TravelStream™ news feed for member basa1126 on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/basa1126 en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:35:49 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1201445520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1201445520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1201445520/tpod.html Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:35:49 -0500 The adventure...

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Langebaan, South Africa

Back to School...to prove to my Father I'm not a Fool! I don't know if we have any Billy Madison fans in the crowd, but we went back to school... and the party just came to a crashing halt... at such a blinding speed my mind was left in New Years.

Some things have remained the same since Sarah and I started school: I still get up at 6:30 when the sun comes over the mountains and into my bedroom window... now I just have to stay awake, the kids are still monsters hiding behind cute smiles, and they tend to attack us with a starvation for attention that runs much deeper than food.... Other than that we really have been having lots of fun and trying to enjoy ourselves though we've been jostled around a little bit by the time crunch that we are under...

The stress of the situation looms over us like dark clouds on the horizon... it has nothing to do with "not wanting to come home" (though who would want to leave a simple paradise to return to bills, 9-5s, bosses, stress>>) but the ever looming return is a bit stressful... there were presents to be bought, last minute sights to be seen, wine to be drank, wine to be smuggled, and hugs to be handed out!

School did start with a bit of a blitzkrieg back into the reality that I talked about earlier. Close to the first week of school, Mr. Kearns, one of the 6th grade teachers, lost his mother-in-law...So to do a favor, I stepped in and taught 6th grade for about 6 days. Now this has a lot of underlying issues that seemed to be smashed together in a violent collision of prejudice, finger pointing, and blame... but that would be a massive digression, so I digress:

I have learned many things while traveling... the first being that looking into someone's creation; at all its intricacies, beauty and imperfections is quite an honor. You can see the choices made by those who created this thing or in our case lifestyle: how they built the foundation, how they grew, how life after a while takes a toll on everything... the stresses, and strains... Africa is one of the most amazing places to observe...to watch the way people interact... the intricacies of the dialogue, the references to new and old South Africa, and which one of the speaker believes was better.

The only problem that we have as travelers is that we are always watching from the seaside; looking inward at the land to see what the new people are doing, and the scary part is that eventually when you stand on the beach too long the tide comes and washes you away. This is when you feel lost and homesick, when you are really confused as to whom are your friends and who are not. But, hopefully you get thrown back on to the beach, and you try to watch again. Each time building a stronger foundation so that eventually when the tide comes in you can weather the storm.

Lately Sarah and I have been weathering the storm. We took about 10 rounds of jabs... now we figured out how to put are guards up... actually we have started jabbing back. By no means have I discovered the keys to salvation for Africa... well maybe if some of them asked WWJD... but Sarah and I have had 4 months of exposure to areas and issues that are not very soft. With the added benefit of living and working in polar worlds many people's true colors have come out in different ways. The hidden prejudices or what seem to us to be obscure ways of thinking have taught us a lot about the people we associate with. Personally, like most sensitive subjects, we have come to the true conclusion that there are always two sides to every story... somewhere in the middle is the truth... and most of the time everyone should be carrying some of the blame.

The main arguments that we find ourselves in basically surrounds the "difference between people" and the fact that here everyone seems to think difference stems from some sort of color: be it blue or green or some of the many shades of brown that cross over all of humanity (Really light brown to very dark brown). There is a lot of finger pointing over who should be the one to blame... who's fault it is that people were not educated in the past, economically enslaved to the cast in life, or that now they have no role models, that most of their teachers are 'failing' them, and the same people who fought for the right to end oppression, are now the ones responsible for oppressing the masses, running corrupt governments, and failing to achieve everything that great people once fought for.

At the end of the day we can see who we agree with and who we don't. Sarah and I have the chance to look past the hate and maybe we do not have a better perspective (by any means... our little 4 month stint here has taught us a lot and I doubt that in years and after much studying that I would be able to form a better perspective...), but ours just seems to be a bit more objective.

So we have done what everyone has told a us not to do... we talked about government, poverty, oppression, and racism with a South African... and I came to realize that for every word exchanged I enjoyed the country more and more... It seems that amidst chaos and conflict of opinion, you can really understand people better and appreciate the life.

The end (of the digression).


So I should say most of this started after I was teaching for couple of days (I mentioned it a couple paragraphs ago... its okay, just scroll back). Sarah and I opened our eyes more to the methods of teaching here at Nederburg, and we found it odd that we did more lesson planning than the rest of the staff some time!!

Soon enough a routine settled in as I taught 6th grade and Sarah discovered a new girl that she is planning to smuggle away in her luggage. I have tried to tell her that you can't check a 7 year old but I give her credit for trying. The girls name is Britney... and like so many others, she has glued herself to Sarah's leg and has yet to let go...the effort has its perks: Britney normally gets our left overs, Sarah carries her around after school, she can count to ten in English and Afrikaans, and if we are playing on the computers and reading in the Library...Britney is playing on the computers and reading in the library from Sarah's lap!! This did become a problem when Britney didn't come home one day and her mom had to send her older sister to school to pry Britney off Sarah's leg. She has become a permanent member of our after school club!! This I must say, though, is not doing so well.

Paarl is an oven! About 4 degrees from hell, the afternoon sun normally scorches from above at around 40 degrees Celsius (102 F) which has plagued our after-school kick-ball club... the pavement is too hot for the barefoot children to even stand on and 15 min water-breaks are more than necessary; needless to say I am normally sweating my butt off running around with the kids for an hour, meanwhile this activity is perpetuating the fight against my mortal enemy: The Farmers Tan if only one could still look cool with his or her sleeves rolled up over the shoulders!!

We try to find times during the day to beat the heat... so that normally means hiding in the Library or working on the computers... but in the end the oven always wins and we all just bake away waiting for the sun to set!

So that is school and roughly what life has been like since January 16th... however I do have some stories from our personally adventures around SA

The weekend of the 18th-21st Lizelle took off work and we headed out for a good old fashioned road trip up the west coast! Now at this time our particular version of what a South African coast is like had been shaped by about a dozen or so different trips to beaches of Sun, Sand, and always a roaring breeze! So, Friday we started to pack as we waited for Lizelle and her "friend" Lourens (the wine maker) to come pick us up... I happened to be down stairs when Sarah motioned me to come up post haste! So I casually strolled up stairs thinking nothing was very wrong and I opened the door into a furry of fanatic yells with a filial of arms: this is Sarah in max freak out mode. The only thing she kept saying is WE ARE ILLEGAL

What happened here was that we needed to return to the home affairs office one month after our application was placed and before the prior visa expired... that day was Friday... the office closed at 4, the realization that we totally and completely forgot was about 5...Sarah was sure we were going to be deported.

One big bear hug later from me and some calming words from our German friends, we decided that a little white lie could help us out on Monday when the office opened again... until then we were off to the West Coast

And we took off... Fugitives on the run... your regular old Bonnie and Clyde or Billy the Kid seeing that we just came from Argentina!

We set out to Paternoster... this little Dutch fishing town tucked in the a tiny bay lost in time, where little white house and bright colored boats lined the shores... the only sounds where the ocean... the only people were fisherman who left the house at 4am to head out for the first catch! Our home base was at Lizelle's Great-Uncle, if there is a term, Francois... Imagine the man that hunted Moby Dick... Captain Ahab, the Tall, weathered man, two different color eyes, wind swept white hair and a mangy beard, thick skin tanned by scars and labor rather than the sun, a half a glass of wine next to him with the bottle in reach, and a pipe in his hand. Do you have the picture in you head... okay now imagine he has a fisherman vest on and a pair of crocs with some cargo shorts... this is the man we spent weekend with... the perfect sailor from the year 2008.

We spent the first night in Paternoster on the beach with a large group of people braai-ing and drinking wine by moon light... only this beach was a campsite turned hostel and had the only cash bar for about 13kms. It was a perfect night, the only problem was the weather... see the west coast is all the Atlantic ocean whereas the southern coast and into Cape Town relies on a bit of a warm breeze fed by the warm currents for the Indian Ocean... well No warm currents meant no warm air... meant Sarah and I wore Lizelle's jeans, hoodies, and anything else we could find to keep us warm...it was like 52... and after 102, it felt like freezing~!

The next morning we took a day trip out to Longenbaan, it was definitely not as cold during the day time but the wind was sandblasting my legs as Lorenz schooled me in a game that I think we call Bocce Ball...and they call Boulle! The wind made for a difficult day, but the scenery was perfect... I ate Oysters for the first time, and the wind turned out to be perfect for the Kite surfers all 179 of them... yes kite surfers... the guys that attach themselves to parachutes while 79km/h winds pick them up off the ground and push them across the water at close to 65 mph with a surfboard attached to their feet... somehow 179 of them all left form the same beach... only 2 people got tangled... and they headed off for a 17k race out through the bay... very cool too watch, however I came to the realization that any sport where I have to strap myself to a parachute and stand on a beach while I learn to not get carried away by the wind (and this process takes months) is way too time consuming... definitely cool... but too time consuming.

This just so happened to be the same time that the twins came home; first Arno who had been home earlier in November and then Hein who had not been home for a year... Wonder how that felt? The boys came home from London for some prospective job interviews (strongly supported by a mother who was hoping they would come back home) and for the simple fact that it was their birthday!! It was nice having the guys around... I had two lifting partners and Sarah and I had some extra company for a couple of weeks. We spent their birthday at a local German restaurant that served proper German Beers... Liter size only... so after a round we headed back home and out to the Water Gat. I have mentioned this place in past Blogs... the two stepping farmer club... techno music with waltz steps... typical farm boy place... check the 2nd blog. Anyways for all of those of you who remember, we decided to make this trip to the club a little more interesting than the last seeing that it was a birthday night and all! I took it upon myself to play the fool for everyone else's amusement. Basically under the context that we were about to enter the cultural center of homophobia for the Paarl Winelands area, I thought it was ultra fitting that I should go to the club in a Fish Nets meet gold sequence ensemble with the hope of keeping a straight face through out the night...and possibly starting an unnecessary fight for the twins birthday! Beside some awkward stares, everyone seemed to take it okay, and in fact I was not part of the Great Boora War that took place later on that evening. Some semi-pro Rugby player who tested his manliness at the bar all night long with brandy now felt he needed to demonstrate his manliness on the smallest pudgy kid in the club. It was one, two, and down as the pudgy kid punked this mammoth guy who didn't even know what happened before he hit the floor and everyone and their friend tried to get a sucker punch in. I don't think I have ever seen someone smile as much as our David did while he sat and watched Goliath get thrown out of the bar, bleeding from his head, and reminding everyone that he will kill them... "And their ma... and their pa... BANG BANG"!! It must be terrible to see an entire club full of people laughing at you while you make idol threats... Cheers big guy, I hope you felt manly when you woke up in the morning!!

This was a long day... by the time we made it home it was 3 in the morning... exactly 24hours hours since Sarah and I woke up.

Ok for those who didn't realize... I'm pulling terntino on all of you... I started with the beginning and now I'm working backwards and forwards at the same time so that by the end hopefully you will know everything we did, but you'll have to watch the movie again to get the order.

So 24 hours before the great Boora war I was preparing myself for battle, though I don't know which one was worse? A 3am alarm clock ring reaches people on different level than the 5am or 6am. When I hear an alarm at 3am I am normally sent in to shock set on by an intense feeling of one of 3 things: FIRE, ROBBERY, or DAMN IT~!!! I have to go run and any run that necessitates a 3am wake up is not a short run. So Sarah and I were off on the hour and a half drive out to Fish Hoek at 4am, in the dark of NIGHT out to the coast on about 4 hours of sleep!! I was competing in the Red Hill 36.2 Km run about (22 miles). It was a beautiful 5 am start as the sun came up over the clouds... Sarah caught some amazing pictures. She really is a trooper about the running thing: I wake her up early, drive her out to the middle of nowhere, keep her around after the race to see if I win the lucky draw, and then drive her home. She is my cheerleader and most of all my spiritual running partner- cause while I am running 22 miles, she is right there sleeping in the car for a couple hours while I am gone on a 3:09 run

The race was great... I have a bit of running coach, who goes by the name of Mr. Marathon. See what happens is that I run in the same shirt every time... (the lucky BA shirt)... well the same 1000 people that run every weekend and surprisingly enough you just get recognized... well one of the these said runners is Mr. Marathon who just so happened to be the coarse record holder for the race that we were running...he gave me some pointers and lets just say he's fast, but thanks to the tips I had a great finish.

Later that day we were watching a fight at the club... all in all perfect day!!

The Last little bit of our interesting month was what I would like to call our quick renewal of faith...

Let's start with the lapse in faith... not necessarily a religious faith, it was more the faith in the work that we were doing. The week with the 6th graders did not help create the feeling that either Sarah or I were accomplishing anything. In fact, I pretty much believe that 50 children vs. Me is not a classroom environment at all, yes that is 50 children in one classroom... most Universities have better odds than that and they are not dealing with language barrier or irresponsible and rude 11 or 12 years. I have talked about the challenges that we have teaching here in fact the problem starts with the hello... commanding the same level of respect from the children that call you "Dan" rather than Mr. Stanton... or see you as a buddy and a free day in the class room, rather than the lesson planner looking to achieve some sort of outcome! Again I fell into a rut...stressing myself out over the children, letting them get the better of me...

However, promptly after Mr. Kearn's return Sarah and I were given the opportunity to hang out with some of the exceptional kids outside of the classroom. The primary schools around here have a program called "The Prefects" which is a child that has demonstrated an ability (I'd say exceptional ability... but then there wouldn't be enough kids for the program, so just the ability) to be a role model and do well in their school work. The kids are chosen after 6th grade however overall input is given to all of the teachers.

