Speechless

The harbor

Today was by far the best day I’ve had in Africa. We drove along the coastline of the peninsula of Cape Town, and it was probably the prettiest drive I’ve ever taken. The road was cut into a mountain, and it paralleled a lovely blue ocean. We began the morning with a cruise to Seal Island. Not only were the hundreds of seals adorable, the view of the cliffs meeting the ocean at the harbor in early morning light was beautiful.

Next, we made our way to The Cape of Good Hope, the most southern point of the African continent. It’s also where the cold Benguela current from the west meets the warm Agulhas current on from the east. Therefore, most deem it the meeting point of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. However, the oceans geographically meet at Cape Agulhas. Just a few minutes drive away was Cape Point, with a lighthouse and huge cliffs rising out of the sea. We rode a tram, apparently called a funicular, up to the top. The view was breathtaking. You could see forever into the distance, and the sea was so blue. I was happy to see this area so well preserved and unaltered by humans. I really have no words to describe it. It left me speechless and awestruck. It was one of those moments where one feels so very small and insignificant compared to the beauty and glory of nature that demands such wonder.

View of Cape of Good Hope from the lighthouse

The lighthouse

Cliffs

The penguins

After that, we made our way to Boulders cove to see a colony of African penguins. They were so cute! I wanted to keep one as a pet, but we found out that they’re actually quite mean. Our guide told us once that it kicked a man and broke his wrist, and that their bite could break your finger. No thanks.

Cable car up to the top!

The weather was gorgeous today, so we were lucky enough to go up to Table Mountain. You ride a circular cable car up to the top of the mountain at 1,085 meters above sea level. The cable car was actually really cool, because the floor rotated so everyone could take a look from every angle. Once we stepped out of the car, we realized we were so high that we were above all of the clouds! From one side, we overlooked the entire city of Cape Town. We were even able to point out a few landmarks that we had become familiar with in the past few days.  From the other side, you could see a mountain range called the Twelve Apostles and endless ocean. I could have sat and watched forever—it really felt like time had stopped. It was the most surreal thing I’ve seen. It looked like the clouds were floating on the sea in the horizon. It was impossible almost to distinguish between water, sky, and cloud. I’m sure others have tried to explain its beauty in words, but I don’t know that words would ever be sufficient, and mine certainly would not be. So, since a picture’s worth a thousand words, I’ll just show you a few of my favorites.

The day left me exhausted! Tomorrow we tour several vineyards and are going to a few wine tastings. Then Saturday, Margo and I are going cage diving to see great white sharks! Finally, Sunday we will fly to Bloemfontein and convert from tourist into student. I’m so excited and can’t believe how fast the days are passing.

Last Few Days of Holiday

A bridge in Tsitsikamma

Sorry I haven’t been very diligent about updating this blog, but internet has been very hard to come by—especially on a college student budget. I promise I’ll be better about it once I’m settled in Bloemfontein!

Knysna

On Sunday, we flew to Port Elizabeth from Durban. It was a very small and short flight, so it wasn’t bad at all. We were greeted there by our tour guide, Mark, who we really enjoy. He is very good about suggesting places that locals go but that are safe for tourists, and he tells very entertaining stories to pass the long car rides. Then, we drove about 4 hours to Knysna, a small town on the second largest estuary in South Africa, the Knysna Lagoon. On the way, we stopped by a bridge that overlook a huge ravine and was built by an engineer who never even saw the site in South Africa.  We also stopped at Tsitsikamma to see “Big Tree”, a yellowwood that is over 800 years old. Knysna was so gorgeous! It reminded me a lot of Greece. Although I’ve never been there, Margo confirmed my intuition. We explored the shops on the waterfront, then returned to our adorable hotel where we built a fire (Well, I should say our fellow traveler Denise built a fire for us. Margo and I were pretty unsuccessful to say the least), and shared some wine.

 

Monday, we went to Featherbed Nature Reserve on Knysna lagoon. The weather was divine! We took a ferry across the lagoon, and a tractor took us to the top of the reserve.  We enjoyed a gorgeous view of the lagoon and the ocean from the top! Then, we hiked down and enjoyed all of the beautiful cliffs, waves, and shorelines. At the bottom, we had a delicious seafood buffet, then headed back into town to do a bit of shopping. It was nice to be able to walk around and explore the town. We went to dinner at a seafood place on the waterfront that our guide suggested, called JJ’s. It was delightful, and we tried the typical South African shot, called the springbok, and we were able to decorate a label for the bottle of wine we drank and place it in wine racks on the ceiling as a memento. Very fun. The waiter even showed us a bottle that a group of students had made just a few weeks ago from Charlotte. Small world.

