Wednesday, September 29, 2010

The South African Way to Get Rid of a Pesty Monkey:


Yes, monkeys are cute but here are a few tricks to "monkey around" when they're bothering you...

1.      1. Apparently, monkeys are terrified of snakes, so during a hike, best to carry a rubber snake with you.  The monkey will freeze, “relieve” himself, and run away.
2.        2. Lay out pumpkins in front of your house with a small-sized hole carved out.  The monkey will stick their hand inside the pumpkin to grab the seeds, but once in a fist, won’t be able to pull it out again.  Unable to understand that it must let go of the seeds before they can get their hand out, they will walk around with their hand stuck in the pumpkin. Aha!
3.       3. If all else fails, you can paint the monkey white.  It will run back to its group of monkeys, who will be frightened that a white monkey is running towards them, and start running as well.  The white monkey will think they are running away from something and continue following the others, when in fact, they are running away from him.  This will chase all the monkeys far, far away from your house!

Remember, when you feed a monkey it expects food from humans, stops providing for himself and becomes aggressive to humans…for food!
Monkey Love
Em and Will

High Expectations

After driving 3,700 kilometers through rain, fog, cloudy skies and the brightest blue, we arrived in Cape Town!   We were a bit sad saying goodbye to our little white Chevrolet after spending 5-9 hours a day inside it, though we have since been reconnecting with our legs, and ahhh it feels good…  Looking back on our journey, one can quickly see how diverse this country really is – everything from its people to its terrain, there is something here for everyone! 


To spare you a twenty page description of all our stops, I’ve kindly summed up our trip down the N2 freeway into one, fact-filled sentence:  (deep breath…and go!)  Starting in Jo’burg, we first drove east to White River (Kruger Park), then down through Swaziland to the home of Bunny Chow – Durban, into the “Wild Coast,” stopping in the adorable beach town of Chintsa before heading off to Jeffrey’s Bay to see the famous wave Supertubes , again further south to marvel at Swellendam’s  pristine landscapes, followed by a few glasses of wine in Stellenbosch, and finally – to Cape Town, our final destination in South Africa.  So, after roughly two weeks of driving, here we are – at the southernmost tip of Africa!
Seeing the city crest over the mountains as we drove from Stellenbosch was truly thrilling.  Sandwiched between the impressive Table Mountain and the ocean’s blue thumb print – it looked comfortably nestled into the land despite its painfully recent history.  Unlike our impressions from being in landlocked Jo’burg – Cape Town seemed to be a city as calm and cool as the salty ocean winds that blew through it.  Over the hours spent in the car, we had read all about its history, its people, and the “Lonely Planet” hotspots that freckled the city. We were ready!  Though as excited as we were, we both wondered if it would really live up to our high expectations…
Luckily, our first full day in Cape Town happened to be World Heritage Day!  So with our “My Cape Town” stickers on our chest and the sun in the sky, we walked around the city, stopping at all the must-see museums and landmarks (for free!).  We watched groups of singers and dancers perform in outside squares, explored the arts and crafts markets, and inhaled the smoky smell of braai at every corner.  It was truly a wonderful day, and only the beginning of a great week in Cape Town!

