Dinner, Hiking, Lesotho, and So Much Driving

It sure has been an action packed 10 days or so. Kim and I went into the Masoyi community a couple times with people from Hands at Work. First, we went to the GOLD program. This is a peer education program where some of the more motivated teens get together to discuss issues that are facing their community. The discussion that day was about whether or not condoms should be distributed in the high schools (they currently are). Shockingly, 24 of the 25 students in the classroom said they thought condoms should not be available at school. "It makes students think about sex instead of school" they said, "plus, condoms are not 100% safe." Simply mind boggling. After asking them a few questions, Kim and I found it clear that their critical thinking skills just aren't there. "Do you think students wouldn't have sex or think about sex if there were no condoms?" we asked, and got some pretty perplexed looks in return. This continent has a very long way to go in its HIV/AIDS fight.

We also got a chance to have dinner at Brooke and Jed's host family's place. The matriarch's name is Ma Flo. She's a pretty amazing woman. She works for Masoyi Home Based Care. We had a really nice meal and got a chance to meet her family. Both of her daughters are either finished or in college and are really engaging people. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed the chance to see where Brooke and Jed started their time in Mpumalanga.

The next weekend we decided to hike the Blyde river canyon hiking trail. It's a 30k, three day/two night hike. The brochure said you would need a "responsible degree of fitness" to complete some of the trail's more strenuous sections. Well, I guess Africans have a different definition of "responsible" than Americans. Some parts of that trail were down right nasty. The first day was only 3k, then about 13.5k each of the next two days. Day 2 was especially challenging as we hiked into and out of the canyon (3rd largest in the world) twice. But it was totally worth it in the end. The mountains and waterfalls were the stuff postcards are made of. The rest camps were furnished with firewood, cooking pots, and bunkhouses. What an excellent yet exhausting weekend.

After two plus weeks with Brooke and Jed, Kim and I spread our wings a little and struck out on our own. We rented a little VW Chico and headed for Lesotho. We planned to spend the first night with a Peace Corps Volunteer that Kim's friend Emily set us up with. It was a long and rainy drive, and when we got there we found that our cell phone didn't work . So we were stuck. We knew we were in the right place, but didn't have any way to contact Becky so she could let us in the gate. Well, finally Kim had the courage to walk up to a house (read cinder block structure that probably wouldn't qualify as a house in the U.S.) that had some lights on. Turns out that the girls living there were students of Becky's and were able to help us get a hold of her. Our Lesotho adventures didn't end there however. We wanted to see the dinosaur footprints that we read about in our guide book. The directions were pretty simple, drive to point 'A' and ask someone there to show you where they are. We found the village OK, but I wasn't sure the Chico was going to make it up that rocky, winding road. Eventually we saw a group of men, and asked them if they could show us where the dinosaur footprints were. One of them, Alex, volunteered his services. He let us park our car in his yard, and guided us up about 2k of basically vertical mountain terrain. Eventually we made it to the top, and got a once in a lifetime chance to see these.

Then we headed for Stellenbosh. About 1200k later we made it. We've already had a couple of great meals, and we plan to visit a few wineries tomorrow. This town has a really relaxed vibe and is very comfortable. We'll spend a couple more days here before heading to Cape Town. Then, it's onward up the southern coast to hit a few beach towns and hopefully see some whales! Until next time...(you can check out some more pictures HERE.)