This special little group gets to go on "life skills"/ self-esteem building 4 day retreat to help instill a lot of hope, belief, unity, and maybe by the end they see something inside themselves that the people around them never took the time to even notice.

We played camp games... team building egg races... pool relays... toss in some good old fashioned camp food and we would have thought we were back in the U.S.

The camp ended with the typical end-of-the-retreat concert filled with songs... skits and some personal embarrassment for the kids. We ended with a nice walk into town for some ice cream... something none of these kids have ever done... the pictures say thousands of words and the bonding we got to do will hopefully last a little while.


Today its movie night... we are sweltering in the heat- tomorrow we are going shark diving...


Ps. We were never deported- After a frantic review of our story, Sarah and I boldly walked into the Office of Home Affairs willing to purger ourselves in front of a customs official...the official never asked what happened... he stamped out passports and we walked out after being officially illegal for 24 hours... sorry Mrs. L (Nancy...Mom), I had to tell you story.


Chau and peace for now!!!
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Kruger National Park, South Africa

So we left you off at Christmas... and what a merry Christmas it was for everyone, but honestly for us it wasn't so merry. Sure we had the beach and the waves, endless sunshine and picnic lunches, wild Safaris and jet-setting weekends, New Years bar-b-ques and midnight beach party fireworks.... But it was always missing something:

You guys!!!

This really was hard on us, a Christmas alone... we know most of you by now are suffering from Seasonal Depression Disorder...for those of you who don't know seasonal depression disorder: is that mild depression you may be feeling these days caused by the onset of winter and the ever increasing darkness and cold weather. Well we have placed ourselves in our own self induced seasonal depression in your honor. Sarah and I pray for a climate change, the long days of sun have caused us to be tired from all possibilities the day brings us. We have also suffered from too much good weather. Day after day of blue skies and hot weather has further progressed our lethargic attitude often forcing us to lie around all day in the heat without anything to do. An ever growing problem is the sand... the terrible weather has forced us to the beaches and really reeked havoc on our room with all the sand that has gotten all over everything and ends up everywhere; I found Sarah crying the other day she was so distressed.... So in an effort to escape this terrible condition and replace our gloomy outlook on life for something lighter... we went on vacation. Actually on a Safari... to Kruger Park, the world's largest open area animal sanctuary in the world (it's the same size as Israel or Indiana)

We packed our back packs (actually Daan's back pack) and headed off to the other side of Africa up near Mozambique and Swaziland. We had our bug spray, sunscreen, camera, batteries, and safari clothes... the only thing we forgot to pack was sleeping pills... though they would have been of no use!

The trip started with some scrambled packing and preparation for this adventurous vacation. Packing was a last minute process as always, so after getting to bed at 1am on Thursday, we "jumped" out of bed and headed to Cape Town at 3am for our 6am flight... yeah early

We landed in Jo-burg in 8 am and we were on a bus by 9... like a good boyfriend I provided the body pillow so Sarah could catch up on an hour of sleep (we never really caught up with) and I enjoyed my terribly tiny economy class airplane seat. However the hour-and-a-half plane flight was the shortest trip we took all weekend. Our shuttle out to Kruger Park, which didn't offer the roomiest accommodations seeing that they crammed 7 of us into a small van luggage and all, arrived promptly and we headed off for 5 HOURS.

This never ending sardine style journey lead us out far away from the Africa that Sarah and I were used to, out into the "Africa" that most people think about. The towns morphed from post-colonial Dutch European to a scattered spider web of dirt roads and cinderblock houses. It was difficult to compare the quality of living to what we are used in the poor areas of Paarl. There seemed superficially to be larger houses and individual lawns; a major step up from the bee hive like shanty towns in the Western Cape and outside Jo-burg. Still these cinderblock houses littered entire mountain sides until they gave way to the horizon baking under the corrugated steel roofs, set up in some sort of organizational pattern that seemed pretty incomprehensible to me...a familiar sense of disorganized Latin-American squalor came to mind...Third World came to mind.

This didn't happen by accident, and I would hate for anyone to think millions of people just decided to live on a mountain side with what looked like to me no work. And again to draw the picture... it wasn't like a no work: "lot's of lazy people not trying to get a job", but more like no work: NO EMPLOYMENT... no farms, no stores, no economy... So if you had to ask me what everyone did, I would respond with an affirmative "I have no idea," my best guess is that most of the people work in the mines... coal, minerals, diamonds, and/or gold. I do know why everyone is out there. Like many things this area is one of the scars left over from the Apartheid. Blacks were forced out of the areas where they were living and moved into "Home Lands" in different areas around the country... Imagine Indian reservations, but the way they would look if we hadn't killed all the Indians but rather relocated millions of people to far off places and forced them all to change their lives and culture.

It's something to think about...

On to the excellent stuff... We arrived at Kruger park at around 3 in the afternoon... 30 seconds after entering the park we saw an elephant (He's paid to be there)... so we quickly arrived at our camp sight a bit tired, but luckily we had a second to drop our bags off before we went out for our first game drive... from 4pm to 6:30 we were off to see animals... I was on the hunt; Sarah slept. I woke her up to see the elephant... and then the hippos playing in the river... and then the giraffes

When we got back it was time for our "bush dinner", traditional African food we got consisting of poorage "pap" and beef with sausage and potatoes... the trick is eating with your fingers like an African!! The dinner was nice because we finally got to meet the 5 other people that were with us! Our group consisted of 3 Canadians (EH!); a lawyer, a government consultant, and an actor who just finished shoot Hulk 2 in Rio and was once a permanent character on the X-Files... that was a lot of interesting conversation with the three of them. The other half of our group were Brothers from Israel who were traveling to SA in celebration of the younger brothers end of service in the Military where he was a Captain at 24 years... again more lively conversation. I personally am a fan of lively conversation... politically driven questions, random Hollywood gossip (Edward Norton is just as cool/weird off screen as he is on screen), however I like this when I haven't been traveling since 4 am earlier that day!

Once we all packed up around 9, Sarah and I made our way to our tent...Normally I can sleep through anything, cars, babies, outside random noise, Sarah... however I was confronted that terrible evening with a mortal enemy with whom I waged a glorious battle 2 nights in row only to return back to my tent broken, beaten, and yearn for some sleep. Who could this terrible enemy be... ah non other than a bat that chose to perch himself in the tree above our tent. You say, but Dan the bat will eat all the mosquitoes, and mosquitoes have malaria, how could you want this bat to leave you tent sight, the bat was a protector!?!?! And I agree with you, the bat did protect us from the mosquitoes.... But he also sat above the tent creating a vicious noise that reminded me of a truck backing up... beeeeeeeep..... beeeeeeep........beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep... That my dear friends drove me absolutely insane which sparked an irrational rage and blood lust that would only be quenched by this damn bat!!!

So like a stupid tourist I was running around with a flash light for an hour chasing the bat from tree to tree as far away from our tent as I could... Only to have him return and keep on beeping. Eventually around midnight or one, I passed out from exhaustion.... And then the BEEEP BEEEP BEEEEP returned at 4 am... but that was our alarm... it was time for a game drive.

Drive number 2 (5am- 9:30 am) started with some baboons who decided to just stroll across the street with their babies. After about 15 minutes watching this parade, close to 65 baboons had walked in front of the truck...to many to see the beginning or the end of the line! We saw more elephants which was rather depressing... we always arrived a minute to late to see 20 elephants walk off into the forest so in the end on this drive we saw a lot of elephant butts! Next was a hippo sitting in a pond... watching us... Hippos are the most dangerous animal in Africa... reason being that if the hippo thinks that you are threatening its water habitat or if it has left the water and you are in the path way, the hippo immediately assumes you are a threat and will charge you and bite you in half... they have caused more human deaths than any other animal in the park, the lovely hungry hippo!!

Two boy giraffes were playing around with each other while a vulture waited across the street, but really the drive was rather dull. Until we rounded the corner and if you can see him... there is a Lion on top of the rocks...he and his lady of the day have broken away from the pride to mate on top of the rocks slightly out of sight but ever so present surveying the land. He's hard to see on the pictures we uploaded, but we will be sure to send any skeptics the real file!!! Finally right at the end of the game drive we saw some wildebeests.

Once we got back I fell asleep and Sarah took pictures of the cheeky monkeys that were terrorizing our camp sight!

The 3rd game drive (4pm-7pm) started with a new driver and a new direction as we headed south into the park instead of east. We decided to give our new driver a hard time and demand to see certain animals all in good fun...Sarah wanted to see Cape buffalo, Zebras, and a herd of Elephants, I said I wanted to see rhinos, a kill sight, watch a lion chase down an antelope, and see a cheetah race a leopard... mine were slightly impossible, but whatever one can wish.

Our first animal was the dainty little warthog who runs around the park like they are on stilettos... its hilarious. Some more wildebeests. MY RHINOS... they were kind of far away, but massive. These animals were larger than a VW bug and always watching you, when they weren't eating. Giraffes and some scenery pictures... scenery pictures come out when we have been sitting in the land rover for an hour and the animals are all hiding! After this hour and a half of driving around, straining your eyes to see in force and focus on something that might have moved, we were given one of the coolest experiences in the world... the Elephant... this animal is my hero for the simple reason that we watched him for about 20 minutes as he ate and he fell asleep 3 times mid bite or while he was trying to put food in his mouth... asleep... while eating... I want that stress level (even though we're on holiday here I'm not far away from it... sorry!!)

All of sudden after we had been told it was impossible to see... a herd of Zebras ran across the street... go Sarah... then was drove past a herd of elephants; Sarah was especially taken by the baby elephant... go Sarah.... Then just a little bit down the road we saw a cape buffalo... I hate Sarah!!! By this time everyone in the car was asking her to say, "I want to see xxx," she just laughed; the Cape buffalo completed the big 5 for her... Lion, Elephant, White Rhino, Leopard, Cape buffalo....check! Finally, we saw some Kudu that crossed our path and I'm not sure, but I think that is the sunset... the earlier picture was the sunrise... I love those days when I get to see both, it really gives that great Ben Franklin Puritan farm feeling; a real early to bed, early to rise... I accomplished something type feeling... and it also makes you really tired!

That night we stayed up with the group and watched the stars till all the food and drinks were gone... it was spectacular shows as these diamonds light up the sky... the stars are so much cooler in the middle of nowhere! Bed time wasn't early... lets just say that! But it was nice to lay down and relax... until my damn nemesis came back... and again I ran around chase this mythical bat who seemed to be everywhere and nowhere all at the same time...(Sarah rolled her eyes)

Drive #4 (5am-9:30am) this drive was the last and the only animal we had not seen was the Leopard, but we didn't have our hopes up... Really I think all of us were so content by the massive amount of animals we had seen...remember we took 400 pictures and only uploaded 150 of the really good ones...so really we were all so happy that it was a relaxing drive and we all sat back and enjoyed.

Our first friend was the Hyena...Disney got this animal right...just the way their backs moved and the prowled along the road, head low looking for an easy meal, back arched as the sauntered off down the road...I loved them...Sarah was happy they left us alone. More Kudu tried to run across the street and that was that... we drove for 2 hours without seeing really anything... until we made a quick U turn and started off in a random direction. All I have to say is thank god for cell phones. Lying down under that tree is a Leopard. The moment anyone sees them the phones go off like crazy and all the drivers scramble to get a view... ours was perfect... until the jerk in the van pulled up. You have to imagine this road barely has enough room for two cars to pass, and directly on the other side is one of the biggest cats I have ever seen in my life... Sarah almost jumped out of the LR! If anyone wants a high resolution photo... we will be happy to send some out when we get back...African internet is slow so be patient! Then Dumbo ran across the street followed by his mother and about 13 other elephants... right in front of the rover! You can barely see it, but next to the river there is a crocodile...it looks like a log which I think is the point so it's kind of hard to tell! We got to take some photos out of the LR and a nice group shot but by that time our trip was over. We had breakfast, packed up, loaded the van, and right on our way out we saw another herd of Elephants...Go Sarah!

The next photos are more pictures of the Transvaal area that I was speaking about earlier... I was trying to capture it while the car was moving, but it was definitely difficult.

We arrived back in Jo-burg about 2 hours before our flight at 9 pm... yes this is on the same day as the 4am game drive... great to be young travelers isn't it!!! We sat for a final drink with our friends, flew to Cape Town, got picked up by Magriet and Anton around 11pm, made it back to Paarl around Midnight, and shuffled off to bed.

We woke up at 6:30am took most of the dirty clothes from our bag, shoved new clothes in, and Daan was at the house by 7am and we were back on our way out to Lizelle's house in Worcester for breakfast. Then we headed south, out to the coast, to Franskra and Gaanisbia for New Years. We were staying at our friend Geilie's parent's house with Lizelle, Daan, Cecile, Gillie, Sarah, and I. The only thing we did for the rest of the day was lay on the beach, swim, and play beach bats (beach tennis....I loved this game). It was 94. Later that night we had a nice bar-b-que, the girls chatted while the boys played darts... we drank Champaign and celebrated midnight with the beach, ocean, fireworks, and friends... you should try it some time if you haven't... it makes New Years so much more fun!!!!

The next morning Sarah and I realized we were friends with a bunch of farmers when they tried to wake us up at 7 am AGAIN after getting to bed at 3 am... they really really really wanted to get back to the beach... I think Sarah and I had almost hit our limit...

We went back to the beach and wasted the day away... the drive home was nearly impossible to stay awake through, and I think the moment we set our bags down back in Paarl, we each slept for like 15 hours without moving... It took 3 days to completely recover from that week of not sleeping!

