Yes friends, we are alive, back in our respective countries, all without having become world cup crime statistics! Our travels took us through virtually every major South African city, most of the World Cup stadiums, through the care of many great friends(some new, some old), up to Zambia, and finally back home, and I think we all agree that it was the trip of a lifetime. Our final week was spent in and around Cape Town, which I'll chronicle here, and then in a few days we'll have a final few words to wrap up the trip and post some photos.
Last Monday we flew back into Cape Town, and despite the fact that our 1Time flight was delayed by a few hours, Caitlin was there to graciously pick us up at the airport again. We had hired rooms at Blue Mountain Backpackers this time, across the street from Carnival Court, and considering our slight excesses of the last time we stayed there, we figured it was a good idea to stay somewhere else. Caitlin took us to dinner at Pancho's, one of the better Mexican places in town, and even though I did my best to take Adam's thumb off by slamming it in the car door, it wasn't anything a few whiskeys couldn't solve.
The next day we did a little shopping on Long Street and spent time at one of Sally's favorite tea shops before heading over to Xanthe's apartment where she very graciously cooked us a lovely chicken dinner with red wine gravy, something I'd never tried before. The next day we checked out of Blue Mountain and took the bus down to the waterfront, where prices on official World Cup merchandize were still jacked way, way up. I picked up a couple of t-shirts and then we went to the vuvuzela store. I bought a whopping 10 vuvuzelas to bring back, which barely fit in my bag, and Adam picked up another 4 or 5, which he had to carry on board with him.
That night Tim took us out to his beach cottage at the very remote and beautiful Smitswinkel Bay. It's only about an hour's drive from the center of Cape Town but it is a very secluded and tiny beach community where there's no electricity or cell phone reception. Everything you bring you must carry, including all food, drinks, and toiletries, so Adam and I saddled up our packs for the dark walk down to the cottage. Despite the remote location, a flip through the guest book showed that Tim's family had had a remarkable number of adventures there over the years since they bought the place in the mid-80s, and it's a house that's seen a lot of good nights and I'm sure has many, many, many stories. Add that to the spectacular views and the virtually private beach and you have an amazing location.
Tim didn't have to work the next day so we spent most of it messing around on the beach and playing cricket, and when he went back Adam and I took control of the Braai and made our first homemade American-style hamburgers of the trip. The next day Tim and Xanthe came back with a few friends, and we had another good night in front of the fire.
After we cleaned up and moved out in the morning(Adam in particular had a tough time getting back up the hill) we drove into Simonstown, a small beach town just down the coast from Cape Town, and watched the rugby there. Unfortunately for everyone in the pub (except Adam), the Aussies came away with the win over the Boks in Brisbane, although Quade Cooper's suspension will be a small consolation for the next match. Our ride left us in Simonstown but we continued to explore the city for a little bit before taking the Metro back into town.
On our last night, Tim, Xanthe, Caitlin, and Jared took us all out to a place called Oblivion, where we danced until almost 2 am. In the morning we took Adam to the airport, said our (not so tearful) goodbyes, and then I left about 4 hours later. Adam flew from Cape Town to JoBurg to Singapore to Sydney, where he then stayed the night at a friend's house before spending 10 hours on a train to Armidale, where he's now staying with his girlfriend Sally. I flew Cape Town to JoBurg to Dakar to Washington, DC to Atlanta, a path that took considerably less time than when I flew out.
The great trip is now over, our respective governments have allowed us and all of our African goods back into our home countries, and we now have the real world to look forward to. Paul and I are recent university graduates and he'll be hitting the job market soon while I'm heading off to law school next month. Adam is heading back to uni for two more semesters in Canberra, and I'm sure replacing the crazy nights out and the long lazy days of drinking with 40 hour work weeks and rigorous academic schedules is not going to be easy. It was all worth it in the end however, and yes, preliminary planning is in place for Brazil 2014. Let's just hope either Australia or the USA gets the World Cup in 2022, just to make the travel a little easier.
Anyway, thanks so much to those who have helped us plan, put us up, and made our trip a blast, as well as everyone who followed online. Check back in a couple of days for a final trip summary and some more photos!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Back in Cape Town
Hello friends(especially Sally!)
We arrived back in Cape Town yesterday after 5 amazing nights in Livingstone, Zambia, which will definitely go down as one of the highlights of the trip. Livingstone is an amazing city with friendly people, a great nightlife, and natural wonder all around. We first arrived last Wednesday, and had a nice little walk around the city. Our hostel, the oasis that is Fawlty Towers, served as a great spot from which to walk around the city and see a few of the sights. We had a nice braai and booked our bus to Victoria Falls for the next day, something which we were very excited about, with good reason because....
