South African Holidays (Jan 13/03)

Helllllllooooo!!! And Happy 2003!!!!!!!

I really missed everyone but fortunately managed to have a wonderfully hot, beach-filled Christmas in the company of Canadians. Rather than going on and on like I usually do, I've got a couple of lists for you...

TOP 10 *BEST* THINGS ABOUT SOUTH AFRICA

10. Beaches!!! Wow wow wow... what a country.. what scenery.. The water is pretty warm north on the coast but gets icy in Capetown. The combination of mountains, ocean, and sun is just sublime...

9. Christmas Eve at Buccaneers Backpackers in Cintsa (outside of East London). This was the first time I've ever stayed in a hostel.. first time in a dorm even! But the place was filled with funky travellers, was really cheap, had great food, and amazing scenery (winner of our best beach award). Christmas Eve dinner was hosted for 85 people in the main house (and they had squash! no turkey, but amazing ham) with a party afterwards in the bar... and I believe I called a few family members that night.. (sniff! miss you all!)

8. Poolside braai for Christmas Day dinner - braai is south african for bbq - (aka bring on the MEAT!). I got a gift of cookies & a cool skydiving card from Amrita - she and Bryan are the Canadians I hooked up with. Boxing Day consisted of a horseback ride on the beach - and I didn't even get allergic!

7. Foam party in Jeffrey's Bay - the ultimate surfin' resort town. We stayed at a hostel on the beach, shopped for surfer clothes, scoped out the scene, and ended up at a foam party of all things. Luckily we were able to wash off in the ocean (where Amrita decided to throw her purse in the ocean) and continue dancing elsewhere!

6. Dome-done-properly bar in Knysna. In other words, a bar with several different bars inside, each with its own atmosphere - great decor, supreme dj's, and - hold your breath - the first decent rock show I've seen in Africa! I also checked in their internet cafe section to discover that Kenyans were actually voting for a decent president - yes, Kibaki won! Ended up fixing the bar's computer and getting a few free drinks for Bryan and myself!!

5. Discovering CANE SPIRIT - the magical alcohol that tastes like NOTHING! weeee!!!!! :)

4. Staying in the central party district in Capetown - Long Street Backpackers. When Bryan and I emerged from the bar at dawn (after I got felt up something fierce by a bald woman!!) we stumbled right onto our rental car, looked up, and realized we were home. Oh, the convenience. Of course then Bryan decided to feed the street's population of kids... so we walked forever, bought mouldy bread by accident, and talked to countless street wanderers before getting home around 8am!

3. Staying at Amrita's friends' loft - top floor of a factory building in Capetown, so large that 5 of us moved in and you could hardly even notice! (we had met up with two of Amrita's friends from Edmonton, Cathy & Corrie, who have been travelling around east/southern Africa for the past 4 months) The greatest thing in the warehouse was the office rollie chair (yes, I'm foreshadowing the next list..!)

2. Celebrating New Year's with another wonderful meat-filled braai and then heading for the beach to greet the new year with a full cooler (mmmm Malibu) and a bunch of friendly people from all over. I had met up with Andries (the UN security guy from Loki) in Hermanus and crashed his New Year's party :)

1. Riding a Yamaha YZF along the magnificent coastline from Capetown to Hermanus on the best roads I've seen in my life. Yah - a 600cc sportbike - finally! And I didn't even crash.

TOP 5 *WORST* THINGS ABOUT SOUTH AFRICA

5. Had an accident in the rental car - turned a really tight corner in Capetown and scraped the back left passenger door and pulled off the bumper. Oops, never had an accident before, especially on a rental... wait a second, we did manage to smash the window in that Navigator I rented - but as I recall, my esteemed little brother was driving that time!! At least I knew how to deal with the rental agency... (still haven't found out the cost of the mishap but I expect it to be around US$300 split between 3 of us)

4. Didn't exactly have an accident on the bike but did manage to let it slowly tip over while at a standstill - it was just a bit too heavy for me to keep upright once it started going over. Scratched the beautiful red paint. Even though this is on the "worst" list, they didn't charge me at all since the damage was so slight - yay!!

