No man's Land

Hello there! I just thought I would give a quick blog saying that tomorrow I leave for Swaziland and will not have internet or phone until about the 5^th of Feb or so.  I am heading into a country that has the highest AIDS/HIV rate in the world and the lowest life expectancy in the world.  It is going to be an intense time and I cannot wait to share with you all what goes on.  Keep well and we’ll chat soon!!

 

Best Run Ever

         So I went for a run today- like I said I would in my earlier blog. I was on my way back- I was at about 23 minutes and was going to do 30 but I was dying. My legs hurt and I was drenched in sweat like never before. Well I didn’t have far to go back to the house and right as I turned the corner for the last stretch I passed two of the other world racer girls running. Running with them were four African girls between the ages of 12 to 6ish I would say. These girls were all barefoot and in mismatched skirts and tank tops. I smile and wave to them and continue on my way.
         I was just going to quit, I couldn’t possibly go any farther when (maybe I sent up a prayer- I’m not sure) but I thought ‘okay, something needs to happen for me to make it these last 5 minutes.’ I look up, I have a bad habit of looking at the road directly in front of me as I run, and I see this little girl crying in the middle of the road. She couldn’t have been more than 4 because she didn’t even come up to my waist. Well of course I stopped and asked her what was wrong and we tried to communicate as best we could with gestures, as she didn’t speak any English. She pointed ahead and started crying again and looking really frustrated. I also pointed ahead and said something like ‘Oh you want to be with those girls.’ She nodded and hesitantly started going forward all the while looking at me like she wanted me to go with. I turned around and started jogging back from where I came from and where the other girls just disappeared. She immediately got a smile on her face and joined me on the run. I’m not going to lie- she kept pace with me. She even pushed me to go farther than I would have because of course I thought if she can do it barefoot and at the age of 4 then surely I can keep up with her! So we pretty much run all the while holding hands (with the occasional walk) the mile and a half until we meet up with the group. They had already turned around and were headed back since they were going much faster. The rest of the way back this little girl is able to go fast enough that I do have to run in order to keep up.
         It was absolutely incredible. The four girls were keeping pace with the other world racers just fine even though they were also barefoot. I really couldn’t believe how easy it was for them to run. I would bet all my money that you would not be able to pick one American child under the age of 12 and have them run 3 miles with a 23 yr old runner in decent shape. It was pretty great to just watch them move. I slowed my pace down to match the little girl and we ended up making it back to the house. I was planning on running for 30 minutes and about 3.5 miles but I ended up running for 55 minutes and doing 5.4 miles. After we made it to the house we showed the girls where the swimming pool was. They were quite excited to get right in and I had to join them after I did some stretching. I pulled off my shoes and socks and jumped right in with my running clothes on. It was a great experience and probably my most favorite run ever.

