Lessons from Africa: Part II

I'll assume all you faithful blog readers read my last blog and have literally been on the edge of your seats this past week waiting for Part II. So I will pick up where I left off which was Danny and I speed-touring London, minding the Gap and just making the 11 hour flight to Jo-burg, South Africa. Phew!  

And let me make it crystal clear that the 11 hour flight was a DELIGHTFUL part of trip. Here's what happened.

1. Store luggage in overhead, take a comfy seat and buckle up. 
2. Decide which 7 of the 30 movies to watch and add to your own personal playlist.
3. Take off. WHHEEEE!
4. Order water, coffee, wine (free!)
5. Watch about 1 hour-ish of first movie in the 7 movie line up.
6. Order MEAL. And it was delicious. And HOT. And there was REAL silverware. And a side salad.
7. Pause movie to take a cat nap (~3 hours in duration)
8. Repeat from line 4.

It. Was. AMAZING. Pretty much like a flying retirement home with a fabulous wait staff. So I was disappointed to leave the land of cat naps and food but also excited to be on the other side of the globe on a crazy adventure.

In the past, landing and dealing with a bike box is a big pain in the rump. But not in Port Elizabeth. And definitely not when you have Theuns and Tess Kotze owners of Cycle Service Center on your side. Theuns met me at the airport, gave me a fist pump and whisked my bike away to build and tune it. I hope he reads this and knows that HE IS THE MAN. If I were to speak Afrikanns I would say: 'Theuns you are ongelooflike!!!'

And speaking of ONGELOOFLIKE humans the van Eyke family welcomed us into their home and fed us espresso and koekesisters and date balls and copious amounts of ostrich steaks and they were also so wonderful that we are still wondering how in the world we can repay them. 

The race adventure/vacation started out on such a positive note that Danny and I decided to ride this high all the way to the Tsitsikamma forest. This was hands down the most beautiful place I have ever been hiking. It was a dream like day full of caves and ocean views and lush single track. However it also involved getting stalked and hunted by a troupe of Baboons. Oh the drama!  And ironically one of the locals had just finished telling us how nasty Baboons can get.  So the GOOD and the BADS of this day pretty much stacked up like this:  

GOOD:

BADS: I honestly can't think of anything bad except the Baboons. This is just an unnecessary gap filler to the longest multi-part blog ever.


The next day was filled with warthog sightings and giraffes and zebras galore. 

However, we had ventured off that day to see the stunning elephant in the wild. Just when we thought this day was not our elephant sighting day a Mom, Dad and Baby elephant came bumbling out of the thicket to drink at a watering hole. We could NOT take our eyes off these magnificent creatures. It gives me chills just thinking about it. 

   
And by the end of the day we had seen so many elephants that it was like. "Move aside elephant! We got places to be!"  And one of those places involves an 8 foot by 8 foot shark tank!

To be continued...OH THE SUSPENSE!!!

Editor's Note: I WILL eventually thank my sponsors and discuss my race.  Stay Tuned!