Walking everywhere, we realized that this vibrant, buzzing city with so much to do is actually still quite manageable.  After just a few days, we had a pretty good lay of the land and no longer had to sneak a peek at our map as we went from A to B.  Throughout the week, we did all the recommended touristy things - like climbing up Table Mountain (taking the “easy” Platteklip gorge trail) or visiting Robben Island – sometimes going into areas that we had read were “off limits” or “no go zones” for tourists.  But before you start worrying too much, consider the fact that most of those warnings were written BEFORE the World Cup.
As we’ve heard from many South Africans, the World Cup gave this country a time to shine, a time to reinvent its world image.  Despite the headlines we’ve all read, criticizing the government’s preparation for the games, at the end of the day, South Africa pulled it off. It cleaned itself up with the whole world watching, instilling a new (and much needed) sense of pride within its people, all its people.  Finally, South Africans felt that the world could move beyond simple associations with the apartheid or its poverty-stricken townships – the few things people knew about it – and get to know its rich and colorful personality.
On an economic level, the World Cup generated new jobs, new businesses, and helped develop new areas – one being Green Point, where we’re currently staying, located just across the street from the new stadium.  On a human level, the World Cup was able to connect all South Africans – black, colored, or white – as they cheered, together, for a common “goal”.  Perhaps reminding them that despite the many languages, ethnicities, and tribes that constitute South Africa, by coming together, they could create a nation for which everyone would cheer. So, while they lost the tournament, they won something even more important – a positive sense of national consciousness.
Back when Will and I were deciding where we should stay in Cape Town, this newfound unity had not yet been registered.  Old blog posts and websites warned potential visitors of just about everything – don’t walk here, don’t stay there - all for good reason I’m sure, but out-dated none the less.  Green Point – a young, clean, and upcoming neighborhood, dotted with trendy bars and restaurants (where our hotel is) – was among them as a place to avoid.  So, if you’re planning a trip to South Africa any time soon – take the criticisms with a grain of salt.  Things have changed here. 

OK before I become liable for a mugging, let me just say….As a general rule, one should be modest when visiting South Africa – aka don’t walk around with a camera around your neck, bling bling designer clothes, and a huge map, basically screaming “I AM A TOURIST, PLEASE ROB ME.”  At least try and blend in as a local. But above all, the most important thing to bring with you for protection is an open mind and friendly approach.  Don’t be scared of what’s different or new.  We heard how refreshing it was to have tourists during the World Cup – completely unaware of the normal dangers or behavior - just happy to be here, walking around the city, mixing with people of different colors.  Your openness will be appreciated and most of the time, respected. 
After reading and hearing all the warnings about being in Cape Town (as other cities in S.A.), I can understand one’s reluctance to explore the ins and outs of the city.  Though once you do, you’ll be pleasantly surprised!  Not only are there places to wear your Sunday’s best and boogie down at a trendy bar, but places to learn about the country’s diverse mix of cultures and traditions – and I’m not just talking about museums.   The townships, while poor in material goods and basic infrastructure, are rich in strong minds, life lessons, and persistent hopefulness.  In a flash, you realize how lucky you are to have your own bed, a clean toilet, and food on the table…but then you also realize that the townships are no longer just a place to remember your good fortunes.   They’re a cool place to hang out.

We experienced this first hand after spending a whole day in Langa township.  For many locals, the idea is not to get rich and move out, but to stick around and develop the community.  Through tour guides, restaurants, and hotels, townships all over the country are beginning to bring in new visitors…and more business.  Shacks are slowly turning into houses and people are becoming more open to mix and mingle with other colors.   Our day in Langa with the founders of the Happy Feet dance group was one of our best yet, and deserves its own blog post (so look out for that soon!)

All in all, we were NOT disappointed! Cape Town met all our expectations and more! The lesson learned:  Figure things out for yourself before judging a person or city, they just may exceed your expectations. 

