The Magical Weekend

September 09, 2013

The Magical Weekend

Ok so this blog is a little overdue but here goes-

August 8 through August 11 of 2013 will go down in history as one of the greatest long-weekends of my life. August 8 was a Thursday, and my last day of classes for the week because that Friday was Women's Day (can we all just appreciate the fact that South Africa has a national holiday dedicated to women). Rachel, Gillian, and I had made plans to enjoy our long weekend with a mini Rhode-trip that would eventually land us in Port Elizabeth (PE). Our timing was perfect because Gillian and Rachel's friend from drama, Jes, offered to let us stay at her house Thursday night if we wouldn't mind driving her home. I can’t even begin to describe how relaxing and comforting it was to be in a home after a month an a half of living in a dorm. Similar to my own house, Jes lives in a log cabin and just be there with her and her family was the little bit of home that I needed to get me through the term. Not only is Jes and amazingly sweet and hilarious person, but her dad is by far the most hospitable man I have ever met. We arrived a little before 11pm (its a +4 hour drive with traffic and construction) and he had made soup for us for dinner and used his barista skills to make Rachel and I cappuccinos. Jes’ dad is old school Afrikaans, so it was very eye-opening to get is view on many political and cultural aspects of South Africa, he also has a killer sense of humor which made our conversation more hilarious than it already was. After getting a few hours of sleep the four of us drove into Plettenberg Bay for breakfast and then proceeded to Face Adrenaline- the highest bungee jumping site in the world.

No I did not bungee jump. That not my thing. Rachel and Gillian on the other hand did. I stayed across the mountain and took videos/pictures of them jumping off the bridge while Jes went with them and watched from only a few feet away. It was terrifying to watch them jump, those two are much braver than I will ever be. Just the idea of leaping off that bridge is so scary, and I have zero regrets about not doing it.

After the jump we went back to Jes’ house and played with puppies! Three of her dogs had had puppies all within a few weeks of each other, so there were 19 little puppies walking/wobbling around for us to play with. After our puppy fix we said our good byes and thank you’s to Jess and her dad and decided to go back to Plettenberg for a little visit to the Indian Ocean.

I’ve spent a good bit of time in or around the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans but they have nothing on the Indian Ocean. If it wasn’t winter here I would have been in the water, but I had to settle for sticking my feet in. Plett is a beautiful see-side town surrounded by on one side and the ocean on the other. The town hosts a variety of cafe’s, shops, and big name South African chains, it has the perfect balance of community and small town-ness that if I had to pick a place to live forever, Plett would be in the top ten. Everything there is just so perfect, and to top it all off there is the crystal clear Indian Ocean within walking distance.

Fast forwarding a bit- We began the long drive to PE (backtracking about 3ish hours) and on our way we we witnessed one of the most vibrant double rainbows I’ve ever seen. If you haven’t seen the YouTube Video “Double Rainbow” I suggest you go watch it right now because its the closest thing to our reaction that you can get. We all literally freaked out when we saw it (we could see the entire thing and we were driving under it), and it was truly breathtaking. We continued our drive with the future game (Gillian asked very intense questions about the future) and the after getting lost for over an hour in PE we found our hostel.

The next morning, having no set plan we decided to find a good place for brunch, which led us to the boardwalk. The Boardwalk is a new restaurant/arcade/shops/hotel/casino area near the waterfront in PE. Advertising an all you can eat buffet breakfast. The restaurant ended up being inside the casino so after stuffing our faces we tried our luck at the slot machines. I don’t know how she did it, but Gillian won $1,000 Rand from a princess game (About $100 USD), and Rachel won a bit of money too! I won nothing, but at least I can say I gambled before I was 21!

We moved from the boardwalk to downtown, and of course because it was a saturday after 2 in South African, everything was closed. Before making our way up to the lighthouse/Donkin Reserve that was near by, I was stopped by a women. When I say stopped I don’t me that she walked by and said “excuse me” I mean she grabbed my arm and physically made me stop. Lucky for me she wasn’t trying to steal from me, she just asked for money (meaning she didn't try to touch or take my bag). Adrenaline is a very interesting thing, and in that 30 second conversation I had a major adrenaline rush. I’ve traveled enough to know that you are not supposed to stop and talk to strangers on the sidewalk, and you are supposed to carry your bag a certain way, etc, but I’ve never been in a situation where someone has grabbed me and made me stop.

Anyway, that lady didn't ruin our day. We made it to the reserve and saw a great view of PE and found out from a local travel agency that the mall was still open (we needed to do a little shopping for winter wear). After shopping we sat down to a nice Italian dinner and then met up with the SUNY crew and the Germans at our hostel. Most of them went out to the bar for our friend Megan’s birthday, but the trifecta (Gillian, Rachel, and myself) stayed in for the night and got some much needed sleep.

We ended our magical weekend with another visit to my favorite ocean, and breakfast by the sea.

Ok so all typed out this weekend doesn’t seem as magical and wonderful as it actually was, but honestly it is one of my favorite memories of South African. We finally had a chance to explore and see the real South Africa beyond Grahamstown.

Cheers,

An adventurous American