Accidents & Voodoo in Cape Town

So after 19 days in a truck with 21 other people, we made it to Cape Town. We turned up to find dense fog and drizzle. It felt like home.

The last few days of the tour were fairly eventful. The sandboarding was frankly terrifying, although quite good once you reached the bottom of the dune. In typical fashion, I went over a "jump" (ridge of sand an inch high) on the last dune, battered my pathetic hand and rebroke the bone (5th metacarpal on the left hand for anyone who is interested, which I doubt). Staying in a tent, getting on and off a truck and dealing with a backpack with a broken hand has been a bit of an experience.

Ross went quadbiking instead. Rumour has it he started off like a geriatric but ended up screeching past everyone like a man possessed.

We also climbed a sand dune in time for the sunrise one morning, which was very impressive. I almost didn't make it to the top. Climbing sand dunes is the most exhausting thing I've ever done; even worse than the first time I went running (or half heartedly jogging) and wanted to die after the first minute.

We went on a walk in the desert with a man calling himself "Bushman" which was a bit strange since he isn't actually a Bushman. Anyway, he was very interesting. He would say something really profound about the different cultures and how westerners have destroyed the "ways of the Bushman", then turn on his heel and take off at a ridiculous speed up a sand dune while we all kind of trooped after him like kids on a school trip. He pretended to eat a live lizard at one point which seemed a bit odd. The walk was good though, if a bit hot and dry (surprising that, given we were in the desert).

In typical fashion, following the sand dune extravaganza, I was the only person bitten all over the legs by sandflies. I had these horrible blisters on my legs which looked like those fake boils you get to put on your face at Halloween. Ross was helpful: "keep your legs away from me, they make me feel sick" and "I think something's been impregnated in there".

We left the desert and made our way up the coast. We stopped at Fish River Canyon, the second biggest canyon in the world after the Grand Canyon. It was impressive. There was some special posing at the edge (not by me). When I finally get round to putting pictures up, you'll see Ross' attempt at Bruce Forsyth.

We also went to the Orange River where I chose not to canoe (not kayak - there's a difference you know) down white water rapids, which seemed sensible considering the sandboarding incident.

On the last day of the tour we went to a Township in Cape Town, where black people were forced to live during Apartheid. It was eye opening - the poverty is still really prominent. There was something a bit uncomfortable about us being shown into people's homes when they were asleep in bed / sitting watching TV. The kids surrounded us immediately and latched onto us individually. Ross' "child" was clearly the cool girl of around 9 who was wearing amazing pink sunglasses and had good hair. My child was a wee boy of around 3 who made faces and randomly baa-ed like a sheep. Anyway, the kids were great and chatted away. They wanted money, but the guides had said not to give them any as it creates begging habits.

We tried local beer which had been illegal at one time because it was 80% alcohol. It's now a tame 40% or something. It tasted a bit sour. Then we went to a traditional healer's shack. He was weirdly dressed a bit like an Eskimo. His "shop" was pitch black and had bits of animals and voodoo style objects hanging from the ceiling. One girl said she saw a human skeleton hanging on the wall, but I'm not sure if that was just hysteria. Few people will get this but if you've ever played the classic computer game Monkey Island, you'll be able to picture what this place was like. Sorry, geeky in-reference.

So the tour ended on Sunday. It was quite sad saying bye to everyone, although I think 3 weeks was the right amount of time. Since then, we've been wandering aimlessly round Cape Town. There are good markets with lots of jewellery and clothes - I'm now dressing a bit like a deranged hippy. Louise is coming to visit on Friday, so we're saving all the big tourist attractions until the weekend.

Food of the week: it has to just be chicken, because it was in the township & we were simply handed a plastic spoon (what's the point). So we ended up having to eat with our hands.

Quote of the week: me to various people following the sandfly bites / broken hand "these things come in threes". This was less than 12 hours before I slipped and fell over in a puddle of mud.

Bye.

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