Since then we have really been enjoying the Holiday!!! School starts in about 3 days so our 5 week vacation is coming to an end but there is a lot to come. So far we went to the Lion Park here in Paarl, we traveled to table view to see a new beach and a new view of Table Mountain, we have been going to countless dinner parties with Lizelle, Peter & Maureen- a Belgium couple that we met and have decided that we want their house, lifestyle, and fri-fri so we can make our own Belgium (Flemish) fries... for those of you who didn't know any Argentine that wants to fight this theory... the Belgium's invented the "French" fry...and they have a damn great way of making them! Plus we have had a couple dinners with the Germans, toured KWV, and the other day I ran a 30k race working up to my Marathon... I finished in 2 hours 32 minutes which is 5 minutes a km or 6:50 a mile... a little slower than what I want to run the marathon but I have one month...so thanks for all the support!!


Also on an end note we wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who has donated to the Nederburg Christmas fund... we have raised close to 600 dollars to buy school supplies and resource materials for Nederburg... I have to especially thank the BUNKO ladies of PMC that donated January and February's pot to the Nederburg fund... you ladies are amazing and you have made so many kids smile it make my heart hurt, Thank you

If you still want to donate to Nederburg... there's still time!!! And that is about all... we will get some more photos up and I look forward to seeing all you crime fighters again ...

Same Bat Time

Same Bat Channel!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1198584120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1198584120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1198584120/tpod.html Tue, 25 Dec 2007 17:37:22 -0500 The adventure...

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Cape Agulhas, South Africa

Merry Christmas!
 
And hopefully this blog finishes before I have to wish everyone a Happy New Year, but like most things here, amidst the laziness, the running, the friends, and food... I have been hard pressed to find time to write down every thought I have.  There are a million and one things that have happened since we last wrote; in fact I didn't even cover everything...so here it goes!!!
 
Now Sarah and I have been trying to map out on a Calendar exactly what we have done here and when we did it; who we met and which wine farm did they own; where we traveled and all the different ways we travel to get to the same place!
 
So far, since Thanksgiving it has been almost impossible.  But I will try to give to date information, but that's more of a Sarah thing so it will get put in later on when she does the editing!
 
The last month has been just a blissful return of the surreal life from our around-the-world-in-20-days trip back in August... we have had weekend after weekend of good times and amazing experiences. I feel that most of the time we are cramming the 9 months of Argentina into our 4 months here.... For everyone who doesn't know we will be home Feb 20th , I'm pretty sure Nancy (Mrs.L, Mom), to her relief and insurmountable joy,  has spread the word like wildfire... but just in case... we will arrive home on Wednesday, February 20th @ 8 PMish... and expect us to be jet lagged!!!
 
Well I decided the best way for me to remember everything and to break it down for you... is to do everything by week, and just pray I don't start ranting!!! So strap on you boots and hold on to your loved ones... This is a 30-day whirl wind around the Southern Cape!!
 
Week 1: The last week of school (the non-school part)
 
1128- 13k and picnic
11/29- Cookie Baking Part 1/ Wrestling with SAN
11/30- last day of school and Braii
12/01- WINE
 
The last blog we talked a lot about the end of the school year... the re-cap of the good and bad... so for that info see And The Beat Goes On, what I didn't tell you was everything that was going on in our life during that time... 
 
So it seems that I caught a bug when I was back in Buenos Aires
 
...The Running Bug.... (hahaha)
 
Anyways after the half marathon in Buenos Aires I took a week off which ended up stretching into a couple of months.  From there Sarah and I noticed that I wasn't looking as young as I used too and what some may call the beginning of a spare tire was starting to form around my belly (I'm not fat... but they tell me that the belly is a slippery slope... being that I got all old... and if any of the previous comments made you hate me, I'm sorry but you probably thought that when you were starting to lean closer to 30 than to 20!)
 
Anyways the main point of the story is that I decided to run a race here on a Wednesday evening... Sarah (My Cheerleader) and I showed up late as usual- signed up and I ran... What we didn't know was that this "race" actually was a bi-weekly "get together" (or every fortnight for the South Africans reading).  All of the racing clubs with their families head out to a winery with big picnic baskets, half the people sit around and drink wine, cook out, listen to live music, and wait for the runners to come in... the ones running... head off for a race through the winery; running through the hills, the forest, the vines, and eventually back to the party where instead of medals and water... we get wine and Coca-Cola (Its Africa most things are upside down... wine after running is just something I had to get used too)... The run was excellent; we raced up and down through this vineyard into views of mountains and sunsets that almost made me want to stop!!
 
Actually around Kilometer 9 I was getting kind of  cocky thinking... why was everyone going so slow... and I turned up another hill past this big sign in Afrikaans Groot-Berg (pronounced Grew it- Brrr Hacking noise)... whatever I just kept running and after about a kilometer I was still running up... then walking up... then crawling... I turned to the guy next to me and asked... what did that sign say Do Not Enter? He says no... Really Big Hill... at that point I would rather have not known; we went up that hill for about 3ks ... it hurt!!
 
But when I finished Sarah and the wine were there waiting. We sat around listened to live music, sipped wine (I drank water too), and waited for the lucky draw to get my hopes up and then completely destroy them every time!!!
 
Thursday we were at school parties and eating food all day (see last blog), and later that night Lizelle had a wonderful idea to bake cookies with Sarah for all the street children.  They baked South African Butter cookies in little Christmas shapes... I couldn't tell you much about it so I'll let Sarah:
 
Cookie baking with Lizelle was a teaching experience... the American in me saw how we could do this event double time.  And well my suggestions were taken oh not so lightly.  But nonetheless we had a wonderful time... wearing our aprons, covered in flour, and laughing all along!
 
Now I wasn't being mean and I really wanted to bake cookies but by coincidence a member of the South African Olympic Wrestling Team lives across the street from us...so I went to a training session!
 
They train in Durbanville... in this dirty concrete room that has foam on the floor with some vinyl laid over the top... there is some nicer lifting equipment, but generally the worst gyms in the US have at least an actual wrestling matt in their gym... but the talent was good.  Because we were an odd number my training partner was a massive African man from the Congo who just immigrated to SA to avoid the violence.  6'2 and 200 pounds of mountain... definitely left me hurting the next day.  I basically felt like an idiot all day because they wrestle a different style than I do... different ways to score, different ways to attack and defend, and a different point system... basically my instincts defeat me in half of the situations- so I just stay on my feet and try and beat kids up...but still I wrestled barefoot, and when I wrestled kids my size... I think I did pretty well!!
 
I do have to say ... when I got home, poor Jaco, Lizelle's flat mate, was stuck with Sarah and Lizelle all night cause he thought I was going to be there...and by the way Sarah is a mean baker... she yells at people for making cookie "the wrong way"... she's so rude!!
 
 
The next big event that week is what has been affectionately labeled WINE!!!!  Now this is probably an appropriate title for an inappropriate weekend...but I will preface, neither Sarah nor I can be held responsible for our actions during this weekend... it was rainy, and we were at a Vineyard, so any aspirations to go out and be active were completely crushed by the gods of cloudy days and drizzle, thus we were forced to drink wine all day...ha-ha I almost believed me!!!
 
This weekend was set up the always lovely Lizelle Van Zyl
 
Arensig is the name all you wine coinsures need to know! The brain child is that our dear friend Lourens who will be importing as soon as possible... he just bottle his 2008 Chardonnay... it's a burst of fresh fruits with a note of pear, citrus, and cut grass, crisp on the tongue with a smooth finish.  Not a heavy Chardonnay but perfect for a sunny summer afternoon and a crisp salad!
 
Well this is what we learned by the end of the day.  Sarah and I set out one Saturday morning and headed over the mountain to Robertson for a weekend away.  Unfortunately the weather was not cooperating, so rather than rock climbing and hiking all day the three of us made the executive decision to go wine tasting at 11:30 in the morning!!!  We had a picnic on a river boat and ate cheese with smoked meats, toured vineyards, and tasted a lot of wine (we paced ourselves...though Sarah couldn't do it publicly... she kinda hid... we got used to spitting the wine back out to prevent being hammered before 1pm)
 
Afterward Lourens took us out for a personal tour of his winery and cellar.  The coolest part was we walked into his cellar and he opened up his barrels so we could taste each individual barrel as we went on about how he created it... the fermentation... the yeast...the peals... or no peals... just reciting textbooks of information...and I loved it...Sarah stuck with her typical descriptions...Okay... not Okay... too dry...or I love it...and I love it is very hard to come by,  and Paarl wine makers are now including it on the label... Sarah gave it an "I love it" which is better than four stars!!
 
By this point our previous inclination to try to remain sober was quickly slipping away as our wine tasting turned into a vintage tasting... this is where you drink a bottle of wine from different years to understand how the wine has matured... the Wine Makers such as Lourens calls this marketing... we call it getting drunk, but man did he convince us to get a lot of wine...so don't you worry we are bringing home cases!!!!  Our hopes fell to the floor after the vintage tasting turned into a cook out with 4 other couples that lead way into the night with guitar playing around the fire... all in all it was a great day!!!
 
Sunday we woke up...slowly... cleaned...slowly... and headed back to Worcester for another cookout with Lizelle's family!!!
 
The scariest part was driving Sarah and I home... I drove... I hate the Left hand side of the road... I hate stick shift when I haven't driven in forever... and I hate 9k tunnels through mountains. We made it... But that was only the start of my driving... more later
 
 
Week 2: December in the 30s~ Celsius! (That's just about 90!!!!)
 
12/02 -Braii and lunch in Worcester
12/03- Teachers party
12/04- Rest
12/05- Babysitting/Wine Farming
12/06- Cookie baking
12/07- Lazy night
12/08- Half marathon
12/09- Dinner with Lizelle
 
So Week 2 started after our weekend on the wine farm and the Braii (cookout) in Worcester with Lizelle's parents.  The following day and really the reason why I drove home the night before was our Staff Party the following day!
 
Around 8am the teachers from Nederburg showed up at the guest house with a bus, chicken, sausage, beech towels, and some beer and we set off for a secluded little pool/camping area on the other side of one set of mountains (we are surrounded by mountains so most of the time I'm confused... just ask Sarah - she claims to know her way around, apparently its not much different than the infamous Denver experience, we continue the Mars v. Venus conflict about the direction issue to this day!)
 
To continue... this area was just like the parks around the Chicago area... playground set, pavilion, Grill, but this one also had a pool where easily a million kids had peed in so we stayed away.  The day started early and turned out to be interesting.  The problem was we were with a group of generally Afrikaans speakers- English as a second language... now everyone there could speak English, but conversations always started in Afrikaans and mainly stayed in Afrikaans.  Sarah and I didn't mind... we laid on a blanket, still a kind of recovering, and read books, played sudoko, and jumped in conversation when the opportunity arose.  Personally I had an awesome experience about midday when I went for my run.  I went off following a path that meandered through the woods for a while until I reached a big sign that said Keep Gate Closed, this being very different from Do Not Enter, I opened the gate and closed it behind me.  The run took me out of the forest and up into the foot hills along this old 4x4 path, when all of a sudden 2 Springbok (dear/antelope type animal) jumped 3 meters in front of me over the path and down the hill.  I didn't take 2 more steps forward when a pack of 15 or so more followed suit right there in my path... I almost shat myself... honestly... I have no idea what these things are capable of... I see clips of When Deer Attacks and Stupid Yankee killed by Friendly Springbok... In the end it was amazing and I cannot wait for our trip to see the Big 5!!
 
Tuesday we slept!
 
Wednesday Sarah and Lizelle had an offer from a Belgium couple to Baby-sit so I'll let her talk about that: Lizelle and I babysat a 5 year old and a 2 year old who speak NO English and NO Afrikaans... just Flemish!!! But they were the CUTEST kids ever and we had so much fun.  Although when it was bed time we forgot to give the 2 year old his Dummy (South African Term for a pacifier) and well he cried and cried until we gave him his dummy and then he was silent as a bee!!!  We had a good time with the kiddies J
 
Meanwhile I had a night with the boys: Lourens and Jaco, Lizelle's flat mate.  Lourens had this brilliant idea to "help-out" his friend Charles at Charles' vineyard.  This was secret code for free labor to help finish before sunset... but it's was fun anyways... I got to help trim the vines so the early morning sun would hit the grapes and the leaves would protect them from the afternoon sun.  Then we had to help with some natural selection by eliminating smaller bunches of grapes and making it so that the vine had to feed only the strong grapes that Charles wanted for his pinotage... I thought it was okay for the 45 min we were out there... all day would be terrible!  As a gesture of thanks Charles opened up some of his wine 2002 Cape Blend...If I can get my hands on some... it was so good!
 
Again on Thursday we baked cookies, but this time I stayed home to help out... well I didn't help out, because Sarah yelled at me... I didn't roll the dough the right size, or too much sugar... or we didn't beat the dough well enough.  She is a monster; she puts her apron on and turns into a Kitchen Dictator!  I love her to death... but it is the most unfun way of baking... However she makes a good cookie!!  For a foreign treat we baked Snikerdoodles... an unknown concept in SA...and now a huge rave!!! So, I give a well done for Sarah's baking and Nancy's recipe.
 
Friday we took a day off from everything, and on Saturday I ran a Half marathon...though the day started out poor
 
5:00 am I had to drive Sarah and I out to Somerset West about 45 min away toward the coast. While absolutely terrified over the main principles of driving... lanes, gears, stay to the left... I flew past a traffic camera and "got" a speeding ticket... however it hasn't arrived in the mail so maybe I got out of it! 
 
From there on out Sarah had to call out the speed limit while I drove teamwork! Of course we arrived latter than I wanted for the race... it seems the earliest we can get to a race is 15min before the start and I'm never registered so it's a mad dash just to get to starting line!
 
