For those of you whose e-mail I don't have!

Greetings from South Africa!

3 1/2 weeks
3 countries
12 destinations ( 10 planned, 2 unplanned)
2 tents
1 new tire

I'm writing from the headquarters of the Bitou 10 Foundation in Plettenberg Bay, South Africa. It's the first location where we've had free, fast internet and the first place where I've been able to sit and collect my thoughts (sort of.) As of yesterday, we are staying in the guest cottage of David Matthews (not the singer, his uncle.) David's wife, Hillary, is the Executive Director of the Bitou 10 Foundation, an organization whose mission is to change the "educational landscape" and implement Nelson Mandela's vision of how "young people and educators set about learning and teaching."In short, they are trying to undo everything that Apartheid did to education. I told Philip yesterday that, the small amount of time we've spent in South Africa has given me a much greater appreciation for Botswana, a place where the color of my skin matters far less than it does here. As we were driving to the Matthew's house yesterday, past another township, I asked Phil how the country was supposed to move on from the history of Apartheid rule when not much has changed. I asked this as if he would have the answer. I don't know who has the answer but it's like nothing I've ever seen. I won't spend this e-mail dwelling, promise.

Thus far, our trip has been AB-SPLEND-TER-MAZING, a word created for the sole purpose of describing our trip.

We got drenched sleeping in our tent the first night as thunderstorms rolled through Blyde River Canyon. This marked our first sleepless night as well as the first amendment to our itinerary as we were planning to stay there 2 nights but decided to head to the nearest city with a Cape Union Mart (South Africa's REI) to purchase a new tent. Our new orange tent treated us quite well up until 2 nights ago in Port Elizabeth when gale-force winds caused our little tent to bend in ways we didn't know possible. Add to that our forgetting to close the the "door" completely, leaving only the screen between us and the winds and we were in the midst of a veritable tornado of sand, or, more fittingly, a sandbowl. Cape Union Mart has become our sort of refuge as they are everywhere. We go in there for one supply or another and share our recent tales with staff who pretend to be interested. So, after this sandbowl experience, we went there not with the intention of buying a new tent but rather, to buy some long underwear for me who, naively thought that South Africa (being a part of Africa which, to me means, HOT) doesn't really have a Winter. But, it does, and we are in it. As we told our tale to the woman helping us, she pointed us in the direction of the manager who offered to replace our tent. Even though we knew the sandbowl experience was a result of us not zipping it properly, we accepted his offer and brought ours in the next day for a brand new one.

The beauty of South Africa's landscape is beyond description. We've already covered 5,000 km in our Corolla, recently re-named "White Simba" and, for a car with 740,000+ km, she's running beautifully. We had a tire replaced in Durban but, aside from that, all other repairs have been performed by Philip, a headlamp and some superglue. It probably goes without saying that Philip and I have gotten to know each other a lot better and, like each other even more than when our trip began. We haven't made any profound discoveries about each other. For instance, I've learned that he's very indecisive when it comes to simple matters like, asking him if he wants a piece of gum. Yet, when it comes to the big stuff like, "Philip, should we go up this hill that is at a 90 degree angle, muddy and full of potholes, in a 1996 Corolla with 740,000+ km on the odomoter?" His response, a quick "Hell Yes!" He's learned that I prefer peeing on the side of the road rather than going into a roadside bathroom. Together, we've learned that campgrounds set amidst natural surroundings is more preferable than the noisy backpacker places. And, overall, our tent is much more comfortable than any backpacker's bed we've slept.

Mozambique was wonderful. Maputo, full of it's Art Deco architecture teetering between disrepair and shambles as a result of the war that raged through there in the 1980's and 90's, was stunning. Although, when I described it to my brother, his response was, "you think that's beautiful? That sounds depressing to me." We learned a few words in Portugese and I learned that my stomach just can't handle per-peri with every meal. Our drive out to Tofo was our first introduction to roads in disrepair. Potholes strung together with tar is the most fitting description. A 4 hour trip turned into a 9 1/2 hour trip but, the unspoilt beaches of Tofo were well worth it. Philip and I managed to run up debts with various vendors at the markets since the nearest bank was a 10 minute (and hundreds of potholes) drive away. They'd keep a running tab for us and we'd make a run to the bank our 2nd to last day to pay them. The people of Mozambique are warm and friendly and it was refreshing to feel that warmth after the akward exchanges in South Africa where many blacks and whites still don't really know how to act toward each other.

We're not even halfway into our adventure and I have a novel's worth of stories but, those are only being written in pen right now.

Sala Khale!
C

Pictures

Plenty of pictures are being taken and will be shared once we manage to upload.

Time

"Is it Saturday or Sunday" the man asked me in a thick Hungarian accent. I thought for a second and realized that I had no idea it was even the weekend. One of the first things I lose track of on the road is Time. On the road, Time is measured by experiences and stories shared. This morning, at the backpackers in Durban, I was having a conversation with a woman named Fiona whose past month of travel was described to me in great detail but any time I interjected and asked when these happenings took place, a puzzled look fell over her face and it was clear that it would take too much time for her to piece it together chronologically. Having only been on the road for two weeks, I find that I'm still pretty precise about the order in which things occur but I imagine, like Fiona, my stories will lose that element sometime soon.

