Easi Falls Hike= 190809 blisters
Trip Start
Jan 03, 2008
1
81
84
Trip End
Ongoing
Coffee Bay,
Eastern Cape,
South Africa
Saturday, April 4, 2009
The people in this region were so friendly. They would hear the engine of our car and come running. They would wave, sing or shout. We very rarely passed any other vehicles because everyone walks. A common sight is women walking with huge buckets of water on their heads. I don't know how they do it. It was a great glimpse of how the real South Africa lives.
I stayed at a really cool hostel called the Coffee Shack. It is really laid back and located on a beautiful beach. At night, they have free fresh mussels and oysters. One night when I was there, they hosted a traditional potje dinner which was so delicious. The Buffalo Bar, which is located on the property, is a ton of fun. They have these Buffalo Rules that help get the party started. For example, if you are holding your beverage in your left hand and someone yells BUFFALO at you then you have to chug your drink.
Nelson Mandela's home
I sat on my left hand so I wouldn't do that.I decided to do the Easi Falls hike. It was described to me as being farely easy. It was not. It was so incredibly hard. First, we went to the orphanage. The kids were so cute. They were very self sufficient and did everything themselves. Next, we hiked up and down mountains for four hours. These mountains were SOOOO steep. Imagine being stuck on a stair climber for what feels like infinity. In between the mountains, we would have to cross through rivers by trying to jump from rock to rock. Due to my height, my legs don't do well in this sort of situation.
We finally made it to the vicinity of our destination. At this point, we had to swim for about 20 minutes. Everyone laughed when I packed a life jacket but they were all jealous when I was just floating along. Then we reached a point where we had to rock climb. It wasn't bad going up but it was really hard going back down. We eventually made it to the Easi Falls. It was beautiful. We had lunch there (toasted sandwiches and chocolate bars) and then had to hike back. In the end, I had blood blisters on my toes and the back of my heels had so many blisters. I kept trying to tell myself that it was worth it for the experience. I don't know if that is true though.
One good thing about the walk is that I was able to speak at length with our guides, Josef and Lilangwe. We talked about everything from politics to marriages. They informed me that it was still tradition for the man to pay 10 cows for a wife. This is a person's life savings and is equivalent to $50,000 USD. Both of the boys were not married because their family didn't have any cows. Lilongwe told me that he was sent to a missionary school in Johannesburg for his education. This is very rare for anyone in his village. He said that he felt out of place in the city but then he felt out of place when he got back home because he had experienced so much. He said that he will not pay for a wife. He will hope to find someone that is open minded and more modern in their approach to marriage. The whole idea of paying for a wife is that she is then indebted to taking care of her husband's every need. She cannot divorce him as a result. If she does, then her family has to give the cows back which they won't want to do. They also told me that many people are starting to ditch the ancient marriage traditions (for example: racing cows for 30 miles before the wedding begins) and are attempting to adopt more Western practices (Ex: white wedding dress and cake). I enjoyed talking to them and learning more about their culture. They were very receptive to questions which was really cool.
Overall, I wished I would have had more time at Coffee Bay.
