the wild coast

hi everybody just thought id fill you in again on whats goin on. me and amanda just got back from a trip up the wild coast. the wild coast is the eastern coast of south africa. it was sooooo pretty. the original plan for our trip was to spend 3 nights and 2 days in cintsa and than 3 nights and 2 days in coffee bay. unfortunately because these were small towns the buses we were taking didnt go directly to where we were staying. Thankfully the backpackers ran shuttles from the bus stops and the backpacker. so we left monday morning early on got the bus to east london.... this bus ride was quite possibly one of the most miserable of my life, there were 5 seats in a row and the leg room provided made airlines seem generous. in top of that there must have been a mothering convention some where because everybody on the bus had at least 3 children on their laps and at any given moment half of them were crying. anyways we finally got to east london and were picked up by our shuttle on the shuttle we met a cool couple jenny and dave. jenny and dave were traveling together and had already come down the entire west coast of africa and were now working theyre way up the east coast. as such we ended up spending most of the week with them. in cintsa we stayed at the buccaneers backpacker, buccs was super laid back and really accommodating and really beautiful. every day buccs had tons of stuff to do, our first day we took a mountain bike ride through a xhosa (the local peoples) village and stopped and met a craazy old xhosa woman named moma tofu, who showed us her village and talked to us about xhosa culture and life, one of the things we talked about was the xhosa courting practices. she ended this with this statement "though it is good for a man to have many wives, should decided that he just wants to fool around and be a playboy, the gods will strike him down with hiv/aids!! now lets go back outside." like i said she was off her rocker. so after that we finished up learning about xhosa life and than continued our ride, which ended up being like 25 kilometers.. ive yet to figure out the conversion bet kilometers to miles. so we just kinda bummed around the backpackers after that and met some more cool people. the next day we were originally going to go on an elephant back day safari but it was kinda spendy so we opted to do an elephant interaction instead. the elephant interaction was super cool we got to "play" with elephants, now as much as i wanted to i wasnt allowed to go romp with the elephants we did get to feed them pet them and one of them gave elephant kisses. after the elephants we went to a rural school that buccs help sponsor, at the school the kids who go there are in a choir, and they sang for us. i went expecting a lot of out of tune little kids like you usually see at school choir recitals. however the kids blew me away they were amazing. after the choir we went back and hung out and made sure all our stuff was together to leave the next day. the next morning we morning we left for est london to catch our bus to mthatha. so we got to the east london station an hour and a half early and when we checked in at the office they said our bus was going to be an hour and a half late, so me and amanda got some coffee and while she was reading i called the backpacker in coffee bay to let them know that we were going to be late and what we should do. the lady at the backpacker told me not to worry the shuttle would wait for us to get there. so after a while our bus got there and loaded up and headed to mthatha. however once we got to mthatha, there was no shuttle to be found.... and on top of that the sun was starting to set. so i called the backpacker and their answer was, the shuttle left, you guys were late. when i asked them what they expected us to do they told us to find a woman named leslie, she was on your bus and had the same problem. amanda quickly responded that five buses just pulled in and unloaded, it would be impossible to find one person. so they gave us a number of a backpacker to call in mthatha, so when we called it, it didnt work. so we were starting to get a little nervous, the people at the bus stop didnt help, because they were totally inept. anyways about 2 minutes later, it felt like 2hours, the backpacker in coffee bay told us, in a very apolojetic tone that, they got ahold of the backpacker in mthatha and they would come pick us up in a couple of minutes. so we ended up getting picked up a great guy named angus and he took us to the backpacker, which he and his wife ran out of their house. they were amazingly nice, they gave us dinner, and made sure we were doing ok. the next day we went to the nelson mandela museum in mthatha while we waited for the coffee shack to come pick us up. the museum was really cool one half was all about his autobiography, a long walk to freedom, and the other was gifts that people had given him. the gifts were by far the coolest, they ranged for paintings that third graders had made to a gold and jewel encrusted camel saddle from some middle eastern prince. so the coffee shack bus finally came and picked us up, and drove us the two hours into coffee bay. coffee bay was actually very scenic and just as pretty as cintsa. however even putting the whole ride fiasco aside i really didnt enjoy coffee shack, even though its suposed to be one of the best in south africa. it was pretty and all but over all i really didnt like the atmosphere there alot of the people who were working or staying there were pretty stuck up and proud. but we did have travel friends who were there, some of the couples from buccs, including dave and jenny and a dutch couple. but while we were there i was talking with a girl who was california, turns out she grew up in petaluma and went to the JC for three years... talk about small world. so in our full day at coffee shack we were told by friends that we need to hike to hole in the wall. so we did. me, amanda, dave, jenny, and leslie all hiked to hole in the wall. it turned out to be way more than just a hike, basically it was a 3.5 hour trek on cliff side goat paths though xhosa vilages up hills and down valleys till we finally got to hole in the wall, once there we took a much needed swim and lunch and nap break. after about an hour we started our trek back to cofffee shack and grabbed a great free dinner there. the next morning me and amanda were a little worried that the about the shuttle getting us back to mthatha on time to catch our bus home, given that they had been anything but reliable before. so we did end up making it on time and, actually our bus was an hour late. this bus ride was pretty miserable too mostly just cause it was 8 hours long, any who we made it home safe and sound day before yesterday late. not to long after we got back me and amanda both started to feel a little nauseous, we both ended up sick as dogs yesterday but our just fine now. this week we start planning our big trip up to the okavango delta and victoria falls. more on that later though. oh yeah im working on posting pictures from our trip ive got some up but im far from done, its kind of a pain in the ass, but thats life. on smaller notes we are having a going away braii for amandas room mate tonight. but i think thats all the news from me right now, but letme know how you all are doing i love emails and hearing from everybody.

