys as well as Kevan’s great gifts! We then proceeded to play with my fun and silly gifts (especially a strobe bouncy ball) and Kevan’s pimped out camera for the remainder of the evening. Quite the full and fun first day of vacation!
Kevan and Evan woke up on their second day in Swaziland in my hut. We took turns bucket bathing (yup- definitely 5 star!). When I came out, I found the two of them stacking concrete blocks with my older bhuti, Sandile. :-) They were in a working mood and I took advantage of that! We picked up Laura and Brandon, fetched some paint supplies (totally taking advantage of having a car!!!), and all started working on a set of bus stop murals! The messages planned for these stops happened to be promoting condom use, and had 5 cartoon condoms stating their usefulness and comfort! :-P The guys were great sports, and we all laughed at how HIV/AIDS education work really breaks down social and conversational barriers pretty dang quickly. Ha!
From a full day of painting (and quick mail run to Hluti – God Bless rental cars!) we went to visit my second host family, the Broodryks. Although I warned the gents that a short visit was very hard to accomplish here, we tried anyway. …Yeah right… A couple beers later and with many wonderful conversation topics covered we were convinced to stay for a true Afrikaans dinner – pap (cooked mealie meal) and meat. ;-) Leaving Mrs. Broodryk around 8pm gave me about an hour and a half to pack for the rest of our vacation and get to the Lavumisa border before it closed.
A long ~6hr drive, including both intentional and unintentional detours :-), we arrived at the Royal Natal National Park entrance at about 3am. This park is a part of the Drankensberg Mountain range and located on the South African side of the Northern tip of Lesotho. A very short but necessary slumber was had by all in the car as we waited for the park to open.
We woke with the sun, but the park did not. Instead of sitting in the car we took off in search of an adventure. What we found was an empty campground. :-) After seeing all there was to see there, we were granted access to the park. The Visitor’s Center was not open for a couple hours so we headed straight for our hike of the Gorge Trail! The amphitheatre is absolutely breathtaking!! We were in and out of forests, passing baboons, jumping massive boulders in a dried river bed, and exploring crevices only fit for fictional hidden treasure or men named Indiana Jones! The trail, according to our map, was around 7km one way and should have taken around 3 hours to reach the turn-around point. At the end of the river bed and at the base of the amphitheatre we had two options. We decided to ignore the big white painted arrow, which we decided had to have been drawn by the ancient bushmen because this was a “hard core” wilderness hike :-P, and climb up a rickety chain ladder. Then we climbed a very steep rock face with roots, a wire, and drilled rods to assist in the assent. At the top we had an amazing view on top of a jutting rock. What did we do next? … We took an hour nap … in the middle of our hike … on a flat rock … perfect. ;-)
Once our beauty rest had been secured, we climbed down and followed the arrow to a path climbing the other side of the river bed. It too had a fantastic view and a family of curious baboons. A few hikers had caught up to us while we were napping, and one prophetic gentleman stated something along the lines of, “Now I’m heading for the beer”. We weren’t far after him in turning around and following the amazing scenery back over the rocks, through the trees, around the bends, passed the baboons, and back to our car.
Mr Fango’s Chicken, a ridiculously dingy chicken joint, was somehow the place we found to eat along the drive down to Uvongo (located along the Indian Ocean South of Durban). This part of the world loves their chicken. On the same block of this road there were three chicken restaurants, KFC being one of them. We were rightfully exhausted when we arrived at our beautiful ocean side condo-esk lodging (thanks to Evan’s booking). It took us a while to figure out that to get into the complex we needed to push a hand held automatic gate opener. As I said, we were pretty tired. :-) The guys went to bed as I took out my corn-rows. Oh yeah, forgot that part. Before mid-service medical I had allowed a couple friends in my community corn-row my hair. No worries, pictures will come. :-P
Chapter 3
Our morning started off with a grocery shopping trip. One item that we bought throughout this adventure was Rusks. A rusk is like an uber dried, less sweet biscotti. Similar to biscotti, though, these South African treats are to be enjoyed with tea or coffee. Thanks to an unhealthy addiction we had developed, almost every flavor (aniseed, bran, muesli, triple chocolate) were enjoyed with and without beverage. I believe bran and muesli were purchased on this certain trip. :-)
The next order of business was getting these neon white thighs and water deprived skin to the beach! Being on the Indian Ocean, the water was quite warm for it being the end of the winter season. We splashed into the waves like little kids, and allowed the current to churn us like laundry on spin cycle. With the salt water bath complete, we laid in the sun/under a beach umbrella to dry off. Although we could have stayed out there all day, this was the first day of a religious celebration called the Feast of the Tabernacles and we had to get to church.
