Lush Living

I had almost forgotten how much I love wine. Almost. But the last two days brought it all back, in a wave of more or less nonstop celebration of the magical grape concoction; a fervent reminder of how much of a wino I really am. And what fun it is.

We headed out of Cape Town on the local train, an hour-long R12 ($1.50) journey into the heart of South Africa's wine industry: Stellenbosch... or Stelly, as the cool kids call it (right, Kevvie?). In and around the rolling green hills of Stelly are dozens upon dozens of wineries, surrounded on almost all sides by huge mountains. The scenery blows Napa right out of the water... In addition to the everyday splendor these wineries provide, it is also the beginning of fall in South Africa, so the vines are all beginning to turn intense shades of red, gold, green and brown.

Seeing how we had minimal time to spend in Stelly, were without a car, and all the wineries are very spread out, we opted for something we usually avoid like the plague: an organized tour. Now, I've said it before and I'm saying it again... I'm not a fan of the group tours. But this one was awesome. It was a full day of adventure, getting shuttled around three different areas of wine country with a bunch of other fantastically lush folks. We visited 4 gorgeous wineries, saw a lot of the countryside, had a yummy lunch (with plenty of wine), tasted dozens of wines
and even some farm fresh cheeses, and learned about the winemaking process. By the end of the day, our quiet group of 12 (some of us were, umm, suffering quite a bit from the previous night's escapades) had turned into a raucous group of wine-loving drunkards, and we began opening & drinking bottles in the van in between wineries. It was a very full day, and there couldn't have been a better way to do it.

Cape Town Rock(s)

So, Cape Town, in a nutshell, is my new favorite city. It's got a San Francisco feel, with a bit of New Orleans and New York thrown in, but with a very distinct flavor of its own. It's cosmopolitan, metropolitan, funky, artsy, and drop dead gorgeous. Picture this: an enormous mountain jutting out of the top of a peninsula on the tip of Africa. On one side are stunning beaches, huge cliffs, the Atlantic Ocean; on another side, a bay filled with quaint little villages and warm Atlantic waters; and down below the face of the mountain, the bustling city of Cape Town, complete with a waterfront, a fun strip of bars & restaurants that feels like Haight Ashbury, and phenomenal scenery all around. Amazing!

Our divine backpacker lodge, Ashanti (www.ashanti.co.za), is a hop & a skip away from Table Mountain, so one of the first things we did after properly exploring the local bars and supermarkets (tofu!) was hike up to the top. After a grueling vertical hike up a series of boulder stairs in the sweltering heat of the late morning, we managed to make it up top on one of the clearest, most perfect days yet. On top of Table Mountain is all sorts of fun: indigenous flora and fauna not found anywhere else in the world, little trails to take you all over the top, incredible dropoff cliffs, and oh yes, absolutely out-of-this world vistas. The following week or so, inspired by views from the top, we explored many of the surrounding areas.

After getting all over Cape Town proper, we headed out of town for a quick
overnighter to Simon's Town, a big navy port but otherwise cute little fishing village. But it wasn't the fresh fish, fishy smell, or quaintness I was after: it was the penguins. Right next to Simon's Town is home to a huge colony of African penguins. Yes, the same kind that live in Antarctica, but these ones never see snow... instead, they spend their days frolicking in the warm waters of pristine beaches covered with huge granite boulders. And they are damn cute! The trip was worth it just to watch these adorable little dudes waddle about, brey at each other (they used to be called Jackass Penguins), jump over logs, guard and build their nests, and be otherwise totally cuddly and darling -- except for their sharp beaks and, of course, the poo. Everywhere.

About 5 minutes after returning to Simon's Town we headed out yet again, this time to the rock climber's paradise of the Cederbergs. While in Coffee Bay, we met a
Canadian guy named Josh who said he was planning on going climbing in Cape Town, and invited us along. What I didn't realize is that Josh, in all of his 20 years, has become an exceptional climber. He has climbed in competitions with the best of 'em, and is even sponsored by Mad Rock. I went up a few boulders, but mostly spent the next 2 days in complete awe and admiration for this guy. He'd look at a rock that I had deemed more or less humanly impossible to climb, rocks that were seemingly devoid of anywhere to shove your fingers & toes, and he'd just effortlessly race up to the top. The mountains themselves were also fantastic to watch, particularly at sunset when they literally become a burnt cedar color. But in truth, I think the highlight of the trip for me was this little farm stand we stopped at on the way: a brightly colored little shack owned by a South African man who entertained us with stories of getting highjacked in a cab in New York City, all the while shoving perfectly delicious oranges & cantaloupes into our hands. He was probably the most friendly South African I've met yet, and that is a bold statement...