The run was beautiful... watching the early morning grey clouds creep over the mountain top as the sun arched upwards to burn them back... again I wanted to stop... but the race carried on through winding vineyard and across the foothills and of course I'm way too competitive to stop... the best thing I ever saw and I've noticed this in every race I have ran here since then, is  the wonderful half way point... so for all of those who run for fun (I have a complex left over from wrestling) at the half way point there is free wine if you so choose to stop and have a glass before you continue on with the rest of the race... again its Africa!!
 
 
 
Week 3:  I Swear It's Only Because We Sleep In
 
12/10- Dinner with the Germans
12/11- Robben Island and Braii at Gillie's
12/12- My Mom's Birthday/10k race/Picnic/Sarah Made dinner
12/13 Christmas shopping/ wresting practice
12/14- Braii with Swiss banking Belgiums
12/15- Mimosas and Fairview Lunch
12/16- 23k run, Drinks with the Gang
 
Sarah and I, we were at a blistering pace the past couple weeks and really its not even close to as bad as it sounds.  See we look busy, but really we are not... I normally wake up everyday at 6 am when the sun creeps over the mountain, through my window, and goes straight into my eyeball...this burning light that I try to hide from for the rest of the morning is in escapable so I'm out of bed by 9-9:30... Sarah whose window is shaded by a tree sleeps late... those of you who know her... I think its getting worse... she sleeps like a lion or an old dog... you know that sleep that no matter how much you poke or try to wake...they just stay sleeping... this is my girlfriend... and she's so cute in the morning cause it takes her an honest 45 minutes to gain consciousness of what's going on...its Priceless... this all occurs around 10:30 and we head down to breakfast after emails and laziness around lunch time.
 
After that we wait around until its time for us to do what ever we are doing that day... Now this is not to say that we are not helping anyone...or that we are lazy... actually I think two things... first its more a ritual depression because nothing is going on now and all of our kids are scattered around celebrating the holidays... so as teachers, we are enjoying the summer...second, in little farm towns when it is 97 degrees at 10am... there's nothing do but be hot...hot as sin!
 
So Tuesday we made some plans and headed out to Robben Island... This was Sarah's 3rd time and my first, and honestly I didn't know what to except and in hindsight I don't know how I feel... see there is a lot of expectation going into a situation like that, but at the same time there is a lot that is left up to be interpreted on your own.  I think personally I am still investigating everything, and it wasn't until after I left Robben Island that I really started to dive into the issues of race and perspective here; that's not to say I didn't see it earlier, but I realized how different South Africans think about it.
 
Sorry for those who don't know Robben Island was used a prison for political prisoners during the Apartheid era.  This is also where Nelson Mandela was held for 27 years.  The prison still remains the way it was with the guard's community now used to house the people that maintain the prison.  The tour is given by a former political prisoner that once spent time inside the walls of Robben Island Maximum Security Prison.  The man we were with spent time explaining the way even in prison they segregated the communities of black and colored prisoners.  Down to the amount of fat and carbohydrate each group was allowed to have...please take a look at the pictures...it's one of those places you have to see... it was a very good experience.
 
When we got back from Robben Island we went out of a Braii at another friend of ours Gillie...who also makes wine for a living (its like the thing to do if your dad owns a farm...and they do it well).  Lizelle, Sarah, and I drove off into the middle of a vineyard for a very nice dinner made by Gillie's girlfriend.  Just a nice dinner party with friends...it was perfect!
 
Wednesday was my mom's birthday... Happy Birthday MOM!!!  It was also a busy race day!  So we had a plan for the Wednesday race: Sarah was going to cook, I was going to run, Lourens would bring the wine, Lizelle had the blanket, and Jaco provided the ride... it was a proper South African picnic!  We sat out all night after the race waiting for me to win a prize, which never happens... and had ourselves a little picnic under the stars with Lekka wine and Lekka food (lekka = untranslatable Afrikaans, but it means awesome or really nice)
 
The run was really nice, through a vineyard... It was my first run in my new Christmas present (thank you Leffrings), however there was a really old guy in front of me...which the competitive me always wants to beat the grandpa's to avoid an ego implosion... but I couldn't catch this old man, he was just too quick, until the half way point... he stopped for wine... I kept running!!! I know I'm terrible.
 
Thursday was another girl's night... Sarah can tell you about her night... we went Christmas Shopping @ Canal Gate (the second largest mall in the southern hemisphere)... and for those of you who thought I walked fast... I'm no where near as "speedy" as Lizelle.  I think I got shin splints from trying to keep up with her! 
 
I went to wrestling practice again... it was practice...and it was hard; however they asked if I could stay and coach?!?! So after the holidays we will see what happens...I'm always looking for a really cool job!!
 
The following Friday we meet up with Lizelle and her friend Daan (pronounced Don) and headed over for dinner and a Braii with the Belgium couple Sarah and Lizelle baby-sat for.  So the best part about meeting a pair of Swiss Banking Belgium's... is not only the wine and the food, but the house and the view that comes along with it... priceless.  We spent the night on the veranda talking...until Lizelle spilt red wine all over my shorts... with out thinking twice I tried to practice the old wives rumor from here that if you spill red, dump white wine all over it.... So as I am drenching my pants in white wine... as the Belgium is starring at me like what are you doing with my wine!! ... But in the morning the red wine was gone... the white took it away!!!!
 
Well Saturday was going to be a wash after another dinner party; It was also supposed to be my first big run in preparation for the marathon in February... however, the recently married couple (there is one every weekend) who just left their honey moon sweet, left over some Champaign... and before we knew what was happening Sarah, Magriet, and I were fighting back the 95 degree heat with some Mimosas from the leftover Champaign. 
 
With most of our ambitions lost to the heat and our morning pick-me-up, we decided to call up some friends and went out to one of our favorite vineyards with couples from the beach and enjoyed and excellent summer lunch!!!  After that... it was nap time...and a lazy day!!!
 
Sunday before Sarah and I headed off on our vacation, we went out for dinks with some other friends and completed a perfect week!!!
 
 
Week 4:  The Sprint to Christmas!!!
 
12/17- lazy day
12/18- Cape Agulhas
12/19- Indian Ocean
12/20- Beech day
12/21- Travel/ Jaco's Birthday
12/22- Christmas shopping
12/23- Christmas Dinner and Blog Writing
 
Monday, we laid around and packed for our trip to Cape Agulhas.  Agulhas is the southern most point in Africa this also just so happens to be the point where the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean... WE GOT TO THE INDAIN OCEAN... one more and Sarah and I have touched them all!!
 
The only down fall was the wind... it was blowing in at 60 miles an hour... perfect for wind surfing if we knew how to wind surf... or perfect for people who are not always cold like Sarah!
 
We made the trip down there with a couple, Steve and Bronwen, who are relatives of one of the teachers at Nederburg... I know we took a ride from strangers!!! No actually we met Steve and Bronwem and there 11 month old Sasha at Nederburg one day... and since then we tag along for brais and little day trips around the cape, but they have been so nice to us... it has been a blessing.
 
So the offered to take us up to Agulhas ... and we got to spend there holiday with them!!
 
The only highlight outside of touching the INDAIN OCEAN... was that I'm a psycho... which only comes in handy when teaching babies to walk!!
 
Sarah and I saw that she was taking some steps the first day that arrived... the longest run was 4 steps... by the end of the evening she was at 9....at the end of the week she was doing laps across the room... I hope by new years she's marathon training with me!!!  GO SASHA
 
Now Sarah said I was cruel... having her walk back and forth, but no pain... no gain!!!
 
When we came back it was Christmas time... with 90 degree heat...and did a little Christmas shopping, celebrated Jaco's birthday... and before you know it... it's today
 
Christmas was very different... almost not Christmas at all... without the all of your laughs, hugs, stories, and love we really didn't feel the Christmas spirit.  So on Christmas day we went to the beach just to try and muster up some of that good old Christmas spirit...but we remember Chicago has nothing to do with beaches...so that didn't help either
 
I think we are going to retire to some good old Christmas movies, and discuss how we can work it out to not spend another Christmas away!!!
 
We love you all and miss you ... MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1197229320/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1197229320/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1197229320/tpod.html Sun, 09 Dec 2007 08:49:46 -0500 The adventure...

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Paarl, South Africa

HELLO everyone out there in wintry land, I have some bad news... we have had 6 straight days of beautiful sunshine and we are not missing home at all!!!

So we thought it was again another well over due time to write about our experiences here in Africa. The reality is that so much has changed since the last blog, not in a social, economic, political, or cultural way, but so much has changed for Sarah and me that it is interesting to see the metamorphosis, so here it goes:

Breathe In. Breathe Out. Breathe In. Breathe Out. Smile. Shrug.

I think this is the most common practice I learned here in Africa. It applies to almost anything from teaching, listening to Afrikaans, planning our day, un-planning our day, talking to immigration, talking to people, listening to people talk about other people. The quick breath, smile, and a shrug is normally followed by a, "Yea, sure... we don't have any plans," or "That's cool... whatever you want, we are not picky!" and then definitely another smile.

I know this sounds a bit confusing, but it is the perfect example of what happened after we wrote the last blog : First we went back to school, unfortunately, with lower expectations, and second we met our "Adventure Planner", but I'll start with school first.

The situation definitely got to us... this downward spiral, this tendency to be mean, this adaptation of what was "right". In the end we broke it down mathematically and the common denominator in the entire equation is 1. So that was our new goal. Not to save the masses (we're not Jesus), but to reach out to them and maybe with a bit of hope and a lot of love, touch one. And that's what we did... our classes turned from lessons on grammar to kickball and computer games, from pronunciation classes to learning the correct words to Jingle Bells and who Rudolf is, from multiplication tables to Red Rover and Baseball (Cricket is the #2 most popular game in the country... I'm converting them one at a time). In the end those who want to learn always step forward and we teach.

We started groups in the Library/Computer Lab, those who wanted to "talk" could stay and "talk" (English practice), and those who wanted to play Snake or Asteroids (our personal favorite was Klickety...and I so beat Sarah!!!) could go play on the computer. We stopped trying to read them stories, and instead tried to learn from them. I talked to the kids about history, and Africa; the apartheid and democracy; socialism vs. capitalism (Mr. L just thought you should know I'm breading more commies!) We talked with the older kids about drinking, about drugs, about life at home, life with parents who drink, what they wanted to be when they grow up, hopes, dreams, futures, and most importantly moving on to high school. We tried to tell them they could change... They could find good role models...It was a be-all-you-can-be festival and Sarah and I were the ring leaders. I even got 'tricked' (really asked) into to hosting their assembly for the 4th-7th graders... I talked about role models and how God will lead you to places where you have to make character-defining decisions, or to a town where you don't know why you are there (Paarl...I now know why!!).

Statistically when you look at it there are 720 kids, 400 of which "speak English", 200 who actually speak English, 100 that understand me, and 50 that understand Sarah (she talks fast!). There are about 50 kids who pay attention to Sarah cause they all like her more, and about 10 that pay attention to me. Of those 60 most will finish high school but end up working on a farm as a 'picker' and 5 will finish college.

If in the end 6 finish college... we've changed so much which is really all we hope for!!!

All of this really interesting stuff happened at school during the last month. Mrs. Leffring's class (as a teacher it's only Mrs. Leffring!) of 3rd graders wrote one of our classes. It was amazing to see their faces! The US students included their pictures which was absolutely adorable to the boys here talk about how pretty the girls are and asking us how to pronounce their names. The funnier part was the way a 3rd grade mind works... The US kids wrote about exactly what was going on in their life... accelerated reader tests, the pacer, and even tacos ( Mexican food is very popular here), so Sarah and I set out translating and explaining! Later when our kids went to write about their lives if it was the same .... Breathe. Smile. Shrug. Young minds are Young minds... it brings light to how we are the same... everywhere! (Mrs. Leffring... when the letters arrive, if you don't know what something is, just give us a call!!)

Sarah and I started an informal after-school kickball club that normally carried on for hours after school. It took the entire month to explain the difference between cricket and baseball. It was week four when everyone finally found out you had to tag people, not peg them with the ball. Or better that when you are out, you can bat again. I stayed on the girls' team, or the smaller team, helping the play with the little baseball strategy I could explain...by the end of the month the boys figured out the loop holes and completely destroyed the girl's team. Sarah laughed at me because I would get frustrated with losing... Breathe. Smile. Shrug

It was about that time at the end of the month where our lives started to pick up pace. Through a twisted and almost convoluted chain of events our social network exploded from Magriet and Anton (the owner of the house) to random people from all over the Cape Winelands area, whom were all intermingled to a point that when someone asked us, "How do you know everyone here?" the only answer came down to three magical words and one amazing person...

Lizelle Van Zyl... "Adventure Planner"

A Hostess/Manager/Wedding planner by day, and Super-Hero by night, Lizelle has singled handedly vanquished any remote sense of boredom from our lives while at the same time selflessly subjecting herself to our constant badgering over her poor English (we love you Lizelle!!!!). The twisted story starts way before Sarah and me, but to spare you the details she's a friend of our South African family and even though Sarah and I have yet to spend more than 5 awake-hours with her... she is easily our best friend here.

Oddly enough this is not a coincidence that Lizelle found her way into our life because I'm pretty sure God saw what a wonderful job he did with Sarah's personality, ability to organize, attitude, temperament, annoyances, and humor, that he decided to copy it and put it in Lizelle. Obviously separated at birth, Lizelle and Sarah have finally found each other... making my life so much BETTER cause now there are TWO SARAHS!!!!

Actually for me its great because two people who are the same tend to fight with each other about the same thing for no apparent reason...basically I'm entertained by their shenanigans all day long!

Lizelle has graciously taken it upon herself to fill the empty weeks of our school holiday with so much stuff we really haven't had a weekend free for a while.

This is where I have to take the time and launch myself into another side of African analyzation. We always said we hate being tourists, so we have to go out and enjoy the people and their culture... I don't think I've ever been so blessed and scared by the same group of people in my life.