The opening service was a wonderful experience, and throughout the week I realized how much I have missed fellowship. As I’ve explained in previous blog entries, Swaziland’s brand of Christianity feels more like a misinformed fad than a faith. Although I have many churches in my community, the 5 hour, deep siSwati sermons and pop-star, popular gospel music does not do it for me. If anything, it makes me want to distance myself from the Christian label. Although the United Church of God had different views, interpretations, and traditions than I had experienced before, their sincere love for God, Jesus Christ, and concern for the well-being of our world were apparent and felt right from the start.
Nothing could keep us too long from the beach, so in our dress clothes we strolled the shore, threw a Frisbee, and perused a fisherman’s dock. Grilled lamb was on the menu, and we had a blast trying to make our very own South African brai (BBQ). Cooking over the hot coals turned experimental by dessert. Grilled apple slices of all shapes and sizes were coated in honey and critiqued American Idol style (Kevan does an amazing Simon impression). We pretty much liked them all!
Day number 2 of the week long Feast found the three of us late for church! We had to pack up and leave our beautiful accommodation and sprint to the service. At the end of it, though, I think all three of us wished we hadn’t made any of it. This happened to be the sermon so many religious leaders like to give; the one which states, “We are right, everyone else is wrong, nah nah nah nah boo boo”. Sadly, some leaders believe it is necessary to “unite” their congregation by ridiculously demonizing and attacking another group, whether those individuals are the “Western Infidels”, “Money Grabbing Jews”, “Muslim Terrorists”, or in this pastor’s perspective the “Idol Worshiping Catholics”. I’m sure he didn’t know that sitting in his audience was a Catholic on the brink of enraged and disheartened tears, but that probably wouldn’t have mattered. Instead of using the “us verse them” mentality to direct faith and good works towards conquering evil and the devil’s grasp of the world, he desired to unite “us” (his congregation) toward “them” (the other Christian denominations). I think Jesus weeps hearing sermons such as these.
To clear our heads after this travesty, we ran a couple errands at the local Mall and then went out for dinner, much needed drinks, and venting at “Cock & Tail”, a restaurant along the coast. The only rain we experienced the entire vacation fell during our drive to Underberg, which is located inland on the Eastern border of Lesotho and on the Southern ridge of our much loved Drankensberg Mountains. Less posh than Uvongo, but just as awesome was our accommodation at Khotso Trails Backpackers. This day just happened to be National Brai Day in South Africa! Yes, they get this day off work and school!! Soooo jealous. :-P Having had our brai the night before, we sipped on Amarula (a liqueur made from the African Marula fruit) and talked to fellow backpackers from all of the world.
Chapter 4
We woke up early with instructions to pack our saddle bags with only necessary items. From suitcases and a Toyota Corolla to saddlebags and an ornery horse named “Snip”, our vacation was taking a fun twist! A pre-booked, 2 day horse trek into the road-less mountain ranges of Lesotho was on the itinerary!
Although Snip and I did not see eye to eye on some things, I have never had to trust another creature with my life more than I did him. We, and by “we” I mean our horses, practically scaled up these mountain sides. It was amazing how close they would walk to the edge of the barely visible path! I can’t even explain how beautiful the scenery was during these two days on horseback riding in the mountains… breathtaking. We saw more wild animals, including horses! Over half of the day had passed and we hadn’t seen any evidence of settlements except for a couple herds of cattle or sheep with their shepherd boys.
After following this creek into a tight valley, our amazing guides, Andreas and his horse President, showed us ancient Bushman paintings on the side of sheer cliffs. They don’t know exactly how long they have been there, but we were told that they were drawn on hunting trips to teach the young boys of the tribe which animals to look for and how to properly kill them. This rock face happened to be an ancient school chalk board! :-P Comparing the small village we went through next with Swazi villages was very interesting. Basotho homes are made with rocks and mud instead of Swazi cement block or stick and mud structures. This could be due to the fact that they need better insulation when the snow arrives during the winter months (estimated 1-1.5m). Homesteads were all pretty close together and many had a solar panel posted on a pole outside because there was no electricity up there. Everyone wears the most popular tourist export, the Basotho wool blankets. They are duller in color, but each has a design with different meanings. Cecily, another employee of Khotso trails who accompanied us, said that her blanket with maize on it represented prosperity - if I remember correctly. A few women in the village had a dark clay-red substance on her face. When I asked Andreas later, he said that it was sunscreen, and only the women use it! It is a natural powder substance that the women then mix with a Vaseline mixture. I wonder what SPF that is!?