Kruger

       So yesterday I was up at 4:30 and ready to go on my Kruger Park safari by 5 am. It was already quite warm by then, which was a good thing since we were traveling in open vehicles and we know how easily I get cold. The first time I heard about Kruger was in my Conservation Biology class my 4th year of college. (Technically my senior year but I graduated as a super senior so I clarified by using 4th year) Anyways- we did a unit on how to conserve the ecosystem of a place through the use of culling animals. We ended up studying Kruger National Park and worked out how many elephants they would have to cull per year in order to keep the environment stable. Culling is the term for- oh I guess it would be called justifiably killing something. So anyways I learned all about Kruger and was studying its elephant population before I realized that it was an actual real place and not just some park my professor made up. Once I found out it was real, was one of the largest area of protected land on the earth (it’s about the size of Israel at the moment and still expanding) and home to thousands of different animals coexisting in their natural habitat- I wanted to go there. I never really thought it would happen however because Africa still seemed like this dream land I would one day go to and yet never thought I would actually go to. If that makes sense. But lo and behold, yesterday I got to spend about eight hours inside it’s gates.
       First off, it is beautiful. It is massive and I only saw a tiny fraction of the whole thing. I think we may have only traveled about 100 km in our vehicle by the time we entered and exited. We were lucky in the fact that we ended up seeing about 90% of the animals that one would think of seeing when you go on a safari. We ended up seeing elephant, rhino, hippo, antelope, kudu, warthog, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, lion, water monitor, vultures, eagles, numerous birds, water buffalo, and turtles. I think that’s all I can remember. We got into the park by 5:30ish and drove around stopping at anything of interest until 9. We then stopped and ate breakfast- I had already eaten a peanut butter and banana toasted sandwhich at 5 but was of course lured by the café. I ended up having yogurt with granola, a café latte and a scone with butter and jam. It was delish! Then we piled into our vehicles and rode around until noonish where we stopped again for lunch. I had a PB&J sandwhich prepared by yours truly, an apple, and bought some wonderful baked red onion and chutney chips. The place where we ate lunch had a hut to sit under and when you looked up- you found yourself staring into the eyes of about 100 fruit bats. They were about the size of my hand from wrist to middle finger and I was absolutely fascinated with them. Some of the girls had to act like girls of course, but I had my camera out and was seeing how close I could get to them. They were all hanging from the grass roof by either one foot or two and had their wings wrapped around themselves Dracula style. It was a great time! After lunch we drove around some more before leaving the park around 3:30. It was a grand day, not too hot and just the right amount of wind. I absolutely loved riding in the open vehicles, but the annoying part was that most of the roads we were driving on were gravel/dirt and so every time we stopped we would run to the bathroom and wipe off a thick layer of dirt from our faces. We all looked like we were either really tan or had applied thick stage mackup. A shower at the end of the day felt like heaven and Q-tips were glorious!!!
       I am writing this blog sitting down by the river. It is just riddled with hippos and one just let out a snort and surprised me. It’s not everyday that I get to blog while staring at hippos. I’m certainly not complaining! Supposedly elephants can get close to us too, but I haven’t seen any here yet. I guess they have come up to the fence before and people have fed them oranges. Fun fun!
       Steph and I have our own little room here and I am so excited because it has air conditioning!!! Ya can you believe it? I haven’t slept in a place with that since I left Wales. Haha I do have to admit however that I have turned it off the past two nights because I got too cold! It probably doesn’t help however that I have no sleeping bag, blanket or pillow with me. I wasn’t thinking that when I came to Africa I would be needing any of those things, but while I’m here I do and when we are in Swazi we are camping. I must say that I have been pretty resourceful. The first night I laid Steph’s sarong on the bed for a bed sheet and slept in my pants and a sweatshirt. I used my towel and her rain jacket for a blanket. For a pillow I stuffed my purse with clothes and then put a scarf over the top to keep it all together. Yes, it sounds comfy but I unfortunately didn’t get too much sleep. Last night someone gave me their sleeping bag to use and so that was partly shoved under my head as a pillow and partly covered my top half as a blanket. I think tonight I’ll be tired enough to not even realize what I sleep on- plus we’ve got wine and that always helps ☺.
       I am pretty sure that this blog is all over the place as far as grammer and staying in the correct tense- whether it be past or present, but hopefully you can still enjoy it. I keep looking up from my writing and getting distracted by the hippos and pretty butterflies that keep coming near. Perhaps that means I should end. We are here a few more days and then off to Swaziland. I am spending the day reading, writing, relaxing, running, stretching and swimming. How weird that I’m down to my last month, huh? Pretty sure I will not be extending my plane ticket and staying another month. I think it might be smart to have some money when I get home, right mom and dad?! ☺. Cheers!

I'm a Fisk

For those of you who aren't aware- my sister and I have met up in Joberg and will be together until the beginning of February.  How odd is it to be thousands of miles away from home and meet up with home? It's odd- let me tell you.  I haven't seen steph for about 8 months and so we have had a great time catching up on all that has gone on in both of our lives.  Things that seem to have happened a loooong time ago in my life she has yet to hear about.  Every item of clothing we pull out of our bags gets an 'oooo' or 'ahhh'  (as girls do) because we haven't seen it before.  It's quite fun I assure you!  We haven't done anything too exciting to report on however.  We were in Johannesburg for about four days and they were spent walking around, running and relaxing.  We went to zoo lake one day- tried to get in the zoo but it was afterhours.  We actually sneaked in and thought we had got away with it but a security guard walked up behind us and being the good girls that we are pretended "Oh really? You mean the zoo isn't taking visitors after 4pm? Hmm....didn't know that!" And sadly got escorted out.  :).  At least we tried.  

Now we are in Nelspruit at the mall and enjoying free wireless.  I think this is the first free anything I have enjoyed while being in Africa. One thing you learn is nothing is free and most people usually want more than what they have.  We have no set plans while we are here and it's just the two of us.  We meet up with the rest of the world racers on Friday I believe and camp for two days before heading to Kruger National Park for a 4 day safari.  On the 29th we head for Swaziland and no I'm not sure what we will be doing there- neither is steph.  I'm not sure how long I'll be there and then I'm still up in the air as far as what I do after that.  If I find a place to volunteer I will extend my plane ticket and stay an extra month- til the end of March, if I don't work anywhere then I may come home.  Not quite sure yet- but that is the beauty of it all! 

Whit and I went running in Cape Town several times and I was starting to get back in shape, but running in Joberg was torturous for me!! The elevation was much much higher than Cape Town and I ran out of breath and my legs were burning within 5 seconds of starting to run.  Hmmmm at least I am trying to keep with it- quite the challenge and I can assure you that I hope to live in a low elevation town.  