It was incredibly awesome. The falls are handling a huge amount of water right now(around 3 million litres per second), so as we flew in, we could see the spray that such a huge volume generates. Even from some parts of town, which is several kilometers away from the falls, you can see the spray and hear the sound of the falls, it's just that big of a natural wonder.
Adam has been before when the spray is not as large, which allows you to see more of the falls, but from everything he says, they are two unique yet equally awe-inspiring experiences. When it's dry, you can see the entire expanse of the falls and even walk across the Zambezi, just above them, and when it's very wet, you can walk through the mist and get soaked by the huge spray from the falls. While raincoat rentals were only $1, we turned them down in favor of walking through the spray, which turned out to be a good idea, even though we were completely soaked.
Following that we walked downriver a bit, to the area called the boiling pot, where the water from the falls rushes through the gorge and creates a whirlpool effect. From there we had a great view of the bridge, and wished really badly that we had been able to bunjee from there as well as Soweto. We hiked back up to the bridge, briefly crossing into Zimbabwe, and had an even better view from the spectacular bunjee jump that many of the visitors took advantage of.
Friday was a bit of a quiet day, but on Saturday we went on a nice cruise of the river and saw some hippos as well as a pretty amazing sunset, and Saturday was our day to do the gorge swing. We stayed out in Livingstone until around 3 am both Friday and Saturday nights, so by the time 8 am Sunday morning rolled around, it was a struggle to get out of bed. But we made our 8:30 shuttle and performed adequately on the zip line and the abseil (rappelling) but after that it was time for the gorge swing. I thought that bunjee jumping in Soweto had been scary but in actual fact the gorge swing was more frightening. The gorge, which was over 100 meters wide, had a line stretched across it with a rope that hung down in the middle. That rope was just long enough to reach the edge where we stood, and once we were attached to it, it was our job to take one big step off the edge of the cliff.
I went first and by the time I had my toes over the edge the last thing I wanted to do was step off the cliff. But once Kulu (the massive Zambia jump master) starts the countdown, there's really no turning back, and I stepped off the cliff. After a 50 meter free fall, the rope kicked in and I swung across the gorge, soon followed by Adam and Paul. Paul's jump was technically perfect, save for a tiny smidge of profanity, and we each did the swing twice. While my neck doesn't agree (even 3 days later), it was a good time had by all.
Paul and Adam did a lot of trading and bartering down at the market that afternoon but Monday saw us head back to South Africa, and we are now back in the hands of the very capable hands of Blue Mountain Backpackers and our great Cape Town friends. Zambia really is a truly amazing place, I only wish we'd been able to stay longer. And if anyone needs 100,000 Kwatcha when I get back home, I can hook you up.
In the next couple of days we'll try and fill in some of the gaps from our time in Grahamstown/Kleinmonde/East London, so keep looking out for that, and we'll be posting some pics soon as well.
We arrived back in Cape Town yesterday after 5 amazing nights in Livingstone, Zambia, which will definitely go down as one of the highlights of the trip. Livingstone is an amazing city with friendly people, a great nightlife, and natural wonder all around. We first arrived last Wednesday, and had a nice little walk around the city. Our hostel, the oasis that is Fawlty Towers, served as a great spot from which to walk around the city and see a few of the sights. We had a nice braai and booked our bus to Victoria Falls for the next day, something which we were very excited about, with good reason because....
It was incredibly awesome. The falls are handling a huge amount of water right now(around 3 million litres per second), so as we flew in, we could see the spray that such a huge volume generates. Even from some parts of town, which is several kilometers away from the falls, you can see the spray and hear the sound of the falls, it's just that big of a natural wonder.
Adam has been before when the spray is not as large, which allows you to see more of the falls, but from everything he says, they are two unique yet equally awe-inspiring experiences. When it's dry, you can see the entire expanse of the falls and even walk across the Zambezi, just above them, and when it's very wet, you can walk through the mist and get soaked by the huge spray from the falls. While raincoat rentals were only $1, we turned them down in favor of walking through the spray, which turned out to be a good idea, even though we were completely soaked.
Following that we walked downriver a bit, to the area called the boiling pot, where the water from the falls rushes through the gorge and creates a whirlpool effect. From there we had a great view of the bridge, and wished really badly that we had been able to bunjee from there as well as Soweto. We hiked back up to the bridge, briefly crossing into Zimbabwe, and had an even better view from the spectacular bunjee jump that many of the visitors took advantage of.