The second village we came upon was our stop for the night. The horses knew this too and following Kevan’s headstrong horse, Pixy, they all took off running for the hostel! That was a blast! The owners of the hostel sent a boy to purchase our beer order and we all collapsed in the sitting room. Dinner was made from the food we had dispersed amongst our saddlebags. One item that had been made locally was Basotho bread. It was denser and grainier than other breads I have tried, and was absolutely delicious. Of course I’m ridiculous for mentioning this, but once we were thoroughly exhausted and completely out-of-our-minds punchy, the two guys, our new Dutch friend Hariette, and myself took part in an epic toilet paper fight. John and Laney, the South African father – daughter duo that completed our group, no doubt thought us crazy and went to bed. Moral of the story is: all day horseback riding rids you of the little sanity you have to begin with. :-P
Our butts were a bit sore (understatement!!) the next morning, but we got back on the horses for another day full of riding. There were more amazing mountains and valleys to traverse this second day. We saw caves that housed the first people to Lesotho and took pictures of rock houses that were built under protruding rock shelves which acted as natural roofing. After our lunches of sandwiches on top of a plateau, we had to walk our horses down to a certain section. The path was so rocky and treacherous, that it wouldn’t have been fair or safe for the horses to have to navigate it with us on their backs. This slow moving episode was made up for a couple hours later when we came to a grassy flat field. Then it was time to canter! Although sore, it was fantastic to sprint across an opening with the air rushing past. I swear, there is no way to stop yourself from thinking of cowboys and the wild west!
As it originally was planned, we were going to get back from the ride and get a few hours of driving to our next destination behind us. Once we got back to the backpackers, though, all we wanted to do was rest. Thus it was decided to stay with our 6 person trekking crew for dinner, drinks, and a slew of jokes that somehow developed (Irish, blonde, crude, you name it), and then leave early the next morning for George.
Chapter 5
Early came a LOT too early. We left Underberg just shy of 3:30am. In one day we were attempting to drive across the country of South Africa. It was estimated that this was going to take about 14hours. :-/ We took turns driving, sleeping, and keeping the driver awake. When the N2 dipped South we had glimpses of the ocean. At one point we veered off the N2 and ended up in a one traffic light (they call them “robots”) town of Stutterheim. :-) There we got gas (in SA = “petrol”) and a Bar One candy bar. For the rest of the trip we cited this as our highlight. :-P For lunch we stopped at Grahamstown. This is the quintessential university town, which was such an interesting culture to step into for the first time in such a long time. Only a couple of 5 minute stops were made after that, and one happened to be at the Bloukrans Bridge… but more about that later.
I really want to share a conversation that we had on this drive and open it up to hear your thoughts and opinions. There is a New York Times article called “What is it about 20-Somethings”. Please find it, read it, and then tell me what you think. Since this article is talking about my generation, my age group, and names my current occupation, I’m super curious what other perspectives and insight I can glean from you about my current and future life decisions. :-) Thanks, looking forward to it!
Pulling into George just after the sun set made our total day trip about 14-15 hours long. We found our lovely accommodation, The French International Lodge, and then decided to go out for dinner. There were many choices along this main section of George, including an American themed restaurant called “Geronimo Spur”, but we chose a chain called “Dro’s”. A spastic waiter, amazing food, and two bottles of wine concluded our long day of driving.
George was our destination because it was the only other site for the Feast of the Tabernacles in South Africa. Thus, Tuesday morning we went in search of the church for the morning service. There we met a whole group of our own age, who referred to themselves quite fittingly as The American Crew. They and the local South Africans were an amazing group to get to know.
