Page 2 of Avila Travel Blog Posts


Africa » Lesotho » Semonkong July 13th 2010

July 13th Nicio and I had arranged the day before to get a ride with one of the owners of the Semonkong Lodge to Maseru, where we would get a bus to Johannesburg, South Africa. The lodge does two weekly trips to Maseru to get supplies and even though they were already planning on going they still charged us. Things like this kind of upset me, seeing how he basically was paid to have us give him conversation, I mean it’s not like he was going out of his way to give us a ride, he was heading that way anyways!! Anyways, the drive was great as you can already imagine from the previous posts and pictures. I was able to get a couple photos on the way to Maseru and the border of Lesotho and ... read more
2-Football pitch in Lesotho
3-Pitstop in Lesotho
4-Crammed in a minibus to JoBurg

Africa » Lesotho » Semonkong July 12th 2010

July 12th In the morning our plans for the four of us to hang out together kinda disappeared, we had all planned to goto the Maletsuyane Falls together. But due to the weather our new friend wouldn’t be able to abseil, it had begun to snow and that makes the conditions to dangerous to try rappeling down nearly 200 meters. So with the snow falling Nicio and I went for a walk, it had began just as a walk to the top of the nearby mountain pass to see the plateau before us. On the way to the top we met a young Basotho boy named Joseph, he was 11 years old and walking home from school, it had been canceled due to the weather as well. We walked and talked with him and he explained ... read more
2-Our dorm room
3-Nicio in the snow
4-Lots of snow above the lodge

Africa » Lesotho » Semonkong July 11th 2010

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 ... read more
2-Nicio trying his luck with his thumb
3-Morning chores
4-Intersection where we waited 3 hours for a bus

Africa » Lesotho » Roma July 9th 2010

July 9th I wasn’t looking forward to a sixteen hour bus ride, but it had to be done if I wanted to visit Lesotho. So after my last tea and toast at Kieron’s I called a cab to pick me up and take me to the Ashanti lodge and meet up with Nicio. We spent about an hour at the hostel using the internet and coming up with a game plan for our tour of Lesotho before calling a taxi to take us down to the bus station. Our bus was supposed to take off at about 5:30 but didn’t up leaving until an hour later or so. The trip was pretty comfortable for the most part but the temperature on the bus fluctuated so much that one hour we would be freezing and the next ... read more
2-Nicio and I ready for a Basotho Adventure
3-Entering Lesotho
4-Crossing Maseru Bridge into Lesotho


July 8th Time does fly when you’re having a good time, doesn’t it?? It’s been nearly a month now since I took the time to write about my travels and the guilt is starting to set in. I’ll do my best to recall the events that happened on the 8th of July, 2010. The night before I had made plans with Nicio, Fabio, and Lucas to head with them to Cape Point, also known as the Cape of Good Hope. The Brazilians found a cheap place to rent a car and after they had acquired four wheels they came to Mowbray to pick me up. By the time we set out on the road it was afternoon and the sun was shining on what looked to be a beautiful day. We followed the same route as ... read more
2-Monkey butt
3-Lunch time
4-Cape Point

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Cape Town July 7th 2010

July 7th The next day I hitched a ride with Kieron to the Central Business District of Cape Town, with my plan to meet up with Nicio and his friends and go to the top of Table Mountain. My South African friend dropped me off a mile or two below the cable car station and I walked the rest of the way. Firstly I went through some nice neighborhoods and a nice park on my way up. After making my way through some really nice areas I faced a challenge to get to the cable car station in time to meet up with Nicio, Fabio and Lucas. Between me and the cable car station was a huge hill, I could either follow the road and go around it or I could go straight up it. I ... read more
2-Lion's Head Mountain
3-Macro, Table Mountain in the background
4-De Waal Park

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Cape Town July 6th 2010

July 6th The next morning was quite a sad one for Troy, Djuwi and Josh. They had been travelling together for quite some time and they had to say their goodbyes. Djuwi was to catch a plane back to Europe that afternoon from Cape Town, and since Phil and I were heading that way we gave her a ride. Troy and Josh headed back east to Jeffreys Bay and Port Elizabeth, eager to get to Durban to watch Spain play Germany in the semi finals of the World Cup. So we headed for Cape Town, Djuwi and I in the back of the truck. I had decided to leave Phil alone up front since Djuwi needed some company after leaving her loved one. I sympathized with her since I had been there and done that before. ... read more
2-After the mistimed jump photo
3-After another mistimed jump photo
4-The last attempt

Africa » South Africa » Eastern Cape July 4th 2010

July 4th Happy Fourth of July! Independence Day of the USA from South Africa! The day started off as it would have with African Trails, taking down a tent and packing everything into the truck. The plan was to get back to Cape Town and spend a few days there before heading to Lesotho, but that changed when I made a last minute decision to stay a couple days at Phil’s cottage cabin in Sedgefield, on the Garden Route. (Phil is a friend of Kieron’s and a nice guy that invited me and a couple other Americans to the lake cabin). The cabin itself is set back away from the highway and in a corner all to itself, it’s a really good secluded spot one would probably take his significant other to for a weekend. Pete ... read more
2-View from the dock
3-Troy, Djuwi, Phil and Josh chillin'
4-Boardgames!

Africa » South Africa » Eastern Cape » Jeffreys Bay July 1st 2010

July 1st-3rd (I’m a bit behind on my writing so I’ll condense a few days into one post) The day after saying goodbye to Luke, Hayley and Mike, another trip by car started. Kieron and a couple of his friends had tickets to the quarterfinal match between Holland and Brazil, so they needed to get to Port Elizabeth. They had invited me to go with them on the road trip, which was to be along the Garden Route, the southern coastline between Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. The drive was another great one, mountains that looked like teeth coming out of the earth were everywhere, surrounded by green pastures and farmland. Pete was our driver and with him was his lovely wife Carrie (hope I spelled that correctly). Since Pete and Kieron are avid surfers they ... read more
2-Football Pitch on the Garden Route of South Africa
3-The Garden Route
4-B e a u t i f u l, South Africa

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Simon's Town June 30th 2010

June 30th Okay so I skipped a few days in the blog but dear reader, you didn’t miss out on much. I got back from Pretoria and did my best impression of a couch potato at Kieron’s house. Football was the main agenda and watching the World Cup was my pass time. (Weather wasn’t so great, and that meant staying warm indoors beat spending money on “sight seeing” in the fog). Luke, Hayley and Mike had returned from Bloemfontein after watching England crash out of the tournament to Germany, so I met up with them on the 29th, and went out to watch some football with them. I ended up sleeping at Luke and Hayley's rental apartment and the next day we went out sight seeing since Mike had a rental car. We drove south of ... read more
2-Mike in the rear view mirror
3-Luke feeling like hell, me enjoying his misery (a little)
4-Simons Town and a South African military ship




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