FREEDOM AT LAST! Well, I am off the truck now and have safely made it to Cape Town. Can't believe that it has been over 12 weeks that I have been on the road now...sigh...what a trip! Claudia is still within rock throwing distance parked in the back parking lot and every once and a while, I glance over at her with a small tinge of regret that I won't be getting back on her and heading on another adventure. Then again, I look at my Garden Route plans and the plans after that for going up the coast and on into Mozambique and I think, hell I can choose where I want to go and when I want to do it! Guess both options have their benefits and both options are equally fun, exciting and frustrating.
In any case, where did I last leave off...I am actually not really sure. I belive it was in Windhoek after our big game dinner of local beasts. After that, we carried on to an area where the unique and ever bizarre Quiver Tree is located. It is actually part of the Aloe family. The bark on the trees is similar to a gold lamay crocodile belt and the branches poke up and straight out with spikey little aloe type branches. We then wandered on to Fish River Canyon, which is supposed to be the second largest canyon after the Grand Canyon but apparently there is one in Peru that is also in the running. Regardless, it was quite spectacular. It was actually a canyon within a canyon and if you were really adventuresome, you could do an 85km hike through it. For all the bitching I have been doing about getting zero exercise, it was still a very unappealing offer. We did do a couple of shorter hikes and spent much of a day lazing around a hot spring. Quite ironic that when we finally do get hot water, and I do mean HOT, it is so warm outside that the only thing nice about getting in the hot water is the breeze that dries you off once out of the water. That said, the night swim under the stars and the swim first thing in the morning, were absolutely glorious.
We did a quick canoe trip down the orange river (just a day), then spent the evening in the hostel bar overlooking the water and chatting with a group of people who had just gotten off of a four day trip on the river. Figures that the one guy there "that was mine" - meaning an american - was from Boston and had only ever been out of the country once and that was to London...sigh...the stereotypes that I have to correct out here. I have actually been voted an honorary commonwealth by the aussies, kiwis, canadians and brits on the trip and several times have needed to apologize for "the ones that are mine" along the road. Thankfully there have not been too many.
So, onward we went to the wine country, Stellenbosch, where I was happily back in my element. Beautiful is about all I can say about the vineyards. The wine isn't too bad either. Jules and I rented a car and tooled around one of the days and had a grand ole time chatting with the locals. After a couple of good days of that, we arrived at our final destination - Cape Town. Wow, I cannot believe it. I am still reeling from the fact that I don't get back on the truck anymore and that all the people I have spent the past 10 weeks with (two of them 12 weeks) are peeling off one by one. It will be strange but I have no doubt that I'll adapt.
Past couple of days here have been spent poking around, touring the Cape of Good Hope and climbing Table Mountain. Have continually run into the truckies, so that has been nice and in many cases, have had a good laugh about a number of things and said "goodbye" again for the fourth or fifth time. Tomorrow, it really will be goodbye as Jules and I pick up our car and head to Plettenberg (sp). I am too tired at the moment to write too much or anything of wit, so off I will go. However, before I do, here is a pic of me finally there...
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