And we are back in Gabs. We are tired, we are hungry, we smell funny and are at the embassy frantically trying to work out some details before the fiscal year ends in .... basically 45 minutes.
YIKES!
Monday, September 29, 2008
Friday, September 26, 2008
In the last 48 hours we have...
Driven the southern coast of Africa in the beginning of the flower blooming season.
Seen Ostridges and two types of monkeys on the side of the road.
Seen whales up close.
Seen penguins up close.
Ate burritos at a Cuban themed restaurant with a huge picture of Castro looking down on us.
Got into session at the South African Parliament just in time to see the presidential election and the pseudo congratulatory speeches by the opposition parties. Again, that's we witnessed the election of the new South African president. Zuma watched the proceedings directly across from us. I waited in line in the women's bathroom with members of Parliament. Bathrooms... the great equalizer.
Walked around the southern most point of Africa / Cape Point, the Cape of Good Hope and Table Mountain.
Toured the heck out of some shanty-town-looking townships and felt safer there then we did the entire time in Johannesburg or Durban.
Spoken with anyone and everyone who would talk to us, trying to make sense of what we've seen.
And then tonight.... Dave Chapell was at the mall food court where we were eating dinner. Like 10 feet from us. He was just hanging around and struck up a conversation with an older Muslim guy. He would make a good FAO.
Tomorrow we begin the drive back to Gabs. I took notes and wrote blog entries I'll put in once we get back. What a trip this has been!
Seen Ostridges and two types of monkeys on the side of the road.
Seen whales up close.
Seen penguins up close.
Ate burritos at a Cuban themed restaurant with a huge picture of Castro looking down on us.
Got into session at the South African Parliament just in time to see the presidential election and the pseudo congratulatory speeches by the opposition parties. Again, that's we witnessed the election of the new South African president. Zuma watched the proceedings directly across from us. I waited in line in the women's bathroom with members of Parliament. Bathrooms... the great equalizer.
Walked around the southern most point of Africa / Cape Point, the Cape of Good Hope and Table Mountain.
Toured the heck out of some shanty-town-looking townships and felt safer there then we did the entire time in Johannesburg or Durban.
Spoken with anyone and everyone who would talk to us, trying to make sense of what we've seen.
And then tonight.... Dave Chapell was at the mall food court where we were eating dinner. Like 10 feet from us. He was just hanging around and struck up a conversation with an older Muslim guy. He would make a good FAO.
Tomorrow we begin the drive back to Gabs. I took notes and wrote blog entries I'll put in once we get back. What a trip this has been!
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Go Cheetahs!
Hey Everyone,
Quick note from a News Cafe in Bloemfontein, SA. We made it up the Sani Pass (o...m...g) and the pics you see on the net only resemble the real thing in that they are on the other side of the same mountain and look doable. The real thing is insane y'all! The videos I took are going to be pretty funny in that you can hear me talking less and yet at a higher pitch with each successive vid. By the end I'm just laughing. Two things: First, Lance is a wonderful 4x4 driver, the Army taught him well. Second, our car is awesome!!!!! City roads and 3rd gear it doesn't like but drive it up a mountain and its happy.
So quickly before I hand the phone off to Lance, tonight we are staying in a JRR Tolkien (sp?) themed B&B. This was his hometown way back. We are staying in the Samwise's room for those who know the books. A big improvement from the place we stayed in last night in Lesotho - thin walls and no hot water. I'm getting pretty good at taking a "one pot shower" using water heated in the room tea kettles though so it was ok.
The other thing is we are watching a local rugby match on the cafe's tv between the local Cheetahs and Pretoria Blue Bulls. The game is taking place about 200 meters from us so we are hearing crowd noise in stereo! It's pretty amazing how we plan things out but the coolest experiences are usually one's that just fall into our laps.
OK, gotta let Lance use the computer. All the best to everyone.