Me riding the ostrich! 

Tuesday, we drove from Knysna to Oudtshoorn. The drive itself showed how diverse South Africa is. We started by the estuary, drove past beaches, and ended up in the semiarid desert. We stopped at a few viewpoints along the way and saw zebra and springbok. Then, we made our way to the Cango caves, where we toured some of the earliest caves. After that, we went to an ostrich farm, where we tried ostrich steak. It was delicious, since it is even leaner than salmon! Then, we toured the ostrich farm, learning all about the history of the ostrich feather industry and the current meat and leather industry. Finally, Margo and I rode an ostrich. It was honestly the most terrifying experience of my life because the animals were not trained to carry humans, but I’m glad I did it!

Margo and I at Cape Town's version of Rainbow Row!

The Country Pumpkin: A stop along Route 62--the equivalent of the USA's Route 66

Today, we drove a long while to get to Cape Town. Along the way, we stopped at Mark's favorite place for lemon meringue pie. Little did we know he was going to make us have shots of a South African equivalent of moonshine called white lightning at 10am. I can say I won't be doing that again. Later, we stopped at Rooiberg Winery for a wine tasting. All of the wine here is delicious, and at the winery, it is only 4 dollars a bottle! Hopefully I'll be able to bring some home. Cape Town was very overcast, so I’m excited to see what the city looks like in good weather. Tomorrow, we are going to see penguins, seals, and Table Mountain—weather permitting, so I can’t wait! 

From Traditional Swaziland to Modern Durban

Some of the beautiful Swazi candles

I haven't done anything too exciting since my last blog, but I want to stay up-to-date since I don't know when we will have internet access again. On Friday, we woke up in Swaziland and went to a traditional Swazi candle factory. It was down a tiny dirt road, so I don't know how you would find it if you weren't on a tour. Nevertheless, it was so crowded! There were also a lot of other shops selling hand-made crafts. Everything was so intricate and gorgeous. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the candles were far beyond what I could have imagined. They were all shapes and sizes and colors. There were even candles shaped like animals--elephants, turtles, chickens, giraffes. You name it; they had a candle for it. Margo and I could not resist, even though we have barely any room left in our luggage, and bought some shaped like hippos. After that, I just enjoyed a relaxing afternoon at the hotel.

Speaking of hippos, Saturday morning we took a cruise around Lake St. Lucia and saw tons of hippos, crocodiles, and birds. The hippos were so big! They stayed in the water, often resting their heads on the back of another hippo. We would just stay still and watch a "pod" of them for 15 minutes or so and not get bored. It was fascinating.

Margo and I with some hippos!

Bunny chow

Cuba Lounge

After the cruise, we drove for a very long time toward the city of Durban. I slept the majority of the bus ride, as did the rest of the group. Once we arrived, I was very pleased to see that we were finally in a hotel that had things to do nearby, rather than isolated. We seized the opportunity to go to the huge mall right across the street. It was very fun to be able to walk around and people watch. Durban has a very prevalent Indian influence, so we were hoping to try some good Indian food while there. We had bunny chow, which was chicken and some spicy curry sauce in what was essentially a bread bowl. You eat it with your hands, which turned out to be very interesting. I got what was only a quarter order, and I still couldn't finish it. I can't imagine what a whole order would look like! Then, for dinner we went to a place called Cuba Lounge, which had modern dance music and unique drinks--mostly mojitos to stick with the Cuban theme. It was very enjoyable to be somewhere besides a hotel restaurant for once.

We have an early flight to Port Elizabeth in the morning, so I'm going to get some rest now!

First Impressions

Wow! The past few days have been a crazy whirlwind of sight-seeing, long bus rides, and learning tons of new information about this beautiful country. This is actually the first time we’ve had internet since landing, so I apologize for being a bit out-of-touch. I’ll try to give a brief overview of what I’ve done so far.