I think this is where I started developing my idea of constants which eventually is proof that humanity is so interconnected by things other than the internet, that really we are just the replication of one great model 6.5 billion times over again... here's what I've discovered so far...

First off, Farm boys are Farm boys... one may say the "red neck" is a "red neck". I plan to make millions translating Jeff Foxworthy joke into Afrikaans for the farmers and farm boy here. This revelation dawned on me when we decided to go out and enjoy a bit of the night culture here in Paarl, we walked into a "club" called Water Gat,(Water Hole pronounced Vat ter Hac ut... you have to make that hacking up sound with the "g") which in essence was a large tractor shed with a long bar (that didn't sell beer on tap just out of the cooler?!?!), and some lights: your standard disco ball, flashing colors, some moving lights. There was a makeshift DJ booth set up next to the bar that overlooked the largest barn-dance floor we'd ever seen. Better was the dancing, A make shift two-step waltz mixed with touches of salsa spins and tango turns; where partners, very formally, danced ballroom style in circle to songs normally reserved for a wedding reception: Shania Twain, Best Thing about being a Woman, Cotton Eyed Joe, and remixes of Enrique Iglesias and the Electric Slide but with Afrikaans lyrics.

Breathe. Smile. Shrug.

It took massive amount of begging, pleading and a couple of drinks for us to even think about going out and dancing. Lizelle took it upon herself to teach me while Sarah danced with Lizelle's friend Don. Though she only said it happened twice... I think I stepped on every single toe of hers!

Nonetheless the crowd was more important. Imagine most of you Chicagoans happened to stumble south of I-80 all the way down to... Peatone, Gibson City, Decatur, or woohoo Effingham!!! Those kids have twins they didn't even know about... 13000 km away singing the same country songs, dressed the same, attitude, smile, jokes, strong down to earth... somewhat silly farm boys!!! Even as they stumbled around at a "club" in their button-down-cowboy work shirt, mismatching short shorts, and crocs...I thought, "Man I know I met you at a Manhattan (the one south of New Lenox) barn party when I was in High School," and then I thought, "Wow city kids are all the same," as I looked at Sarah and I dressed to impress, ready for a night out at a CLUB!!!

Breathe. Smile. Shrug.

The following week we were jam packed. Thursday we had to teach the entire South African culture how to celebrate Thanksgiving ( they didn't like the no presents idea, so we got a present). I was almost shell shocked at the awkwardness that fell upon the South Africans during this holiday. Sarah stuffed the turkey... it was delicious! We made some red cabbage (Thank you Nancy for the recipe), we had mashed potatoes, asparagus, and stuffing made by Sarah, plus it was hilarious watching the reaction when we said we put marshmallows on the sweet potatoes! For desert we had Pumpkin pie made by another older American couple who made the pie out of real pumpkin... he said with out the canned pumpkin it was a bit more difficult than they were used too! We all sat down... watched the elder American show everyone how to cut a turkey, and the best part was watching Lizelle enjoy not only her first thanksgiving, but the first time she ever had turkey!

The basic idea was interesting to convey... we get together and we think about what we are Thankful for. I guess I just take it for granted that a day of Thanks is easy to rationalize. There is no religious significance to it, the South Africans thought it was odd that we celebrated a holiday where a group of Indians saved us but then we ended up killing all of them, and it even weirder to explain that Thanksgiving is an "extended family" or travel holiday. Then to tie it into respectively Black Wednesday and Black Friday... the whole thing was odd.

But despite the negative part of Thanksgiving... it was amazing to watch a group of people come together on an arbitrary idea to celebrate something that was so special to their guests.

This my friends is South Africa... It is Hospitality... It is home cooked meals... It is everyone trying to take care of you, trying to show you a good time... It is the feeling that I walk around with a sign on my forehead saying, "FEED ME"... Everywhere we go there is the reoccurring presence of home cooked meals, braais (bar-b-que), Pojkies (slow cooked stews), and wine! We joke that when we come back no one is going to believe us that there is a hunger problem here... Sarah and I are gaining kilos at the same rate as the invitations we get...last week we went to 5 braais in 6 days.

That's South Africa...they may not have much to give you...but boy will you eat!!

Friday we celebrated Don's (Sarah's Dancing partner) birthday, and finally on Saturday we went out to Worcester... the YWAM place... but this time on better terms. We went with Lizelle to meet her family and hang around for a dinner party they were going to have. As is our custom here in South Africa we brought our party gift of Ranch this mysterious dressing/chip dip has become a rave here in South Africa and now I'm just looking for a Supplier so I can distribute! We spent the whole day lying in the sun next to their pool, and since then Lizelle's parents have become our "Worcester Parents" or our weekend Parents because we tend to head over there for a cookout every weekend.

The first weekend we joined a party with some old work friends of theirs. Luckily for us they brought along their kids, so Lizelle and her sister Hanje, their friends Tanya and her sister Liesl, and Sarah and I, we all had our own little dinner party which again brought out another revelation about how similar we all are. It was nice sitting there telling stories, I guess I had always thought about being a grown-up and having dinner parties where we eat expensive cheese and drink wine, then sit down to a great home cooked meal... I always thought I would feel so grown-up. I think it was during this when I realize adults throw dinner parties to hang out with friends, laugh, and enjoy life... in essence to feel younger... it was perfect...but the weekend was not over

Tanya and Liesl invited us out to the beach with their friends, so... we went!

Breathe. Smile. Shrug.

The pictures say everything... we cooked out... played rugby (I had to teach everyone how to throw a ball properly...like a football!). After five hours of laying out on the miraculous beach front surrounded by mountains with some of the coolest people, I found my first difference in people over here... they put on a lot of sunscreen!!! The only 23-26 year olds I've ever seen re-apply after every hour... guess that's what happens when the Ozone hole is above you, and I'm glad to say I (cheep Irish skin) didn't get burnt! Sarah is actually a little upset because I am a little bit browner that she is... a first for any Stanton!


The following week was the last week of school... so basically total chaos. If you couldn't control the kids earlier there was no hope now. So our days were very mellow, filled with endless games of kickball and red-rover. Sarah went on a field trip with the 1st and 3rd graders to the IMAX Theater to see Ratatouille... only the 1st graders don't speak English and the 3rd graders just started English classes that year...There has never been a recorded moment where a group of kids goofed around so much during a cartoon movie... I think it was the thought, though, that counted most!

On the same day, I headed out with the 4th grade classes as we trekked through the townships to the pool! It was a day of swimming lessons. At the start half of the kids can't swim, some had never been to the pool which was actually a very nice Olympic swimming pool. I could have used some help from some swimmers, but in the end most of them grasped on to the basics. We started to play games... until one head went under. I saw someone from outside the pool come running at me so I turned around and pulled a girl up from under the water. Scared to death her and her twin sister clutched on to my throat as I walked them out of the pool. By that time we all had had enough of the pool and head back home. (Pictures from swimming in the previous blog)

The following Thursday was "class party day." Basically this was an excuse to play loud music, eat KCF and ice cream, while Sarah and I taught the kids how to play baseball!

Friday was the last day of school... the kids got their report cards... I brought my guitar to school as I promised, and we played kick ball for the last time.

Sadly enough the kids have 6 weeks with nothing to do. They are sitting around causing mischief, breaking things, the older kids are drinking or worse, there are no programs for them... so the end of school was very sad. Sarah and I wanted to put something together, to help, but even the kids were uninterested. Most of them don't mind spending 6 weeks playing in the streets, sleeping, and causing trouble... it's the way of life.

The last big thing we did was met Laurens. Obviously through Lizelle, We met him and he offered to spend the weekend on his farm and winery.

Breathe. SMILE. Shrug

Sure...so we went.... Stories of the wine farm, Dan's racing, cookie baking, wrestling with the South African Olympic team, Robben Island... to be continued! All too much for just one blog!

*~ If you would like to help us celebrate "A Nederburg Christmas" with us please feel free to use the Support My Travels icon at the top of the blog via Pay Pal or send a donation to Sarah's parents to help us give these Nederburg kids a Christmas to remember!! More information is provided in the previous blog posted on Dec. 7th! ~*
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1197051300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1197051300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1197051300/tpod.html Fri, 07 Dec 2007 13:53:27 -0500 The adventure...

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Paarl, South Africa

Everyone don't worry I am no longer allergic to Africa... all it took was a cortisone shot in my butt... and yeah no more allergies!!!

But that's not what we are here to talk about.

Tis' the season to be Jolly... Fa La La La Laaa La La La La!!!

In the spirit of Christmas Sarah and I wish everyone an unbelievable Christmas season filled with Joy and Love... and the 90 degree heat... beaches... and a wonderful time!!!! (hahaha)

It's in this season that we really cherish being around family and even though we are 13,300 kilometers (1km = .64 miles sorry we've been away so long I forgot what a mile is... oh yeah and for everyone from Chicago who measures distances in time from the Loop = 147.8 hours driving as the crow flies)

Sorry... so even though we are kinda far away... we really want everyone to know that we are there in spirit and we wish everybody a Merry Christmas

So in the non-commercialized version of the season and in the spirit of giving love (more than just presents) we wanted to celebrate Christmas in a very special way

"A Nederburg Christmas"

We have set up a donation page connected to our Travel Pod website. We are planning on celebrating a Nederburg Christmas with the students. Now we know that it is impossible to give every student a Christmas present... though we would love to... we wanted to open up the possibility to anyone who may want to have the opportunity to help bring a touch of the Christmas spirit to the students here. We have 1440 pairs of eyes that pierce your heart just to receive attention, 7200 fingers that reach out to hug you, and 720 kids that didn't know the last verse of Jingle Bells, and in the end the idea is not to hand out 720 pencils... (Though thank you Nancy we are 120 closer...I mean Mrs.L/Mom)... but maybe help out providing some resources to help these children grow.

Monetary donations will not be given to Nederburg, rather any donation will go towards supplies and resources needed at the school that Sarah and I will purchase. We also have implemented a Donation Wishes... option so that if there is something that if anyone has a specific wish for their donation we would be happy to oblige your wishes.

The Donation link can be found on the welcome page:
www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/basa1126/basa2007/tpod.html

If the link does not work at the top of where it says "The adventure..." you'll see 3 buttons: welcome page, entries, & guest book, and if you go over to the left hand side of the page you'll see a button that says Support My Travels. From there you have to click make a donation in the first window, and then donate in the second window. The Donation page is operated through Pay Pal... and any money donated will go to a Special Account for Nederburg that Sarah set up.

Now if anyone finds this difficult and/or prefers not to send money via the internet...you can just right a check out to Sarah E. Leffring or Daniel J. Stanton Jr. and then send the check to Sarah's parents and they'll deposit the money into our account.

Harvey & Nancy Leffring
15230 St. Andrews Dr
Orland Park, IL 60462

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts and more importantly the community of Nederburg says THANK YOU for your unconditional love and support! Enjoy some pictures of Nederburgers on their last few days of school!

We wish you all the Merriest Christmas...and enjoy the next couple of blogs!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1194624420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1194624420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1194624420/tpod.html Sat, 17 Nov 2007 17:00:12 -0500 The adventure...

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Cape Town, South Africa

So Africa.... It's been so long since our last blog that I don't know where to begin... but I think between Sarah and I we should be able to get everything all together!

Of course then to begin

Quiaa Moraa! (Good day in Afrikaans!! my new language to learn)

So we have crazy stories that started from the moment we landed...and we should say that most of these stories were perpetuated by our preparation for this trip to SA... or our lack there of (Patagonian holidays really make packing seem unadventurous). Lets just say our lesson learned was don't make plans with friends of friend of friends and have a copy of you exit ticket on you when you land in South Africa.... We will explain why: so we didn't sleep on the plane... They had great movies and Sarah's new found game CHESS... jet lagged on a 7 hour flight and 5 hour time change, we walked into a customs ordeal due to our lack of sufficient proof of an exit ticket... but we made it through and our visa is till Jan 20th....Anyways the person who came to pick us up, Gershom (the friend of a friend of a friend) was waiting and we pilled into a van and headed towards Cape Town... and then we turned left and started heading away... (We thought we were suppose to be IN Cape Town... not near but hey no worries)

At about this point in time Sarah and I had completely adapted the ideology that "Where ever He wants us... that's where we will be," a fly by the seat of your paints mentality guided by the Man upstairs... Cape Town or not it was going to be an adventure.

We were staying at the YWAM missionary base. Anyone who knows YWAM (Youth with a Mission) probably knows they are a great missionary group that trains people to be missionaries and then uses them in outreaches all over the world. Well this YWAM base was set up as a dormitory and school and was being used by people who paid about 5 grand to take their Disciple Training School (DTS) and were preparing to be missionaries; Generally nice people. The base was nuzzled in a little suburb beach town composed of decently well off people who were of the sleepy beach town nature. We were blessed with a great view of Mountain and a Bay with some nice ocean sounds to sleep too!! We crammed our overly packed and extremely burdening suit cases (4... full of wine, presents and way too much clothes), back packs, guitar case, and computer cases into my room and started on with our new Adventure in South Africa.

The plan was to rent a car and head to the NATIONS to NATIONS conference in Worcester (pronounced "Voosta") which had been billed to us as bringing "...nations to different nations and uniting to bring Jesus to the NATIONS..." It took all but 30 minutes for the car idea to fall apart when price sky rocketed from the predicted 50 dollars to 50 dollars a day for the whole week, plus petrol, plus the USD$ 1000 they freeze on the credit card, and this was with Sarah and I fronting the bill for everything!  And the car idea was dropped quickly for the R$ 18 train ride = USD$ 3, the only down side was that driving only takes 1 hour and a half and the train was 5 hours. Still a bit jet lagged we opted to leave the following day and headed out to get some dinner. Now, this was our Argentine appetite kicking in... dinner at 9:30pm, but in a sleepy beach town they thought other wise.