3. Broke my glasses, left my hiking boots in Cintsa, forgot a newly purchased shirt in Capetown, and got my wicked MEC sleeping bag stolen on the way back to Nbi.

2. For some reason, even though it's beautiful, modern, and has the best roads I've had the pleasure of driving on in my life, I just didn't get a good sense in SA... Maybe that's why my karma seems to be out of whack and I experienced such bad luck - but it's like I felt the presence of the countless peoples on whose backs this great apartheid nation was constructed. Capetown is one of the most consumerist cities I've seen... such overwhelming affluence built alongside poverty-stricken shantytowns that exist without benefit of water, sanitation, roads, electricity... so if this is 10 years later, how I would have hated it before..! Now this could be my own prejudice, but I felt I had an eerie, guilty, karmic debt lingering over me the whole time...

1. And to top it all off - I BROKE MY LEG!!! I went on the hike called SUICIDE GORGE (should have been my first clue!) as I told you about before, where you have to hike forever up and down steep mountain cliffs and jump into river pools from various heights (up to 20m!). It went exceptionally well (I thought!) and I did all of the jumps, etc. (weee!) After the last jump around 3pm, however, I slipped on a boulder (probably due to my lack of hiking boots!) and injured my ankle quite severely - in fact I couldn't walk anymore!

We prepared to spend the night, but luckily, after a couple of hours, a bunch of rugby players came by and proceeded to carry me on their backs over boulders, through rivers, and up a steep mountain path for about 3 hours... We reached the top of the gorge around 9pm (dark!) and eventually met up with a stretcher in which I was carried for another couple of hours to reach the car at midnight. Besides which, I was having some sort of allergic reaction and my eyes were streaming & couldn't open! In fact I think that ended up to be the worst day of my life!! (but I did enjoy the hike before I couldn't walk anymore!!)

So, because I assumed that it was sprained, I stayed in the warehouse in Capetown on Friday resting (rolling around on the office chair), drove from Capetown to Joburg on Sat (like driving Hfx-Mtl), flew to Nbi on Sun (sleeping bag didn't make it), worked on Mon, taught an IT workshop for 30 people on Tue-Wed (which went surprisingly well!), then finally had an opportunity to go to the doctor on Thursday. Got an x-ray.... yep, it's broken!!! So now I'm in a cast - after having walked on it for a full week!!! Sheesh. I'll be in a cast for another 5 weeks.. stuck in my 3rd floor apt!

Now is that the killer or what???

So I hope your new year started better than mine - but don't worry, I'm in fine spirits (the painkillers are good!! ;) plus I got to talk to my mummy the day after I got the cast put on which made it all better :) Such is life - at least it's not as bad as Dad's ankle - which he broke exactly two years ago to the day that I broke my leg! I'm now entertaining visitors and phone calls, experimenting with cooking, reading Ghandi's autobiography, and studying Kiswahili grammar... no going out for me for a while! Luckily I also brought back some South African wine.. ;) Back to work today though....

OH! A few more things to add to the best list....
- thanks so much for the cards from Donna, Oma, and CUSO!! If there were any others I haven't received 'em yet... and if you sent a package, you might want to track it at www.mailposte.ca.
- Got prezzies just last Friday from V, Jake, and Mikey T - thanks for tracking down the Charlie A'Court CD!!! And I especially liked the HERMIONE doll and chocolate orange, V!!!!!
- Was really happy that Oma called the other day - it was so great to hear from you all the way from Big Baddeck!!! (Mum prints the emails and sends to her :)
- Shan called Friday too - maybe I should break my leg more often - heheh :) Thanks for sending the books!! & get well soon!
- also wondering about GD & sonJa... haven't heard from you folks in a while! miss you & squishes!!

Pictures to follow - let me know if you didn't receive 'em but would like to (or vice versa!!)

Have a good one,
miss you all....
juliet victor

Copyright Johanna Voerman Khisa, 2002-03. Reprinting or reposting without permission is prohibited.