At this moment, Philip and I are at Antsty's Backpackers in Durban. It's a surfer's lodge outside the city centre on the bluff. While the city of Durban is gearing up for the World Cup, Antsty's staff are doing the same as they are expecting their bungalows, dorms and campsites to be at capacity (about 100 people) the entire month. Right now, there are 6 of us. We're using our time here to stock up and clean up in preperation for our next excursion, the Drakensberg for 5 days.

When in...

I've always felt the best way to experience a new place is taking part in the everyday activities of the locals. These past two weeks haven't allowed much room for anything more than "touristy" stuff so, Philip and I decided today was the day to break out of that mold. We spent our afternoon in Durban getting a new tire put on our car. We bought our chariot 6 weeks before the beginning of our 4 months of travel but it wasn't until we were outside the city limits of Gaborone that Philip noticed the odometer as the last digit changed every mile rather than every tenth of a mile. We purchased our car thinking it had about 74,400 kilometers under it's belt but, if we he was reading correctly, the car that was going to be carrying us throughout southern Africa already had 744,000 km. Upon realizing this we thought two things: our first thought was, sometime between 1996 and 2010 the odometer had been tamepered with; Our second thought was, well, if it's lasted this long, why would it crap out on us now? We still aren't sure which thought is more accurate but, our 1996 "fong kong" has already carried us 3,000 km without any problems - the tire was bad when our trip began.

Alive and, well, Spectacular!

I'm sitting in an internet cafe (above a local bar) overlooking the Indian Ocean. The water is, as Philip put it, the color of 2000 flushes toilet bowl cleaner. Surfers abound and Philip has decided that, lessons bedamned, he is renting a surfboard tomorrow and trying his luck on these gigantic waves.
We are one week into our travels and already have a lifetime's worth of stories: a soaking, leaking tent that wound up in the garbage after our first night of camping in Blyde River; our drive to Tofo (current location) on roads which were more like potholes strung together with tar; and my new obsession with "organizing" our car and tent only to find that, when I am finished, everything is in a pile that is impossible to navigate.

Just a glimpse into our past week.

Our Chariot

In Fifteen days we will be packing our lives into our pride and joy, Jalopy*.

Our "fong kong" 1996 Toyota Corolla will carry us 10,000 kilometers through Botswana, South Africa, Swaziland, Mozambique, and Namibia.

The rest of our journey through Tanzania, Zambia, and Kenya will be via bus and train.

P+C+Africa - short form

South Africa

blyde river canyon (april 17) > kruger > maputo > inhambane > mlilwane (swaz) > durban > drakensberg (amphitheater and cathedral peak) > coffee bay (may 5) > plettenberg bay > knysna > oudtshoorn > wine country > cape town for a week

Namibia

fish river canyon (nam) > luderitz (ghost mining town) > sossesvlei dunes (june 1) > swakopmund > skeleton coast > etosha game reserve > windhoek > trans-kalahari back to gabs

South Africa

world cup opening ceremony in jo'burg

Kenya

18-hour bus to lusaka > 44-hour train to dar es salaam> 10-hour bus to mombasa >chill in mombasa> 14-hour train to nairobi > hike lower rift valley > meet gramps in nairobi

Tanzania

go on crazy safari in serengeti, ngorongoro, loliondo (june 30) > zanzibar (stone town and outer beach) > dar es salaam > gramps leaves

Zambia

we get on 44-hour train to meet mom in lusaka > mom's conference > vic falls for colleen's birthday (july 23)

Botswana

chobe > fly back to gabs with mom, show her around > jo'burg for a few

South Africa

hiking in drakensberg with mom > mom leaves from jo'burg

Botswana

pearl and kyle fly in (aug 1) > rock out in bots with them > everyone leaves (mid aug)

Links have been provided to the places where we have already booked campsites.

*Jalopy is the name of the original Allison Warbington's cat.

Mark your calendar

We just returned from the final night of the DITSHWANELO Human Rights Film Festival. For the past eleven nights, in the Maru-a-Pula A/V Centre, the community has been watching and discussing films depicting some of the atrocities people inflict on other people.

The festival really got me thinking.

If I were to put on a music festival, who would I want to perform?

I would begin the event with Gellieman. My favorite Belgian teen.

Then, keeping with the international theme, I would have Wing. No one can do the Beatles justice like Wing.

I would track down all the members of Musical Youth and sprinkle them with fairy dust so they'd turn into their childhood selves.

Then, to mix it up a bit, Girl Talk would deliver some of his mash up masterpieces.

Finally, Wallpaper. would headline. Wallpaper. It's a sentence. It's a statement, not a word.

Date: TBA

Time: TBA

Location: TBA