Feb 14th. Jeffery’s Bay
Today I went surfing in Jeffery’s Bay which is about 45 minutes East of PE. It is the second best place in the world to go surfing!! And as much as I would like to say I was surfing in Jeffery’s bay well let’s just say I was attempting…. I got up about two times but not for very long. The weather wasn’t so great either; it was raining and very windy! Did I mention how windy it is down here? It’s worse than Chicago, THE WINDY CITY! I kid you not. We decided to end our day a little early and planned a group dinner to a place called Waldskippers, which had sand on the floor and a bonfire in the middle, very authentic. I chose to have oxtail for dinner; yes it is the actually tail of the ox. It was prepared in a stew and chopped up into pieces and put on rice. It was delicious and a very tender piece of meat. We also had chicken and fish pate which is the liver of each (they were separated). Fortunately, or should I say unfortunately I did not know what it was at the time and it tasted all right, but as soon as I found out I couldn’t even look at it. Ha!!
Feb 15th Addo and Scotia Game Parks
Hey there! I just got back from the Addo Elephant Park and the Scotia game reserve! I have never seen so many wild animals in my life! At the Addo elephant Park, we were lucky enough to see 2 elephants while we were there. One was about 10 meters from the bus! We also were able to see a few warthogs, Kudu and water buffalo as well (The water buffalo and elephant are two of the big five animals here is South Africa, so that was pretty awesome). Afterwards we went on a 4 hour Safari in jeeps in the Scotia game reserve. The animals in the park are wild, however it is called a reserve because the land is protected. It was raining all day, but that didn’t stop many of the animals from wandering around. We saw a huge male lion (big 5) only 30 meters from our jeep and we also saw impala and springbok (types of antelope), zebra, wildebeest, giraffe, rhinos ( part of the big 5 as well), hippos, crocodiles and one of the coolest things for me was seeing all of the carcasses from previous lion kills! After the safari we were served a meal of Kudu which is one of the largest types of deer (close in size to an elk) which was very tasty! We then left and arrived home around 10pm, where I fell asleep right away after all of the action from the day!
Feb 16th.
Today was my first day of Volunteering. I was paired with a little two year old girl named Esti. If there is anything that I have learned from this trip it is that the stereotype of a child with AIDS is completely false. These children are just like any other child who Is unaffected. They are playful, healthy, funny, and do all of the things any other child would do. I feel very guilty for having this previous assumption, but am very happy that I was wrong. The children at the haven are so wonderful and I can’t wait for the rest of the semester with them. On the other hand, I am still getting over my fear of contracting Aids, but in reality it is much harder for that to happen than you think.
Hope all is well back home! I’ll keep you updated after my next excursion this coming week to a few caves!!