Love to everyone! Emily

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Facon Swazi

Apres quelques jours extrêmement éprouvants a Mbabane au Swaziland, ou nous avons attendu notre « Pass Media », indispensable pour filmer le travail d’ACF et World Vision. En effet, suite a un documentaire trop critique du souverain de ce petit royaume, le ministère de la communication est assez suspicieux des étrangers en quête d’images chocs !
Des notre arrivée dans le pays, nous avons été émerveillés par les paysages swazis grandioses et paisibles. A notre arrivée à Mbabane (prononcez Mabaner) j’ai été surpris.  Dans cette petite ville qui compte 2 rues principales et une dizaine de perpendiculaires, le seul bâtiment qui a l’air d’avoir moins de 10 ans est le KFC. Rien avoir avec la Vallée d’Ezulwini, la vallée des rois, a quelques kilomètres de la. Il est d’ailleurs interdit de photographier les résidences royales…
Mais cette fois-ci on est en Afrique, pour de bon, et ca a du bon ! Demandez votre chemin a un passant et il saut dans l’arrière de votre voiture et vous accompagne jusqu’au ministère, a l’autre bout de la ville (20 min a pied mais quand même !), finit les regards tendus de Jo’burg, place a l’hospitalité swazi !
Et si ces quelques jours passe à attendre a Mbabane auront été frustrants, ils n’ont pas été totalement vain car nous avons pu filmer les nutritionnistes d’ACF a leur retour en ville. Et j’ai appris à dire Bonjour en Siswati : Sawubona littéralement « je te vois » qui transmet bien la notion de temps en Afrique. J’ai aussi appris à apprécier cet art de vivre si différent du notre (heureusement j’ai le tempsJ). Nous avons réfléchi aux sourires et la gentillesse de tout ces gens. Une jeune femme nous a dis que ce qu’elle aimait le plus dans son pays c’était le fait quelle pouvait dormir sur ses 2 oreilles. Un garçon de 8 ans nous a explique qu’il était important de bien se nourrir pour pouvoir aider ses parents quand ils seraient vieux. Au Swaziland,  le taux d’infection du VIH estime à 33% et l’espérance de vie moyenne est de 37 ans.
Bon, niveau éducation, liberté de la presse, sante, économie et innovation il reste pas mal de chemin à parcourir. Mais dans d’autres domaines comme le courage, l’humour  ou l’attitude en générale, mon passage au Swaziland m’a forcé à remettre en question certains aspects de notre style de vie. Je me souviens qu’une américaine m’ai dit, en toute bonne foi, lorsque nous comparions nos vacances, qu’elle n’avait que 10 jours de vacances mais qu’elle avait aussi 10 « sick days » et…les week-ends !  Je ne sais pas si il y a une bonne et une mauvaise façon mais ce qui est sur c’est qu’il y a plusieurs façons. 

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

International Coastal Clean Up Day: September 18th!!

Beaches + Love (as our picture from Mauritius illustrates :) = Keeping our beaches clean!

Remember, 80% of the plastic pollution found in oceans come from land based sources, which means that we're not throwing our trash in the recycle bin, especially plastisc, where they belong! The North Pacific Gyre, also known as "plastic soup," is now estimated to be twice the size of the state of Texas! Once plastics are broken down, they're consumed by marine life, who either die or end up on our dinner plates! Now, who wants a salmon stuffed with plastic chemicals?

On the 18th, we'll be cleaning up the beaches in Durban! Find out the closest beach clean up to you by checking out the Clean Up the World website: http://www.cleanuptheworld.org/en/  So get out there! Get a tan! and get some trash! We'd love to hear who got involved, so post where you cleaned up on our blog! Beach cleaners unite! woohoo!!

Big hugs and kisses from Swaziland!
Em and Will

Let's make some waves!

Saturday, September 11, 2010

A "Wild" Day

10th Sept, Kruger Park, South Africa


5:00 am Difficult wake up. South African wine is very good but treacherous…

5:30 am After a quick full English breakfast and coffee, we hit the road in the light of dawn. Now I have to tell you driving in Sth Africa is interesting. People cross the highway on foot and expect you to push into the emergency lane so that they can overtake you on a small road with cars coming from the opposite direction. Needless to say, I was glad it wasn’t too early and I was fully alert and awake…

A little bit before Numbi Gate (our point of entry into Kruger) one of the big double length buses that takes locals to work or school in the morning literally spun out of control right in front of us. Hitting a pothole, one of the back wheels flipped off the bus, not just the tire but the whole wheel! We managed to avoid the bus and I must say the guy driving it did a good job at staying out of the way…

6:30 am We arrive at the gate and make a pit stop, quickly fill in the forms, and get going.

The landscape itself is amazing, beautiful untouched nature, and after just 2 minutes in the Park we meet a White Rhino family walking along the road and stop to observe for a few minutes before they quietly make an exit into the high grass. The Mum kept an eye on us the whole time.

10:30 am After meeting a giraffe and a group of spotted hyenas sunbathing, we made our way down to the waterhole of Renosterpan and sat in the car while sipping our coffee. Out of nowhere comes a family of elephants who quickly made their way to the water hole and started gulping away. As soon as they finished, they moved closer to us and began grazing around the car. Now it’s hard to tell when an elephant is happy or not when you’re not an expert, but all of a sudden they got a little too close. The Mum again stopped in front of the car and stared at us for a long time. We put our windows up and smiled at her!