Margo and I at our hotel in Pilgrim's Rest

On Monday, we drove. A LOT. First, we rode through Pretoria. It’s one of the three capitals of South Africa and means the “City of Roses.” It is also the largest city geographically. Apparently you can drive somewhere around an hour and a half to get from one side to the other. We made another stop in Dullstrom for lunch. This was a city famous for fly fishing and drinking, although we didn’t see any of that during our short stop. Finally, we made it to our destination of Pilgrim’s Rest in Mpumalanga. This is an old gold mining village and really looked like a movie set for an old Western film. Everything is preserved as it was originally. It had an old post office, gas station, general store, and lots of churches. The most interesting thing was the cemetery. It was up on a hillside overlooking a gorgeous view of the mountains of Mpumalanga. There was a specific grave of a thief called the “Robber’s Grave.” While all the other graves are facing east and west so that the person can see Jesus’ return, this grave is facing the opposite direction. The idea is that he cannot be resurrected. We stayed at Royal Hotel, which was very old-fashioned. We were greeted with a welcome drink, then escorted to our rooms. It had a bathtub (no shower) and a lot of candles. These were helpful, since the power went out constantly! Next to the hotel was a church that had been converted to a bar. It is tradition for every visitor to have a drink, so we stopped in for a beer before dinner.

God's Window

The "Three Sisters"

Tuesday, we saw a lot of the must-see natural attractions along the Panorama route in Mpumalanga, which means “place where the sun rises”. We first stopped at God’s Window. The view was absolutely breath-taking. Then, we went to a lookout over Blyde River Canyon. It has three mountains that are commonly referred to as the “Three Sisters,” with a traditional folk story behind the name. Finally, we visited the “Potholes.” There were many pools and waterfalls in the canyon. This is a special place where the Africans go to communicate with their ancestors. To do this, you throw a coin off a bridge into the water, and if the coin spins on its way down, your ancestors are pleased. If not, they are unhappy with something, and you must try to fix it. Mine spun, so I guess everything’s well! That evening, we went to an elephant interaction. We got to learn all about the elephants, feed them, and ride them. It was one of the coolest things I’ve done! The animals were so magnificent and extremely smart! Plus, the guide knew a lot about the physiology and anatomy of the animal, which, obviously, Margo and I loved!

Feeding the elephant!

Giraffe!

Zebra!

On Wednesday, we woke up to a knock on our door at 5:00am to get ready to go on a safari in Kruger National Park that lasted from 6am to about 3pm. This is something on my bucket list, so I was so excited to finally be doing it! However, when I imagined this experience, I never thought I’d be so cold! I had on a sweater, sweatshirt, and my winter jacket, as well as a blanket. I was still freezing when the car was moving! The sunrise made the cold worthwhile. You see pictures of African sunrises that are so beautiful that you couldn’t imagine it looks like that in person. It did. The sun was a gorgeous bright orange-red, and all the trees and giraffes were just black silhouettes. We saw a giraffe within the first five minutes. They were so graceful and beautiful. Throughout the day, we saw rhinos, elephants, a lion, impalas, waterbucks, hippos, baboons, zebras, kudu (an antelope), warthogs, endangered wild dogs, and many different birds. Our guide was very funny, and he grew up right outside the park, so his knowledge of the animals and plants was firsthand, rather than something he learned for the job, which made it even more interesting. For instance, he showed us a bush that he had used the branches as a toothbrush, as well as a plant that their traditional healers use to treat upset stomachs.

Elephant approaching our vehicle

Dancing with the Swazis

Today, we went to Swaziland, a landlocked country in the middle of South Africa. We drove there first thing in the morning, and got our passports stamped at the border. Then, we went to a Swazi cultural experience, where they explained Swazi customs, we toured a traditional village, and we watched and participated in traditional dances and songs. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen or experienced, and it was so beautiful. We then drove through the country for a while, while our tour guide explained a lot about the history of the country and Swazi people. We then went to a memorial for King Sobhuza II. It was very interesting to learn more about how the king is chosen and how King Sobhuza ruled the country. There was no apartheid in Swaziland, because the King valued racial harmony. He said that just like you need both black and white keys to make beautiful music with a piano, you need all races living together peacefully. Also to represent this, the white portions of the Swaziland flag have black spots and the black portions have white spots. There was also a glass building at the place where King Sobhuza died. This place is held sacred because it is where all the tears of the people were spilled mourning over the death of the king, and a piece of his spirit remains there. Therefore, you cannot touch the building or take photos of it. The guide would not even point at the building with his index finger, as a sign of respect. It’s constantly guarded, and there is a changing of the guard every few hours. Then, we went to a museum to learn some more about the history and culture of Swaziland. I absolutely loved it!

At the Swaziland border!

