| Home | Prev (Cape, Lesotho, Rainbow) | Next (Kenya and Europe again) |
On the last day, when I was healthy to walk again, I went for a short walk in the awesome forest. Loved it. Highly recommended to go for a visit.
My illness did make us rush - I overstayed my visa, and we wanted to go to Vipassana in Capetown in 26-3. We left for Coffee Bay, which was beautiful (like all Transkai), and then to Durban. We stayed with Carol in Durban - she's an amazing woman, happy and loving and generous. We found out in Durban that Ela can't do Vipassana because she does Reiki - very strange. Therefore, she joined me to Swaziland.
It was a long hitching day - Many nice people. One poor-looking black guy stopped, and (thinking he wants money for the ride) we said we have no money. He took us anyway, and gave us 6 rands. Other people managed to 'make a plan' and fit us into a full car.
We found ourselves after dark in a middle-of-nowhere-junction in Swaziland, wondering if it is safe enough to hide in the bushes and fall asleep. A guy approached us and eventually took us home and we slept at his place (with a nice breakfast, too!). Ela says it happens to her all the time, but for me its special.
The next day was raining, and since we didn't exactly have a plan what-we-want-to-do in Swazi, we hitchhiked back to J'burg, with a lift that took us all the way from Mbabane to J'burg at 160 km/h. They left us on the ring highway, trying to stop someone to get us to Crosby's house. Just to let you know - nobody stops for hitchhikers in J'burg, because it DANGEROUS. However, had a faerie with me, so a family with a young daughter took us to Crosby's door (!)
Today I was in Pretoria, getting visas to Namibia and extended my passport (easier than I expected). Tomorrow we're off to Rustler's valley music festival.
Love, Moddy.
Today is a good day to notice the faeries near you.
Hi loved ones.
After getting a visa to Namibia and extending my passport we went to Rustler's valley music festival on Tuesday morning.
We arrived there after a long drive with Greg, and spent the rest of the day sleeping (we started off at 4 am). Nobody was there the first day, and I was desperately looking for a job, which means especially not needing to pay R300 entry. I asked a few guys whom I could work for, but was let down with "We have enough people". What pissed me off was that other people who came (even after me) got a job. Eventually, I just came and helped them building up tipies and other staff, telling everyone I'm looking for a job, and hoping someone will provide.
This stressed me out, of course, and since Ela was a bit seek and tired as well, I was somewhat 'down'. Especially since I didn't have a tag, and therefore had to hide from the guards and always bypass the gate. However, on Thursday afternoon finally Haroon (a great Ka Huna masseur) got me a job as a masseur, and on Friday, Neil (the guy I built tipies for) gave me a tag. I felt very very happy again.
The festival has lots of reggae and trance music and drumming. Massage and healing centers. People sell Crystals and clothes. Lotta drugs - guys you don't even know come to you and ask if you have acid or ecstasy. One night we had a sweat lodge with chanting, which was cool (meaning - not hot enough). Many of our rainbow friends were there, and many other cool people, which was basically the best thing about the festival - hanging about with friends.
We also made some money - I massaged a bit, Ela made doughnuts and sold them. One time we walked and found R100 bill. Neil gave me R150 on the last day because he liked my work there. Emotionally me and Ela had our fights, as usual, but in the end we are more in love than ever, to the point that we are almost one person.
We left on Tuesday for Durban with Seth, Eve and Maya. We stay with Carol again, and tomorrow we leave for Namibia. In the last couple of days we looked for boats to buy in the Yacht Club, Seth being our expert-guide-to-yacht-buyers, and we some a few good-enough boats that suite our pocket and our inclination, and it seems that nothing is going to stop us from sailing to Brasil. HERE WE COME.
Love, Moddy.
Today is a good day to stop trying to push the world in your direction.
Me and Ela left Durban on Sunday morning, April 7th, hitching to Namibia. It was rough the first day, (we ended sleeping in the churchyard), but we compensated the next day, who got us almost to the Namibian border, which we crossed on Tuesday afternoon. The most bored police there checked all our luggage, probably because they had nothing better to do. On Wednesday morning we arrived in Windhoek - Namibia's capital - after a night truck drive and an amazing sunset.
First good thing about Namibia. Awesome sunsets.
