back home ... kinda

We landed in Raleigh about 2pm on Sunday, but by the time we finished taxing, unloading, getting our bags, going through customs, giving them our bags again, and getting our bags it was like 4pm. And of course my bag didn't see fit to make the return trip, so I had to make another lost luggage claim. I think my buddy Simon back in Jo'burg must have seen my bag and hid it for old times sake. 

But not only is my pack still in Africa, I think my Circadian rhythm might be as w

ell (you know, the sleep/wake cycle - read more here). It was nearly impossible to stay up until 8pm on Sunday night, and the only reason I'm up at 1045 right now is because I fell asleep for 2 hours this evening after I rode my bike for a whopping 30 minutes. However, I have felt wide awake the past few mornings at 6am as I am getting ready for orientation, because it is feels like 12 noon!  I think I am slowly transitioning back to time and temperature here. I will say that I have not had a bit of trouble transitioning to driving on the right (and I mean both direction and correct!!) side of the road.

Speaking of driving, here's a good story.

On Saturday, Megan and I wanted to squeeze the most we could out of our trip. Our flight did not leave until 8pm, so we got permission to check out of the hotel late and decided to venture into Jo'burg proper. It was my turn to do the driving duties, so I successfully steered us into downtown or the CBD as t

he locals like to call it (Central Business District - it took me about 2 hours to figure that out). We crossed the Nelson Mandela Bridge and found a place to park in the up-and-coming Newtown area. This is the part of town that is known for its diversity and cultural events such as theaters, museums, and music venues. It also has a neat little market and a lot of restaurants. In the interest of time, we ordered "Take Away" from a traditional African food place and started back to the hotel. Even without tilt, power steering, or vanity mirrors, our little VW Citi Golf was doing a nice job of getting us from point A to point B. In fact, we were only about 2 kilometers (a little over a mile!) from our hotel when I ran into a one day old car. 

What really happened is that we both turned off of the highway onto a smaller road, and the "Learner Driver" in the car in front of me mistakenly got in the turn lane instead of the go straight lane, so they decided to correct their mistake and swerve in front of me, and then stop abruptly. So abruptly that I did not have time to stop, and I hit them. Causing damage much like this: 

So, that led to a delightful encounter with the South African police and a long check out with Thrifty Rental Cars. But we made our flight on time and nobody was hurt, so I guess we'll just chalk it up to adventure. Once we figure out what the police/rental company decides, we may change our tune and/or take donations, but for now its a good story. Right?

Anyway, we had fun and its good to be back.

It's retarded cold in Jo'burg

Will and I took a bus from warm Mozambique at 7pm the other day and arrived in arctic temperatures in Johannesburg at 3:30 in the morning. What? Who schedules that crap? So it was 3:30am and about 20 degrees outside and we had to get to the airport to pick up our rental car whenever that office opened. We shared a taxi with two nice girls from England and had a very friendly taxi driver who told us of all the woes of Africa. When we made it to the airport we found a comfy seat that was actually much like a bed, and whipped out the sleeping bag to cover up with. For some reason it does not seem that they heat anywhere around here, and doors are also hard to come by, so whatever temperature it is outside... there is no escaping it. After several cups of coffee, a purchase of a South African Rugby fleece hat, and the application of socks, we started to warm up, at least a little.After we got out awesome rental car (a VW Citi Golf) we discovered that driving on the left side of the road is even more difficult with an oddly placed stick shift and no power steering. When was the last time you drove a car without power steering?? For me it was about 1997. Yikes.
We are now at the Indaba Hotel in Jo'burg and our room has an upstairs and a downstairs! It is kind of strange and unneccessary, but awesome at the same time. There is a bedroom upstairs with a thatched roof, and downstairs has a living room and bathroom. The unfortunate thing is that the heater is upstairs and the downstairs remains frigid... unfortunately frigid in the bathroom. It is rather fun though to have to bundle up in July!
We are sadly leaving tomorrow night to head back to the states. I will miss Africa!

Back in Maputo

Hello everyone... We have arrived back in Maputo after camping at the beautiful beach in Xai-Xai. We had such a great time there! You could see and hear the Indian Ocean from our campsite and it was just beautiful. And the coolest part....... there were MONKEYS at the campsite! They were so cute running around in the trees. Absolutely adorable creatures they were. There was a South African family next to us that was feeding them, which I think is a really bad idea, but it was really neat to watch. The monkeys were very afraid of the people but would timidly approach the food and then quickly run away. Or they would catch it if they threw it up in the tree. It was pretty cool.

