Courtyard Suite - Capetown - Cape Town

... yielded huge drops of water creating an extremely muddy sludge for all to navigate themselves down on. I watched the procession head on down at snails pace, comfortable and secure in the knowledge that my rider was well in control. Rather slow in this instance however. The last thing we needed was to try and retrieve a bike, a rider or even both from the mountain side.<br><br>Once we got to the foot of the mountain, the heavy clouds started clearing up making for easy ...

... Went to university; organized workers for a while; then returned to the Island as a guide. He admits that being back at the political prison was initially a nightmare. However, as he warmed up to the job, he began to find it cathartic. On the ferry back, there was an attractive girl from New York. Because I spent too much time waiting for the perfect moment to approach her, I missed my chance completely. 2 sleazy, middle-aged men took her under cross-fire and ...

... to take me to see some rock art at Warmhoek just 10 minutes drive from the town. The 10 minutes turned out to be 15 minutes in a Land Rover along a very rough rocky track, we then had to walk for 25 minutes through the bush to reach the site of the first rock paintings. The guide, David, was very knowledgeable and very proud of his bushman roots, (incidentally the term bushman is now considered derogatory, we are now supposed to call them hunter gatherers ...

... guy and passionate about protecting sharks, he didn't agree that sharks associate humans with food as they are rarely in the area for long enough, although several do return year after year. There is also some scientific research going on, they record all sightings and the data is fed back to a central database. Whilst we were on the boat he had a call from their marine biologist who had just managed to tag and measure a 4m bull shark in the Zambezi river ...

... thing, so you have to just slide down the rope. At first I was taken aback by this until I realized what I needed to do, AND this meant less physical work for me so I was quite pleased. I slid down that puppy slowly and enjoyed the fabulous view... being on top of that mountain and literally within the clouds. As I was reaching the bottom the instructor below said "That was one of the finest abseils I've ever seen! you didn't even flinch when you got to the surprise!" hee hee :) I ...

... only after bottling it on the first day) at Victoria Falls and whitewater rafting down the Zambezi - Being poled through the Okavango Delta in wooden mokoros and then having a sing off with our guides. Their singing is on our film (which we'll load up as soon as we can). We sang ...

... to overcome, and race relations is one of the most prominent. Politics here are tumultuous at the moment, and it is quite interesting to read the papers and get more intimately involved the the happenings of another country besides my own. Class and starting activities will surely make my life quite different in the coming months, but I feel very well adjusted after the first few weeks, especially with the help of the internet to keep in touch with home.

Well, folks...stories are never-ending when you live in this country! Let me start of that both Tristin and I are doing well. Working long hours...but what's new? We have not done as much "travelling and sigh-seeing" as we would like to, but try to do something every now and then when we have the same days-off. News with Tristin is that it is her birthday on the 27th for those who either forgot or who did not know. Also that her parents and brother are arriving in South Africa at ...

... and any new political movements that were happening. This was only possible because there were a few good prison guards among the bad who would sneak newspapers and other sources of information to the prisoners. One might say that the end of Apartheid began in the limestone quarries of Robben Island. But for as great as it was to be outside and do physical labor in the quarry, it was difficult. There were few breaks, it was hot ...

... a brand new tent she had to put up in the dark without the foggiest idea of what a tent-peg was, we discovered the green handbag she'd forgotten was actually a towel. She kindly presented me with a styrofoam tray of veggies she'd left in the fridge from her last visit and managed not to spill any of the superating mess that was left. She also kindly offered us a place to stay in Berlin with her and her new husky which she'd purchased in Port Elizabeth and wasn't quite sure how to ...