Friday was a bit of a quiet day, but on Saturday we went on a nice cruise of the river and saw some hippos as well as a pretty amazing sunset, and Saturday was our day to do the gorge swing. We stayed out in Livingstone until around 3 am both Friday and Saturday nights, so by the time 8 am Sunday morning rolled around, it was a struggle to get out of bed. But we made our 8:30 shuttle and performed adequately on the zip line and the abseil (rappelling) but after that it was time for the gorge swing. I thought that bunjee jumping in Soweto had been scary but in actual fact the gorge swing was more frightening. The gorge, which was over 100 meters wide, had a line stretched across it with a rope that hung down in the middle. That rope was just long enough to reach the edge where we stood, and once we were attached to it, it was our job to take one big step off the edge of the cliff.
I went first and by the time I had my toes over the edge the last thing I wanted to do was step off the cliff. But once Kulu (the massive Zambia jump master) starts the countdown, there's really no turning back, and I stepped off the cliff. After a 50 meter free fall, the rope kicked in and I swung across the gorge, soon followed by Adam and Paul. Paul's jump was technically perfect, save for a tiny smidge of profanity, and we each did the swing twice. While my neck doesn't agree (even 3 days later), it was a good time had by all.
Paul and Adam did a lot of trading and bartering down at the market that afternoon but Monday saw us head back to South Africa, and we are now back in the hands of the very capable hands of Blue Mountain Backpackers and our great Cape Town friends. Zambia really is a truly amazing place, I only wish we'd been able to stay longer. And if anyone needs 100,000 Kwatcha when I get back home, I can hook you up.
In the next couple of days we'll try and fill in some of the gaps from our time in Grahamstown/Kleinmonde/East London, so keep looking out for that, and we'll be posting some pics soon as well.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
In Northern Rhodesia!
Firstly, to all those pepole that read this regularly (family, loved ones, pets, admirers, steve from Denver, etc.) we do apologise about the lateness of our ability to keep this amazing publication up to date.
So, what have we done?
After leaving Grahamstown, we continued our amazing journey through the Eastern Cape with Andy, to the sunny seaside resort town of Kleinemonde. Bringing with us many bottles of wine, beer, cider and then finally ten bottle rockets (left over from when America renounced its goodness.) we bravely watched soccer at the local bar then decided it was time to hit the beach.....at 11pm.......slightly tipsy.....and with fireworks. With wine and rockets in co, we decided to let off the final ten rockets, which may (and probably should) have caused grievous bodily harm but in the end produced a splendid evening.
After that debacle, we left for East London (Buffalo city), where we were graciously put up by Andy's parents. Alain & Debbie were wonderful hosts & made us feel at home. It might have been after the jager-bombs at 8PM that we knew the night was going well. We were driven around the hotspots of East London, but the highlight had to be East London Zoo. Andy's parents had pulled a few strings & the three of us were allowed to "cuddle" the baby lions. To understand what really happened, replace the word "cuddle" with "scratched" & the word "Baby" with "angry". Adam's jeans now bear the evidence of the attack & we also have several photos of William being bit on the rear end by a lion. At this point, we decided to leave Paul alone in the cage with all three lions. Needless to say, comedy ensued.
From that point, we got a flight from East London to Jo-burg, stayed there overnight & caught the early flight to Livingstone in Zambia. We've checked into our "kiff" hostel & will update you all again very soon.
Cheers
So, what have we done?
After leaving Grahamstown, we continued our amazing journey through the Eastern Cape with Andy, to the sunny seaside resort town of Kleinemonde. Bringing with us many bottles of wine, beer, cider and then finally ten bottle rockets (left over from when America renounced its goodness.) we bravely watched soccer at the local bar then decided it was time to hit the beach.....at 11pm.......slightly tipsy.....and with fireworks. With wine and rockets in co, we decided to let off the final ten rockets, which may (and probably should) have caused grievous bodily harm but in the end produced a splendid evening.
After that debacle, we left for East London (Buffalo city), where we were graciously put up by Andy's parents. Alain & Debbie were wonderful hosts & made us feel at home. It might have been after the jager-bombs at 8PM that we knew the night was going well. We were driven around the hotspots of East London, but the highlight had to be East London Zoo. Andy's parents had pulled a few strings & the three of us were allowed to "cuddle" the baby lions. To understand what really happened, replace the word "cuddle" with "scratched" & the word "Baby" with "angry". Adam's jeans now bear the evidence of the attack & we also have several photos of William being bit on the rear end by a lion. At this point, we decided to leave Paul alone in the cage with all three lions. Needless to say, comedy ensued.
From that point, we got a flight from East London to Jo-burg, stayed there overnight & caught the early flight to Livingstone in Zambia. We've checked into our "kiff" hostel & will update you all again very soon.
Cheers
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Yes, we are alive!
Hello friends. Yes we are still alive and made it out of Grahamstown in one piece, despite our best efforts. We are staying with friends in East London right now but it looks like our next stop will be Zambia. Longer blog update to come soon. For the moment, we'll leave you with this amazing photo of us about to do something extremely irresponsible (at the request of our hosts, of course).
