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Where the Indian and Atlantic meet
In between cape point and cape of good hope When we returned to Cape Town, we stayed at Big Blue Backpackers. It was more chill than Long Street Backpackers had been. We needed a break from the crazy nightlife. On the last full day we had the car, we invited a couple of people from the Netherlands to tag along, and headed south about an hour through Table Mountain National Park towards Cape Point. The drive was a lot like driving down pacific coast highway. The road went along the Atlantic side amongst sheer cliffs. We hiked up to Cape Point, which was an old lighthouse on the top of a small mountain. We then hiked for a few hours around the coast and made our way to the Cape of Good Hope. It was in the very southwest part of the park. Along the way, we encountered a few ostriches and some baboons.
The following day we returned the car. I spent some money getting it cleaned up, which ended up being worth it. They didn't notice a thing (there were some scratches), not even that one of the tires was a different brand. We made all the necessary preparations for our journey the following day. We purchased
a one way ticket on Greyhound for160 Rand (about 23 US) to Knysna (pronounced nyzna). It was about a 9 hour bus ride with all of the stops it made. We only spent one night in Knysna as we wanted to get to Plettenberg Bay a day before the time share was to start and get orientated. To get to Plett, we took a public taxi, which was like a hotel shuttle. It held about 13-15 people. They charged us 18R each and 18R for each of our bags, which is around 2.50 US. This taxi didn't leave until it filled up, so we waited a little while until enough people showed up before we took off for our 45 min ride to Plett.
When we got to Plett, we got a room at Nothando Backpackers Hostel for a night. There we met more Dutch people. One interesting fact that I learned from them was that they can understand Afrikaans. I didn't realize the language was so similar to Dutch. They told me that a lot of the Afrikaans words 'sound funny.' Another thing that I've figured out traveling around here is that people don't recognize our accent, which
I like. If I open my mouth around a European, they know instantly, but people who live here in South Africa don't seem to recognize the accent. More than once people have assumed we are Aussies. Since I've been on this trip, no one has given me a hard time for being American like I remember in Europe (except for one French girl). Say what you will about Obama, but since he has been elected, I'm finding the US to have a more respected presence in the international community, much more so than we used to. Many people are interested in how he is doing as President.
This week at the timeshare has been relaxing. We haven't done too much. Saturday night we went to a club called Spotlight. We were the only ones there with light skin. For the first few minutes we got a few looks, but once people realized we were there to have a good time, the they were really cool and a lot of fun. They played hip hop all night. It was a blast. Most of the week has been spent relaxing on the beach, swimming, working out, playing pool, ping pong, bingo
(I won free food twice), and cooking meals with our burner in the hotel room. It's been a great week to sit back and enjoy the amazing scenery here at Beacon Island. We are the only foreigners in this resort. Everyone else is from South Africa on holiday.
The food here has been great. I've had a lot of peri peri chicken. Peri peri sauce is similar to red chili sauce, and very spicy. Meat pies are also popular and very cheap. I usually have peppered steak. We also eat a lot of chakalaka sauce with pasta/noodles which is kind of like curry. I eat ostrich from time to time. It makes excellent jerky. The ostrich burgers are really, really good. They have some spice to them. I haven't tried Zebra yet but I plan to soon. A lot of the food here is also served with sweet chili sauce which is always a plus.
Tomorrow we are going to grab a taxi and head to Storm's River for a couple of nights. I couldn't get this close and skip the world's highest bungee jump (216 m) at Bloukrans River Bridge. After that we are going to continue
Nothando
crash pad for one night going North East onto the 'Sunshine Coast' and hit a couple of spots, such as Hogsback, Jeffrey's Bay, and Port Elizabeth. So far we have been traveling along the 'Garden Route.' After we get through the Sunshine Coast, we will probably move on to the 'Wild Coast.' That's when things should start to get interesting.
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Jeremy
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Looks like Justin found Jesus...
Looks like Justin found Jesus...