Headed Home

After jumping off the highest bungy jump in the world, ziplining through the forrest, partying with 19 year olds from Port Elizabeth, getting rained out in Port St Johns, snowed out in North Drakensberg, and just well ignored in Jo'burg I am ready to get on an airplane. I by no means am ready to go home though. I would love to settle somewhere in Zim or Malawi for like 6 months and just chill. I have had an absolutely amazing time traveling. Sooo many wonderful stories and people to go along with them. I have made some lifelong friends from around the world and some from back home. It is bittersweet to think about leaving this amazing continent. On the one hand I will be back in the familiar at home but on the other I will be leaving so many new things that I fell in love with; the land, the people, the quiet and slow pace of things. It is so overwhelming to think about the pace that things go at back home. It isn't something that has ever been very good for me and I think I will need some time to adjust back into things and to find ways to slow down in such a fast paced environment. I have made a potential commitment to myself, if school schedule allows, to travel each summer for two months. I want to see so much more of the world. I learned so much about myself, my true self on this trip, and I want to continue that as much as I can.

I knew time would fly by but it hasn't really sunk in that I leave for the airport in a few hours. It is amazing how much I have seen and accomplished on this trip. I am absolutely exhausted and want to sleep for a week! Though I have been on the move quite a bit I have found time to get in a lot of reading and wow have I finished some amazing books. I am so happy to know that I will be able to continue with my relaxing for a little while when I get back as school doesn't start for at least a month and I go on another vacation with the family! Looking forward to that for sure. Maybe I can get some of my tan back that the freezing cold South African winter has faded away. Well, after 21 hours on two planes and a 3.5 hr lay over I will land in San Francisco. See you all in about 30 hours!!!!

Adrenaline junky gone wild!

So I've made it to South Africa, barely! lol I have fiunished my tour with the group. On our trip through Namibia we had some amazing highlights. After climbing all over the enormous mountains of rocks in Spitkoppe we slept in a cave with a view of the stars all night long. Somewhere along the line we went to The Cheetah Farm. This is a place that protects wild cheetahs and has three tamed ones that were born there. I got to pet them and watch from the truck bed  as the wild ones were being fed. An absolutely amazing experience and I wanted it to last all day!

In Swakopmund I went sandboarding on the dunes. The stand up boarding was actually really hard and not that enjoyable but the lie down was fantastic and i got up to 76km/hr!!!  The last run of the day however I went a bit crazy. I went over the jump and was cruising down the dune but when I went to stop I caught some sand and went flying resulting in a fractured left wrist. I didn't actually get to the hospital until the next day but i'm glad I went! Apparently it is the same hospital that Angelina Jolie gave birth in. Anyway I haven't let a cast or the fact that I can only use one arm get in my way.

Once we got to Cape Town a few of us were staying on so we rented two cars and drove around cape point. It was fun to do a mini road trip before everyone parted ways. Due to the one arm issue I decided to go with the baz bus option for the rest of my time in sa. I will be traveling the garden route and then up to Joburg were I fly home. Some of the attractions along the way are riding an ostrich, the highest bungy in the world and a canopy swing!! I may not be able to tie my shoes or pack my bag without help but I am still going to have fun!!! See you all in two weeks!!!!

Botswana

I had a great time in Vic Falls, again! I went white water rafting on the Zambezi River!!!! It was so much fun I can't wait to go back when the whole river is open and do it again. It was sad to say goodbye, again, to the friends that I made there but I will keep in touch or just have to come back to visit, lol. I have started my new overland truck trip and so far so good. My new tent mate is from London and a ball of crazy energy, she and I have a lot of fun together. :) We have spent the last three days in the Okovango Delta. It is fantastically beautiful there but the trip itself was a bit of a let down....our guide was kinda lazy and we suffered for it. Oh well better luck next time. We also did a morning game drive in Chobe National Park which was fantastic as we saw lots of hippos and a leopard kill! To top off that day we took a nature watching sunset cruise. Talk about animal overload. We are headed to namibia tomorrow which I am very excited about but sad to have only spent a week in Botswana, I need so much more time. It has been fucking cold here!!!! (sorry for the language) By cold I mean I had to buy a blanket to put inside my 32 degree sleeping bag while wearing my hat, long sleeve shirt, a shirt, pants and warm socks!!!! I deffinately didn't think that winter in Africa was this cold but hey I keep on learning new things. Well thats it for now, short update. I will hopefully be getting a Namibian number either tomorrow at the border or in the next day or so for those of you who call. Hope all is well at home. Oh yeah one of my roomies is moving to Oregon for a new job...not sure what that means for the living situation. Changes, changes, changes. Good thing I've gotten used to being flexible. LOL

Arriving alive....thank god I'm finally here!