We also met Giraffes, Steenboks, Nyalas, a couple of Klipspringers, a troop of Baboons, a group of Warthogs - again the Mum who stared at us whilst standing between the car and her hogglets; she did not look nearly as friendly as Pumba – Zebras, Waterbucks, and lots of Impalas.

5:30 pm We exit the park without having met the king of the jungle but with so many cool encounters we couldn’t complain.

6:00 pm Night falls. The drive back becomes very…interesting as we are on unlit hilly roads with guys looking to overtake us at high speed, other drivers with the full lights on coming the other way and pedestrians crossing the road in the dark!

6:30 pm Home! As we enjoy a fresh South African night and Emily’s delicious homemade vegetable pizza, I realize that I learned a couple things today: Nature IS bigger than you (with all that this entails) and Mothers do not get enough credit as they are always there for their kids, watching their back (The White Rhino calf always walks in front of his mother).

So we want to thank our mums for looking out for us and although they do not have the muscle power of the Rhino Mother, they have always looked out for us and we probably haven’t been thankful enough for that!

Will

Jo'burg: Part One

Johannesburg Part One


I decided to title this post “Part One,” as there are very clearly two distinct Johannesburgs – one that we saw this time ‘round, the other we’ll see when we return to Jo’burg the end of October. For “Part One” we stayed in Melville, a mainly white northern suburb I would personally describe as charming meets funky…for “Part Two” we’ll be in Soweto, short for south-west township, where blacks were forced to move to in 1904, and has now become "one of the most vibrant areas in Johannesburg" says our Lonely Planet.

For the past four nights we were lodged in a very charming Bed & Breakfast called Melville’s Arch on Saint Swithins Avenue, just a hope skip and a jump away from 7th Street, where one can find old bookstores, a trendy cyber café, and loads of funky bars and restaurants that host live jazz musicians. Luckily, we were close, as walking in Jo’burg is more of a faux pas than walking in LA. Yes, our neighborhood was charming but raise your eyeline just a couple inches upward (maybe a bit more for me...) and you’ll find a horizon of barbed wire, electric fences and sharp rods pointing to the sky. Clearly, business is booming for security companies! While all that is supposed to be a sign of safety, it also serves as a constant reminder that once you exit you’re quadruple pad-locked, electric fenced estate, danger awaits. Add that to the ten warnings we got a day about walking around, getting mugged, carrying anything valuable, well actually carrying anything at all….and you can imagine our level of nervousness.

I am well aware that every city, every country, every person for that matter, has their downsides, cause that’s life. Though...I must point out that even though we were warned here and there about this and that, we never had any trouble – even while walking three hours to the botanical gardens along the highway, no trouble.  You could tell people were on their guard, but still they often responded to our touristy, cheery hello's as we walked around.

Which brings me to what we enjoyed about our stay in Jo’burg… For me, I would vote for the Jazz in the Park festival in Zoo Lake. We were lucky because it only happens once a year and we had just arrived in Jo’burg the night before. It was a fun in the sun day type of day - with amazing music, a lively crowd of people (with way better dance moves than us), and the smell of fried chicken and sausage circling the perimeter. Yum! The stage was set up just next to a small lake that harbored tiny, colorful row boats, where there was also a great restaurant called Moyo that we tried later that night with Sarah's dad.

Another highlight was spending the day with Natalie, who kindly brought us into the city center, where we got to meet a real Jo’burg celebrity! His name is TK – the head stylist of the Smarties, a group of stylists from Soweto that follow no fashion rules but their own. Apparently, they came to be known as the fashion rebels after showing up at fashion week last year with a sign that said “Fuck Fashion.” Of course, their message came straight from the heart. As TK explained, having good style doesn’t necessarily come from designer labels. It’s about self-expression, individualism, and attitude – three characteristics he himself personified in every way. When we met him, he was wearing a bright, lime green button down shirt, black slacks, white shoes, and gold square-shaped shades. We were clearly in the presence of a celebrity.