Friday, July 2, 2010
A few other things...
So we just wanted to make a quick post to update everyone on a few other things that have been going on. We just hit 500 visits on the blog, which is amazing, thanks to everyone who's been checking in on us. USA still leading the way with 267 but Australia isn't far behind with 193.
One of the major things that we forgot to post about was our trip up Table Mountain in Cape Town. While there is a cable car available, we actually tried to climb the thing, and made it up to the top in about 2 and a half hours. At first it was fine but as the mist kicked in and the path got steeper and we started to feel the drinks from the previous night more and more it became pretty difficult. By the time we got to the top it was pretty cloudy but we were still provided with some pretty spectacular views, of which, at some point, we will have many, many photos.
We've also had multiple celebrity sightings on this trip. As I was descending into delerium on the JoBurg airport as we neared hour 50 of my journey to Africa, a very confident looking man walked through the airport with an entorage. Turns out he knew how to skateboard a little bit because it was Tony Hawk. Some of the girls I was travelling with ran over and got photos but I was too jaded from my trip to really care.
The next one was alot cooler. In Durban we hung out at this Cuban bar in the casino to watch games. As Bafana Bafana was going down hard to Uruguay we decided to go get some food from the food court, but just before we left, I decided to go back to the bar for a second to use the bathroom. And just in front of the big screen was Canada's biggest little basketball player, Steve Nash, doing some kind of a soccer dance with a waiter for the enthralled audience. In my drunken bravado I quickly ran up to him, shrugged my shoulders, and performed my amazing basketball shot motion just in front of him. As the very entertained crowd erupted in laughter, I ran to the bathroom in fear. When I returned, they made me go up and talk to him, and he was actually pretty nice about it. When I asked him if Kobe had gotten it done when the Lakers beat the Celtics in game 6, he replied "No, the Lakers got it done." No love lost I guess.....
I'll end this with some photos. Here are some photos:
Paul chilling out at the end of a big night:
With Just Nuisance, our favorite saffa dog
One of the major things that we forgot to post about was our trip up Table Mountain in Cape Town. While there is a cable car available, we actually tried to climb the thing, and made it up to the top in about 2 and a half hours. At first it was fine but as the mist kicked in and the path got steeper and we started to feel the drinks from the previous night more and more it became pretty difficult. By the time we got to the top it was pretty cloudy but we were still provided with some pretty spectacular views, of which, at some point, we will have many, many photos.
We've also had multiple celebrity sightings on this trip. As I was descending into delerium on the JoBurg airport as we neared hour 50 of my journey to Africa, a very confident looking man walked through the airport with an entorage. Turns out he knew how to skateboard a little bit because it was Tony Hawk. Some of the girls I was travelling with ran over and got photos but I was too jaded from my trip to really care.
The next one was alot cooler. In Durban we hung out at this Cuban bar in the casino to watch games. As Bafana Bafana was going down hard to Uruguay we decided to go get some food from the food court, but just before we left, I decided to go back to the bar for a second to use the bathroom. And just in front of the big screen was Canada's biggest little basketball player, Steve Nash, doing some kind of a soccer dance with a waiter for the enthralled audience. In my drunken bravado I quickly ran up to him, shrugged my shoulders, and performed my amazing basketball shot motion just in front of him. As the very entertained crowd erupted in laughter, I ran to the bathroom in fear. When I returned, they made me go up and talk to him, and he was actually pretty nice about it. When I asked him if Kobe had gotten it done when the Lakers beat the Celtics in game 6, he replied "No, the Lakers got it done." No love lost I guess.....
I'll end this with some photos. Here are some photos:
Paul chilling out at the end of a big night:
Me chillin with my boy Zakumi
Hanging out with some upstanding characters in Durban
The fabled Dolphin Cup, which Adam has now lost, a Dolphin Cup effort in itself.
Paul goin all out.
Somehow this appears to be the only photo of me and Drew together during the whole day.
Paul and Adam with new friends at the game in Cape Town
Reunited after 2 years apart
Adam showing off his match tickets, which are now sadly all gone.
Just before going up Table Mountain
Paul being very excited about reaching the top 
With Just Nuisance, our favorite saffa dog
Greatest photo ever taken.
Paul and Caitlin
Keeping it classy with the inagural Dolphin Cup effort.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Back in G Town....
So I probably won't be the first to say it, but we got run. We got what we desrerved from a really quick Ghana team and didn't finish our chances. Should be the end of good old Bob. The less said about the game the better. And for all you Scotch fans out there, don't try to drink an entire bottle of scotch in one sitting. It will end you.