Quick note from a News Cafe in Bloemfontein, SA. We made it up the Sani Pass (o...m...g) and the pics you see on the net only resemble the real thing in that they are on the other side of the same mountain and look doable. The real thing is insane y'all! The videos I took are going to be pretty funny in that you can hear me talking less and yet at a higher pitch with each successive vid. By the end I'm just laughing. Two things: First, Lance is a wonderful 4x4 driver, the Army taught him well. Second, our car is awesome!!!!! City roads and 3rd gear it doesn't like but drive it up a mountain and its happy.
So quickly before I hand the phone off to Lance, tonight we are staying in a JRR Tolkien (sp?) themed B&B. This was his hometown way back. We are staying in the Samwise's room for those who know the books. A big improvement from the place we stayed in last night in Lesotho - thin walls and no hot water. I'm getting pretty good at taking a "one pot shower" using water heated in the room tea kettles though so it was ok.
The other thing is we are watching a local rugby match on the cafe's tv between the local Cheetahs and Pretoria Blue Bulls. The game is taking place about 200 meters from us so we are hearing crowd noise in stereo! It's pretty amazing how we plan things out but the coolest experiences are usually one's that just fall into our laps.
OK, gotta let Lance use the computer. All the best to everyone.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
"Where we're going we don't need roads."
Hey Everyone,
We are in Durban tonight (crazy city, gorgeous suburbs). Tomorrow we see what the 4x4 can do and take the Sani Pass into Lesotho.
Lance is fine. I am fine. We are taking lots of pictures and enjoying the 8:1 dollar to rand. Wow the dinner we had tonight!
Gotta run. 7am departure time tomorrow morning.
: )
Kristin
We are in Durban tonight (crazy city, gorgeous suburbs). Tomorrow we see what the 4x4 can do and take the Sani Pass into Lesotho.
Lance is fine. I am fine. We are taking lots of pictures and enjoying the 8:1 dollar to rand. Wow the dinner we had tonight!
Gotta run. 7am departure time tomorrow morning.
: )
Kristin
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Scene from the road
We counted almost 20 guys in this truck. These folks are really committed to carpooling. For the record, this truck was going "bat outta heck" fast just like everyone else. At least most of the guys are wearing helmets.
Lance and Kristin represent American and don't bring up comics once!
Tuesday morning and after another quick walk around Sun City (as none of my night photos turned out very nice - must read the camera manual) and we were off to the South African economic capital of Pretoria. This is a very large city with traffic that would make a Dallas driver say, "Dang." Thank goodness for the Garmen gps unit. It, like the ice maker and dish washing machine, might have saved the marriage.
Our first stop was the obligatory/educational/depressing as hell Apartheid Museum. Which just happens to be across the street from an amusement park and you go in at the same gate. How weird is that and do you suppose people ever go to the wrong place on accident? "Hey this doesn't look like a farris wheel to me..."
What can I say about the museum? I can only speak for myself but was very moved by what a scary place Johannesburg and Pretoria must have been, for everyone involved frankly, in the 80s and 90s. America, we didn't have a clue. At least high school Lance and Kristin didn't have a clue. The country today is a miracle. There are still very significant issues of course. I won't get into the specifics because this ain't that kinda blog. Nothing more controversial than advocating machine sewn quilt bindings for this place. (I've just alienated half the quilt readers with that one.... come back!... I'll be blogging about a quilt show next!) Suffice to say that I am hopeful about the future of South Africa and look forward to learning more.
Nuff about that. Heavy. Heavy. Heavy.
So that night we stayed with a wonderful couple: Greg and Reagan (Hi Guys!) their three cool kids and two dogs. No we didn't steal either of their dogs and yes, we were tempted. Lance and I originally met them on our safari weekend. Much to our surprise they invited us to stay in their guest room and much to our delight they fed us! America, what we have been calling a BBQ all these years is called a "Brai" over hear in Sub-Sahara and it is all good. We asked them a million questions and tried to present ourselves as good representations of "American Adults" (will our parents please stop laughing now). The next moring it was breakfast and travel hints and we were on our way again.
