Lacking the fear of driving on the left hand side of the road and not getting lost while walking around put me as the primary for the driver seat. Eventually, Christina tried it out and found that driving on the left isn't so bad so she was able to help quite a bit with the driving.
Of course, it makes it easier to make u-turns when a car doesn't have power steering. I'm quite buff now. =0)
The Garden Route is the highway describing the road that follows along the coast and a little inland all the way from Capetown up to Port Elizabeth. It's a beautiful drive that zig zags from the coast to partially inland areas that are surrounded by beautiful mountains.
My first experience with driving and getting out of Capetown took me through mountainous roads in fog, two of my least favorite conditions to drive in, even in the United States.
The coastline is absolutely breathtaking with waters that go on for miles with not even a boat in sight. Inland can consist of mountains to rolling hills to completely flat areas. It's different every hour that you drive. Watch out for people, baboons, goats, pigs, cows, horses and of course crazy drivers passing with barely any shoulder of a road to move onto and other cars coming toward you.
We reached Port Elizabeth quite quickly after stopping in Mossel Bay, Knysna, spending the night in Plettenberg Bay, and making a pit stop in Jeffrey's Bay. We decided to continue past Port Elizabeth and went all the way up to Coffee Bay as our most northern point.
From Port Elizabeth to Coffee Bay, we stopped in Cintsa for a night and then navigated through a road made of holes and a dirt road to reach one of the most beautiful and laid back hostels and communities I have ever experienced.
Coffee Bay is a hidden area far from the main roads that attracts only those who really want to go. Coffee Bay is inhabited mostly by those belonging to the Xhosa tribe. To us non-South Africans looking at the word Xhosa might create a predicament on how to start to even pronounce the name. For English speakers, the X is pronounced like a K and thus, it would look like: Khosa.
To those who are of the Xhosa tribe, the X signifies a point to click with their tongue. There are various clicking sounds that are all distinct of one another and they mostly represent an X, C and Q. For those trying to actually click with their tongue, it is nearly impossible to have the correct pronunciation unless he/she grows up clicking. Otherwise, it is extremely difficult (though probably not impossible) to retrain a tongue to move in such a fashion. Xhosa is one of the last, if not the last surviving clicking language. It's extremely beautiful to hear spoken and is the second most common language spoken in all of South Africa. For a man to marry a woman, he must pay her family with 15 cows. This is quite a feat. Silas was a guide at Bomvu, our hostel, and his family only has 5 cows. So, if he wants to marry someone within his tribe, he needs to somehow get 10 more cows.
If he decides to marry someone outside of his tribe, then first, they do the woman's wedding ceremony and tradition and then they would do his. The Xhosa celebration would consist of singing, dancing and drumming. (I had the honor to learn how to drum from a local master whose music is quite captivating). Houses are round shaped and have straw for roofs. The houses are painted different colors depending on what class the family belongs to. The colors we saw were white, pink, peach, light green and teal. Each smaller tribe has a chief and then there is a chief of all the tribes. The tribe in Coffee Bay has around 2,000 people and they all take care of each other. At 18, as a rite of passage, men are circumcized and sent to a hut where he must stay for at least a month.
He is painted in white and must avoid most contact with women, especially women who have recently been sexually active. To go outside the hut, the boy must wear a cloak and take paths that do not run into women. It used to be that the boy/man would hunt for his own but hunting is no longer practised so his family brings him food. After his time in the hut, he is considered to be a man. The ritual for women consists of putting them in a hut where they are not permitted to see light for at least a month. They are not allowed to leave the hut during the day and rarely are allowed out at night. Once they complete this, they are considered a woman. On Fridays, the owner of Bomvu, Carl, opens up his bar and facilities to the townspeople and everyone comes to celebrate, party and hang out. The women dance for everyone and sing traditional songs.
They dance on a platform facing a firepit where everyone crowds around to dance and clap along. It was quite impressive to watch the power one of the women felt from banging the drum. So magnificent! The chief of their tribe comes every Friday to show his support. Clad in his suit, he partakes of the homemade beer the women make and claps along to the drumming. Once the women are done dancing, the crowd moves inside to where some of the men drum. A group was put together by Carl the owner and the drum master, Willie.
They have an excellent album. They drum freestyle, meaning that one starts a beat and the others follow in with whatever beat they feel goes along with the first. What a talent! Everyone continues to dance and when the drumming stops, people disperse and the relaxed environment sets in once again. Every night at Bomvu there are different dancers or parties (not raging parties like what might be thought of in the US) but these are not for the benefit of the tourists. It is merely a statement to the lifestyle in Coffee Bay and the relaxed atmosphere that sucks you in the moment you get out of the car.
With a sad departure from Coffee Bay, we crammed back into our boat of a car and headed back down toward Capetown. We headed back to Jeffrey's Bay (very long day of driving), stopping in East London to go to the grocer...that was quite an experience. The grocer was full of people, lines down the aisles, Rowdy towering over everyone.
It took us nearly an hour to buy 5 items. From Jeffrey's Bay we took a hike in Wilderness and stayed at Buffalo Bay Backpackers in Buffalo Bay. Apparently, it is the best backpackers in all of South Africa.
It was small and comfy and I can see why it is considered the best (if you walk out the side door you are at the water) but I would not call it my favorite. From Buffalo Bay we headed to Gansbaai and eventually made our way to Cape of Good Hope.
Cape Point is considered to be the most south-western point in all of Africa. It is unofficially considered the point where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. The Atlantic Ocean side was quite active while the Indian Ocean side was very calm.
We made our way back to Capetown and have only a day and a half before we take off for Kenya! We have no idea what kind of accommodation we will be receiving in Kenya, but the anticipation warrants much excitement.
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