Still loving the south african accent.   I am tempted to record voices around me in order to listen to them when I get home.  hehe......I wouldn't mind going up to some random cute guy and asking them to talk to me! 

So many thoughts are coming into my head about what my purpose was for coming here.  I  believed that just by being away from all that I know for awhile that I would get a revelation about my life.  Something like a bolt of thunder coming down and smacking me in the middle of the forehead as I'm walking through the market.  Unfortunately that hasn't happened yet- and I have a feeling that I won't really know how far I have grown until I am home and facing the same challenges that were there when I left.  I think the decisions I make and ways that I live will be affected by my time here.  I like that I have forgotten to really think about my reason for coming here.  It is slowly evolving into just who I am and not needing conscience thought.  I like that.  

Steph and I have talked an awful lot about our parents and our childhood growing up.  We both agree that we pretty much had the perfect childhood- for us- and really couldn't think of anything we would change.  We had the vacations both big and small, we had the traditions at Christmas and Thanksgiving, we had parents who loved and supported us and always let us know, we had rules to follow and knew what would happen if we broke them- usually I did just to see if any sort of punishment would actually happen- most often than not I think I perhaps "cuted" my way out of them :). I had the sort of childhood that makes me want to copy and paste it for my children.  It was that good.  Thank you mom and dad.  But the reason why I brought up my family was the fact that we realized how well rounded we are.  We have the plant lovers, the people lover, and the animal lover.   Together we are a family that loves every single thing on this earth.   None would survive without the other and they are involved in a continuous cycle that has been around for many many years.  Random I know.  

Touch of Heaven

            For all the ladies reading this- you MUST save up and go to a spa one day.  I have been pampered for the last four hours and I feel wonderful, relaxed, rejuvenated, and my soul feels full.  I got a marine mud body wrap and a facial.  Relax, kick your feet up and try to come along on my experience.

            First off- the spa is inside this posh hotel and we needed a security guard just to let us into the section that has the elevator up to the spa.  Then we needed to go up two floors and through another two locked doors before we were greeted with a blast of steamy good smelling air and the noise of waterfalls in the distance.  Everything was done up in white and cream- very pleasing to the eye.  Piano and nature sounds drift through the air from speakers hidden in every nook and cranny.  The ladies who are going to be doing the work on us meet us in those white costumes/scrub type gear that look like the fake ones you buy for Halloween.  They ushered us into the ladies changing room, which had mirrors everywhere and running water off the walls.  Whit and I just looked at each other and smiled as we exchanged our street clothes for fluffy white robes and slippers. We part ways in the hallway and off I go to my little bit of heaven. 

            Body mud wrap was first.  Oh! As soon as I got in the room she told me to take my robe off, get under the blanket but to first put on the disposable undies. Haha!  For those of you who have never seen disposable underwear- let me tell you…I took them out of the wrapper and held them up to discover four strappy things.  I turned them this way and that and inside out and upside down and really couldn’t for the life of me figure out the correct way they went!! I laughed to myself and put them back in the wrapper- I figured four straps really isn’t going to make much of a difference so why not just go in my birthday suit.?  After I got all settled under the towel, she came in and put sea salt all around my legs, the side of my body and under my back.  Then came the mud! It was thick, warm and gooey and felt wonderful as she slathered it pretty much all over my entire body.  Once I was covered she wrapped by body in plastic, covered my eyes, shut off the lights and left for a good half hour to let me bake in my little mud hut.  I was so warm and comfortable that I’m pretty sure I fell asleep.  When she came back, she unwrapped me, poured a bit of water on the mud and used the salt that was around my body to give me a good scrub down.  I think she took off the top layer of my skin but it felt good!! Along with the scrubbing was pretty much a full body massage- ahhhhh *sigh* - my body felt like jelly.  I showered once she was done and never before has my skin felt this smooth, soft and glowing.  I want to go up to strangers in the street and have them feel me!!! Haha…don’t worry- I won’t.  (unless they’re cute J)  I don’t know if what she did brought out my tan, but I have to say I feel as though I am five shades darker somehow! A nice little perk. 

