South Africa

South Africa has replaced Israel as my favorite country I have visited so far. I am really disappointed I only had two weeks here. I wish I had two in Cape Town. And the Garden Route. And the Sunshine Coast. And the Wild Coast. And Kruger. And all the other places I did not have a chance to visit because I only had two weeks.

Even before I leave I know I have to come back here.

The coastline stretching from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth, and really even to St. Lucia should be required for everybody in their mid-20s. Wow. I am sitting here and do not know where to begin.

I took the BazBus from Nelspruit to Swaziland, where I stayed for about 12 hours (and neglected to run the mile that I was trying to do in each country I visited), then the BazBus again to Durban. The driver was happy to accept cash, so those rides were heavily discounted, from 940ZAR to 450ZAR. Swazi is cool and I also wish I had more time there. In Durban I met a Belgium guy, Lennart, who was willing to split a rented car with me for a week and drive to Cape Town. Man, am I lucky I found him. At first I was just happy to split the cost, but it turns out I did not remember how to drive a manual car as well as I thought I did. He did 85% of the driving and I had a refresher course during the remaining 15% (I am considerably better now).

Durban is a nice enough place but there is not a ton to do there. I ran on the beach (6 miles instead of 1 to compensate for the mile missed in Swazi and because you do not even remember you are running because of the view), walked around the city (during daylight), and went to a casino (one of the things I am going to try to do on every continent). Unfortunately the casino did not have any real card games. Or craps. So I played roulette. I won on my first play and then lost every time after that, ending down 50ZAR, half of what I bought in for, or about $8. The weird Indian woman standing next to me was flirting with me (I think) as she threw around 25 and 100ZAR chips (I was playing with 5ZAR chips). She was weird. I cashed out my chips and left.

From Durban, Lennart and I got in out white VW Avis car and drove to Coffee Bay. We did not make it all the way there and ended up staying in Port Saint Johns instead. The Jungle Monkey is a cool hostel and the beach is great. From there we drove to Coffee Bay and stayed at the Coffee Shack, where I took surf lessons from a guy you was hired by the owner, a former surfing champion. I am no expert, but I now know how to surf and can even stand up. I still no control over the board, but I still have 12+ months to improve. I also went to see the blow hole and a couple of nice hikes. Gorgeous place.

In Coffee Bay we met two Americans that wanted a ride to our next destination, so the joined us in our adventure to Jeffreys Bay. About 45 minutes into the drive, we got two flat tires, both on the passenger side (left in this country). We spent the next 2-2.5 hours resolving the situation (and playing soccer with local kids that were not in school for no reason with a loaf of bread made into a spherical shape) and then we were on our way again. Jeffreys Bay is one of the best surfing destinations in the world, if not the best. I intended on renting a board for a few hours but once I saw the waves decided against it once I saw the enormity of the waves. They are called "supertubes" by South Africans. Really intimidating to a novice like me. Instead I just used somebody's rented board for a bit just to say I surfed (or tried to) in Jeffreys Bay.

Outside of surfing there is not much to do in Jeffreys Bay, so we just chilled for a couple of days. Cool place, but the main attraction (surfing) is far beyond my skill level. The hostel was awesome and cheap (70ZAR/night) and the people are cool so there was plenty of good times.

From Jeffreys Bay Lennart and I set out to drive all the way to Stollenbosch to stay with a few people I met in Durban and do some wine tasting (Stollenbosch is heart of South Africa's wine country). We took a more scenic route and decided to stop mid-way in Mossel Bay. Here, our hostel was literally a train that sits on the beach. It was a bit cramped, but a cool experience. The beach was beautiful and the water was not too cold (unlike Jeffreys Bay where it was freezing). We did not do too much exploring here and simply woke up early and drove to Stollenbosch where I did some wine tasting (Lennart, per usual, was driving and did not drink). Wine was great, but I would not know decent wine from outstanding wine (bad wine I can identify most of the time). I bought five bottles, four as gifts, and one for myself to drink in Cape Town. Apparently when you buy wine here you get a free bottle of wine, so now I have two bottles to drink in my three nights in Cape Town. I think I am game for the challenge. (Note: one bottle is gone after one night.)

Cape Town. Man, this city is awesome. You can just feel it when you approach. I walked around today and it is just cool. I have two more nights here so I will save my Cape Town for another post.

Oh, I go shark diving tomorrow. And whale watching. All before dinner