So now I'm planning the next move. I successfully changed my flight, and am now leaving South Africa for Thailand six weeks from now. Tomorrow we're headed to Stellenbosch, SA's wine country... ain't nothin' like a few days of lushing it up right in the vineyards to, uhh, nourish the soul and clear the mind. In any case, the clock is ticking for me to make a decision about which path to head down next... stay tuned...

Wild Wild Coast (Gone Wild p.II)

As of yesterday, and thanks to the generosity of our new Mainer buddy Greg, our 2+ week extravaganza on the Wild Coast concluded. For now we're chilling in Jeffrey's Bay, one of the world's great surf capitals, and though it's a bit odd to be in such a developed area, we're enjoying the abundance of fresh produce, fresh waves, and bright sunshine. But the last couple weeks were some of the best ever, so here's a rundown of how our wild fortnight in the Transkei went down:


We headed from Durban to Port St John's expecting to spend just a couple stop-over
nights there. Instead, we spent over a week. From the first instant I arrived, I was hooked. People were friendly, chilled out, and after nothing but a smile; the landscape was beautiful and dramatic, a river mouth (originating in Lesotho) emptying into the Indian Ocean, surrounded by tropical jungle and steep cliffs; and most importantly, it felt like Africa again. We fell instantly in love with the backpacker's, Amapondo : perched
on a lush hillside steps away from Second Beach (the best swimming beach), with a big vegetable & herb garden fresh for the (free) picking, good campsites with a great view, and fantastic characters all around. In the first few days, we got covered in mud at the sulfur springs, hiked to Third Beach, boogie boarded endlessly, made friends with many a local, and visited the community center started by the Amapondo Children's Project. The rest of the week was decidedly more relaxed, as we took it nice & easy and enjoyed the multiple meanings of PSJ's catch phrase: More Fire!!

And oh yes... the drumming! There are drums all over the Wild Coast, and people playing them all day. Our first night at Amapondo we went up to a local shebeen (illegal bar) for sundowners, and as local dredlocked drum-maker Bali pulled his homemade creations out of his 1974 bright blue Peugeot station wagon, a crew of local kids banged out some rather phenomenal rhythms. Bali teaches a drum class to these kids twice a week at Amapondo's community center, and I went and observed one such session. Aside from providing tutoring, the Project tries to give these kids a creative outlet as well. I heart Amapondo!

Somehow, we made it out of Port St. John's. Our next stop was Bulungula Lodge, a place I'd been hearing endless good reviews about from every other traveler. My expectations were high, but were easy surpassed. This place is pretty amazing. Bulungula was started by a South African dude named Dave, who after studying social activism for a while decided to put it into play. The Xhosa people own 40% of the lodge in a community trust, and the lodge is completley part of their village. They make up the whole staff, help make decisions concerning all aspects of the lodge, and dozens of them hang out in and around the lodge all day. Part of Dave's plan is to empower the Xhosa, who have been more or less trampled on by South Africa for centuries, and teach them various ways to rise up and out of the extreme poverty most of them are trapped in. I heart Bulungula!

My first glimpse of it, along the rocky dirt "road" carrying us along the home stretch of a 3-hour drive, was from the top of a perch looking down at the green hills, blue waters, wide river, turquoise Xhosa huts, and the sparkling little peninsula on which it sits. It is a completely rural location, and that is part of it's overwhelming charm. Guest accomodation is in traditional Xhosa mud huts, each one decorated a little differently. We, of course, were camping, and scored the best location yet: a little nook under some mangroves, on the sand, right next to the beach, waking up every morning to ocean waves and sunrises. In addition to being a Fair Trade in Tourism member (for reals: businesses get awarded by SA's Fair Trade in Tourism board... how cool is that), Bulungula is also extremely eco-friendly. Powered by solar & wind, they have compost toils, and paraffin-powered rocket showers, both of which are decorated by psychedelic murals made of paint & tile. We spent our days there taking walks, jumping off of sand dunes, testing out the waters, eating at the local restaurant -- a mud hut run by 2 women serving up killer curry or dessert crepes, doing yoga on the bluffs, laughing with the locals, eating fantastic meals (fresh crayfish!), and collecting absolutely mindblowing seashells & decorating the campsite with them. Bulungula is the kind of place that forces you to slow down, breathe deep, forget about the rest of the world and just enjoy life's most simple beauties.

Our final days in the Transkei were spent in Coffee Bay, a beautiful location with a lovely hostel and some killer drumming ... but after dwelling in the magic of Amapondo & Bulungula, we were disappointed. The vibe was off, the strangely prominent begging culture was shoved in our faces, and a whole lot of locals were only concerned with what might come out of my pocket instead of my heart (were we back in East Africa?). Plus, I've been anxious to get to Cape Town, since next on the agenda is going to the nearest STA Travel office and changing my flight so I can stay here in this fantastic country for another 3 months!...