Our trip up to Rustenburg on Saturday was pretty amazing, as we got a cab from the Garden Flat to Brown Sugars, had a few beers, and then piled into the bus with 10 Americans and 3 Australians. It was there that we were reunited with Steve, an American from Denver, and his friend Paul, from Atlanta. They were both Iowa boys originally and were the biggest Hawkeye fans I've ever met.
Steve was the biggest badass that ever lived, and let Adam know how tough NFL players are in emphatic fashion a few nights earlier. We ran from the pool table while he was in the bathroom in order to avoid a confrontation, and had only briefly seen him since. But there he was as we piled onto the bus, corn rows now removed (yes he was white) and drinking the last of a bottle of the Famous Grouse. It was 1 pm. We made a quick stop at the liquor store and then we were off to the game. There were 13 passengers on the bus and everyone was drinking. The game wasn't for another 7.5 hours.
We quickly learned why Steve was such a badass, because he's the only man I've ever known who quite geniunely claimed to have dried every drug ever invented, watched a 2.5 million dollar drug deal go down in Vegas under the watchful care of many, many, many AK47s, and possessed the ability to tailor his own suits while he flies an airplane, all while speaking multiple languaged. He had not, however, as it turns out, tried a Cheeseball (that's cocaine and cheese).
Everyone was pretty toasted by the time we got to the game and we all went off to watch it, which was not fun. I did have an American flag, however, which I bought for 80 Rand, and intend to use on Sunday while we set off fireworks. The game happened and ended, with Adam and Paul cheering for Ghana. On the way back to the bus Adam and Paul clashed with Paul and Steve, almost getting into our first fight on the continent. Steve and Paul eventually passed out in each other's arms and we were safe on the way back from Rustenburg. Even though the game ended at 11:00, we didn't make it back to the backpackers until nearly 4 am. I left my phone on the bus and couldn't get it back before we left town, so yes, I am now on phone number 4. We then took the dodgiest cab ride ever. As we screeched away from the curb Paul commented that we'd gotten Colin McRae as our taxi driver. I commented back that I hoped it wouldn't end like his last helicopter ride.
There are many stoplights and stop signs in JoBurg. It's a big city, that's only natural. And our cab ride took about 30 minutes. But we didn't stop for a single one. Our cabbie not only took us on a death defying trip through the city, he went the wrong way, got lost, and had to stop for directions. Yet he still had the bravado to drive through this great African city like a madman. When we got home it was nearly 5 and we immediatley crashed, tired from the long day of travel, drinking, and losing.
Sunday was much more chilled, and we just went and got some meat and had a Braai at the Garden Flat, which was quite nice. Our gracious host Azwi, treated us like personal guests, and we basically took over the house for a few days. On Monday we picked up another rental car, this time a much mightier Chevrolet, the Avon. This time it was an automatic, so we positively cruised down the motorway and then promptly got lost trying to find the Apartheid Museum in what we thought was Soweto. From there were aborted the mission and went back to the house for another Braai in lieu of getting killed.
We packed a lot into Tuesday, again getting lost in Soweto trying to find the same museum, but eventually stumbling across the Hector Pietersen Museum, which essentially served as a memorial and remembrance to the people who died during the Sharpeville Massacre in 1976. This served as a flashpoint for many of the black people in South Africa living under the Apartheid Regime and helped pave the way for freedom, which came 18 years later.
Our next stop was the Orlando Cooling Towers, two cooling towers that served as part of a power plant in the middle of Soweto. The plant is no longer running and now serves as a tourist site with a bar and a bungee jumping activities. Adam, quite frankly, pussied out of the bunjee jump and chose the swing, but Paul and I were up first for the bungee. We were matched up with a Mexican TV crew that wanted to film our jumps as part of a series on the world cup. Paul's Spanish allowed him to get pretty friendly with the crew, which later came back to bite him.
We rode up the elevator and I was to go first. I walked out on the bridge and the three jump masters took us through copious safety checks before walking me to the edge. They told me that once you got to the edge, they immediately start the count down making it harder for people to back out. Chin up, hands out, 5,4,3,2,1, and away you go. I really started getting scared on the elevator on the way up, and avoided looking down at the ground until I was falling face first directly towards it. The rush was a lot more intense than I expected it to be, as you'll be able to tell by what I yelled out on the video that we captured.
Paul was up next and while the same safety checks were applied, after he walked to the edge, the Mexicans had to get their shot right. So, with his toes hanging over the edge, he waited, and waited, and waited, and so did we on the ground, not really sure what was going on. Finally, with the words "Muchacho Loco" delivered into the camera, Paul was cleared for takeoff as well, and chose the swan dive off the edge as opposed to my falling action. All in all it was pretty good fun, although Adam's choice to take the giant swing instead put the tiniest damper on the activity. Maybe he'll man up and do the bungee next time we have a chance.