And I think this is a great place to begin the story of Dan's encounter with a truly foreign language... The first time I realized that our world had been flipped a little upside down was when I heard Afrikaans. Actually, the first time I heard Afrikaans was on our fore mentioned jet lagged 9:30 pm walk through the absolute ghost town that was Munizberg at night time. (Again...major culture shock from Argentina where restaurants don't until 9PM) After a disappointing adventure that lead only to a 7/11 and some chips for dinner, Sarah and I happened to walk past a homeless man speaking gibberish to us. Naturally I responded with, "lo siento señor, no tenemos plata" (Spanish). Sarah laughed at me and reminded me that he probably doesn't speak Spanish. So as I kindly told him sorry we don't have any money he responded with a very unusual request, mustering up what I thought was the only English he could find the man said, "buy a donkey," so I thought... wait what!?!?!... Why should I buy him a donkey?... I can understand if he wants change, but to ask to buy you a donkey?!?!... Why would want to buy a donkey?... does he have a farm... so I told him, " I'm not going to buy you a donkey, I'm sorry." At this point Sarah is holding on to me to keep form falling over laughing. Then wiping the tears out of her eyes she started to pull herself out of the fit of laughter she had fallen into to tell me that "baaie dankie" pronounced "buy a donkey" means Thank you very much in Afrikaans.... Yes I know... I'm an idiot!

The next morning was tranquil... I think we both slept till about 1 pm which was only 8am Buenos Aires time but we were on the slow path to adjustment. The train was a bit of an interesting ride, it opened our eyes to truly poor 3rd world public transportation system which since then we have been advised not to take unless in a large group... Not to worry we headed off with Gershom who picked us up and his roommate Nicholas and we caught the hour long train into Cape Town. I was ecstatic to finally see "The most Beautiful City in the world," however we never left the train station. So I jumped all over my second idea: to try real AFRICAN food. This intention was a little misunderstood, see I was thinking SOUTH African food...and our African friends thought I meant Bushman food... the next thing I know I'm eating Pap (a corn meal mash that was in a ball and had the consistency somewhere between cold mashed potatoes and bread dough) and a bowl of vegetable stew (which apparently didn't mean vegetables but assorted randomness of things I didn't want to know!). Eating in true African style, with your hands, you took some pap, slopped up some stew, tore off a piece of something, and then asked what you ate later. Luckily coming for Argentina we were not that surprised... Cow skin, Cow Stomach, Cow tongue, and something they said was meat.... All happened to be things we had seen before and heck I'll always try anything twice.

So we hopped back on the train for our 4 hours haul out to Worcester to this amazing conference, however shortly after arriving we both kind of looked up at the sky and said... really here... this is where you want us?!?!?!?!

So to be nice we'll say that everyone there had a great idea for what this conference should be... they were all passionate people about their beliefs and they really believed in their purpose... However they came off a bit like a "cult"... I can't be very politically correct on this so I should say it was just weird... a weird "culty" meeting.

Sarah and I walked into a room not filled with the NATIONS per say but rather with about 100 people... and thankfully we arrived just in time to see the recap video of the previous 2 days. The video started great: singing, dancing, talking, praying, motivational speaking....typical youth meeting until the surprise tangent into some of the more "extreme" sides of Christianity... the laying of hands, shaking, speaking in tongues, crying, yelling, convulsing and this continued for a while... little did we know that the rest of the night was being tailored toward the same type emotionally driven activity. Sarah and I are all about people practicing what they believe but that was up until they started forcing us to believe the same thing. We were extremely out of our comfort zone and "healing" really was not going to make it any better no matter what they told us Colossians said... Sarah and I looked at each other and asked... where are we?????

Now this was all compounded with a complete and total confusion over our purpose amongst all of this, a strong feeling was growing inside the both of us that we should be somewhere else. This along with Gershom who had some people skills issues that drove us a bit crazy (just wouldn't leave us alone... let me drink my coffee in peace man). We decided that didn't fit in with YWAM, we were not in a DTS, we didn't want to help them... we wanted to help Africans!

Now we are very accepting, but they crossed the line when they started pressing their beliefs on us and pressing their hands on us... so we ditched, went to the mall, called some of Sarah's contacts, and we left... (also a good excuse was to go get some medicine for Dan and his allergies he has developed here in Africa... the doctor has diagnosed him with "allergy eyes" and he has hay fever!)

A couple of interesting things were learned during this
1. Flying by the seat of you pants sometimes takes time to unfold
2. After not having peanut butter for 10 months, it was great to get PB back... until it became the only thing missionaries (Sarah and I) ate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a week.
3. God has a sense of Humor... sometimes we do silly things to praise him... SMILE GOD!!!
4. Sometime you are put in a place to meet people... and you thank God for that opportunity

So we met Joe and Katie on the train ride home from Worcester... and we just so happened to spend the rest of the weekend with them. Friday night after a nap, made necessary by a 4 am train ride home, we headed to a beautiful beach and walked all afternoon. Saturday we rented a car and went to visit the hot spots of Cape Town: We took a cable car to Table Mountain, had lunch at the Waterfront, and went to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope...

Highlights on the day are also to many to mention, but the day started out a bit gloomy with thick grey clouds covering the mountain almost killing our plans to see the top, but rather than panic we decided to wait it out since most things here tend to just work themselves out at their own pace... they call it "African Time." So we went for lunch at the Waterfront for only our second non PB&J meal since Argentina. The Seals and sunny skies decided to join our double date and we ate waiting for the sun to burn off the haze. After lunch we headed up to the top of Table Mountain for one of the most precious views of Cape Town ever... next time we are there we plan on hiking up it!

Finally we ended what had been the most perfect day with a trip down to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope. Apparently Baboons live there... Baboons like food, but their most favorite thing to do is sit in the road and stop you car!!! Had we had more time I probably would have spent all my time with them and would have done something stupid resulting in a baboon attack but due to lack of time and my voice of reason (Sarah) I didn't get a lot of time to play with the baboons! We arrived at the park about 45 minutes before closing and with just enough time to see some amazing sun set pictures that I can't believe we took. As we left the park we ran into some ostriches, more baboons and made our way to a small beach town to watch the sunset. We had dinner at the Salty Sea Dog and enjoyed the last moments of a wonderful day. We just wanted to say thank you to Joe and Katie and God bless with the rest of their travels... Have fun in Brazil!!

Paarl, South Africa... Salvation!!!

We left Munizberg on Sunday with our cumbersome luggage and took off for Paarl. I guess I can say I never understood why Sarah wanted to come back here, but for those of you that know and everyone else I recommend that you get to know this place... its just beautiful. We are staying at a Bed & Breakfast which used to be an old slave plantation... it is Dutch mansion form the 1800s sitting in front of a plumb orchard overlooking the Drakenstien Mountains to the east that glow a bright red as the sunsets over Paarl mountain to the west. Its basically back to the surreal life that we had experienced in Ireland as we traveled around. Originally we were staying in the Guest house, but with an empty nest Magriet moved us into her house and adopted us as part of the family. Her hospitality has been unbelievable since the moment we arrived and has blessed us with more than we could ever ask for. The Van der Speks have basically taken us in for free while Sarah and I try to at least pay for our meals. To check out where we are here is their website http://kleinvredenburgguesthouse.look4.co.za/

Monday (October 29) we started school at Nederburg primary which is grades 1-7 and has about 800 kids from area, mostly poor colored kids whose parents have basically been impoverished first by Apartheid and now by the lack of economic mobility. We teach 4-7th grade kids since they start learning English in 3rd grade and have basically been filling in for teachers and helping students with Math, Reading, and Computers along with the occasional kick ball game... Red Rover... and Heads up Seven up!!! Now to say that we are "teaching" is a stretch... the 4th and 5th graders have trouble with 2 digit multiplication i.e. 34x12... and most have a difficulty reading in English and some barely read in Afrikaans... the computers... well the kids just play snake and with the painting program unless I make them work with math and typing. This has been our Monday through Friday... we wake up to and excellent breakfast of fruit and yogurt, toast, eggs, sausage, bacon, mushroom, juice and coffee, and we are out the door around 8 am and home by 3 for an afternoon nap and a complete lack of responsibility. Between 8 and 3 Sarah and I take a crash course in cultural norms, accepted behaviors, and an overall frustration with what we consider right and wrong...acceptable and not acceptable

Basically we have done a Quantum Leap into a world that is much like living in the states during the late 60s and 70s. Paarl area is scarred by racial prejudice and economic imbalance, oppression and manipulation, hope backed by a complete mistrust for everyone that is not like you... and best of all its always someone else's fault.

We live in an old white area... juxtaposed with the colored school we teach at. The students come in from decrepit homes built when the government forced the people out of the white area and into the slums. These areas called townships filled with "bungalows" a pretty name for the tin shacks the people live in are where most of our students come from.. Nederburg is the stereotypical under-resourced school with teachers who struggle to make do with what they have fighting against a system that really does little to help them; its cliché, but its everywhere.

On the white side, I went for a run past beautiful homes, Land rovers, and back-yard in ground pools. It is as drastic as it sounds; from Dutch mansions to African squalor just by crossing a river half a mile away from each other. At first I believe I was mad at the system, the commie (that's for you Mr. L) inside me wanted to blame the Apartheid and Globalization for the economic slavery that these people now face, but even when you look at the white schools they suffer the same problems as the colored schools, however that is when the stereotypes start to play their part in this story. White schools are backed by the parents who support their children morally and with their higher economic freedom; the white parents tend to pick up the slack in funding for the schools... they play an active roll in the educational process at school and at home

At Nederburg the situation is opposite. Parents look to the teachers to play Parent, Guardian, and Role Model for these kids...a role all too big for any one person to take on by themselves. The result is a breakdown in what I would consider social norms. These children are left to fend for themselves as their parents either work 13 hours days on farms or spend most of the day intoxicated leaving the kids to run a muck. Most of these kids have chosen role models from mainstream American pop icons like 50 cent and Eminem and spend most their time emulating their "gangster" image and total disrespect for authority which only results because the are just starving for love, attention, acceptance, acknowledgement, appreciation...freedom. In the end none of that attention ever comes in a positive form... the kids act out, misbehave, and receive all the negative attention that they can take as substitute.

This plays an interesting role in the aspect of teaching, having been brought up in a world of positive reinforcement and a "you can be all you can be" mentality it was a shock to see kids slapped, hit with rulers, sticks, spanked. It's been 3 weeks now since we started teaching at Nederburg, and Sarah and I struggle with, "what we've become." It's to say when in Rome... do as the Romans, but spanking kids is just something I hate to do... On the opposite side if you don't play authoritarian role like a catholic nun in a class room of 40 kids that barely speak English, how do you control them? The teachers here firmly believe in slapping... every teacher has their own personal stick. They slap palms for wrong answers, slap butts for bad behavior, and when a class is really out of control... they send them outside to yard work all day.

It took about 7 days in class for the kids to "break" me. I realized that earning respect from them wasn't going to come from handing out pencils to the kids who did the best in class. While we teach there is a constant struggle for attention from Sarah and me in any from, so we give little rewards to the kids who excel and we try to challenge them while not losing the attention of the other 35 kids. Still the kids who misbehave push us to our limit. Most of the time they are testing us, trying to see what they can get away with, talking to friend in Afrikaans, antagonizing other children, disrupting class... the usual kids things...plus we have the added benefit of summer starting, days getting warmer, and only 2 weeks left in school; the kids could careless. I started sending kids in the hall for some sessions of wall sits and push-ups. I thought its better than slapping them and they can still receive a little discipline, but they still test us... never really learning a lesson and Sarah and I really struggling to get the point across. Though they have it better with us that with their real teachers; kids come back from the hallways crying from the whooping they got from their teacher, but still they didn't learn anything...all of them go right back to being disruptive. Everyday I see myself move closer and closer to the disciplinary model the Nederburg teachers give as an example, and it becomes scary.

In the end I think Sarah and I, both, wonder how this situation developed, and whether or not to conform or try to hold strong without the kids tearing you and the classroom apart. The most obvious answer we are given is just to blame them as a "race"... that's what the Whites do. The racism is thick...if you ask people we live with, most things go wrong because a Colored or Black person was probably doing the job. The Stereotypes we use are universal, most of the time I think we have magically stumbled into a Mississippi cotton framer's home circa 1965 as they preach how the world may have been better if the south would have one; or how the Apartheid really was a good idea on paper overlooking the genocidal atrocities that were taking place while it was in practice. On the other side of the river it tends to be just as bad. Parents waiting to pick their kids up after school to tell Sarah and me to give them money. These are the parents... looking for their handouts from the "Rich American" assuming we should empty our pockets. It was after I saw their parents that began to understand the mind set of the kids and I began to feel worse about yelling at them. I think of the "parents" that they have or don't have and you feel sorry...you think they don't know any better... and sadly they don't. Finally there are the teachers... who truly believe in some tough love. They say, "You've got to punish them..." or "I was hit as a kid and I turned out alright," so it's just accepted. In this profession you have to love it or you would never last as I'm sure all you teachers out there can vouch for that, nonetheless you can see the job wear at them as well.

I spoke with one 5th grade teacher about substitutes, because when a teacher doesn't come to school the kids just go without a teacher all day. He complained about how no one wants to come in and work for just a day and if they did come there is barely any money to pay them for their services. So I asked him if when he retires in 6 years, if he would ever come back to Nederburg and substitute and I was shocked to get an all resounding, "Never... I would never come back once I'm done teaching." That was that... a very I paid my time, I did what I needed to do; first to complain... last to help out.