It was definitely refreshing and inspiring to hear what the Smarties are all about, especially for guys. He reminded us of how often styles change for women, whereas men can often go a decade without getting to mix things up. Clearly his lime green shirt and cool-cat personality begged to differ - “colorful on the outside, black on the inside,” as their name celebrates.

I could go on and on about our time in Jo’burg but I know this post is already long as it is. So to end, here’s a quick recap of what I learned while in the Jo’burg suburbs: The history of Tai Chi from our 65 year old B&B neighbor. People say 100% to say “sure thing,” and “robots” to say traffic lights. Usually people walk down the middle of the road instead of the sidewalk because of the (very scary) guard dogs everyone owns. You drive everywhere! South African white wine is very strong.

Thank you to Anthony and Natalie for taking us around in Jo'burg! It was great seeing you both! Hopefully we'll get to party it up in Soweto when we're back in October! Miss you Sarah! :)

Emily xx

Monday, September 6, 2010

4 Sept. Vol BA 6983 Port Louis – Johannesburg
Apres 2 jours très relaxant sur l’Ile Maurice, notre périple commence véritablement a JO ‘Burg et nous allons decouvrir de plein fouet cette ville que beaucoup disent dangereuse mais  c’est un peu ce qui la rend excitante aussi.
Notre séjour sur l’Ile Maurice a été très court mais j’ai eu le temps de m’essayer au ski nautique, un sport qui ne m’a pas trop réussi. J’ai avale beaucoup d’eau par le nez et la bouche simultanément. Je déconseille.
En revanche nous avons bien profite des restaurants et bars, de la piscine et de la plage. C’est un endroit simplement magique, la végétation et les oiseaux sont envahissants mais superbes. Mais tout ce luxe me met un peu mal à l’aise. Sur la route pour l’aéroport nous avons eu un bref aperçu du niveau de vie moyen. 
Trop de bus pour un sejour de 2 jours Notre taxi avait la cinquantaine et nous avons pu discute un peu avec lui de la culture locale et de son histoire personnelle. Son nom est Jaysing et il est ne sur l’ile puis a vécu dans le sud de l’Afrique pendant 20 ans avec sa femme qui était originaire du Botswana.
Ils ont du quitter l’ile car ses parents n’ont pas acceptes son mariage avec une femme noire. Sa femme est morte en 2002 et il est revenu sur l’ile car il nous admis que toute sa vie était ici et qu’il ne s’était jamais vraiment intégré dans son pays d’adoption.
Ses enfants ont tous quittes l’ile dans l’espoir de vies meilleures en Europe et en Afrique du Sud il nous a avoue a demi mots qu’il avait peu d'illusion a ce sujet... J’ai senti de la tristesse derrière la pudeur de notre guide. De la solitude aussi.
Je lui demande s’il leur a rendu visite, la bas en Europe ? Non. Trop cher. Je me suis senti un peu bête avec mon tour du monde et mes questions. Mais il avait trouve une forme de bonheur je crois. « Je suis content maintenant, j’ai un bon travail, je discute avec les gens. J’ai de la chance. » il finit par une poignée de main et un grand sourire et nous donne sa carte. Il repart dans la file interminable de taxis qui attendent devant l’aéroport de Port Louis. Nous nous envolons vers l’Afrique du Sud.

Sunday, September 5, 2010

Quote of the Day

"You don't eat alone, you share your food with others." Our taxi driver in Mauritius on why he can only drive us to and from the airport....other drivers need business too!

A Quick Update from a Cybercafe in Jo'burg

So Will and I have made it to South Africa! We're staying in a very charming/funky neighborhood in Melville, though I have to say, I've never seen so many electric fences in my life....(don't worry parents, to get into our room there are four keys required). There is a jazz festival happening in Rose Bank this afternoon so we're heading over there in a bit to get our jam on, and meeting up with my dear friend Sarah's parents for dinner! Lots to see and do! Will report back soon....  Big hugs and kisses to everyone!  Emily x