That evening we headed off to the Carnivore, a unique and meaty restaurant just outside of JoBurg. I'd been about 12 years ago to the other location, in Nairobi, and it was definitely worth the trip. Zebra, Kudu, Crocodile, and Impala were all on the menu, along with many others, and we worked our way through a continuous stream of meat coming towards our faces for over an hour. After a while we slowed down and quit, but the crocodile, kudu, and lamb were all big hits.
We woke up at 5 the next morning and made the long, long, long trip to Grahamstown, much of it through what may be our favorite province, the Eastern Cape. Grahamstown was pretty much as we remembered it, not much has changed. We immediately hit up the Rat & Parrot and the Old Gaol for a few pints before heading back to Victoria's mom's house, who graciously put us up in pretty nice digs with almost no warning. A night out in Grahamstown did us a lot of good, and we went to the totally new revamped and relocated Pirates, which doesn't just do pizza anymore. It's now a giant club and we would have spent many, many hours there had it been open while we were at Rhodes in 2008.
While the walk back up the hill was a bit of a struggle at 1 am, we made it back safely, and we're now about to go enjoy the National Arts Festival, which is happening right now in Grahamstown. Never have we seen it this busy here, and there's going to be all manner of things to do, which should make good filling for the next blog post. Tonight we stay at the Old Gaol and will definitely be having a 4th of July blowout to coincide with the end of festival. If you're American and in Grahamstown, get a hold of us. Or just walk outside after dark and look up. Cause we're gonna have fireworks. A lot of fireworks.
Our trip up to Rustenburg on Saturday was pretty amazing, as we got a cab from the Garden Flat to Brown Sugars, had a few beers, and then piled into the bus with 10 Americans and 3 Australians. It was there that we were reunited with Steve, an American from Denver, and his friend Paul, from Atlanta. They were both Iowa boys originally and were the biggest Hawkeye fans I've ever met.
Steve was the biggest badass that ever lived, and let Adam know how tough NFL players are in emphatic fashion a few nights earlier. We ran from the pool table while he was in the bathroom in order to avoid a confrontation, and had only briefly seen him since. But there he was as we piled onto the bus, corn rows now removed (yes he was white) and drinking the last of a bottle of the Famous Grouse. It was 1 pm. We made a quick stop at the liquor store and then we were off to the game. There were 13 passengers on the bus and everyone was drinking. The game wasn't for another 7.5 hours.
We quickly learned why Steve was such a badass, because he's the only man I've ever known who quite geniunely claimed to have dried every drug ever invented, watched a 2.5 million dollar drug deal go down in Vegas under the watchful care of many, many, many AK47s, and possessed the ability to tailor his own suits while he flies an airplane, all while speaking multiple languaged. He had not, however, as it turns out, tried a Cheeseball (that's cocaine and cheese).
Everyone was pretty toasted by the time we got to the game and we all went off to watch it, which was not fun. I did have an American flag, however, which I bought for 80 Rand, and intend to use on Sunday while we set off fireworks. The game happened and ended, with Adam and Paul cheering for Ghana. On the way back to the bus Adam and Paul clashed with Paul and Steve, almost getting into our first fight on the continent. Steve and Paul eventually passed out in each other's arms and we were safe on the way back from Rustenburg. Even though the game ended at 11:00, we didn't make it back to the backpackers until nearly 4 am. I left my phone on the bus and couldn't get it back before we left town, so yes, I am now on phone number 4. We then took the dodgiest cab ride ever. As we screeched away from the curb Paul commented that we'd gotten Colin McRae as our taxi driver. I commented back that I hoped it wouldn't end like his last helicopter ride.
There are many stoplights and stop signs in JoBurg. It's a big city, that's only natural. And our cab ride took about 30 minutes. But we didn't stop for a single one. Our cabbie not only took us on a death defying trip through the city, he went the wrong way, got lost, and had to stop for directions. Yet he still had the bravado to drive through this great African city like a madman. When we got home it was nearly 5 and we immediatley crashed, tired from the long day of travel, drinking, and losing.
Sunday was much more chilled, and we just went and got some meat and had a Braai at the Garden Flat, which was quite nice. Our gracious host Azwi, treated us like personal guests, and we basically took over the house for a few days. On Monday we picked up another rental car, this time a much mightier Chevrolet, the Avon. This time it was an automatic, so we positively cruised down the motorway and then promptly got lost trying to find the Apartheid Museum in what we thought was Soweto. From there were aborted the mission and went back to the house for another Braai in lieu of getting killed.
We packed a lot into Tuesday, again getting lost in Soweto trying to find the same museum, but eventually stumbling across the Hector Pietersen Museum, which essentially served as a memorial and remembrance to the people who died during the Sharpeville Massacre in 1976. This served as a flashpoint for many of the black people in South Africa living under the Apartheid Regime and helped pave the way for freedom, which came 18 years later.
