oh africa...

Not much to report...

Its been a looooong couple of days. We left Outshoorn Wednesday and bused to Port Elizabeth (8 hours). We spent the night at a hostel where we were the only guests aside from and old half naked man that didn't speak. We got in late and went straight to bed. I had a cat sleeping on my feet all night... and periodically woke to a light rumbling when the cat would wake to sratch furiously at its fleas. I have felt itchy ever since...

The next day we bused through the Eastern Cape all the way to the Kwazulu-natal province (14 hours) which is where we are now. This was our bus driver: "I'll be your bus driver today. I hope you enjoy the ride. We will be going very very fast on very windy roads. If you have any complaints... tell someone else. I dont want to hear that shit." Later on.... " we are now driving through the poorest part of south africa, expect anything, shit happens here every damn day. Lots of shit." ..... "Look, dead bodies. I told you." I was expecting to see a human dead body...it was just a dog that had starved. Phew! Our bus driver then pointed out a large rock that was the "execution rock." He described it as a rock that people were shoved off of for punishment and that it was a "black thing... you know, like a tribal thing. (He was Indian). Believe it or not, you can still find the bones of dead bodies at the base." Then he pointed out the direction of a deep valley hidden by mountains that you can only reach by foot. That is apparently where most of the weed is grown. The officials know about it but can only get to it by helicopter and they spray it with chemicals to kill the crops. According to our driver, that is the weed that makes you cough like crazy. Lastly, he pointed out Nelson Mandelas house that he had constructed to be an exact replica of the last place he was held prisoner. Apparently he really liked that place.

Last night we slept in Durban and left in the morning for St. Lucia, which is where we are now until Monday. Finally we get to do something other than sit on a bus. And finally we are somewhere with more wildlife. We'll be kayaking and looking for birds and crocs and hippos tomorrow...

Our tent is pitched next to a sign that reads: Watch for Hippos at night.

That ended up being more than I thought I'd write... thats all for now!