Into the Great Wide Open

South Africa is rocking my world. I've been blissfully out of touch for the last three weeks, mostly having too much fun to think about updating the blog. But here's a taste...

It was a bit of shock to fly from into Jo'burg from Tanzania. I remember our ride from the airport to the hostel, feeling completely wowed by riding in a new, clean vehicle on a huge multi-lane (paved!) highway with plentiful signs directing the flow of traffic. What were these crazy inventions? South Africa, though still very much a developing country, is leaps and bounds ahead of east Africa, something that has been both pleasant and disappointing in some respects.

Anyway!... We stayed in Jo'burg for a few days, longer than we had planned on. Joe got pretty ill with a fever & flu-like symptoms on our second night which, when coming from a malarial area, means you've got to high tail it a hospital, which is what we did. The malaria scare turned out to be just a nasty travelers ailment (all too familiar to most of us), but we chilled out in the 'burg for a couple days to make sure all was well. Finally, we decided on heading south.

After a brief stop at a delightful hostel in Pietermaritzburg where we camped among enormous cannabis plants and grubbed on homemade thai curry, we headed for the mountains. The Drakensberg ("Dragon") Mtns run along the border between South Africa and Lesotho, a collection of sandstone & basalt peaks that form a gnarly sharp skyline for endless kilometers. We decided to go up the famous Sani Pass, a death-defying series of insane switchbacks going straight up into Lesotho. However, I saw practically none of the pass on the way up, because I was crammed into the very back row of a minibus taxi (that's South African for matatu), with my bag on my lap & shoved in my face, with 17 other passengers who kept yelling at each other to open the windows. It was pure hell, and easily the longest hour of my life. But Lesotho proved a warm, beautiful welcome... and we spent the next 4 days in pure bliss.

Lestho has been called a "hiker's paradise" and it really is. You can hike for hours, days if you want to, without seeing other hikers or fences to interrupt your path. You would likely see some of the locals, shepherding their goats, cows & sheep, and if you paid close attention, you could probably see their small stone huts blending into the mountainsides. One of my great Lesotho moments was coming around a ridge curve and finding a very small village, where a shepherd was gleefully singing at the top of his lungs, filling the valley with this beautiful joyous song while we made our way through. We were also greeted by another Lestoho shephard on a peak, at the top of a pile of rocks. Dressed in a heavy grey woolen blanket and not much else, he ran straight up the rocks we'd spent at least 5 minutes working on and just stood by us for a few minutes, watching us munch on snacks and devise our next move. The Basotho people don't speak much English, but any lack of verbal communication is made up for by enormous smiles and enthusiastic greetings, which we received from many people. On our last day, sitting by the Lesotho border post hitchhiking our way down the pass, we struck up a conversation with James, a local who was incredibly fluent in English. We discussed many matters, including his recent wedding and New York City, and he explained to us Lesotho's motto: peace, friendship, prosperity. Indeed.

Pole Pole, it's Africa

I couldn't have been more ready to leave Kenya. Bright and early the Monday
following our climb, we hopped on a bus headed all the way from Nairobi, Kenya to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. It also happened to be February 5, my 25th birthday. I spent the whole damn thing on a neverending 16-hour ride, the last few hours of which were in rather frightening darkness; but hey, at least I can always say it was the only birthday I spent in TWO countries on the same day. Not bad.

Still desperate for some serious chill time, the next morning we kept on going, and hightailed it to the Dar airport to catch an early afternoon flight to the island of Zanzibar. (For those of you who've asked: yes, Zanzibar does in fact exist, and at times is equally as exotic as its name.) We decided to head straight for the east coast beaches, but alas endured a tad more stress before finally making it anywhere near a beach... we hopped on a dalla-dalla, at first extremely amused by the stops around town to deliver bundles of sticks which were piled about 6 feet high on the roof to various neighborhoods. Next thing we knew, we were racing another dalla-dalla (competition, I guess), and our driver purposely crashed into the other vehicle, knocking off its mirror and hitting a biker on the side of the road. Suddenly it was a full-on street fight, with people coming out of nowhere to yell, push, bang on the vehicles, and generally get all riled up (about ... what?). Anyway, we narrowly got outta that mess and hopped on another bus, crammed in with all our bags and about 20 too many people. I can't tell you how nice the super fine sand, bright sunshine, hot breezes, and warm turquoise water felt to our weary souls... until Joe got brutally stung by a jellyfish 30 seconds after wading into the water. And there went our east coast Indian Ocean swimming. It is, after all, Africa; nothing's easy.