Our next stop was the Orlando Cooling Towers, two cooling towers that served as part of a power plant in the middle of Soweto. The plant is no longer running and now serves as a tourist site with a bar and a bungee jumping activities. Adam, quite frankly, pussied out of the bunjee jump and chose the swing, but Paul and I were up first for the bungee. We were matched up with a Mexican TV crew that wanted to film our jumps as part of a series on the world cup. Paul's Spanish allowed him to get pretty friendly with the crew, which later came back to bite him.
We rode up the elevator and I was to go first. I walked out on the bridge and the three jump masters took us through copious safety checks before walking me to the edge. They told me that once you got to the edge, they immediately start the count down making it harder for people to back out. Chin up, hands out, 5,4,3,2,1, and away you go. I really started getting scared on the elevator on the way up, and avoided looking down at the ground until I was falling face first directly towards it. The rush was a lot more intense than I expected it to be, as you'll be able to tell by what I yelled out on the video that we captured.
Paul was up next and while the same safety checks were applied, after he walked to the edge, the Mexicans had to get their shot right. So, with his toes hanging over the edge, he waited, and waited, and waited, and so did we on the ground, not really sure what was going on. Finally, with the words "Muchacho Loco" delivered into the camera, Paul was cleared for takeoff as well, and chose the swan dive off the edge as opposed to my falling action. All in all it was pretty good fun, although Adam's choice to take the giant swing instead put the tiniest damper on the activity. Maybe he'll man up and do the bungee next time we have a chance.
That evening we headed off to the Carnivore, a unique and meaty restaurant just outside of JoBurg. I'd been about 12 years ago to the other location, in Nairobi, and it was definitely worth the trip. Zebra, Kudu, Crocodile, and Impala were all on the menu, along with many others, and we worked our way through a continuous stream of meat coming towards our faces for over an hour. After a while we slowed down and quit, but the crocodile, kudu, and lamb were all big hits.
We woke up at 5 the next morning and made the long, long, long trip to Grahamstown, much of it through what may be our favorite province, the Eastern Cape. Grahamstown was pretty much as we remembered it, not much has changed. We immediately hit up the Rat & Parrot and the Old Gaol for a few pints before heading back to Victoria's mom's house, who graciously put us up in pretty nice digs with almost no warning. A night out in Grahamstown did us a lot of good, and we went to the totally new revamped and relocated Pirates, which doesn't just do pizza anymore. It's now a giant club and we would have spent many, many hours there had it been open while we were at Rhodes in 2008.
While the walk back up the hill was a bit of a struggle at 1 am, we made it back safely, and we're now about to go enjoy the National Arts Festival, which is happening right now in Grahamstown. Never have we seen it this busy here, and there's going to be all manner of things to do, which should make good filling for the next blog post. Tonight we stay at the Old Gaol and will definitely be having a 4th of July blowout to coincide with the end of festival. If you're American and in Grahamstown, get a hold of us. Or just walk outside after dark and look up. Cause we're gonna have fireworks. A lot of fireworks.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Before we get to anything else, gotta say GO USA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We pulled it out at the last second, won the group, finished ahead of England and avoided a tie with the Germans. But most importantly, we will be at the USA-Ghana game on Saturday. Pretty amazing stuff, its gonna be mental on Saturday, I fully expect a ton of Americans to be there, gonna be a great atmosphere.
So we traveled up from Durban to Bloemfontein a few days ago, and that was an adventure in and of itself, considering that I was the primary driver and I hadn't driven a stick shift for four years and had never driven on the left side of the road. I thought Adam and Paul were going to have heart attacks as we pulled out of the rental car place and then got lost, but we eventually righted ourselves and our mighty chariot, the Chevrolet Spark. Traffic on the highways in South Africa is a bit hectic anyway but going uphill while watching the spark slowly lose speed despite the fact that the pedal was on the floor was frightening. The trip took longer than expected, and we ended up making quite a sketchy stop in Senekal, where Adam and Paul were eyed up by some suspicious characters while attempting to use a payphone. We legged it out of Senekal and ended up at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein.
We stayed in J.B.M. Herzog house at the university and were there with around 10 other students who were staying in that residence during the mid-year break. They treated us to a great time and cooked us a Braai, and despite the best efforts of a hand grenade, we survived the night. The next day we drove down to the Free State Stadium for Paraguay-Slovakia, which was actually quite a treat. We parked within 5 blocks of the stadium and walked to the stadium for the game. Paraguay look a really good side and we expect them to go far in this tournament. They're probably the best team we've seen in live action so far, totally solid at the back with a mean streak going forward, they took the game 2-0.
