Whistle baby?

So I am having difficulty uploading the pictures on this site but I put them here.  So check them out.  They are a few pictures from my travels in South Africa and then a football match between Zambia and Norway.

A nice break from the village begins with....well I am not sure but this time it began with some delicious soup and chocolate cookies in Solwezi, a delayed bus ride to Ndola then a flight to South Africa.

I decided to visit South Africa for New Years and my birthday.  I wanted to go back to the place that stole a piece of my heart 5 years ago.  The trip was amazing.  However it did start out to a bit of a rocky start.  The bus that I was taking the day of the flight to travel the 4 hours to the airport was held up at the weigh bridge because it was overweight (part of the reason why I prefer hitch hiking).  They made some people get out and get on a different bus, which then proceeded to drop them off a few kilometers down the road and we picked them up again after we had made it out of the weigh bridge.  We also had to reposition people from the back of the bus to the front of the bus so we could get the weight right.  Needless to say after 3 attempts over an hour at the weigh bridge, and what was supposed to be the second bus passing us we finally made it out of the weigh bridge.  And yes I made it to ndola in time to catch my flight.

The flight itself was awesome.  I felt so bwana (a Zambian term used to describe living the high life in comfort and luxury).  I had plenty of leg room, the temperature was great, the seats were clean, no one was sitting in my seat, and I even got fed and got a drink.  I forgot how great airplanes are.  However when we made it to Johannesburg the person who agreed to pick us up from the airport and let us stay at his house bailed on us so we were in a bit of a pickle.  Luckily Leanne and I don't get thrown off by these types of things.  We found a backpackers and stayed there.

In Johannesburg we didn't do very much.  We planned for the rest of the trip and went to the mall for a bit of shopping.  The mall was huge (or I have just been in the village for too long).  There were so many shops and clothing and everything you could ever need.  If I was rich I am pretty sure I would have gone on a shopping spree instead I decided to be practical and get a pair of flip flops because mine were breaking (later in the trip one of the old ones broke and the other was lost in the Indian Ocean) and a hair clip. 

The next day we took a bus to Durban.  The bus ride was just for fellow backpackers and was a nice and fairly comfortable way to see some of the places along the way.  We ended up getting in not to late and took a walk to uShaka's world and the boardwalk along the ocean where we got some seafood for dinner.  The next day we went to the beach!  The water was so warm.  The Indian Ocean is amazing.  That night it was New Years Eve so we walked to a bar along the board walk and danced the night away then took a swim in the Ocean to ring in the new year.

The next morning at 06:00 we had to catch a bus to Port Elizabeth.  The bus took all day but luckily the next day was a night bus to Cape Town so we had a chance to walk around the city and the beach.

The next day when we got into Cape Town we had my friend from Stellenbosch, Louis, waiting to pick us up at the bus station.  It was so great to see him.  It is crazy how long it has been but how easy it is to feel like it was just the other day that I last saw him.  He took us around the city a bit.  We rode the Wheel of Excellence, the local Ferris wheel, and went to Kirstenbosh Gardens.  The next day we took a site seeing tour of the city and went to the top of Table Mountain.

Next we decided to go to Stellenbosch and visit my old home.  It was crazy to see the things that have changed but it was also amazing how well I still knew my way around.  We spent one day going wine tasting and the next meandering around the town visiting some of my favorite places.

When we went back to Cape Town we decided to go visit those crazy Jack Ass penguins.  They have now blocked the beach off so you cant go right next to them or swim in the same water as them but it was still an experience.  And leanne got to touch the Atlantic Ocean for the first time, who would have ever thought that she would be doing it from Africa and not the United States?.

The next day we met up with another of my friends Brownyn and had a birthday lunch which was amazing.  We went to the top of signal hill for an amazing view of the city, Hout Bay to walk along a beach, Camps Bay for drinks and then back to Cape Town for one more drink before bed.

The next day was just flights back to Johannesburg, then Lusaka but at the Jo'burg airport I got to see another friend from Stellenbosch for a short time.

It was a great trip over all and a nice break from the village.