Look Right, Drive Left

On our way to Plettenberg Bay from Jeffrey's Bay we stopped at Tsitsikamma National Park. The place is absolutely breathtaking. In one week, we've gone from tropical beach to snow-capped mountains to Pacific Northwest-like scenery in a country the size of two Texases (Texi?). South Africans are so lucky. We walked a really nice trail to see a suspension bridge that went over the mouth of Storms River.

The people we are meeting on this part of the journey are surprised by our accents. It goes like this, "Where are you from?" (or equally as popular, "From where are you?") "The USA [confused look from person]...America." "Oh yeah, your team is doing well huh? We didn't even know you had soccer."

The Beautiful Game

We've been to four games now and watched all but maybe two or three. After careful consideration, I am officially a Spain fan. I am so impressed by the patience and possession style of play. Unfortunately, that doesn't always translate to goals for them. Germany is an aggressive and maybe slightly lucky (read: I was told by Todd that saying players like Klose are lucky is like saying LeBron James is lucky, so maybe I'm wrong there) team so it will be interesting to see how the teams match up.

I enjoyed following the US but it was difficult at times. I do feel we have World Cup caliber players (as our European league presence will prove) but I think the coaching was really poor, especially when it comes to the roster. I mean, Michael Bradley must have had 80,000 turnovers and he is supposed to be the strong point man in the middle. I know there are better players than that in our country, we have such a large pool to pull from. It just never clicked for the US but I'm still proud they made it as far as they did and showed such a resilient work ethic.

It has been such an exciting World Cup overall: upsets, last minute goals, missed last minute goals, drama. It's such an amazing event as it only happens every four years and lasts for a month—what a true test of sport. I think this trip marks a new tradition in attending every one from here on out.

Three Charming Elephants

After a lovely breakfast in Plett, we backtracked a little to see The Elephant Sanctuary. The three elephants we spent the tour with had been brought to the reserve because they didn't have the proper papers to fly to China and join the circus. They had sat uncared for in the Joburg airport for nearly three months.

Each of us got to walk "hand-in-truck" with the giants. I walked with Amarula. She is named after a liquor made from the fruit of an African tree that she used to eat from. Images of a drunken Dumbo with pink elephants dancing around instantly popped in my head. Amarula was missing the first part of her truck and they think it may have been from a hunting trap. She had to suck her food off the ground to get it in her truck and then put it in her mouth. I had a handful of elephant snot and dirt on my hands by the end of our walk; it was as bonding experience.

Up close, the elephants are mellow and sweet. Or they were possibly jaded from doing the same act every two hours, every day. They did have personality though. When it came to the end of the tour and we fed the elephants fruits and veggies to "thank them," I put one piece in each trunk and they continued to hold them out like, "Hey lady, don't be stingy. We know you have more."

It was a really cool experience, especially with the added attraction of the surrounding meercat colony.

Wild in Wilderness

As we made our way to Wilderness from Plettenberg Bay, we stopped in Knysna for lunch. The town had some funk (cool funk not smelly funk) and the geography resembled the Oregon coast. We found a cute little place on Thesen island called Ile de Pain where I had the best butternut squash soup of my life.

In Wilderness, we stayed at a backpackers called Fairy Knowe. It was tucked away from the town in the forest so it was very peaceful but also very nature intensive, as in a giant tarantula in our room. Todd discovered it just as we were all getting ready for bed. All I could do was leave and start making plans to sleep in the car (I have a irrational but very real fear of spiders). After a lot of screaming and really odd dancing from Kara, the two of them had eradicated the problem.

Lions Oh My!

Before leaving the coast and cutting up to Robertson, we stopped at The Garden Route Private Reserve for a game drive. It was a totally different experience than the couple days we spent in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi (north of Durban). They had considerably less land so the animals weren't as "wild," but on the other hand it did ensure that you would see them. We also got to drink beer. Which come to think of it we probably could have done on our other game drives because it's not that there are no rules in South Africa, it's that nobody follows them.