Ok, now for some final thoughts about the country since I’m caught up on my travels thus far. The food hasn’t been extremely different from the US. However, there is a huge emphasis on game meat. The only unique things I’ve tried so far is kudu, which just tasted like steak, and ox tail, which tasted like ribs. We also tried amarula, a type of liqueur made from morula berries. The bottle has an elephant on it, since elephants love to eat the berries. The wine is also delicious and very cheap. I’m definitely looking forward to the wine tastings we have scheduled later in the week. Also, it’s amazing how many languages the people here speak! I’ve heard so many—most of which I don’t recognize. Our tour guide speaks 20 languages himself! Crazy. I even heard some Spanish in Kruger National Park, which made me happy.

I’ve loved my time here so far! Everyone is so nice and welcoming, and the country is gorgeous! I am looking forward to being settled in Bloemfontein though, so I can stop living out of a suitcase and constantly driving from place to place. My only complaint so far is that my camera is not working. Thankfully, Margo is with me, so we can share! I don’t know what I’d do otherwise! But, that being said, I won’t be posting much to facebook, so you can check hers for more, and I apologize for any duplicates of pictures on our blogs if you are following both of us. Haha. 

South Africa has been called a “world in one country,” and I am definitely starting to understand that. We’ve seen canyons, jungles, grasslands, and mountains, and met people from such diverse backgrounds. I can’t wait to see what more my time in South Africa has in store for me.

I'm in Africa!?

So, it's 3am here in South Africa, and Margo and I are wide awake. Nothing like a really long plane ride and six hour time difference to shake up your sleep schedule! Anyway, I figured I could blog to pass some time, although not much has happened yet. The plane ride was alright. I watched about 4 movies and slept a lot. We also had some very delicious food as far as airplane food goes, but some of it we still have no idea what it was haha. As we landed in Johannesburg, the sun was setting, and it was absolutely gorgeous! When we got off the plane, we went through customs, got our bags, and met with our guide--all a quick and painless process :)

Our guide drove us to our hotel and tried to tell us about things we were passing, but I could barely hear him. From what I gathered, he showed us a township and stadium of some type. What I did understand that was cool, is they have these tunnel-looking things that glow blue. Apparently they scan each car and charge them. So, essentially a toll road, but without having to stop at a booth. I thought it was a neat idea. Then, we got to our hotel, watched some TV, and went to bed around 9pm. Hence, we are wide awake again at 3am.

In a few hours we will be heading out of Johannesburg to Mpumalanga to visit an old mining village called Pilgrim's Rest, where gold was first discovered. We're really excited to meet the other people we'll be traveling with and start seeing all of the sights in South Africa before settling down in Bloemfontein!

Heading Off

This time last year, I was in Costa Rica starting what turned out to be a life-changing experience. I made wonderful friends, learned a lot of Spanish, fell in love with another culture, and became much more aware of the differences between healthcare here in the US and other places around the world--what we do well, as well as things we could definitely improve upon. Saturday, I'll be getting on a plane for 18 hours to go to South Africa! I'm very excited, and, while I know it'll be different from my Costa Rican experience in many ways, I'm hoping it will be just as influential and meaningful to me.

For the first two weeks, I'll be traveling with my friend Margo all around the country, from Johanesburg to Kruger National Park, Swaziland, Port Elizabeth, Cape Town, and lots of places in between. We figured we should make the most of the trip, since we don't know when we'll be back to Africa, if ever. We have many fun activities planned, including a safari and cage diving to see great white sharks! It'll be nice to have the first few weeks to relax and get accustomed to the country before starting our actual internship.

Speaking of the internship, we are staying at University of the Free State in Bloemfontein and shadowing medical school students there. We'll also spend some time in community outreach clinics, which I'm really looking forward to. For those of you who may be interested more in what I'm doing medically, I'll have another blog that's required for school that's only about that. You can find it by clicking on my profile and then finding the blog entitles "Clinical Education in South Africa".

University of the Free State

Through this experience, I hope to gain a greater understanding, again, of the differences between the US healthcare system and other places, learn more about a culture that is completely foreign to me, make new friends (and get closer to some South African students that we met in the fall in Boone!), and gain valuable clinical experience with underserved populations. Of course, I can't predict everything I'll experience while half-way across the world, so I'm going to stay open to new things and try to absorb as much as possible in my short time there. And finally--I promise I'll try to be better about updating this blog than mine last summer!

For now, though, I need to get back to my packing! Six weeks with only 50 pounds of luggage? Challenge accepted.