hope to hear from you all

andrew

heeeeelllllllooooooo

Hello everybody im terribly sorry for not making sure everybody was aware that i am alive and very well. Let me start with the flight.... my first flight from SFO to JFK was uneventful and very routinely cramped. Than came the 18 hour flight from hell.... actually it wasnt that bad at all, actually South African Airlines was by far the best airline i have ever been on (not that ive been on to many) firstly i had my own tv screen with a collection of movies, video games, tv shows, and music all at my controll. in addition i had free beer wine and cocktails at the push of a button. also the food i got 4 meals all told, was super tasty (realatively speaking). so other than that the flights were long and i tried to sleep and though it was hard i got some in. than finally i got to jo-berg (way to many hours and time changes to try and figure out) and ordered my first pint and got my first of the amazing new sauce called peri-peri, bottom line is its amazing!! so amanda wasnt exactly right about the beer sucking, but the beer i had was actually pretty good. anyways i finally got into PE (port elizabeth) amanda was there and we went to our hotel and proceeded to pass out. the next day amanda showed me around, first we went on a samll walk to the grocery store to buy razors and contact solution. Than we caaught a mini-bus to a huge mall called green acres and bridge. before i tell you about the mall i need to tell you about mini-buses basically its a vw vanagon with like 15 seats and they drive you to where you need to go for like R5. in order to catch one of these buses you need only listen for a horn honking and a man yelling town! town! town! town! than you flag them down and tell them where your going, if they're headed that dorection you hop in if not you keep waiting. so back to the mall it was absolutely huge and confusoing and full of people all talking very loudly. at the mall i bought a pair of pant and came to the conclusion that i am going sweater vest cause they're smashing. after that we walked around a bit more and i got pretty tired so we caught the mini buses back home, its two bus rides. once home i took a rest and watched tv which in affrikaans which is a very angry sounding language but i plan on taking once school starts. after a while amanda took me to a fantastic restaurant, where i had the most amazing dinner, for an appetizer we had kalamari but it wasnt fried to was little kalamari steaks thatwere grilled in some amazing sauce. than for dinner i had ostrich which is awesome, its kind of got a gaamey steak chiken flavor but its super delicious, and it came with a bowl of the next best thing, sweet chilli sauce.... simply amazing sauce of spicey chilly-y sweet amazingness. (im bringing a bottle home) and another pretty tasty south african beer. and for dessert... oh my god me and amanda split a brownie that im positive was sent from heaven.... the church should start purportrating that we eat food like this in heaven cause if theydo im positive they could convert the world... it was bottom line the best thing ever... then we retreated back to the hotel by cabby. i need to tell you about amandas cabby, he is an old south african man named pang, who is outrageously oppiniated and seems to know just a bout everything and every one. other than that the hotel we stayed in was amazing and their idea of a continental breakfast needs to catch on back home, basically it was, in addition to pastries and cereal, fresh cooked eggs, sauasage and bacon (which on a side note is not quite like it is at home its thicker, not as cripy and moer fatty, but tasty) they had cheese platters fish platters and meat platters and the fruit here is so good. but yeah that is really about it. im in annies cove now and will be traveling on and off for the next month. again im really sorry if there was worry and concern about my well being. i wont get my own phone for a couple of weeks but you can reach me on amandas line which is 00270785188033 just please remember that im 9 hours ahead and may be a little grumpy if woken up but please please email me.

i love and miss you all

drew