The water in the ocean was a little cold but there is this big jetty-like thing of rocks that goes parallel to the shore so the further you got into the lagoon area the warmer it was. We had a woman come by every day and sell us fresh fruit from a huge bucket she carried on her head! It was really amazing. Although the water was cold, we went swimming and it was unbelievably clear.
We had a great time meeting some locals when we went to dinner. (sorry this story is a little out of order) When we first got to Xai Xai we stopped at this restaurant called Kaya Kahina and had dinner. I had some chicken dish that was one of the most delicious meals i have ever eaten. when we were leaving we were trying to get directions to the campsite from these guys at the bar. after many funny mistranslations one guy goes "oh tent, small house!" and made gestures like a small box and putting a pole in the middle. It was a very funny interaction with between portugese and english. So we made it to the campsite and set up camp. We only discovered the amazing monkeys and sea the next morning. Until later!
Megan

Mozambique style

We are in mozambique! yesterday we visited the open air market in the center of Maputo and saw all sorts of fresh food and crafts. It was beautiful and crowded! afterwards we headed to the fish market for lunch and were bombarded by waiters trying to get you to come to their restaurant. it was absolutely insane! after we decided on one they brought us fresh fish that had just been caught to show us, we picked out what we wanted, and they cooked it. we had two kinds of fish grilled and three huge tiger prawns. the fish was delicious, and the prawns were ok. while we were there a guy named moses spent a good 15 min trying to get me to purchase some fabric from him. it was hilarious, and man was he persistent. after the delicious dinner we had to head back to the hostel and so we were going to take public transport on a chapa, their version of bus. bus is used very liberally here becuase they are actually mini vans, but they squeze what looks like 50 people in there! it is pretty remarkable the number of people in the chapa. and there is always someone riding hanging out of the sliding door as they leave. needless to say there was no room for six people on any of the chapas. but after asking a chapa driver if his chapa went where we were going a man in a big truck waved us down and offered to give us a ride. so we rode back to the hostel on the back of a truck... true african style! and it was only $2 versus about $10 for a taxi for all of us. it was definitly an exciting ride! now we are off to the beach in Xai Xai (pronounced shy-shy) even though everyone says we should go to tofo, but we dont have time to go that far north. so off we go to camp on the beach! africa is wonderful!

impalas, and zebras, and elephants, oh my!

this morning we woke up bright and early to go on a guided bush walk at 0600. it was early, and very cold. we had two great guides named billy and chester (who had a striking resemblance to don cheadle) and lou who was in training. they all were armed with rifles in order to protect us. at the beginning of the walk billy was going over rules for the walk and said, "if we see a black rhino, you all hit the ground on your belly, and we will walk away." we all thought he was joking because he was a rather funny fellow, but he was serious. but it was because black rhinos will follow them because they are moving and leave us alone. he said that way they deal with the rhino. well we did a lot of walking, and didnt see too many animals but a lot of animal dung. we even smoked some elephant dung because apparently it has medicinal qualities to immediately rid a headache and clear out the sinuses. it was a bit weird. we learned a lot about the bush and saw some creatures on the way. we saw a white rhino, some giraffes, a kudu, tons of impalas, and a warthog. it was a fun morning.
after getting back to camp we packed up our tents and drove around the park to the other campsite where we are staying tonight. on the drive we saw even more animals! we saw a big group of zebras (and that's pronounced with a short e not a long e, like deborah), tons more impalas, a tortoise, giraffes, napping lions, buffalo, wildebeast, a bunch of elephants, and a hippo! there may be more but i just cant remember at the moment. overall it has been an exhausting and eventful day. it was tough trying to scan the landscape to find the animals as we drove ;) now we are off to eat dinner and go to bed so we can go for a morning drive and then head to mozambique tomorrow!
on a side note, they drive on the left side of the street here. it has been very challenging and interesting making it through that. and another funny part is that the turning signal is on the opposite side on the current car we have so every time we try to turn on the signal we turn on the windshield wipers. we have started calling them the turn wipers!
until later-
megan

the stars shone bright... both day and night... (clap clap clap clap) deep in the heart of africa

or something like that. but i must start by commenting on the overwhelmingly beautiful night sky here in south africa. last night we camped at Kruger National park and since we were outside of the city there werent many lights around. this allowed the stars to shine so beautifully and brightly. you could clearly see the milky way and many amazing constellations. i could just stare at them all night.

Grettings from Africa!!!

Hello everyone...
so far this has been a great trip except that will has not received his luggage yet :( apparently we will have it in Maputo on the 3rd of July. We have spent a lot of time in the Jo'burg airport trying to get it and for some reason his did not show up with mine which came a day late. yesterday they said it was still in NC!! we are getting by, and british air gave us some money and starting tomorrow he can buy anything that was in the bag and will be reimbursed.
As for the trip so far... it has been awesome! I love south africa! we went to a lion park in johannesburg on the first day here and got to pet lion cubs (both John and Will received minor bites) and then we drove through the park. It was amazing! there were four separate areas where the lions were and one decided to lay down right in front of our car! we saw some eating, and a male lion roar! it was unbelievable. we also saw some beautiful zebras, springboks, giraffes, antelopes, and cheetahs. it was awesome.
the hotels we have been staying at have been increadibly beautiful and rediculously cheap. actually everything is, its awesome. the meals have been delightful as well as the people here. everyone is very friendly. we ate at an amazing african restaurant called Chief's Boma at our hotel in Jo'burg and had an african buffet with accompanying entertainment. We ate impala and Hake (the best fish i have ever tasted). I danced with the band and got to play one of thier instruments (a wooden xylophone). We are all having the best time!
Yesterday we headed up to Nelspriut and we are going to Kruger National Park today and tomorrow to see the big five. and then off to Mozambique!
I am running out of time, and will hopefully have a chance to tell more stories. We are all well, and having a wonderful time. I love Africa!!