We spent that day looking for hostel and understanding the town. It is very small, but has everything you need - the supermarket is fine, and the people are nice and no much hassle. The only problem was finding a backpacker's place - the one we tried out of the coast-2-coast, seemed as if they don't want guests at all. When we knocked on the door, they didn't even open the gate! We got into the Card Board Box Backpackers, which is a really cool place and we recommend it.
On Friday evening my mother arrived. We went to Eros airport to pick her up, and found that the plane is 1. late 2. will arrive at the international airport which is 50 km away... When we arrived there, it turned out my mother was held in immigration, because they couldn't find her visa in the passport, AND her luggage was lost. Cool, ha?
But everything turned out OK in the morning. The luggage was found in the other airport, and we started cruising in our rented air-conditioned new car.
Our first destination was Swakopmund, which is on the coast. On the way there we stopped at Philips Cave - a cave that has rock paintings, and involved an hour walk over hills. The painting were cool, and the walk was nice, but what I loved most was a nest of swallows which had chicks inside and we could see them being fed.
On the ride back we saw giraffes and found a dead owl on the road. At night we reached a place called "The Space" in Swakop. It's a rainbow backpackers - meaning, you don't have to pay, and they live by donations. We didn't stay the night, though, since my mom wanted better facilities.
The next morning we drove through the desert on gravel roads to Sossusvley's dunes. The ride was amazing - the desert scenery is awesome, especially with mirage views all over. We got to Sossusvlei quite late and had to sleep there. There's only one lodge, that costs 1700 N$ for double room. That's about US$150. So we camped.
Next day we went to the dunes. They're supposed to be the highest in the world - maybe 300m of red sand. And Deadvlei in the middle is a forest of dead trees, maybe 3000 years old, which were kept there because of the dry weather. Later that day we drove to Luderitz.
Luderitz's attraction is the ghost city of Kolmanskop nearby. It's a diamonds miners town, which in now mostly covered by sand. As we were told, a hundred years ago it was an amazingly rich town, with 300 Germans and 800 workers (i.e. the Germans didn't work) living there, having the best of the world - dancing balls and shows and ice factory and whatnot. All paid for with diamonds. The hospital contained 250 beds. We wondered why so many beds, until we were told that patients were given a glass of red wine or champagne every evening.
Then we drove to Fish River Canyon. On the way we ran over a poor snake. The distance on the speedometer was showing 666 km It almost freaked us out.
We arrived just before sunset, and saw this beautiful canyon, said to be second biggest in the world. We wished to see it on sunrise, too, but we were already on a mission up north, and it is so far away ... so we drove on. The day after we slept in Outjo, in a backpackers that we were the only guests, and the kids of the owner were so sweet, and Ela told them bedtime stories.
Next day - Etosha park. It's a big and beautiful park with lots of animals. We saw gemsbok and springbok and giraffe and zebra and kudu and squirrels and black faced impalas - a rare species, of which we saw maybe 10% of all specimen alive. One day was certainly enough, and the next day was spent on the long way back to Windhoek.
And on Saturday morning, my mom finished her short visit, leaving me and Ela without actually knowing what to do next. We have rumours that the war in Angola is over, and Ela wants to go. I'm reluctant so far. We also have plans about Botswana and about Capetown and taking Ela's mail from Plett, and back to Durban and sailing to Brasil and Madagascar and going overland to Europe and whatnot and the world is JUST TOO BIG.
Any other suggestions?
Love, Moddy.
Today is a good day to make God laugh by telling Him about your plans.
We stayed a few days more in Windhoek, just because the backpackers there (card board box) was wonderful, and the manager was great, and there were wonderful people there. One evening we played music with everyone. One evening we went to a concert of a local band, and when they rested we all (i.e. the backpackers) got on stage to sing a song. We sucked, but had fun.
Then we went to Capetown, and the decision was made - we're on to Europe, to get a boat to Brazil. This means that as-fast-as-possible we hitch hike along the east coast of Africa. We are on "Capetown to Amsterdam" mission now, and whenever anyone stops for us we and asks where we go to, we say 'Amsterdam'. Sometimes they ask 'Is that in Free State?'.
So far we arrived in Durban. Hitching was a bit rough, and we almost got stuck in Transkai, BUT eventually we're here, staying with a nice guy who gave us a lift and invited us to stay. Tomorrow, Inshalla, we're in Maputo.