There is another side to this as well. Every once in a while we get through to one or two of them. I think Sarah and I, both, have picked our favorites that we want to be role models for and help lift them out of the cycle they are stuck in. Sarah has Jaydene who is a little 3rd grader... smartest little girl, she won an award for a poem she wrote we have it on video it's so cute. Anyways Sarah looks after her while I try to give my man Rowanne the positive attention he needs. He is a little pistol as my dad would say... (I think in the states 90% of these kids would be on riddilin). Rowanne the little punk wants to be the gangster that he is... always on the spot with a wise crack, constantly pushing my buttons, but once in a while you get through to him and see how smart he is. You see in their eyes that if you can just give them that positive influential love they need they might believe they can make it out of the mess they are in. So we walk the tight rope between tough love and being walked all over. We come home with our throats hoarse and in need of some Tylenol.

I do have to say that last week I was sick and ended up staying home on Friday to catch up on some sleep. In the end I felt bad. I wanted to be at school, I wanted to be there helping, trying to make a difference. Sarah ended up picking me up to attend an after school Brie (aka Barabque) Nederburg was having to raise some money, and when all the kids showed up I could see I was missed... that through it all they really appreciate what we are doing. The week before, Sarah was sick as well and stayed home from school on Friday (crazy African colds we've never had before), I came home with 65 letters to Sarah wishing that she feels better and demanding that she come back to school on Monday. These are the reasons we come back everyday. It's easy to walk into a world and point out what is different and what is wrong... so I thought I would just end the reflection there because there is a whole lot of good waiting to pour out of all of these kids... they just need someone to push them!

On Tuesdays after school Sarah and I head to Mbequeni (mmmbequeni is how it's pronounced), the poorest of the townships. Its an area in all most complete desolation, shacks are made of wood, gangs rule the streets, most people, if they work, spend their time working the vineyards to make enough money to buy wine to drink the night away. In this township there is an AIDS orphanage run by a lady named Pracilla. She is HIV positive and has been for almost 11 years now. She runs a home that provides beds for 40 children and 3 meals a day for about 100 children (she goes through 10 loaves of bread a day!) Most of her children fall into 3 categories, some were born HIV positive and their parents died from AIDS, other lost their parents to AIDS but are not infected, and the third group are kids who were raped or come from a bad home. So we go on Tuesdays to play with the kids... we taught them Duck Duck Goose, Heads up Seven up, they sing us songs about living with HIV, and play rugby mainly with Dan (Sarah takes the little girls). This is by far one of my favorite times of the week. I've never met a more humbled, content, appreciative, and eager group of children in my life. These kids have grown up in a positive environment while living with a disease that they know will kill them, or will kill their parents. So we play with them... we show them pictures of glaciers... tell them stories of traveling... color pictures... and play rugby... and in that short hour or two hours that we spend with them we come home on a high almost wishing we could have given them more.

This is Sarah dropping in her two sense this time...we decided that in this blog we needed to share and reflect on what we are doing so that everyone could have a better understanding about Nederburg and about South Africa. I have a little different perspective than Dan... partly because this is my third time here and it's not so "new" to me. I had a better idea of what to expect and what was needed from us. The hardest thing for both of us is the discipline. This is the first time I've ever really had to discipline or be put in a situation where I was the disciplinary. These children expect a "rough" beating when they misbehave. It's what they are use to... so when Dan and I don't they think they're getting away with things. (hence why Dan invented wall sits and push up time) I use the stick to hit the table when they're all talking and so far that has worked (but we'll see if it lasts).

But we can't get caught up in the discipline... we have to remind ourselves why we are here. We are here to be a light to these children, to the community. We're not here to give out our money but our TIME and our LOVE! These children each day scream our names as we enter, as we walk through the halls, when we are outside at interval, at the end of the day they wait to play with us for the hour (school gets out at 2 but the teachers can't leave till 3). I don't have enough fingers and toes to count how many times I hear "Sarah" throughout the day! It's incredible how many of these kids remember me. Just the other day there was a high school crowd that came back to see me. They said word on the street is "Sarah is back" and then they want to know where everyone else is!!!

It's hard not to come back to these kids... their smiles, their hugs, high fives are everything!!! And then you get the older kids... kids who are now 15, 16 years old and were at Nederburg for my first visit!! I feel awful because some I don't remember and some I do... it's always good to see those you once reached out too and helped. Knowing that our presence before has made such an impact on these children and they make such an impact on us... it's hard to stay away. The school year is coming to an end and many children will go without food during their 6 week summer holiday. In school children whose family can't provide food are on a food plan and are fed everyday... only when school is in session. So there are many children who would rather not have a summer holiday and be in school all year long because that means food! It's a culture your heart breaks for and you wish you could just snap your fingers and everything would be okay, but unfortunately that's not how life works.

I think this is where we will end, there is still a lot we could both talk about but I'm sure we lost half of you by now.

Thank you for everyone who made it this far... we had a lot to say ... a lot to tell... and a lot more to come!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1193863380/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1193863380/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1193863380/tpod.html Fri, 02 Nov 2007 09:08:45 -0400 The adventure...

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Buenos Aires, Argentina

So we arrived from Ushuaia at 12:09AM on Thursday!! For our last 4 days in BsAs we were staying at our friends Pat and Josh's apartment. Thursday night they were leaving for Puerto Madryn (our first stop on the trip) for a long weekend, so we would have their apartment to ourselves... but we only had one night with them to say "good bye". So exhausted from traveling for 17 days we arrived to their house had a glass of wine and the boys played play station and Sarah went to bed!!!

Thursday consisted of a GERGOUS Buenos Aires day... lots of sleeping and a trip to the post office to pick up Dan's birthday package from the Leffring's. Then we spent the rest of the day with the boys before they took off for their trip!

Friday was a day of errands... and the culmination of our beings as Argentines... this was the day when we crossed over to the "darkside" and we became a Chanta... we had a lot to do: get the last of our payment from our institute, sell Dan's broken computer...

Sarah and Dan's Chanta story:

We went to a "galleria" for computers- their version of a strip mall- and went from one store to another trying to sell the computer and either a) they didn't by computers or b) they said no way in hell!! This computer was on its last leg... it had trouble turning on, the screen was cracked and often just went gray, it was infested with viruses, and Dan had recently dropped it from the height of about one meter and the main panel was cracked .... BAD!!, But all of a sudden...one guy came walking out of the store, tapped Dan on the shoulder and asked if we were selling and then he took Dan to a back room and gave him $100 dollars and $80 pesos for his computer (so in total a $150ish USD)... and Dan came back and said let's go and we booked out of there as fast as we could with a little extra pocket change!!!

Friday evening we spent at Dan's student's Rodrigo's house (Rodrigo if you are reading... te extrano hermano nos vemos de vuelta) to watch Argentina beat France in Rugby and claim 3rd place in the World Cup!! We headed home early because Saturday was going to be a late night... we spent the day enjoy the sun and doing laundry and packing...

Saturday night we went to Dan's Student's Augusto's house for a little pot luck dinner with him, his wife, and our friends!!! We all brought a dish to share, sat out on his BEAUTIFUL terrace and eat, drank, and shared stories together. Then he insisted we show pictures about our trip and tell everyone to go there!!! It was a bitter sweet goodbye but it was also PERFECT!!!

Sunday came WAY to fast and WAY to easy... we finished packing in the morning, walked around to some fairs, took our last Argentina shower and then headed to the airport!!!! And we're on our way to AFRICA!!!!!!!!!!! New stories and adventures to come!!! Argentina was an amazing country but more so an amazing experience for us. We learned so much about ourselves, us as a couple, about the country, but more so about the people and their way of life.... New cultures, new understandings!!! Unforgettable memories to say the least

VAMOS VAMOS ARGENTINA
VAMOS VAMOS A GANAR
ESTE BANDA , QUILOMBRIERA
NO TE DEJES, NO TE DEJES DE ALENTAR!!!

AGUANTE BOCA

ES PARA VOS...
ES PARA VOS....
RODRIGO LA GALLINA
PUTA QUE LA PUTA QUE TE PARIO
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1193540400/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1193540400/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1193540400/tpod.html Wed, 31 Oct 2007 12:54:01 -0400 The adventure...

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Ushuaia, Argentina

So after a 6 hour delay in the airport in El Calafate (where they "raped" you in food prices....) we were on the plane to Ushuaia... the length of the plane ride was 55 minutes. That's right... we waited 6 hours for a 55 minute plane ride.

But we finally made it to Ushuaia, a.k.a The End of the World. We stayed at probably one of the most fun hostels on the whole trip. On Monday morning the other couple in our room convinced us that it would be a good idea to rent a car, it just so happened to be a national holiday in Argentina and maybe one of the worst decisions we have ever made (to try to rent a car in Argentina that is)... they said they'd be there at 11:00 and after Dan chose to keep waiting for the car.... they finally arrived at 1ish and by that point we had missed the last shuttle for the day to the national park.... When the man finally arrived he gave us some shpeal about what had happened... blah blah blah. Well the only discount they would give us for the delay would be 10 pesos (less than 3 dollars). At this point it was 1:40ish and he had to call in approval for a North American Credit Card and this approval could take anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour. So Sarah at this point was ready to bite his head off (and just about did) and she just took the papers tore them up and we left.

But as bad of a start our first day was... we ended up getting in a taxi and having him take us the base of the mountain to climb to the glacier.... And the fun began!!! We walked up some side paths... found a river and then decided that because we were short on time we would take the "ski lift" (or here the glacier lift) up to the top so we could have time to walk around... only to find out that after we make it to the "top" we still had another kilometer and a half or so of a hike up the mountain... a very STEEP mountain to say the least. But we said... hey we've made it this far why stop now. So we started climbing and climbing, each time Ushuaia kept getting fainter and fainter, while the mountain grew steeper and steeper, the weather was creeping in making the view cloudier and cloudier, and Sarah's getting colder and colder.... But it was okay because we were 2 unprepared Yankees climbing a mountain without gloves and it didn't look that far... So we stop for lunch and so Sarah could put on her snow pants, which was a smart move in the end cause after lunch we continued to trek and there was no more blue sky... just gray clouds and we climbed for another 10 minutes or so and then it began to snow... at this point we're on our hands and knees climbing a mountain covered in snow and ice. And we made it to what we thought was pretty darn close to the top and we couldn't see more than 3 feet in front of us and Sarah is pretty scared... and Dan was fine... minus the scared part he couldn't show Sarah... So we thought we had gone far enough and we turn around and slide back down on our butts.... It's a good think Sarah but those pants on!!!!!! (Dan was using the rain protector from the bag cause he didn't have snow paints... again good planning.

After one heck of a drop... this fresh snow caused the "frozen" snow on top to melt more or less, plus we had the added advantage of not being able to see our tracks or in front of us... so obviously we would take steps and plunge hip high into the snow... completely stuck... and face first into the ground in front of us.... so we tried to stick to sliding down, falling down, slipping and really just having a good old time... note the pictures of us however we failed capture the buddy system of interlocked arms that helped stop some of the falling!!!!

Of course once we make it down the hard part and we look back and its BLUE skies... the clouds had disappeared... although we still couldn't see the town. So we continued our hike down because now at this point the Glacier lift was closed and EVERYONE was gone and there were no taxis. Well having not paid much attention to the ride up... we thought lets just walk back to town... so we trekked about winding down the mountain on our way back to town. After about 30 minutes of walking down WINDY roads and a couple of bad decisions to cut through the forest to the avoid walking around the curves as the street S-ed its way down the mountain ( Dan put us in more danger than saved us time)... we finally get a taxi who took us back to our hostel.

We were beat and made some pasta and crashed for the night. Day 2 was going to be busy... we wanted to make up for not going to the park the day before due to the rental car... along with that we signed up to take a boat tour of the Begal Canal. So we hopped in the transfer to and from the National Park, Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire). It's named Tierra del Fuego because of the fires the Indians made keep warm were so large that the early sailors here called it land of fire or Tierra Fuego.... Well we were driving and driving (Catching up on Greys Anatomy on Dan's Ipod) and then we get stopped and we're sitting there for a VERY long time and we couldn't figure out what was going on and well then our driver tells us that he forgot his license in his other pants pocket so the police won't let him continue on so we have to wait for another transfer bus that has room for us to take us to the park... GREAT what else could possibly go wrong in Ushuaia for us.... Good thing this was the end of the trip otherwise it could have "burden" the rest....

Anyways we finally make it to the park and embarked on what was suppose to be a 3 hour coastal hike... only about ½ of it was on the coast and it was just unbelievably beautiful... the wild animals, the scenery all just breath taking!!! And well the last ½ was defiantly not on the coast but inland and the trek only took us about 1.5 hours and we were walking incredibly slow... well because our driver forgot his license the new driver could only drop us off at one spot and the hike did not take us to "the end of the world" so our driver came back and picked us up with his license and drove us to the End of the World (He didn't have a choice after the stunt he pulled earlier) because we didn't have enough time to walk it due to our boat tour in the afternoon. But we did make it to the end of Route 3, took some pictures and then headed back to town to catch the boat tour!!!

The boat tour of the Begal Canal was 5 hours long and took us out to far enough to see the penguins... so on the boat ride we got to watch part of March of the Penguins... if you haven't seen that movie... RENT IT!!!!... honestly by this time I've seen so many penguins... but the views were amazing and you are at the end of the WORLD!!!

We saw some birds that look just like Penguins and the only difference between them and Penguins is that they can fly!!! We saw some sea lions and seals. Saw the "fake" End of the World lighthouse... the reason that it's fake is because it looks IDENTICAL to the real one... but the actual light house is some 250K further south and the reason you know it's not real besides that it that there is no sign that says THE END OF THE WORLD LIGHTHOUSE....