We had a bit of a quiet night on Sunday, with a visit to Spur on the agenda (they don't do Tequila Thursday anywhere outside of Grahamstown). The next day was our drive up to JoBurg, which was pretty nice...until we got to JoBurg. African traffic is a bit dodgy by any other standards, but when you get into urban Joburg, everything goes out the window. It's almost as if everyone is late for some extremely important event and at the same time has no regard for traffic laws. Luckily our hired car made it to the drop off point without a scratch, and we made it to Brown Sugar backpackers, which is a pretty legit place. It's entirely self-contained, even sporting its own ATM, something I've never seen before, and they serve amazing dinners.
Yesterday we watched the USA game, which was an amazing affair, and everyone went mental when we pulled it out at the last second. From there Adam and I made the trek to Soccer City, and by the time we got back we had taken 1 shuttle, 1 taxi, and 2 bus rides. Going to Soccer City is a lot like going to Rustenburg: you have to plan the whole day around it. Australia and Serbia were playing at the same time so we needed a Ghana win and an Australian win to guarantee a USA-Australia matchup, a game we knew we would have tickets for. Ghana pressed for a goal but once Oezil scored for Germany and the Ghanaians knew the score of the Serbia game they set up camp in front of goal and were happy to take the 1-0 loss. The stadium itself was quite impressive, and a near-capacity crowd of 83,000 ensured a good atmosphere. Ghana is now the only African team left in the tournament, so I fully expect a lot of avid supporters of Ghana and the USA in Rustenburg.
Today we're leaving Brown Sugars to go to the garden flat and we'll probably do some tourist type stuff tomorrow, which may include Bunjee jumping. So we'll check back in after the USA-Ghana game. Until then, go USA!!!
So we traveled up from Durban to Bloemfontein a few days ago, and that was an adventure in and of itself, considering that I was the primary driver and I hadn't driven a stick shift for four years and had never driven on the left side of the road. I thought Adam and Paul were going to have heart attacks as we pulled out of the rental car place and then got lost, but we eventually righted ourselves and our mighty chariot, the Chevrolet Spark. Traffic on the highways in South Africa is a bit hectic anyway but going uphill while watching the spark slowly lose speed despite the fact that the pedal was on the floor was frightening. The trip took longer than expected, and we ended up making quite a sketchy stop in Senekal, where Adam and Paul were eyed up by some suspicious characters while attempting to use a payphone. We legged it out of Senekal and ended up at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein.
We stayed in J.B.M. Herzog house at the university and were there with around 10 other students who were staying in that residence during the mid-year break. They treated us to a great time and cooked us a Braai, and despite the best efforts of a hand grenade, we survived the night. The next day we drove down to the Free State Stadium for Paraguay-Slovakia, which was actually quite a treat. We parked within 5 blocks of the stadium and walked to the stadium for the game. Paraguay look a really good side and we expect them to go far in this tournament. They're probably the best team we've seen in live action so far, totally solid at the back with a mean streak going forward, they took the game 2-0.
We had a bit of a quiet night on Sunday, with a visit to Spur on the agenda (they don't do Tequila Thursday anywhere outside of Grahamstown). The next day was our drive up to JoBurg, which was pretty nice...until we got to JoBurg. African traffic is a bit dodgy by any other standards, but when you get into urban Joburg, everything goes out the window. It's almost as if everyone is late for some extremely important event and at the same time has no regard for traffic laws. Luckily our hired car made it to the drop off point without a scratch, and we made it to Brown Sugar backpackers, which is a pretty legit place. It's entirely self-contained, even sporting its own ATM, something I've never seen before, and they serve amazing dinners.
Yesterday we watched the USA game, which was an amazing affair, and everyone went mental when we pulled it out at the last second. From there Adam and I made the trek to Soccer City, and by the time we got back we had taken 1 shuttle, 1 taxi, and 2 bus rides. Going to Soccer City is a lot like going to Rustenburg: you have to plan the whole day around it. Australia and Serbia were playing at the same time so we needed a Ghana win and an Australian win to guarantee a USA-Australia matchup, a game we knew we would have tickets for. Ghana pressed for a goal but once Oezil scored for Germany and the Ghanaians knew the score of the Serbia game they set up camp in front of goal and were happy to take the 1-0 loss. The stadium itself was quite impressive, and a near-capacity crowd of 83,000 ensured a good atmosphere. Ghana is now the only African team left in the tournament, so I fully expect a lot of avid supporters of Ghana and the USA in Rustenburg.
Today we're leaving Brown Sugars to go to the garden flat and we'll probably do some tourist type stuff tomorrow, which may include Bunjee jumping. So we'll check back in after the USA-Ghana game. Until then, go USA!!!
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