Our first stop was the obligatory/educational/depressing as hell Apartheid Museum. Which just happens to be across the street from an amusement park and you go in at the same gate. How weird is that and do you suppose people ever go to the wrong place on accident? "Hey this doesn't look like a farris wheel to me..."
What can I say about the museum? I can only speak for myself but was very moved by what a scary place Johannesburg and Pretoria must have been, for everyone involved frankly, in the 80s and 90s. America, we didn't have a clue. At least high school Lance and Kristin didn't have a clue. The country today is a miracle. There are still very significant issues of course. I won't get into the specifics because this ain't that kinda blog. Nothing more controversial than advocating machine sewn quilt bindings for this place. (I've just alienated half the quilt readers with that one.... come back!... I'll be blogging about a quilt show next!) Suffice to say that I am hopeful about the future of South Africa and look forward to learning more.
Nuff about that. Heavy. Heavy. Heavy.
So that night we stayed with a wonderful couple: Greg and Reagan (Hi Guys!) their three cool kids and two dogs. No we didn't steal either of their dogs and yes, we were tempted. Lance and I originally met them on our safari weekend. Much to our surprise they invited us to stay in their guest room and much to our delight they fed us! America, what we have been calling a BBQ all these years is called a "Brai" over hear in Sub-Sahara and it is all good. We asked them a million questions and tried to present ourselves as good representations of "American Adults" (will our parents please stop laughing now). The next moring it was breakfast and travel hints and we were on our way again.
"Man, that's an ugly fountain."
Our first stop was an overnight stay in the Sun City resort area. Described in rather disparaging terms in our Lonely Planet guide as a cross between Las Vegas and Disneyland but gaudier we expected plenty of mock-worthy, over the top ridiculousness.
Actually it's kinda nice. We stayed in a nice hotel, enjoyed a romantic walk exploring the parks and other hotels that night and enjoyed a pleasant breakfast in the hotel restaurant the next morning.
Yes, there are giant elephants lining the walk to the main hotel
and sure, the restaurant had an inexplicable Mayan ruins theme. Did I forget to mention the giant elephants, leopards etc carved into the outside of one of the hotels which, oh yeah, also kinda looks like the side of a mountain?
I know I didn't mention the life sized recreation of the giant wooden gates from the original King Kong movie. And then there was the colosseum, the moat and the wave pool.
OK, maybe it is a little cheesy.
The fact that Lance and I enjoyed it either means 1) we have no taste or 2) we have been in places far cheesier than Sun City (Atlantic City... I'm looking in your general direction). It's probably a combination of the two.
Feast your eyes on the glory and the wonder which is Sun City, South Africa. A warning to any children in the audience: we saw and were obliged as the good students of the world to take a picture of The World's Ugliest Fountain. Don't say I didn't warn you
Actually it's kinda nice. We stayed in a nice hotel, enjoyed a romantic walk exploring the parks and other hotels that night and enjoyed a pleasant breakfast in the hotel restaurant the next morning.
Yes, there are giant elephants lining the walk to the main hotel
and sure, the restaurant had an inexplicable Mayan ruins theme. Did I forget to mention the giant elephants, leopards etc carved into the outside of one of the hotels which, oh yeah, also kinda looks like the side of a mountain?
I know I didn't mention the life sized recreation of the giant wooden gates from the original King Kong movie. And then there was the colosseum, the moat and the wave pool.
OK, maybe it is a little cheesy.
The fact that Lance and I enjoyed it either means 1) we have no taste or 2) we have been in places far cheesier than Sun City (Atlantic City... I'm looking in your general direction). It's probably a combination of the two.
Feast your eyes on the glory and the wonder which is Sun City, South Africa. A warning to any children in the audience: we saw and were obliged as the good students of the world to take a picture of The World's Ugliest Fountain. Don't say I didn't warn you
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