After the service, though, we had our sights set on a certain bridge we had passed the day before. Bloukrans Bridge is the highest bridge bungee jump, at 216km, in the world. Yup, we were just jumping at the opportunity to do it (sorry, bad pun :-P). Because of weight, lightest (and I’d like to think prettiest), goes first. My stomach turns and adrenalin starts pumping just thinking about this! It was a thrill that rivals anything else I’ve ever attempted. Sorry Cedar Point, you’ve got nothing on bungee jumping! The bridge crosses a river, very dry at this point in the season, which leads into the ocean. None of this do you realize is there, let alone take in its beauty, as you walk across a grated walk bridge out to the jumping site. Once it’s your turn and you have been strapped in at the ankles, two men help you jump out to the edge so your toes peep over the precipice. 5-4-3-2-1 JUMP!!! “Stomach meet the outside world, world meet my stomach”. Adrenalin reaches leaves in the human body that just shouldn’t be possible. :-P You get to admire the beautiful location, as the blood rushes to your head, while you hang upside down waiting for a gentleman to come down and get you. Once I was back on the bridge, I felt like I needed to run a marathon up a mountain to burn off all the energy. This, of course, did not probably help settle the nerves of Kevan and Evan, who were still waiting for their turns to take the plunge. DVDs, picture CDs, and (thanks to Kevan) t-shirts were purchased to remember and share this ridiculously amazing experience in the future.
Dinner had been prearranged by the American Crew at an Italian Restaurant. We made it from our jump a little fashionably late. As always with this group of people, conversation, food, and wine were excellent. We accompanied the crew out to the Hyatt Hotel lounge for cocktails after dinner to cap of a perfectly thrilling day!
Wednesday started off with a good run in the residential area behind our hotel. Too much wining, dining, and driving left us in need of some good physical activity. Our morning jog turned into a race to get to the church on time. I am quite proud of the fact that I beat the boys getting ready every morning. He he he. With another great church service concluded, Evan decided to join a good friend from the American Crew to go for a hike, so Kevan and I planned our own Adventure, Hoorah! This included a search for ice cream (sadly unfulfilled) and a beach (wonderfully successful)! Harold’s Bay was a quaint beach nestled into a minimally developed hill side. As always with Kevan, great conversation followed. The activity for the evening, that we had to get back to, was being hosted by the American Crew at the house they rented on the ocean. Almost everyone from the congregation was there! They had even devised a game to get everyone properly mingling. Each person was given a bible character upon arrival. Then, with a sheet of paper listing all 60 characters, one had to roam around the party asking “yes” or “no” questions to identify the individual’s character. It was a very interesting game. Whales and dolphins came to entertain the guests at one point during the evening! Watching them play just off shore was such a treat. Night came, and those of us still there sat around a bonfire chatting about everything and anything.
Thursday was the final day of the Feast, called the “Eighth Day”. There were two church services split by a very fast lunch out. Kevan and I got to sing in a small choir for the special music during the second service. Oh my, how much I miss singing in harmonies! After the second service, Kevan jumped on the piano and we sang a couple favorites in our repertoire. We had many opportunities to sing in the car, at Evan’s expense :-P, which is something you don’t realize you’ll miss about not having a car… but I DO!
There was an attempt to get me to a cheese shop, which for the benefit of my vacation budget was closed. We had some time to kill before the final brai, so we stopped at a mall to enjoy a coffee at a popular restaurant here call Mugg & Bean. Then it was off to find the potluck site. We had discussed going to Cape Town this evening, but decided to stay with the amazing people we had come to know. Thus, after more delicious food had been eaten, we went back to the American Crew house and had a card and spoons game, dance party, bonfire, and an amazing midnight dip in the ocean! What was wondrous about this swimming excursion was the presence of glow-in-the-dark plankton. If you splashed yourself with water, little glowing flecks ran down your torso! We crashed on their couches.
Early Friday morning we were back in the car for the last driving trek of the trip. Cape Town was about 4 hours away. Randomly, Evan decided to stop for lunch at a little ocean side town called Betty’s Bay. We ate at the cute Café Jack which had the most entertaining English waitress/owner. She informed us about their colony of penguins, which we then sought out. Some of the African penguins were cute, others were in the midst of shedding their furry baby coats which just made them look ridiculous. We left our little friends to continue our road trip.
