SO LONG, AFRICA!

I’m in Johannesburg now, and this evening I catch my flight back to the states. My journey has come to an end! Last December in Bangkok, before ending my nine-month stint in Southeast Asia, I wrote a similar blog post, except this time it’s not 4 AM and I’m sober. But looking back on my trip over the last four months - starting in Ecuador with Grace and Heidi, then heading off to South Africa to meet my sister for the World Cup, up to Namibia with Phil and Jonah, and everywhere else in between - I’ve once again realized that my journey has really been shaped by the people that I’ve shared it with. I’ve had the chance to travel with some great friends over the last few months, and I’ve also had the chance to make some great friends along the way. And all the wonderful things I have done and seen wouldn't have been the same if it weren't for my friends. Thanks!
And so now I’m heading home! I gotta find me a job. Perhaps I can find some way to keep this blog interesting after my travels have ended, I guess we’ll see. Either way, I hope that people have enjoyed it. I know my mom has, she’s the only one who ever comments on things. And thanks to all those who have been a part of it with me! It’s been fun. Until next time…

LION'S HEAD

It's rainy today here in Cape Town. But yesterday was the perfect day for a hike! Laura, Rhea, and Maria wanted to climb Table Mountain, but since I had already hiked it, I set out to conquer Lion's Head. And after Lion's Head I set out to meet them on Table Mountain...

CAPE PENINSULA

After a week of hanging out around Jeffreys Bay, I went back to Cape Town to meet up with Laura and Rhea. They had just recently finished their research in Tsumkwe, Namibia and came down to Cape Town with a couple of friends, Maria and Roshina. The day after we all met up we took a tour of the Cape Peninsula. Cape Town is amazing! I think it may be one of my favorite cities in the world, and this day trip totally reaffirmed that. We started our morning with a drive through wine country - wine and cheese and crackers for breakfast! After that we took off for the peninsula, stopping in Simon's Town for lunch and to see some penguins. Then we drove to the Cape of Good Hope, the most southwestern point on the African continent, where the Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean meet. The picture on the left is of the Cape Point lighthouse, and the picture on the right is of the Cape of Good Hope. The ostrich in the picture next to us must have been the most southwestern ostrich on the African continent at the time...

JEFFREYS BAY

After a week in Cape Town I took off up the coast to meet some friends in Jeffreys Bay. It was a long ten hour bus ride, but man alive was it beautiful! The drive took us along the Garden Route, one of South Africa's most beautiful coast lines. Ten hours on a bus... I wish I could have spent ten days getting there! My friend Fungai, who I hung out with in Swaziland, has a house on the beach in Jeffreys Bay. His friends Luke and Refilwe were there, along with our friend Sheela. The five of us had a great time that weekend, zip-lining, horseback riding on the beach, and just hanging out. Everybody had jobs to go back to after the weekend ended, so they all left. I decided to stick around Jeffreys Bay for a few more days and ended up finding a nice little guesthouse perched up on a hill overlooking the beach at the end of town. Jeffreys Bay is a one of the biggest surf spots in Africa, if not the world! The pictures of the guys surfing were taken at Supertubes - Jeffreys Bay's world renowned surf spot!

ROBBEN ISLAND

I went to visit Robben Island one day - the Alcatraz of Cape Town, and the former prison that held South Africa's political prisoners during apartheid. I caught the ferry mid morning and the ride out gave way to great views of Cape Town and Table Mountain. After a short bus tour around the island, we entered the prison grounds and met our tour guide who was also an ex-political prisoner. One of the cell blocks was full of prison cells where former prisoners had come back and left a memento and a story about their experience on Robben Island. We had about ten minutes to explore this section of the prison before being quickly ushered over and past Nelson Mandela's old cell (middle picture on the top). The tour was a little too quick for my liking. I could have spent a lot more time exploring the grounds and reading about all of the prisoner's experiences. But it was worth it. Such a recent and tragic history, and how amazing to be told by someone who was there to experience it. Wow.

TABLE MOUNTAIN

Cape Town has the amazing backdrop of Table Mountain. It's beautiful. I decided to climb to the top one day. Here's a little video.

THE CASTLE OF GOOD HOPE

The Castle of Good Hope is the oldest building in South Africa and was built by the Dutch East India Company around the mid 1600s. I decided to check it out one afternoon, it was pretty cool. Here are a few pictures I took while I was there.

