wild coast

After hangin with all the surfers and the hostel babes I was getting anxious to see some of South Africa itself. Taking the Baz Bus automatically put us into a buffet style bubble of tourism. We ran across the same people, stayed at the endorsed hostels and visited all the same towns as every other twenty something tourist in the country. How could I get out of this hip black hole and see something authentic? Far as I can tell, its just not possible unless you rent a car or take the greyhound service. Neither of those options worked for us. I did find a way to improve the Baz Bus journeys though. I took to sitting in the front seat with the driver. Uncool? Perhaps. Sitting up there though meant I could see the countryside. And ignore all the people in the rest of the bus. I could almost imagine that I was riding in the front of some truck that was carrying cattle that I had hitched a ride with. (Thats what I wanted to do, but sources say that is less than 'safe'.)

My favortie driving day took us through the Transkei. This is an area of country where the blacks were forced to relocate during Apartheid. The area was not suitable for so many people to live on, but there they were, making the best of it. Things haven't really changed much geographically since Apartheid ended. The area was dotted with huts, fields and small, non-european, chaotic, African cities. You could see school kids walking across large expanses of land, their too-large backpacks bouncing along atop skinny legs. A group of boys were stripping their school sweaters off and pilling them on the sidelines of the football games they were sorting teams to play. Not a vacation home in sight. All day I rode alongside the driver, asking questions and assisting him with his passenger sorting duties at stops. It was fun and I decided to ride up there whenever I could.

One stop along the wild coast was at Cintsa. This was a tiny vacation town centered around a lagoon that was filled by the tides of the sea. The buildings were nestled into the trees and fun chairs were hidden into little clearings on the hostel property. It was so refreshing to be in a place that the party lovers didn't stop at and quiet relaxation and canoe paddling were encouraged. We wanted to stay longer, but the Baz Bus schedule made us have to move on to the next stop - Port Shepstone.

This was a place that I was looking forward to since before leaving for the trip. A small beachfront hostel, south of Durbin that was quiet and let you use their surfboards for free. We ended up staying three nights there and enjoyed some beach time and lots of reading time. The owners of the Spot Backpackers were really great. They would take us into town for whatever we wanted and we all piled into their truck for a trip up to the nearby Oribi gorge. The guys all did this bungy jumping, gorge swing thing, while Melissa and I just enjoyed the view and saved our $100 for another day.

The surfing was interesting here. I went out twice with the bartender, but did more paddling and ducking waves than surfing. I didn't even attempt to catch a wave because it was the largest surf I had ever been in and I was scared for my life. I got a little angry at the dude because he left me out there to catch some of these monsters for himself and I had to hang out and dive really deep to escape terrible wipeouts before getting swept down shore and trying to figure out how to get out of the water without being smashed on rocks. Lots of prayer happening just then. I like to think I am better off because of the experience. I saw a huge sea turtle come right up next to me though. That was nice.

After Port Shepstone, we stopped over in Durbin. Not much to report from there, except for an incredible indian dinner where I got my favorite dish, paneer in butter masala curry. They even had garlic naan, for crying out loud. We went around the city for the day, traveling without bags or cameras to avoid being mugged. After our one day, which included checking out the beach and looking longingly at the tidy, small surf, we said goodbye to the Indian Ocean and headed inland.