Can you imagine traveling to a new place as did the explorers to the New World..? expecting maybe a tribe of natives and stumbling upon a city of 100k people with agriculture, aquaculture and architecture to rival ones own civilization? I mean really... stop and think about how world altering this must have been. How humbling and frightening really. How many more of these foreigners were there after all? This day and age we feel unbelievably intrepid when we have ventured far enough to encounter "primitive societies", be they bands of desert nomads keeping alive ancient traditions in the Sahara, jungle tribes without electricity, etc. Shoot, anyone without an Ipod seems double-blink worthy. These cultures are viewed as industrially, technologically, and sometimes even theologically antiquated. As if time and god has forgotten these people, we surmise ... read more

Well, I had to leave my lovely walled palace eventually, and despite the wintery weather of 55 degrees or so, I slowly found myself in Cape Town. No more luxury, back to the basic, and cheapie for me. I am staying at the "Backpack" a self proclaimed luxury backpackers in Cape Town. All I can say is that it depends on the room and on the time of year. It is very cold here, and damp this time of year in Capetown, so the rooms, mine which had very little natural light, was also very damp and cold. It was also against a back staircase that was pounded up and down hundreds, no thousands of times day and night, people running up and down them skipping steps. I think my room was a large part of ... read more

After what seems like an eternity of living in either tents, huts, or sketchy hotels with mystery lumps in the bed, where you definitely didn't want to run barefoot across the floor, I was estatic to get into my room at the Peech Hotel in Johannesburg. Jo'burg is rife with tales of urban warfare and random crime and its enough to make anyone a lot wary. Because my main goal was to rest, really enjoy a nicely made meal, bed and shower, I had the hotel pick me up at the airport, and whisk me away. My driver (and I later found most drivers), was very chatty and told me all about the history of the different streets we were on as we drove through to the northern suburbs. The northern suburbs are where the rich ... read more

Let me just start by saying I've been white water rafting before. Several times actually, maybe half a dozen. Some meandering, some exhilerating, one with members of my family bailing their boat into mine. One recently with a family who was massively overweight, couldn't swim, and couldn't balance to save their lives. The dad fell overboard getting in the boat, and managed to fall out several other times without the aid of any whitewater. But I digress. You know you are not in Kansas (or Colorado) whitewater anymore when the rafting guides informs you that there will be four rescue kayakers with you to pick up the human detrius that gets knocked out of the raft. Its cold in the mornings in Zambia, and still chilly in the open aired safari vehicle that gets us to ... read more

Crossing borders is my favorite - there is nothing like watching the crossroads of 3rd world life, bureacracy, ferries, produce, products, businessmen, truckers and the odd little face of a tourist or two toting backpacks and looking out of place. Some scared, some harrassed looking, and some barely noticing that they aren't in Kansas anymore. There is always ample time to observe these myriad of things as the guantlet of forms and queues are processed and waited on, first on one side, then on the other. Enterprising vendors make use of the bored masses by offering cold cokes and native trinkets all outrageously priced, and even then, they want the bottle back! Before boarding the ferry, entertainment was provided by a gang of Botswanan men physically threatening a man whom I assumed to be Zambian with ... read more