After the lighthouse came an hour and a half boat ride out to the penguins... there we saw the waddle, swim, and play. Only the males where there and they are waiting for the female to arrive starting around now for the mating season!!! We then had a 2 hour boat ride back to Ushuaia and that completed our day 2 and we were tired!!!!

Our last day in Patagonia we went on a 4x4 excursion through the forest of Ushuaia. It was just insane. Right before we started the driver told the passenger and the people sitting in the front row (we along with another girl were in the back... a.ka. the trunk with seats) to put all their belongings either in the back or on their laps because we will go into some deep waters and the water/mud will come into the car and then their bags would get wet. And he was right!!! Sometimes we were in water that came up almost to the window! At one point it was a very long and steep climb and we were gaining some speed and then all of the sudden we turned a corner went down hill fast and right into the LAKE... that's right he drove us right into the lake... actually the lake is what stopped us. We didn't go all the way in but the front half of the car was submerged under water. At the end of the 4x4 we had an Asado (a barbeque) probably one of the best we've had in Argentina!!! Great choripan and great chimmichuri!!!

After the 4x4 we came back to the hostel... showered and watch it begin to SNOW... now mind you we had a flight back to BsAs in roughly 4 hours. So as the snow continued, and picked up and started to collect on the ground Sarah became rather nervous that our flight would either be delayed and/or cancelled! But Ushuaia is use to the snow and that type of weather and our flight was only late by 20 minutes!!!

And that was the end of our Patagonia trip!!! We'll post one more blog from Argentina about our last few days in Buenos Aires before departing for Africa!!!

Chua for now!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1192844280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1192844280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1192844280/tpod.html Sat, 20 Oct 2007 00:54:27 -0400 The adventure...

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El Calafate, Argentina

So the saying always goes that Ireland has greens that not even Crayola has invented! I think that's good for them... why waste time on green... what is green... envy, money, witches... and I think right there are 3 of 7 deadly sins! So I say down with Green!... Plus I can't see the color green since I'm colorblind, and I'm pretty sure it's not that cool! (Red/Green- however this trip being colorblind was a benefit, I'll explain later)

So hurray for BLUE!

Now let's talk here folks... we've all seen blue, all through out our lives... its actually kind of normal, but Sarah and I are not talking about blue... We are talking about BLUE

I mean sky to ocean blue, crazy ice cream color to depression blue, from Carolina to Picasso blue... a blue that you stare into and become mesmerized by the sheer chill it sets in your veins, a blue that fades to and almost onyx black... blues god hide from us so that when we first see them, they take you breath away.

So this is how it was...we began this journey back in Bariloche, where we trekked 14 hours to Comodoro Rividavia, then dove south further past the barren wastelands... the vast emptiness; hours of watching the clouds so far off in the distance that they curved around the earth in a distant horizon. Every 300 Km there was a gas station... that may have gas, it depended, and they were happy to sell you week old food at next years inflation price, and so we continued further.

After missing our connecting bus in Rio Gallegos, we partnered up with some wandering travelers, one of them Pablo, who ended up staying with us for a couple days and we hope he made it back to Bariloche okay... poor guy had to pick up a car and drive the 22 hours back on his own.

Really to waste your time with El Calafate (it's a tiny little town that survives by glacier tourism... wonderful life... very chill...very hippy!)

Perito Moreno Glacier

The Glacier occupies the same amount of space as the entire city of Buenos Aires and more, and this endless mass of shifting ice is the only glacier that is in complete equilibrium... meaning it is making as much ice as it is loosing

Our last minute change of heart that ended up being the best decision ever, was to change our plans from an hours trek on the ice to a 4 hours trek on the ice... GREATEST move ever!

The hike set out over land for about and hour moving towards the center of the glacier... honestly to find more stable ground... this is a tour group it's not Man vs. Wild or anything. Half way there the entire group stripped off half of our clothes due to shear body heat build-up... you think glacier... you think freezing... apparently that's only in the center of the glacier and if you are a piece of ice, the rest of the time is like being on land and trekking... Even Sarah was hot!

Now I want to address the idea of crampons... this ice picks for your feet idea... they are a god send, once you learn how to use them... your foot sticks and does not move... its pretty much a plant and go philosophy; no slipping, sliding, or second guessing... you just walk!

We started walking and I can only express my thoughts through the pictures, and really the picture doesn't do it justice... as some would say...that's why we went there... so enjoy!

The trip ended with a very special twist to a wonderful day... as we left the glacier and waved to it behind us... we toasted, we toasted 12 year old whisky on 1000 year old ice to an experience that was truly remarkable!

On a note: This actually was Man vs. Wild! Why you may ask, well Bear Grill my fearless hero that his is, was actually stuck on the same Glacier I was, alone trying to fend for his life and teach the good people of the world how to eat glacier bugs that live in the ice and how to stay warm within the crevasses. He did this with our tour group in his camera frame and 30 over people there helping him around... and ya know what drove me nuts...he didn't even sleep on the ice... nor did he what to take the same boat back to our WARM, COZY, and definitely not on glacier... hostels.

Second note... I never new the taste of water before we drank millennia old melted water for the purest source ever...

EL Chalten

Well this was a spur of the moment decision as well... possibly provoked by the whisky and a wonderful walk... we jumped on a bus, well not jumped... it was 6:00 am... it was more a stumble onto a bus and we wandered off into the wilderness... about 4 hours worth of wilderness, but I doubt either of us really remember it was so early and wait did I say tiered ... well we were tired!

We arrived at el Chalten at 11:00am dropped our bags off at the hostel and ran off into the trekking capital of Argentina. This area is the home to the famous Cerro Fitz Roy and hundreds of breath taking views, lakes, and trails.

So we planned our trek to walk out as far as possible and then just turn around and head back to make it home before we run out of daylight.

Little did it occur to us that if the sun set at 8pm we would walk out 4 hours out and 4 hours back... that made for 8 hours of walking after 8 hours of walking the day before and a 6 am wake up. Nonetheless we set off and trekked into the most picturesque parts of Patagonia... crossed unbelievable rivers... and reached views of Fitz Roy that you can not imagine... only till you turn around...and peer down form 1500 meters and everything just...............

Then... there was the walk back... where I discovered that being color blind was the best thing in the world... so we were walking through these forests that were filled with what I call red and Sarah calls brown trees... you can discover for yourself through the pics but this rusty red trees pouring over colors of oranges, yellows, and reds were some of the most beautiful trees I've ever seen. What a wonderful gift of colorblindness!!!!

After our walk back we had a wonderful dinner, watched Riquelime score 2 goals against Chile, we fought with some really rude French ladies for the kitchen, and got ready for our 5:30 AM bus back to El Calafate...

Enjoy... a picture is worth a thousand words... and sometimes the experience takes your breath away!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1192153200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1192153200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/basa1126/basa2007/1192153200/tpod.html Thu, 11 Oct 2007 19:05:13 -0400 The adventure...

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San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina

So we made it to Bariloche a day early with some new friends and big old mountains waiting our arrival... In the end we were in Bariloche for a couple of extra days thanks you the ever reliable sales staff here in Argentina...

Thursday

So upon arriving on Thursday, refreshed from our up-grade to a coche cama type bus....

Time out:

To clarify, in Argentina you can travel 3 ways: Plane (for rich people), boat (if there's water), and by Bus. We effectively chose bus for our travels and as I am typing this blog we are on consecutive hour # 22 for this bus trip from Bariloche to El Calafate (this also needs to be added to the 20 hours from BA to Puerto Madryn and the 14 hours from Puerto Madryn to Bariloche = 56 and counting folks...be jealous)! But I digress, so on this bus trip you have 3 options available to you Semi-Cama (bit more room than an airplane seat and you recline a bit past a 45 degrees, cold coffee and a stop every 300 kilometers to buy food), Coche-Cama ( your own arm rest, 30 degree incline, leg support, pillow, blanket, and 3 meals plus drinks included!!!!), and Super-Cama (You travel better here than in an airplane... you have your own queen size bed, personal assistant, and all that stuff you imagine executive class passengers get on planes: the Champaign, hot towels, needless to say Sarah and I have only heard rumors about this!)

Resume Game: (ready break!)

So we came from BA to Puerto Madryn in a Semi-Cama and I "slept" on the floor, and then we traveled from Puerto Madryn to Bariloche in a Semi-Cama where we "slept" legs stretched across the isle with a seat divider stabbing me in the rib cage. However half way to Bariloche we got upgraded by chance to Coche-Cama... and we had room and splendor and breakfast... so immediately upon arriving we started upgrading our tickets for our next trip to Coche-Cama... only to find out that we had been swindled back in BA when we bought our tickets. In a crazy attempt to quickly move across the country we were sold a ticket to "Fitz Roy" (Sarah and I thought it was the mountain where we wanted to trek) when really it's a town no where near where we wanted to be... all plans were then tossed and we "re-created" our plan... and now I'm on a bus for 30 hours....but it was for the better!?!?!?!

Finally...!!!!!! We got to the Hostel (Good thing we came a day early and staying a day late)... We spent most of Thursday gathering info, spending money, gathering more info... planning to spend more money...and so it is a vacation, always more expensive than you planned!!!

Friday ....

.... Was the bomb!!! So we went to Villa La Angostura, a tiny little pueblo on the other side of the national park... if anyone remembers pictures of the Leffring's (Harvey, Nancy, mom, dad... I know bad joke, but what ever I'm on a bus) apartment in B.A., this was a town made to look the same... all wood cottage buildings, nothing bigger than 2 stories, all fishing cottages...

Time out:

Did we mention the Movie are absolutely awful in Semi-Cama...

Resume: (Ready Break!)

So the big attraction to Villa La Angostura is el Bosque de las Arrayanes ( forest of the Arrayanes) which is the forest that Disney used for the inspiration in both Bambi and Snow White, they actually copied Snow White's house directly... The Forest had a 12Km hike that takes about 4 hours one way, so we took a boat out to one end and hiked back. The hike was kinda easy and we brought along a friend who didn't really understand what we were doing... Sarah and I wanted a work out...power hike... Dafna wanted to stroll ( this was also the same girl who half through tells us that it took her and her friends 5:30 hours to do an estimated 1hr long trek...it was bad communication about intentions but she survived!!)

At that same half way point it started to snow... Sarah and I (especially me having the advantage of being colorblind... in forests it's an advantage) got to trek amongst gold colored Arrayanes trees and giant Coihue trees along a mountain lake ... it was great!

As we everyday that followed we went home, I drank mate, watched sports, and we both fell asleep shortly... the days were really long 7am wake-up and out hike and excursions until 7pm then asleep by 11, in other words exhausted

Saturday

This was a huge day... Our big excursion was to go rafting in Bariloche... water was fridged, it was our coldest day there, and we were completely unprepared. Sarah was not happy that we were only suppose to wear a wet suit and a thin jacket on a 40 degree day in 40 degree water... she did not do well at all, we had a little freak out, but she gained her composure and decided just to smite me and curse the day I brought her on this rafting adventure...but that was in the beginning...once everyone in the boat lost feeling of their fingers and toes (effectively 5 min after entering the boat).... It was amazing. We went through some class 3 and 4 rapids... only lost one person who was later recovered... and before we new it, we had to immediately evacuate the boat to avoid floating down the Rio Manso into Chile!!!

Afterwards we had an asado with some Gauchos and talked Spanish politics with a large group of guys from Spain, and effectively collaborated with the whole group to copy the pictures from the overly priced CD of the trip. After some emails were exchanged Sarah and I now have places to stay in Bilbao and Madrid!!

Sunday

So Sunday was excellent because Sarah got to do some of her sight seeing... and then I made her watch sports all day!!! We took the Teleferico (her idea) up Cerro (Mt.) Otto to see some spectacular views and we had coffee in a rotating café on top of the mountain. A little upset that the trekking was closed due to snow so we set out to llao llao Resort and Golf Course.( pronounced shau shau) and walked around and looked at what it was like to be RICH!!! Cheapest room 300 dollars a night in low season!

All of a sudden it was 2 pm and time for the SUPER-CLASSICO which was a theme all day... first it was archrivals River Plate vs. Boca Juniors (one of the top sporting events to see in your life time). However it was heart breaking and kind of predictable that Boca lost, but 2 to 0 hurt! Next up Argentina vs. Scotland in the Rugby world cup, Vamos PUMAS! Siga Campeon!!!! So Argentina is now in the Semi's against South Africa (Ironic indeed!!!) and England, the returning champ, plays France, who lost to Argentina but just upset #1 ranked New Zealand... so all this being proof that 25 min of Sports Center and its like being back in the U.S.

And Finally... As expected by yours truly, the CHICAGO BEARS defeated the Green Bay Packers... and Sarah stopped talking to me for the rest of the night... ICING on the CAKE!!! RE-MATCH 12/23.... GO PACKERS!!!!!!!!! (Sarah's only insert for the blog!!!)

Monday

We went out to see a Volcano and the highest mountain in the lakes region of Argentina, Cerro Tronador. Tronador is on the border between Argentina and Chile. It's covered by 7 glaciers, on which broke away from the mountain hundreds of years ago and due to the fall it is now black. There are huge mountains of dirt that were displaced by the fall of the glacier... it's pretty amazing. The whole time we were there we heard many "avalanches" but we were never able to see one... they were all on the other side; although it was pretty neat to here!!!

Overall it was a nice day, I got attacked by birds (Sarah missed a great foto op), petted some horses, so over all a good day and great pictures!


Bariloche was a GREAT town with great scenery. We're off to El Calafate to see better and bigger glaciers and to do some more trekking!!! Enjoy the pictures and the video of us rafting!!! (videos are at the end of the pictures...)
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