Moving along the coast! (English version)

So here we are. For the first time writing in English for our worldwide followers and fans, concerned about our safety and sake. After writing it in English, we will translate it into Spanish with Google Translator and see what our Spanish fellows understand of it all. So, English speakers, this goes for you!

Finally we left Cape Town. It was a hard decision. We were so happy at Miquel and Eva’s place that we did not want to leave. It was almost like being home. We were cooking our own food everyday, having hot showers, having breakfast in a lovely garden overlooking Table Mountain… enjoying the comforts of life…

But we decided we wanted to see the country and we moved, by bus, on to Swellendam. Four hours or so of a 5 seater per row bus was not a so exciting thing. They showed a shitty movie although we crossed through beautiful landscape: wine states, mountains, loads of agricultural lands and saw cows, sheep and… ostriches!

Swellendam was like a German village just on the foots of huge mountains. It had so many churches that we almost could not count them all. The ratio church/people probably was about one church per 100 people… but even more guesthouses, all set in lovely and beautiful gardens, in cosy and well preserved german-looking buildings… It was all so clean, neat, cosy, perfect… pink, really pink… cheesy and tacky!!!! Of course blacks lived a few kilometres from the centre, in the township, far away from the European people (that is how white people used to called themselves, to differentiate from blacks and coloured people).

One day stop and continued next morning onto Knysna, passing through more fields, mountains and free range pastures for cows, sheep and, again, ostriches with their funny looks. Knysna is not famous for their churches (which they have a lot of them too) but for their oysters, which are cultivated on a lake. Obviously we had to try them (they were one euro per oyster) but according to the Seafood Master Itziar they do not live up to their fame. For me it was the second time I tried them in my whole life and… well, i was not too excited about their taste really… We have to say we also ate fish and chips at a supermarket, so it is not that we are becoming sibarites… We spent as well one night there, good time to realise that in this country, without a car, you are nobody. We are the only people walking everywhere and, unfortunatelly, like it was this case, the main attractions are not near the town, so we had to skip them… (I said we are the only people walking… it is not true. We are the only whites walking!! Blacks also walk everywhere!!! We are starting to understand the faces of sadness in the white drivers when they see us walking… they might be thinking “poor guys, they are poor and have to walk…”. We tell you, white South Africans do not walk!!) Not having a car is also annoying (as we do not want to pay taxis all the time): the bus stops are always on the outer centre of the city, so we are doing quite a lot of walk with our backpacks…

And the third move in the week was to get to Jeffreys Bay. A shorter 2 hours bus drive this time to get to the coast, famous worldwide (apparently) for the Supertube waves, which is one of the best in the world to surf in. The truth is that we have spent two days in this ugly and characterless town full of Billabong and Quiksilver shops because of the great and fantastic B&B that we found, with its cute and green garden, full of shade, its hammocks, its laid back and homely feel, the “take as many beers as you like and pay later” attitude… and, well, yes, surf. Today Pablo went surfing. 8am for a two hours lesson… reports have told us that he was so succesful that he went on a second two hours course to practice. He claims he can stand up quite regularly although the board he is using is like a war ship: almost nothing can turn it upside down…

But don’t you think we are just relaxing and enjoying, at 04:45 AM we are getting off of our pleasant B&B to catch a probably crowded and stinky bus that will take us to the Wild Coast (check your maps and keep logged! More entries in English to come!)

Pablo Strubell

Editor de La editorial viajera, escritor y guía de viajes. Cuenta con dos grandes viajes a sus espaldas: Ruta de la Seda (8 meses, en 2005) y África de cabo a rabo (12 meses, en 2010-11). En sus pocos ratos libres escribe para este blog así como para Leer y viajar. Por si fuera poco, organiza las Jornadas de los grandes viajes. Y entre una cosa y otra, intenta viajar.