First South Africa Adventures

I realize it's been about 2 weeks since I even bothered to put a post up. This is due partly because of my own laziness and partly because I have been extreemely busy. For those who haven't heard my flights went very well. My dad, Ashley and Tanya were very kind to drop me off in the Seattle Airport :) My first impression of a plane was not so great since it was a dingy little thing flying from seattle to vancouver. After that the only problem we had was a passenger in Frankfurt who wouldn't let the pilot take off if the wing flaps were down. The pilots message to the rest of the passengers was very exasperated and went something like this: "Sorry for the delay, there seems to be a slight miscommunication and a passenger refuses to fly if the wing flaps are down. However, in order to take off I need them down...obviously. Hopefully the situation is rectified soon." It then proceeded to take another 45min to convince the passenger and we finally took off. I had two impressions of South Africa
1. It was boiling
2. It was boiling
That's all I can remember at that point in time.

The Lengkeek family was waiting very patiently for me but I had to go through customs. The lady checking my passport was...in nice terms "idiotic." She nodded at me that we were done so I started to walk away...about 3 steps later I realized she still had my passport. When I went back I asked if she still had it. She looked at me and said "um..yah...I still needed to stamp it." I realize the fact that I misunderstood her nod was my fault, but I was quite frustrated that she didn't even to bother calling after me. You'd think she would have known that without a passport I'm really in trouble. That or she didn't care. (In my opinion it was the second option.)

We left straight away for camping! It was a 6 hour drive from the Lengkeek house to Oudtshoorn where we stayed for the next week and half: We also camped with the Vanderlindes:
Monday: Arrived..drove for 6 hours and slept with some serious jetlag. Set up a huge tent that fit all 4 girls, me and andria and jerome. I proceeded to crash on a mattress that had apparently (I didn't discover this until a week later) wasn't actually properly inflated.
Tuesday: I was still pretty tired so we stayed at the campground and did a lot of swimming. I got my first burn..ever. It was a pretty pathetic burn but I slathered on the sunscreen every day after that. Which is quite shocking considering I hate sunscreen.
Wednesday: we took a very scenic drive to deHell. I'll try post a picture but I haven't quite learned how to resize them for blogs so that might have to wait a couple days. Terribly sorry. :) deHell literally means "The Hell" when a stock inspector named Botha on one of his visits said it was a "helluva" place to get into and out of. The valley was probably discovered by white settlers about 180 years ago when some cattle strayed into the ravine. They saw the potential of the valley, moved in and shut out the world behind them. For about a century these people lived, worked, and married without every leaving the area. The only access route was a steeph footpath negotiable only by humans on foot and pack-donkeys.
Thursday: Cango Caves! I was really excited about these. The rock formation were very old with huge huge stalacites, stalagmites, and columns. The main attraction however, was the tour that we had decided to go on. It was a pathway that required crawling through small spaces (30cm wide and 40 cm high): that's an approximation close to what he said. I don't remember the exact measurements. It was super tight and we all made sure we stuck behind people that looked slim after hearing horror stories of a Black Woman (about triple my size) getting stuck for 9 hours and people being trapped behind her.
Friday: My first trip to the Indian Ocean!! It's much different from swimming in the Pacific since the waves here were huge! Occasionally you would be bowled over and swept underwater :) I have very few fears in life but I can honestly say that I don't like crabs. Obviously however, I had to be the one that had a crap nip at my pinkie toe. Happily it was after an hour of swimming because I didn't dare attempt the water again..not after seeing the size of some of the crabs there.
Saturday: Rode an ostrich. nuff said.
Sunday: Church
Monday: went to Mossel Bay (pronounced Mussel Bay) where we went to a museum. (you can tell I don't recall to much of this since I've never been know to really read signs) I did my best but I don't remember a lot of the information
Tuesday: Packed up and drove to Karoo National Park where I went on my first Safari :) We saw lots of antelope and had a very enjoyable time. I have a book of information so this is what I'm reading:
The Karoo national Park (32 792 ha) was established just west of beaufort West in 1979 to preserve the fauna and flora of the south central Great Karoo where the average rainfall is 250mm or less. It is home to antelope species such as kudu, duiker, red and grey rhebuck, klipspringer and steenbok. Theres also Zebra, Rhinos, Hartebeest and 8 new Lions were just admitted to the Park!
Sadly finding lions on a safari is a lucky experience and some people spend weeks driving without finding any. I did see quite a bit for my first safari..but no lion or rhino :(
We stayed in Karoo until Wednesday morning and packed up and went home.

Currently I'm adjusting to life with the Lengkeeks. Its quite easy to do and very enjoyable :D Jerome and I have instilled "Jerome Bootcamp" which is a program designed to get us both in shape. I hate to say it but my Brother-in-Law with 6 kids is wooping the ass of a young 18 year old. Sad..but true. This bootcamp requires hiking up Tygerburg (we went yesterday and saw and owl about half a metre away from us!!) and running today. I might die...