I was anxious to see lions so we drove straight away to their 100-hectare designated area. We found them (two females, one male) lounging in the sun like house cats. It was incredible! They were so huge and scary yet so cuddly. They didn't seem to mind that we were there but our guide told us that at the end of the day they grow tired of spectators and will sometimes chase the 4x4s out. Can you imagine?

On the rest of the drive we spotted zebras, rhinos, wildebeests, elephants, a ton of springbok and impalas, and one giraffe that peed for a good five minutes while our guide gave us giraffe facts: they fight by swinging their heads and bashing the opponent, and newborns can walk within 20 minutes of birth to escape predators.

Really sorry about the lack of photos, the computer/Internet situation has not been very easy over here. Will post a slew when we get home.

From Rhinos to Winos

Our last stop on the road trip was Robertson wine country. We stayed in a perfect cottage set in a narrow valley of craggy mountains. Fruit trees and grape vines surrounded us and climbed up the nearby foothills. It was incredibly serene. Our gracious hosts, Bruce and Allison of Tierhoek Farm upgraded our accommodations which were total luxury compared to our previous night stay in our spider-infested room.

Our wine tour kicked off the next day just down the road at a cellar called Rooiberg Winery. We loved everything we tasted. Everything we tasted was dirt cheap. This was a problem. A wonderful, backstroke-in-a-vat-of-wine problem, but a problem nonetheless.

Sure enough, after stops at Graham Beck (great bubbly), Springfield (no tannins), Bon Courage (great reserves) and De Wetshof (wasn't even that good but bottles on promotion) we were drunk and there were 24 bottles of wine in the backseat. How we were getting them all back to the States was a problem for future Diana, Kara and Todd.

Back at the cottage, Kara and I made the hugest pot of stew ever and played South African Monopoly: "Do not pass Begin, do not collect 20,000 Rand."

The Mother City

Cape Town is just as fantastic as I thought it would be. We stayed in a bright purple flat in De Waterkant, a hilly, cobblestone street, cute pubs kind of neighborhood. I loved being in a city, it feels like home. But you're from Nebraska Diana. I know, isn't that weird?

Michelle and Bryan had been in Joburg for a couple games and flew down shortly after we drove in. We started tackling the wine surplus and swapping South Africa stories before heading down to the game at Greenpoint. Walking to the stadium was amazing! The main street was only open to pedestrian traffic over a mile out, it was a full-on parade of fans. The game was brilliant, I was afraid that Spain would let a Portugal goal slip in but they stayed strong as a whole.

We had just a couple days to explore Cape Town so we designated one day to exploring the city and the next to drive the cape/peninsula. We walked the Bo Kaap area, which I think is populated with Cape Malays, a community in South Africa whose earliest members were slaves transported by the Dutch East India Company. In addition to the pastel and neon-colored buildings and insanely steep cobblestone streets, it seemed suddenly quieter and calm. A man from the neighborhood stopped us and told us stories of living there and what we should do while we are in Cape Town. So randomly friendly, I love it. We also toured through an art studio called Streetwires where over 100 previously unemployed people had stable jobs creating art from wires, beads and recycled materials. There was some awesome stuff. We went down to see the artists and it was a jamming craft party. They each get a commission on their products and you can find them all over.

The walking tour was overtaken by a two and a half hour lunch so all we had time for before dark was checking out Green Street Market. At first I felt so tense because the hassling and hustling was too intense ("Looking is free sista. I give you good price. No pressure.") but then you give in to it and you actually get a little assertive with bargaining. I think we all came out pretty good in the end; we got some good stuff and supported the locals (at least I hope we did). We topped off the evening wandering the V&A Waterfront and then got groceries at the SPAR to eat-in. Bryan and Todd grilled an awesome dinner of shish kabobs and we ate on the roof top deck. It was wonderful. So glad the whole group was finally together.