SHARKS

After Swaziland, I spent a couple of days in Johannesburg, and then caught a train down to Cape Town where I met up with Sheela and her friend Klaus. The next day we went diving with great white sharks! Well, in a cage. My camera batteries died after a few minutes, but I was still able to capture a few clips from up on top of the boat. Being in the water with those things, man alive, I almost shit my wetsuit...

USA vs. ALGERIA

Here's a little video of the USA vs. Algeria match. Holy shit was it amazing! It may not seem like it in the video, but the game was extremely tense. At half time we found out that England was beating Slovenia and that if we couldn't pull off a victory we would be eliminated from the World Cup! We had a lot of chances in the second half, and even had a goal called back on a crappy offsides call, but we just couldn't seem to score. Regulation time expired and four minutes of injury time were added on, and with only seconds left on the clock Landon Donovan put one in the back of the net! The stadium erupted! Our section was especially rowdy, with beer spraying all about and people falling over the seats! It was one of the most joyous moments of my life. I cried. But don't tell anyone... Next up is Ghana!

USA vs. SLOVENIA

What a match! This was a real fun game with a 2 - 2 comeback tie against Slovenia. I captured the third US goal on video, but for reasons unknown to anyone on the entire planet, the ref called it back! Luckily England also tied against Algeria later that night, giving us high hopes for an advancement to the next round! The stadium was really loud, so I'm sorry if the audio kind of stinks...

SPAIN vs. SWITZERLAND IN DURBAN

We took a long day trip to Durban to watch Spain versus Switzerland. It was nice to get out of Joburg, even if it was only for a day. The drive down was beautiful and when we arrived we were greeted with the much warmer coastal climate of Durban! Durban was great, unlike Joburg the city is very walkable. After lunch we walked down to the beach and strolled along the water to the stadium. The new Moses Mabhida Stadium is awesome! The game was a shocker with the favored team Spain losing 1 - 0 despite dominating the play and having an all-star lineup. I think I'll try and get back to Durban again at some point, it seemed like a cool place.

USA vs. ENGLAND

The US kicked off the World Cup with an exciting 1 -1 draw against England! US fans were psyched! England fans were bummed. Here's a video of us having fun at the game...

JUNE 11th

We made it back to Johannesburg from our road trip in one piece, and on Friday June 11th I parted ways with my friends and met my sister, Lindsey, Reg, and Ben at the airport. It was also the first day of the World Cup! That night we went to Nelson Mandela Square to get some dinner. Both games ended in a draw that day, so there were no victories to celebrate, but the atmosphere was still jubilant, people just wanted to party and share their national pride. Here's a little video...

SAFARI

Here's a little video of some stuff we saw in Kruger National Park...

KRUGER NATIONAL PARK

We spent a couple of days in Kruger National Park, it was amazing. Here's a picture of just a few of the animals we saw. Rhinos, giraffes, lions, zebras, hyenas, impalas, monkeys, buffalos, pretty much everything except for elephants. But I saw enough of those in Thailand last year...

ON THE ROAD

Here's a little glimpse of what our road trip was like. Good times...

ROAD TRIP

My sister and friends weren't getting into Johannesburg for another week after I arrived, so I was going to be on my own for a little while. I hadn't really figured out where I was going to stay when I got off the plane, and things were already starting to fill up for the World Cup, but luckily I was able to find a fun and festive hostel to stay in called Brown Sugar Backpackers. The crowd was very international and I ended up hanging out with these three Chilean guys and couple of Mexicans. Originally I had planned to head down to Cape Town until my sister arrived, but instead I decided to join my new friends on a road trip for a few days. After two nights at Brown Sugar we rented a van and headed east towards Kruger National Park. It was me, three Chileans, two Mexicans, and an Italian. The World Cup didn't start for another five or six days, but my new group of friends didn't hesitate to take every opportunity they could to flaunt their national pride. The car ride was full of chanting, horn honking and flag waving. And no one left the car with out their flag draped over their shoulders. Here's a picture I took on our second day after we got pulled over for speeding, the police totally busted us with a radar gun. But after the Chileans offered the police officers one of their flags, and after we posed for a few pictures, the cops let us off for for free and even shared a few laughs with us. Good times...

SOUTH AFRICA

It's been almost three weeks since I left Ecuador. Now I'm in South Africa, and this place is buzzing with World Cup fever! I arrived in Johannesburg on June 4th and was excited to find out that the USA was going to be playing a free pre-tournament friendly against Australia the next day. It was a good game for the US, and even though they rested a few of their starters they were still able to pull off a 3 - 1 victory. David Beckham was there to watch the match and for a while he was getting more attention then the game itself. It was a great first day in South Africa!