            Next comes the facial and I must say- this rates as one of my top five ways to spend an hour and half of my life.  She started by putting lotion on my face, neck and chest and massaging it all in.  Several more creams followed this along with serums, exfoliations and sprays.  All were washed off with warm water and a really soft sponge before the next was applied.  Now comes the best part- she put a really thin almost cheesecloth type gauzy thing over my face and applied this thick mask that smelled like fish.  Once that was on she massaged my arms/hands and legs/feet with some amazing smelling lotion before wrapping me back under the towel and leaving me to ripen under my fishy mask.  The music that was playing reminded me of my yoga music.  I was trying to meditate and stay aware of what was going on so I could enjoy every possible minute of the experience, but I’m pretty sure I fell asleep again.  Anyways, she came back in after awhile and peeled the mask off.  Oh I forgot! Before she put the mask on she did what is every girl’s worst nightmare (I think)…she covered my eyes with cotton and then shined this ultra bright white light on my face to check it out and to basically tell me what I’m doing wrong with it :0).  She was nice about it though and yes thank you mom and dad for big pores.  After the mask was off she again applied about 1,000 different creams and sprays of good smelling things before I was ushered into my robe and whisked off into the relaxation room.  There I enjoyed a nice cup of herbal green tea and lounged on a couch for good 20 minutes before I thought I should probably rejoin the real world.

            So TaDa! That was my spa experience.  It was lovely- I feel great and I hope every women will someday get the chance to have a day of pamper.  

            

Lion's Head and Sharks

Hola! We went shark diving yesterday....I was unbelievably excited to be out on a boat in the open ocean.  Well as it turns out it was a rather small boat and not a lot of laying or sitting room.  We were smushed together most of the time and I shoved myself into a wet smelly wetsuit in order to get into the water.  As it turned out we did see a shark within the first two minutes of dropping anchor, but then we did not even get one glimps of a fin for the next 5 hours.  Whit got in the cage with the first group and stayed in for about 15 minutes pretty much freezing her fanny off and so I decided to wait and get in if some excitement started happening.  Well as it turned out- there was zero excitement and since my throat still is a bit sore I decided not to risk getting in the fridge 50 degree water.  It was nice to sit on the front of the boat however and to see nothing but ocean all around.  I did enjoy that.  

Today we went to Camp's Bay Beach and enjoyed some white sandy sand and pretty turquoise water! It was lovely as all get out.  We walked around and gazed into the shops and stopped at a Cafe for an iced coffee and a carrot muffin...it was delish.  Then we came back here to the hostel and got ready to hike up Lion's Head for sunset.  You will be happy because I have ALREADY posted the pictures for you all! I added some more from durban and our trip down here with various stops- just sort of elaborating on some of the pictures I had already put up.  We had an absolute blast taking pics of each other on the top of the mountain.  It was about a 40 minute hike up using chains and ladders and we loved it.  We were at the top drinking our bottles of wine and snapping gorgeous pictures of each other for a few hours before we ran down (literally) in 20 minutes and hitched a ride back with this guy.  

I also took a video and am going to try and post in on YouTube with several other videos so those of you who are just dying to see me in action can! haha.....

One thing that I have noticed about Cape Town is that it is Heaven for couples and for dates.  I'm pretty sure everything Whit and I have done has been something that would make a good date.  Sunsets and hikes up to amazing views are hot on my list (wink wink John).  

Tomorrow we are treating ourselves to the SPA!! We are getting body wraps and facials and then going to the water front for a nice dinner and possibly end at the comedy club.  Again another good date if only we had dates!! 

Right now I am sitting in the Long Street Cafe and drinking a coffee with amaretto- which I don't really like actually- and we are thinking of going next door to sit and listen to the live jazz going on.  This place is really a  good destination for anyone who likes just about anything.  Haha..not very specific I know, but honestly I'm pretty sure everyone I talked to on my way down here from Durban has said that "You will LOVE Cape Town!" and they have been right. 

We have also visited several markets- the Green Street Market and another one we can't remember, there are many museums here- we went to the South Africa Planetarium and plan on hitting District 6 museum on Wednesday.  Fashion is it's own life here.  Pretty much anything goes- I see girls in pretty long flow-y dresses with white converse sneakers and it actually looks good!! I unfortunately don't have any room in my suitcase to add much more and I would rather save my money to travel another month- yes mom I know you're surprised! 

Well I'm sorry this is rambling but enjoy the pictures and please let me know what you think of them!! Also check out youtube....I'll post the link next when I do it!! xxx

You'll be happy

I put up 27 pictures! Yay.... They are just a smattering of what we've done here.....please enjoy and let me know what you think!!

It's 2009 hey

Happy New Year to everyone!

I did not get to go skydiving :(
I am going Shark Cage Diving on Saturday :)
I went to see the penguins at Cape of Good Hope today :)
Our hostel is the party center of Cape Town and our room is directly over the bar- music doesn't stop playing til 5 am five days a week :(
I had an interesting new years night :P
Cape Town is surrounded by mountains and on the ocean- it's lovely :)
I hiked Table Mountain yesterday :) and was sore :(

That's it!