Love, Moddy.
Today is a wonderful day to know that all your wishes eventually come true.
Mashish is a ferry-away from Tofo beach, where we hoped to find Eve. And we did! with other rainbow crew and cool people. We stayed a few days, and celebrated Ela's birthday in a big beach party, and in the end decided it's time to go because we're in a hurry to Europe.
From now on it was difficult to get free rides. We managed to bargain a little - even on a bus. The road was always slower and tougher than we expected. We had a night drive on a back of an extremely crowded truck. We slept only a few hours every night, and had to wake up early every morning to avoid the crowd and start hitching again.
After crossing the Zambezi river on a small canoe, we met a Chinese guy who was a leader of a convoy and offered us a free ride to Pemba, which is almost all the way to the north, and about two-three days by car. It turned out to be a a long ride. The first day, one of the trucks fell, and the tractor that was on it fell. It took them until the next afternoon to reload. We went 50 km and one of the trucks had a flat tire. We stayed there until the next afternoon. Then we went slowly again. Though it was a free ride, and the Chinese paid for our accommodation and food, it was TOO slow, and therefore we took a ride with the next truck that came along. Two days of expensive took us to Palma. We arrived in the middle of the night, and stayed with a guy we met on the Chapa (a pickup that serves as a bus).
The next morning gave rise to an amazing African scene. The whole family and neighbours gathered around us. Ela tried to learn and weave baskets, while an old woman asked me to play guitar. I played the flute instead, while she danced. So amazing.
Walking to the bus stop we realized that not many people go to the border, and we missed the morning chapa, and one will come later. It never came. We were ready to spend the night in the station with a Tanzanian woman who wanted to go home, but everybody warned us; we stayed in the house next door - we connected very well with them, especially with the mother. We didn't speak the language, but hand waving and a little of the Phrase book were enough.
And in the morning we finally went to the border for and amazingly overpriced ride, but we had no choice. On arriving to the border we decided to stick with the Tanzanian woman in order to get a boat across the river. Big mistake. Since we didn't talk about the price, the guy tried to charge us $10 each - maybe 20 times more than it's supposed to, but we saw the woman paying him that price, so we had to do so ourselves. Since it took time, all the other passengers disappeared with the a full car, and we stayed with the Tanzanian woman. We had to pay $7 each to get the car. Aftermath thought was: we never saw the woman pay the driver, and we think she got back from the boatman what she paid (and maybe more). When we arrived in Mtwara, we also found out that Ela's camera has gone. She left her bag only once - with that woman!
So we were pissed off. Besides that, all our money is in rands, and we can't change them here! When I was here last time, rands were the best except for USD, but now - we got stuck and had to change T.C.
Mtwara is a remote city with nothing to do an nowhere to go, probably because the road to Dar (as we found out) doesn't exist after the rain. We had to wait 3 days for the boat. The boat was crowded like you would expect from an African boat, and being in it for 24 hours didn't help, especially since Ela got sea sick. But it passed.
We arrived in Dar yesterday morning, with lots of things to do. Cheap Internet (half a dollar per hour), good shops, etc. We checked the embassies for the onward travel - In the end, Ela probably goes overland to Cairo unless she has a problem with the Sudani visa, and I ... I though of just flying to Europe and travel with Shani there. BUT the flights are so expensive here - $750 to Europe, while its only $280 in South Africa ... so I said I'll go back there.
This afternoon we tried to find a boat sailing to Durban. A nice guy named William which we met yesterday found for us a perfect deal - a cargo boat goes to South Africa tomorrow. $60 and I'm on it. Two guys took a photo of my passport, and a photo of my vaccination card, and me and Ela started our farewell ceremony, while the guys disappeared with my money.
And some people say I'm inteligent. I wonder why in all my travells I got ripped off only three times, and all of them in Tanzania.
So the plan for now is - Ela goes to Europe. I go to Europe through S.A. But maybe I'll go with Ela to Ethiopia, and fly from there - we just don't know how much a flight from Addis to Europe cost, and it may be way too much, while in S.A. I have friends that I miss ...
As usual, plans will change.
Love, Moddy.
This is a good day to know that you're not as wonderful as you think you are, but it's OK.
| Home | Prev (Cape, Lesotho, Rainbow) | Next (Kenya and Europe again) |