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Published: August 21st 2010
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July 11th
Nicio and I woke up early to catch the bus to Semonkong at 9am, that’s what time we were told the bus would arrive to Roma. Two and a half hours later and various failed attempts at hitch hiking and the bus finally arrived. What was interesting was that it was a huge city bus, the kind you would see in Chicago, New York or Sioux Falls. That may sound normal to you dear reader, but here we were in the middle of Lesotho, a country dominated by huge mountains, cliffs and steep slopes. So you can imagine how surprised we were to jump on this bus after using so many micro buses in the days and weeks before!
Anyways, after getting over the surprise we got on our way to Semonkong. The drive was spectacular as you can see from the pictures, and from the
videos. It took us the better part of four hours to go a distance of maybe 200 kilometers. Up and down whinding mountains and through passes, at one point there was even ice on the road, which was a cause for concern. Nicio and I sat at the front of the
bus the whole time, there was really no other spot. So I made friends with the local bus driver’s assistant, I believe his name was Justice, that seemed to be a popular name in the area. We did our best to understand each other but it was a conversation laced mostly with smiles and nods of the head, nice none the less.
After getting through the mountains we ended up at Semonkong, a village on a plateau-esque mountain. It was surrounded by huge mountains on all sides, quite the sight to behold. Nicio and I had all our packs on and walked the mile from the bus station/central village (it doesn’t sound far, but with 25 pounds of gear it’s tiresome!) and headed for the Semonkong Lodge. We got our dorm room sorted out and if I remember correctly I took a nap for a bit.
In the early evening I headed with Nicio down to the lodge restaurant for some dinner. The food was a bit crap (don’t order chicken fried rice at the lodge!) but the company was tons better. Nicio and I met a couple Americans that were on business in Lesotho, and they had
a few days to kill so they came up to Semonkong. We sat around with them and drank wine and had good conversations about our travels. We also watched the final of the World Cup, which I was happy to see Spain win.
¡¡Felicitaciones a mis tios y tias de España!! ¡¡Campeones del MUNDO!!
After the celebrations the four of us headed back to the dorm to huddle around the fire, it may be surprising but I was actually shivering in my bones, in AFRICA! It wasn’t the first time though, there were some cold nights in Namibia, but this was a bit more of a “cold, cold”. We drank wine and chatted for a bit longer before we headed to bed, with a full day of activities planned for the next day.
Hope you enjoy the pics and vids, until next time, Pura Vida!!
-Brendan
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