After a few days of taking it very, very easy, we headed back to Stone Town for the remainder of our Zanzibari adventure. Our luck changed for the extreme better when we found an affordable hostel that came with a nice breezy balcony, our own bathroom, and AIR CONDITIONING! I'm not one for the luxuries, but good God I needed this one. And Stone Town is a really fantastic place. We also had the extreme good fortune of timing our visit perfectly with a completely free Swahili music festival right in town! For 4 days, we enjoyed a huge sampling of African music, from the most traditional to the most modern fusions, from taarab to hip hop, reggae to Rwandan, from the sublime to the ridiculous. It was fabulous.

When not dancing to great free music for the last few days, we could also be found eating lots of Italian gelato, sleeping peacefully among our air conditioning, coming up with creative ways to cover up my body just enough to both not insult the Muslims and survive the intense tropical humidity, and enjoying the delicious and shockingly cheap seafood feast laid out by the fishermen each evening in a local park. And also, getting ready & excited for tomorrow's journey to a new part of this crazy continent: South Africa!

Can't Stop the Hustle

My new favorite quote for Africa. We saw it scrawled across a bright orange matatu in Kenya (old school Nissan multi-passenger vans that whip around the potholed roads and are the main form of public transport), and nothing could be more accurate. You really can't stop the hustle. Hustlers and touts come out of the woodwork here, seeking any and every possible way to take mzungu (that's us white folk travelers) money. My first serious encounter which the sketchiness, aside from the daily flood of dudes trying endlessly to sell crap you don't need (cashews, anyone?), was our Mt Kenya climb.

We were excited about scaling Mt Kenya for months leading up to this whole trip, and Joe spoke with a lot of people before finally settling on our tour organizer. We found two other cool people equally stoked on the climb, an American (living in Japan) and a Canadian, and got it together. After an 8-hour drive in circles around Kenya, we finally arrived at the mountain to find that our group would now include 6 more Czechs and their 10 porters, making our group size come out to a staggering... 25! Something we had never been told, nor would have ever agreed to.

Unfortunately this was only the beginning. The next few days of our trip involved endless amendments to our itinerary, and arguments with our guide who claimed to both have no money, and have no idea what was going on. We sadly began to realize that our trip consisted of more negotiating than hiking.

BUT...! The hiking was fantastic. We went too fast, all the way up and down in about 48 hours, but we did it. Our summit ascent began at 2am on our second full day after no sleep and hardly any food. I made it up to 15,700 feet, 200 meters short of the summit of Point Lenana, but altitude sickness took hold of my belly & my mind, and I couldn't keep pushing upward. It's still the highest I've ever been, and I'm proud of being able to make it that far... and the best part was, by skipping the socked-in summit, we caught the most spectacular sunrise I've ever seen! A glowing flourescent red ascending over the mountains, valleys, and clouds....incredible.

In the end, our trip got cut a day short and we all felt screwed from all sides by everyone. But we did it. Our tour operator came through with apologies, transportation off the mountain, and a speedy refund for our missed day. But we got hustled. Can't stop it.

Gone Safari'in

It's been a busy, crazy, hectic, lovely, fascinating, and fast-paced last 2 weeks here in Kenya. Africa is full of the extremes, and runs along the polar opposites: beautiful/disgusting, exciting/frightening, electrifying/disappointing, fun/aggravating.... too many to name. There are so many stereotypes that go along with this entire continent, and so many of them have proved to be wrong. I will say that it has been a trying experience so far, but overall worth the effort.

My time in Kenya started with a 10-day safari all over the country with my family, and 8 other folks from Southern California. We went from Nairobi up north to the base of Mt Kenya and Samburu National Park, down to Sweetwaters National Preserve, over to Lake Nakuru (full of flamingos... and tourists) and Lake Naivasha (boat ride among the frighteningly large hippos), and finished off with a few days in the Masai Mara. It was a very luxurious, very full, and very fantastic time. Hard to pick favorite moments since every day was so full of awesomeness, but some highlights were: the sunrise hot air balloon safari in the Mara, yummy vegetarian buffets every day, a family of cheetahs lounging in the shade of our 4WD vehicle, being woken up to
coffee on the front porch & a view of giraffes strolling by, amazing views of snow-capped Mt Kenya, watching chimpanzees roll around & do headstands at Jane Goodall's Chimp Sanctuary, and dancing with the Masai. And so so so much more. I have to admit I was skeptical of the whole group travel thing, but thanks to a fantastic guide, a really chilled out & fun group of people, a killer itinerary, and the abundance of enthusiasm all around, it was a great time.