At one point we became perilously low on petrol (somehow the second time this had happened). Word to the wise – there are not trucker stops frequently in South Africa like there are in America. Some smaller stations only stock diesel, so fill up often even if you don’t need it! We made it to Cape Town just fine, and drove straight to the famous Table Mountain. The cable car was the quickest way to the top, so on it we rode. The plan was to hike along the 45min path on the top of the plateau, but somehow we took a little longer route to MacClear’s Beacon. Toward this site the clouds (“tablecloth”) rolled in and we walked through what seemed like the creepy weather only found in grave yards in suspenseful movies. Instead of being scared by the ambiance, we discussed the possibilities of slaying dragons at the end of our quest. FYI – I totally refused to be the damsel in distress! Ha! We quickly retraced our steps to get us back to the cable car before it shut down for the day.
At the bottom of Table Mountain, once the dragon had been slain of course, we found our hostel. All ravished from the days epic adventures, we set out on foot to find dinner. We passed dozens of restaurants before Evan spotted a little Lebanese place on the second floor of a building. We didn’t really know what to expect, but once we had to buzz the intercom to enter the building and climb a shady set of stairs we possibly possessed a slight hesitation. We were the only patrons of this colorful restaurant with a plethora of hookahs lining the walls. The gentleman who owns the place was by far the most colorful and fantastic part of the experience. He sat down with us and explained everything that was on the menu and then proceeded to recommend a few items that were not on the menu. After he told us about the process and history of the different foods, we wanted to order one of EVERYTHING! We did just about that. The food was excellent and the experience of it all was the best. If you ever find yourself in Cape Town, visit The Cedar Tree on Main Street in Sea Point… and bring me home leftovers!!
In the whirl-wind fashion that was this vacation, our final half day in Cape Town was busy. We drove along the Western border of the peninsula toward Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope. Both are at the tip of the peninsula and within the borders of the National Park. Cape Point is the location of not one, but two lighthouses (one was built too high and became ineffective when the weather turned cloudy) and has a perfect view of the Indian Ocean and main land. We ran into some of the people from George there and had a quick chat including farewells (or so I thought). Cape of Good Hope is down by the water on the Atlantic side and is the furthest point of land southwesterly in Africa. It was so windy down there that walking among the rocks became a difficult endeavor, but we did it anyway.
Having to catch a flight to Jo’Burg tore us away from the park. This time we drove the eastern side of the peninsula. Both sides are lovely. Cleaning the car out to return to Avis Car Rental was a sad time for me. Buh bye freedom to go anywhere at any time. Buh bye belting show tunes at the top my lungs and not having my Swazi family have to hear it. Buh bye driving… sigh. In the airport we got another treat at Mugg & Bean, it’s of no consequence to you, but I got a bagel. No bagels in Swaziland! Although thoroughly warned, Kevan purchased a vuvusela which he was instructed to bring home. I tried not to pass judgment, but those things are AWFUL. :-P Our flight was on time and got us to Jo’Burg a little after 7pm. Quick good byes happened just after getting our luggage, because my ride to the hostel was there. The boys’ flight took off close to midnight. I took a shuttle back to Swaziland on Sunday and then public transport back to my site on Monday. I think Evan probably made it home just about the same time I did.
Epilogue
Heather, one of the great individuals in the American Crew at George, took me up on the offer to stay with me before leaving the region. She came the following Friday and stayed until Sunday. We roamed around my community, rested, reminisced, and had a terrific visit. A group of boys even proved us wrong by producing honey from digging in the ground. We don’t know what bug this is, but it didn’t sting anyone and produced a sweet honey like substance and yellow and orange, edible, bitter, chalk balls. She left Swaziland in store for many more travels, which will eventually lead her home.
I bought a box of Lemon Poppy seed rusks in remembrance of the K&E Adventure. They were delicious.
The End :-)
(**) I have been informed that a plethora of photos have been loaded, with internet much faster than anything found in this entire country, onto Facebook. If you have access to this site, enjoy. If not, I promise a spattering of these will be posted onto this blog as soon as the Swaziland/Switzerland(***) postal service gets Kevan’s copies to me… don’t hold your breath!
(***) Sometimes our wonderful postal workers in the United States believe that Swaziland sounds too much like an African version of Disneyland, and thus sends my packages to the more well known country of Switzerland. No joke.
Although I don't have Kevan's amazing pictures yet, here are the bungee jump photos that were on my camera or on the pictures I bought to commemorate this bit of insanity. :-P
Yikes
Three Amigos
Just Breathe!
Weeeeeeeee...
...eeeeeeeeeee!
