Just got back from vacation with some friends from Peace Corps and a fun time was had by all. I am now back at site trying to get this festival going (december maybe?) and a scout group started (hoping for October.) Here's what I did for my vacation:

 

Friday: left via minibus for pretoria. Arrived in pretoria and saw batman with fellow PCV Jesse. We both enjoyed it immensely I especially appreciated the maniacal unrestrained genius of the Joker, but the movie was complicated and left me with a bit of a headache. Also went to a rugby game with some peace corps people, "where has this sport been all my life?" wondered fellow volunteer, Nick Redding, and it was immensely entertaining, very dynamic and hard hitting. I can see why rugby fans look down on our version of it, American football.

 

Saturday: LONG trip down  to St. Lucia Estuary on Elephant Coast in Kwa Zulu Natal. Mostly comfortable but some truly awful movies were shown, including "Daddy Day Camp,"  and "Stomp the Yard," one of the dumbest movies on record. It was a blessing to arrive just as some movie with Cedric the Entertainer was starting, dodged a bullet there. For dinner, seafood and fish for the first time in months, expensive but worth it.

 

Sunday: Drove through Hluhluwe National Park (Brandon did the driving with a rental car all trip and we are all very grateful), but it had just rained and very few animals showed themselves, even though the park is supposed to be packed with rhinos and elephants. So we appreciated the incredible beauty of the park, and made fun of the fact that we weren't seeing any animals and the disappointed looks of the other people driving through the park.

 

Monday: went down to the beach at st. lucia estuary (which is just like a beach town in the states), too windy to contemplate swimming, but the forest was cool on the walk, and we saw a bunch of hippos then and later on a boat ride. My first time to the Indian Ocean. Fun time, first day we started obsessively playing cards in the evening. Also for some reason St. Lucia's was overrun with French tourists, no idea why. For lunch we ate at a restraunt called St. Pizza. It had a cat that sat in my lap expecting to be stroked and given a healthy portion of my seafood pizza.

 

Tuesday: Drove through to Cape Vidal, which has an incredible beach and we had a good game drive too, finally saw some rhinos.

 

Wednesday: spent the day driving to pick up Milenka, a volunteer whose work schedule didn't let her take the full week, and then driving to Kosi Bay, further up the coast near Mozambique. Also saw Becky's organization, which is doing good work introducing testing and computer literacy to poor communities.

 

Thursday: went to a raffia palm jungle in the morning. in the afternoon went to the beach. Some cool snorkeling there, and got to see the fish traps local fishermen use.

 

Friday: Beach again, and Becky's birthday, which I think went pretty well as birthdays go.

 

Saturday: the trip back went through durban where I sat down with another pcv and my bookbag (along with camera, souvenirs, and swim suit) was stolen from right next to me when I wasn't paying attention. Lesson learned: there is a lot of crime in south africa. Long trip back... definately a worthwhile time, but now I am back at work and have to save for my next trip!

Hello everyone! I am writing a real quick blog entry on the eve of my vacation. I am going with three other volunteers to the Elephant Coast in KZN, my first time to the indian ocean. There will be snorkeling, turtle spotting, and boating, a fun time will be had by all and i promise pictures are coming up. This friday I am going to see rugby and batman in pretoria, hoping both will live up to expectations. Festival planning is proceeding apace, the festival will include tours of the park and village, traditional food, poem reading, dancing, and singing. Will also serve as a "kick off" for Tinghwazi workign with schools and youth. It will be October 24, I am looking forward to it. Aside from that life is good, looking forward to posting pictures of monkeys, vacation activities, and life in general. Look for them!