Slapped by a fish

Right, so my last day in Port St. Johns I went to a childrens home where Brian, my american friend whos living here building the school, volunteers at. I bought a rugby ball and spent a few hours in the afternoon playing with them. Here I learn that Inyakile is the Xhosa name for the national bird of South Africa, so it became my new nickname, which I found extremely cool.

Anyways the next day I said goodbye to everyone working in the project and drove all the way to Cintsa, another town in the coast, about 4 hours away. On the way there I drove past Qunu, the village where Nelson Mandela was born and where he now lives. Also through Mthatha, a bigger town, very busy one, where he moved in as a kid and started working. It should be noted that this area, called the Transkei, is where most freedom fighters and major anti-apartheid activist hail from.

When I finally arrived in Cintsa, I went to my backpackers, called Buccaneers. Amazing place, is like a village, with dorms and rooms spaced out in bungalows and small houses over a hill overlooking a river, lake and cintsa beach in the Indian Ocean. Heres the view from my dorm.
This place is quite cool, a bunch of activities and quite a cool bar. The next 5 days I spent here chilling and swimming in the mornings, playing volleyball in the afternoon and going to the bar at night. Hung out with a German girl called Laura most of the time, since she.s staying there for a month, and some other very cool guys, an Italian, two English Brothers a Zimbabwean guy and a shitload of Dutch people hanging in the place. Occasionaly we would go to the market and get meat for braais.

Thursday I had my first and only surf lesson so far in my life and loved it. After a few tries I managed to get up on the board and later on in the day I rode waves for quite a while. Then, towrds the end of the day my knees were killing me and was quite tired, so I decided to have a couple of final tries and got one of the weirdest things happening to me. I was padling trying to ride a wave, when a fish jumped out of the water right in front of me and hit me right in the middle of the face. I had been hit with a fish before, just not BY a fish before. So after that I just decded to call it a day. Not a whole lot going on, days will be easy by the pool or beach and so, but still quite loved this place, even by not doing anything you have fun with the great staff and guests there. I would have definitely stayed longer if I hadnt ran out of time, so I decided to go to the Drakensberg for a few days.

The Drakensberg are South Africas highest mountains, going over 3,000 meters high, and form the border with Lesotho, there are awesome hiking trail and outstanding views, so I had to check this place out. So me and Laura, who decided to join me and Brian (who we would pick up in Mthatha) for 3 nights there. Drove most of the next day, about 10 hours to get to our backpackers, Amphithatre. Very nice place, with nice views and cool dorms. Had a few beers and passed out after all the driving.

The next day we drove to the central berg, next to Cathedral Peak to do a small 4 hour hike into Rainbow Gorge, where we decended into a rainforest, which we werent expecting, but still quite cool. The Drakensber is supposedly where Tolkien got his inspiration for writing the Lord of the Rings, and when you are there you can kinda see why.That night we got back and braaid for the last time while talking to a bunch of germans. The next morning we had a major hike with a guide to the top the Sentinel Peak, the Amphitheatre and to see the Tugela Falls. The hike took about 5 hours, covering over 12 km and a climb of about 500m next to some cliffs and at times descendind with the help of some shaky chain ladders, fun stuff. The Amphitheatre is an 8 km curved wall, next to the Maluti range, which is the border with Lesotho and one of the most outstanding views I have ever seen.
Also, from the top of the Amphitheatre, the Tugela Falls drop into the valley. The Falls are the 2nd highest i the world, with a total drop of 947 meters. Since the river is only just born a few kilometers away, theres ot much water, but is still pretty impressive. I absolutely loved the place. Had lunch by the falls and dipped a bit in the river before hking down and going back to the hostel. Had my final dinner and a few beers with the guys doing the hike with us.

Next morning just chilled for a while at the hostel, watching some rugby and said goodbye to Brian and Laura, who would take a bus back to Cinsta and Port St. Johns, and I drove to Joburg, where I woul board my plane home. On the way back, we had to stop for fuel in Puerto Rico, where we would stay for 3 hours, and arrvied very late in Atlanta, after 20 hours. I had to ran and cut lines to make it just in the nick of time into my plane for Mexico. Finally, after 25 hours sitting on planes, plus 5 hours driving to the airport, finally landed in Mexico, where I discovered my bag was not in the plane. Nightmare day.

Anyways, now Im back in Puebla, trying to figure out what to do next. The trip was truly amazing, worth every cent spent on it and will never be forgotten. Saw some amazing places, met outstanding people and gave me a new perspective of the world. I appreciate all of you reading this blog, and ill be back in a few days for some final thoughts and reflections on it. Hope you enjoyed it.

So, after an 8 hour drive I made it to Durban, there I stayed at my mate Nick's house, who I met in Cape Town, on the outskirts of Durban, very nice area, very 1st worldly. So as for that night we just chilled and talked for a bit and met his parents. The next day we would drive into Durban, South Africa's 3rd largest city, and we headed into uShaka, some sort of mall/water park/aquarium thingy. We ended up going into the water park, small but quite fun, allthough we had to fight off hordes of school kids, and into the aquarium, which is very nicely set up as a sunken ship and has quite a number of sharks and other cool stuff.

That day I got my first encounter with Durbanite food, which is very much like Indian with a few things special to it. Had something called bunny chow, which turned out to be really tasty, filling and kinda spicy, so works pretty good for me. The next couple of days involved going downtown to a club for a beach party, visiting the world cup stadium, smoking shisha or hubbly or hooka pipe or whatever you call it and watching a lot of rugby on TV, not bad at all for me.

It also included a day in Pietermaritzburg to see some of his college friends and go out with them. Good times in Durban.

Then, after 4 days of some home life, I drove south, along the coast to the Wild Coast. This was one of the poorest areas of South Africa during the Appartheid, and now is growing in tourism, specially amongst backpackers. This area is dotted by small Xhosa villeages and houses and has some of the most stunning views I,ve seen in my life. Driving through the area is a bit tricky but so worth it.

So I arrived into Port Saint Johns. Is a small place with a very cozy feel to it, friendly people and awesome landscape. Here I met a friend of mine that I worked with in North Carolina last summer. For the last 4 days I've been helping build a school for Xhosa people up a cliff next to town. I quite like the fact that I can help with something like this. Some people in the hostal live there and work a volunteers in some projects like these. Most of them suffer from Pondo fever, which is coming to PSJ, falling in love with the place and staying for quite some time. I could've gotten it if it werent for the strong medicin that my expiring visa turned out to be.Other than that I've been doing a few walks around the place, hiking to the beaches, and just chilling at the place, I'm really getting to love South Africa, too bad I've been turned out on my job hunting. Still have around 10 days to travel, so Ill enjoy them and still look for a job. Should have one or two more updates coming, specially since tomorrows im starting a few surfing classes, lol, should be fun.