It has been quite a while since my last post partly due to a lack of internet but more so due to a lack of interest in sitting down and typing away. Here I am though so I guess I'll do my best to recap the past few weeks.

My time with Dumi in Mzuzu was wonderful. It was so nice to be with a good friend and meet many new people in the process. Of course staying in a real home wasn't to bad either :) We spent some time in Nkata Bay, which is absolutely beautiful, and I stayed there one night by myself and found a ride in the back of a truck with a few of the other girls staying there. Never a dull moment especially when we were running out of petrol and just barely managed to roll into the station. I thought I wouldn't be going back there again but on my way south I met another girl traveling solo and we decided to go to Chizumulu and Likoma Islands in Lake Malawi together. We headed back to Nkata Bay after spending a few days in Kande beach where I met up with my tour leader from the overland truck for a day or so, it's so wonderful to see people for a second time when you travel! I also ran into two guys from Australia who I just keep bumping into along the way. We all spent the day at the beach and exploring the local restaurants.

I jumped on the ferry with the two girls that I met, Josie and Jody, and we headed to the islands. It was a tropical paradise with no internet and one spot on the side of a hill with cell reception, absolutely perfect. I spent my days there lying in the sun, reading, swimming in the lake, snorkeling, and learning how to use the wave ski (a cross between a kayak and a surfboard, soo much fun!). We stayed up to enjoy the lunar eclipse one night. It was so beautiful and aparently the best when seen in Africa. After a few days we took a small sail boat to Likoma Island which was another slice of heaven. There we did more of the same but had to walk 45 minutes to the market, and it was hot! The guy working there bet me that I couldn't row the local canoe out to the marker and back in three minutes so I took him up on it. Though it was difficult I did it! This was a new record as most people can't even sit on it without falling over immediately their first time. Obviously I felt proud of myself and it was nice to get a free beer out of it. lol Anyway, it was time to leave so six of us girls hopped on the ferry and spent the next two days going down the lake. We finally arrived in Monkey Bay where I learned that my visa had expired, oops. So, I wound up having to pay for an extention and a fine which most likely just went straight into the guys pocket. What can I say when he said he would have to detain me I got nervous and decided paying was in my best interest. A few hours later, at 2am, one of the girls and I got onto a minibus filled with fish (this is not a nice smell mind you) in order to get to Blantyre in time to catch our buses out of Malawi. We made it by 7 am and after running all over town to get money and bus tickets we were both on our way. It was sad to leave the girls that I had made such good friends with but I will of course keep in touch. My bus took me across the Malawi, Mozambique and Zim borders which took from 8am until midnight, short trip....Once in Zim I went to my friends for a short sleep and was up again to catch another bus at 5am! I finally arrived in Victoria Falls tired, dirty, most deffinately smelly, but here none the less at the reasonable hour of 6pm. It was so nice to have a hot shower and know that I would be staying in one place long enough to sleep for more than 3 hours! I have met up with all the friends I made the last time I was here and also bumped into some overlanders from other stops. It is great to see everyone and get such a warm welcome.

I was sad to leave Malawi behind but am very happy to be here and excited for the next part of my journey. I will be jumping on another overland truck headed through Botswana, Namibia and into South Africa. I'm starting to dread the end of my travels as I am having an amazing time, I don't want to leave. Until the next update..... 

Road Trip!!!

Dumi and I set out for Lilongwe on Friday afternoon with a friend Abby. During our four hour trip south we got lost in conversation and enjoying the sights and stars from the car. It was late when we finally arrived and the power was out for an hour or so. We said our goodbyes to Abby and headed to the backpackers in town which is moving soon resulting in a lack of furniture and such. The next day, while Dumi was taking part in a student selection process for his alma mater, I headed to the local market. I was just taking a walk around when I started chatting with a few of the vendors. They invited me to learn the traditional board game Bao. We spent the next couple hours playing and wether they were letting me win in order to get me to buy something or not is to be debated but I had a good time anyway. I went with the two guys I had been playing with, Hippo and Black Moses, to the market where you can find almost anything. I then caught a minibus, my first ever!, to go meet up with Dumi. As we headed out of Lilongwe we filled up on petrol not realizing that it would turn out not be quite enough to get us home. We wound up running out of gas, literally, in Nkata Bay. We stayed right on the lake at a backpackers called Butterfly. It of course made me think of Ambyr and her beautiful tattoo that is being worked on while I'm away :( Wish I could be there with you! As there was no petrol in town, seriously, we spent the next day hanging out waiting to see if we could find some cheap gas on the black market. The waiting wasn't so bad as the lake is warm and beautiful. We hungout on the beach, went swimming and I was convinced to jump off the rocks into the water! We finally got some petrol late this morning and made the 40K journey back to Mzuzu. So here we are again, home sweet home, for now. :)

Mzuzu!!!!

