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Published: April 17th 2008
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(Apologies if this isn’t a totally correct order of events, it was 7 months ago!)
So, bright and early the next morning (6:00am to be precise,) we found ourselves packed and boarding the baz bus again. We had flicked through our coast to coast guide and decided that the Jungle Monkey at a little town called Port St Johns looked nice. Little did we know…
The journey was much the same as usual; luckily we had grabbed the back seat again so Bethan spread out and slept most of the way. At roughly 2:30pm we arrived at The Jungle Monkey.
I think I fell in love with the place the moment we arrived. The bus pulled up at the bottom of the steps, and it was like a tropical paradise walking up to the building. There were trees and plants everywhere, and as we got closer and saw the swimming pool and the backpackers itself, I thought it was just beautiful. It was by far the nicest backpackers we’d stayed in so far, and I couldn’t wait to see the rest.
We walked into the bar and were greeted by a very enthusiastic girl named Shina, who wasted no time in getting us drinking at the bar as soon as we’d dumped out bags in the dormitory. We had been placed in the big dorm which consisted of 10 beds (5 bunks) and our own bathroom with 2 showers. We soon discovered however, that it was impossible to actually have both showers going at the same time without getting either frozen or scalded - generally you would get a combination of both as you would both be twiddling and trying to get a decent temperature.
Anyways, so we put down our bags and headed towards the bar to keep Shina company. This is where I made my first big mistake - I opened a tab. We spent a pleasant hour having a few drinks and familiarising ourselves with the place and all the activities on offer. We then discussed the idea of heading into the town itself and having a look around. We were all for it and preparing to leave, when it clouded over. This dampened our enthusiasm somewhat, and in the end the call of the bar was just too strong. That first ‘welcome’ night turned out to be an indication of the weeks that followed.
The next morning we were woken by a man with dreadlocks that I vaguely remembered meeting the night before. He seemed far too chirpy for 8:00 in the morning, and when he asked if we were going hiking today I thought he must be crazy. Bethan being Bethan and also hung over, just swore and went back to sleep.
I however began to think about the idea, and came to the conclusion that it could be fun. I spoke to Alex who was also now awake, and we decided to give it a shot.
So we got dressed as quietly as possible, me in lovely jeans, black pumps, and a nice top with a shrug. God was that a mistake or what! I hadn’t quite realised that just because it was a bit chilly that early in the morning, the sun would rise and rise and get hotter and hotter and eventually frazzle anyone who was stupid enough to wear jeans - whilst hiking! But, blissfully unaware of this at that point, I grabbed a couple of bottles of water from the bar and off we went. We walked through a local village where we clearly stood out as tourists which was slightly unnerving. But then we spied some monkeys and broke into exclaims of delight as they ran up the trees as far away from US as possible. Reached the gate at the bottom of the hill on which the lighthouse is situated, and panicked for a couple of minutes when we believed Richard when he told us they were locked. Squeezed through the opening at the side of the gate, ventured up the hill (attempting to roll up my jeans at the same time) and stopped to admire the view of the sun sparkling on the sea not far below us. Had as discussion about sharks and then got chivvied onwards and upwards again. Then all of a sudden, I got a horrible pain on the top of my foot! I screamed and the others asked what was wrong. I explained and they laughed and carried on. Then it happened again, so I looked down to discover the cause of this pain. There was no obvious mark, but when I looked closer I could see that me feet were surrounded by ants. As I watched, one of them jumped on my foot and I felt pain again. Of course I was so shocked, I flicked my foot to get it off (what would you do?!) and my black pump proceeded to soar over the edge of the hill. I watched it as in a slow motion film, praying that it wouldn’t go over - but no such luck. Alex was in stitches as I sheepishly called Richard and informed him what had happened. He gave me a strange look and disappeared over the edge, returning triumphantly with shoe in hand. We started off again, me trying desperately to avoid the ants and wondering whether I am just a woos who can’t handle a little ant. Then Alex felt it too! Not that I would wish pain on anyone but at least now there were two of us walking as if on hot coals in order to escape being bitten and I didn’t look like quite such a twit.
Upwards we continued, getting hotter and hotter (bloody jeans!) until finally…. We reached the lighthouse! Rather disappointing actually, although the view was lovely. So we congratulated ourselves on getting there, and rested a while. I stole Richards guiding stick and Alex decided to tell me I looked like some sort of cartoon witch who I didn’t have a clue about (Apparently it’s a big programme in Germany).
All too soon we were made to go again, continuing up the mountain which got steeper and steeper. My not so practical for hiking shoes kept slipping on the muddy parts, and for one terrifying moment I actually fell as I attempted to climb the side. Luckily I fell on a flat bit. Once almost at the top, Richard suddenly stopped and shouted Whale! We all looked out to the sea and saw….nothing. We were all convinced he’d seen nothing as we stood there for 5 minutes trying to spot it again. But it never appeared and eventually we moved on. As we hit the top we were relieved that the next part was pretty flat. We walked through someone’s farmyard and aaahed at the dogs while Richard stopped for a chat, before getting to the bit everyone was looking forward to - going down! Everyone that is, except me. The ground was muddy and slippery and I had no grip whatsoever. I basically ended up using Richards stick for support and skiing down, which was actually extremely fun although my shoes and jeans were now absolutely filthy. But hey, in order to reach the flat again, it was well worth it. At the bottom was a proper road that ran through a town. Brilliant we thought, until we realised that it sloped upwards. Richard motivated us unfit lot with the promise of ice cold drinks at a bar soon.
So we trudged on, and on, and on…. Until we got to the small bar that I would visit quite a lot over the next few weeks for sundowners. We grabbed drinks as fast as possible, and the guys began a pool game with each other. Alex also played after a while, and majorly beat the guy she was against, girl power! When we were all refreshed it was time to go again. The walk did not seem anywhere near as bad now, and we were all eager to get to the beach. At the top of the road we were travelling on, we stopped to purchase some trinkets from an African woman sat on the side of the road. I got a pretty purple necklace. We then began our descent to the beach, which turned out to be far easier than the last one due to the lack of slipperiness. Stepping onto the sand seemed like a great achievement for me. I couldn’t remember ever hiking before, let alone in heat like that. Alex and I wandered along the beach while the guys sped on ahead and Richard called back to the Jungle Monkey for a lift back. He said it wouldn’t be long and we decided to start walking back along the road and meet them. 10 minutes later we decided that we'd made the wrong decision. Eventually the buggy and Papa G appeared round the corner and we gratefully jumped in.
Arriving back at the Monkey triumphantly, the majority of us ran to the restaurant to order food before the kitchen shut for the afternoon. The rest of the day was spent chilling out, drinking, eating, and chatting.
That night we had a few drinks to commiserate Alex’s leaving the following day, and turned in reasonably early, looking forward to the next day’s adventures….
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