After a days rest at Doogles Lodge in Blantyre I was on another bus to go see Dumi in Mzuzu, Malawi. (I met a guy who was on the show Big Brother South Africa!) This time it was an entirely overnight bus leaving at 6pm and arriving at 5:30am. It was a reallllllly long bus ride. I paid a little extra for the 'comfortable' bus but it didn't seem to make a stitch of difference. I kept waking up every time the bus stopped, which was a lot! We finally arrived at the station though and surprisingly on time. It was so wonderful to see a familiar face when Dumi came to pick me up. I have settled in with him and his wonderful parents. They have a beautiful home with a huge back yard complete with cows, chickens, fruit trees and of course a huge garden. It is so peaceful here and yet very close to town.

Last night we went out and I got to meet a lot of his friends and see what the night life is like here. I had a great time and met a lot of Peace core people who happened to be in town. We will be traveling to Lilongwe tomorrow for the weekend and perhaps Lake Malawi next weekend. There are a lot of places that I would still like to visit so I am struggling to figure out how to fit it all in before I have to head back home. At the moment though I love not having anything to do all day but read my book and lay in the sun. Today we had an exciting moment though when Dumi rescued the neighbors cat from a tree and more importantly his four dogs!

I do have internet access so could skype with people at some point or if you have a good phone plan feel free to give me a call at 265992301845. There may be a few more numbers you need to add in front if your calling from the US so just check on that first.

Harare to Blantyre via Mozambique

I have finally made my way to Malawi. My last days in Harare were good ones. I went for a second horse back riding lesson with Cary and the instructor really pushed us. There may be hope for me yet when it comes to posting (the way you ride when the horse is trotting). I wish I could keep going because it was a lot of fun and I really like the way we were being taught. I don't know if I would be able to take lessons back home, they are sooo expensive there! I had a great time watching movies and just hanging out with Cary and Idir before they took off to Zanzibar for the weekend. It was a good way to say goodbye, for now.

My last night in Harare I went to dinner with Houari and two of the Chinese guys. We had a nice meal, not at a Chinese restaurant this time, and good conversation. We then met up with some friend to go out dancing. As I was warned the club we went to was full of young people. I doubt they were over 18, scary. Despite a distressing conversation about safe sex, condom usage and the effectiveness of the pill in Europe compared to America, I had a good time. The boys are a lot of fun to go out with but staying out that late was maybe not the best idea before a long bus ride.

The bus to Malawi was scheduled to depart by 8am. Did that happen? What do you think? Of course not. Houari and I got a bite to eat and then waited for the bus some more. When I finally got on the road we were about 4 hours behind schedule. That wouldn't have really mattered that much accept that when we got to the Mozambique boarder I needed a new visa which takes time. The form isn't in English so the guys were nice enough to help me fill it out. I think I was supposed to give him something for his help but the bus driver was yelling at me to get going and bribe the immigration people so we could leave sooner so I forgot to give him something. No I didn't bribe him and he was done in fifteen minutes anyway. It seemed like everyone was looking at me like I was some stupid white lady holding up the whole process. Must I remind them that they were 4 hours late!!!! The only thing that made me feel a bit better was the little girl sitting in front of me was playing peek-a-boo with me. She must have been around 2, it was so cute. Then around 6pm all of a sudden our bus driver starts madly honking his horn and swerving all over the road. For a split second I swear we were going to tip over but thank god we didn't and just kept on speeding down the road like nothing happened. It was kinda funny because everyone started swearing in different languages. To really top off the evening at the Malawi boarder the bus parked next to a bit of a slope, which I couldn't see in the dark, and I literally fell out of the bus! I was fine but shit what else could go wrong? I finally made it safely to Blantyre and the backpackers hostel at around 10:30pm. As the dorms were full I had to set up my tent, uhg.

After a good nights sleep I made my way into town. Of course nothing was open as its Sunday but I got an idea for the place and got to see the market at least. Tomorrow I am headed to Mzuzu to see Dumi and I am so excited to finally be making my way up there! Wish me luck on another very long bus ride, 4pm to 5am, yuck.