Having a Jol in SA

This trip has been a long time coming. Ever since I met the South African crew in Phuket back in 2011 I knew I wanted to go to their home country. My desire only grew once my best childhood friend Mallory and my dear SA friend Richie got hitched and started going there on holiday. My time in Fort Lauderdale living with the South African gents just deepened that desire, I knew I had to see for myself what that country was all about. I also am a firm believer in visiting a place where I can have locals show me around, it really is the best way to experience a foreign land. Not only do you get to visit friends, you get to enjoy the place off the beaten track and not get sucked into any of the lame tourist traps you may otherwise be tempted by.

Last month I got my chance. Jack and Sallie (actually from Tasmania), who were part of the original crew in Phuket and also my friends who I did the boat delivery from Bali to Singapore a couple years back, have been settled in Cape Town for some time and just had a baby. I was eager to see them and meet their sweet baby girl Suzy June. In addition to Jack and Sal, our friend Jurgen was visiting and our friend Nelis was also living in Cape Town in between boat gigs. I figured it was a great time to catch up with these dear friends and escape the rainy winter weather. As February is the hottest month in South Africa I was excited to pack for beach weather!

Sal (sorry not the best pic), Jurgen, Jack, Nelis and I

Getting to South Africa from California is no easy feat, it is an incredibly long journey best broken up in stages. I decided to pair my visit to SA with a visit to London to visit my friend Kristy, and that will be highlighted in the next post. That gave me a buffer on each end of the trip and the bonus of visiting even more friends during my vacation! The route I took was SFO to London Heathrow (~10.5 hrs), then from Heathrow I took a flight to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (~8 hrs) and then on to Cape Town (~6.5 hrs). Despite the long travel I arrived to Cape Town excited and feeling good. Sallie picked me up and took me the 25-30 minutes to their home in Camps Bay.

Camps Bay, waling up the road to Jack and Sal's house

Jack and Sal, along with sweet Suzy and their adorable Staffordshire Terrier Potjie, have a lovely 3 bedroom home overlooking the beach and surrounded by the Table Mountain Range. The landscape was stunning, I would describe it as dramatic with the beach and towering mountains all around it makes for a gorgeous atmosphere. My first impression of Cape Town was how European it felt. Which makes sense given it was colonized by the British way back when, but I also had to remind myself that I was seeing just a small sliver of the area. We spent the majority of the time in the more posh locales, but of course there are shanty towns and slums like any other developing country. There seem to be a lot of expats living there and there is a very international, cosmopolitan feel to the area. I managed to take in a yoga class as well and that was a beautiful experience ding my vinyasas with gorgeous table mountain in the background. We enjoyed a lot of beach time, relaxing and catching up as I had not seen my friends for about 2 years.
 

View from the patio

Gorgeous nighttime views from the patio

Sweet Sal and pup Potjie

Special shout out to my friend Jurgen who I spent a lot of time chatting with about his passion project, Small Steps Surfing. Jurgen comes from a family of philanthropists, with a father who is involved in sea turtle conservation and an uncle who works at a cheetah conservation center. After years in the yachting industry (which can be pretty heartless given it is catering to the ultra elite and ultra wealthy) he has settled back home in a coastal town near Durban and has started a surfing tour company incorporating volunteer aspects aimed at teaching local youth how to surf. He has worked tirelessly to get these underprivileged kids to experience the excitement of surfing, and hustled to get equipment donated to them for the cause. It was amazing to see his passion and dedication to the project, and given my focus in grad school was volunteer tourism I was intrigued to hear how he was going about his business. I would love to help him any way I can and have already passed along his information to local HMB big wave surf legend Jeff Clark in hopes he may want to get involved. I will continue to spread the word for him as I would love to see him succeed and change lives for the better.

For my first night we went down town for a nice dinner out at a place called Carne. If South Africans are passionate about anything it is their meat, and it was definitely a meat-centric experience. After we were sat the waiter came over with a tray showcasing all the cuts of meat they had to offer that night, a visual menu of sorts. I am pretty adventurous and all about trying any local delicacies, and this restaurant had a dish called the "Safari" that my friend ordered so I could try some of the local meats including ostrich, black wildabeest, and three types of Antelope including impala, kudu and blesbok. It was all pretty tasty, I really enjoyed the ostrich. We paired the meat with some delicious red wine from the region. The highlight of the meal was when the check came and it was so stinking cheap! I think my meal was around $30 for freeflowing wine and an incredible steak dinner and some shared dessert. If I had to guess it probably would have cost at least double that in California, if not more.

Choosing our dinner meat at Carne

On the weekend we decided to head down to the local Orenjezicht market (a farmers and food market) and wow was I impressed. The overall vibe of the market was very hipster, and walking around you could hear all different accents and languages giving it a very international feel. It had an incredible selection of food stalls with each offering more enticing options then the last and the variety was astounding. Options included a Vietnamese stall with Pho, a Mediterranean stall with lamb gyros, Mexican, specialty waffles, sushi, a juice bar, fresh brewed Kombucha and the cutest little Gelato cart I have seen! There is an outdoor area with lots of picnic tables so everyone can go grab their respective meals and come back and dine together. The market also had meat, produce, spreads, spices, and homemade goods to peruse. I thoroughly enjoyed strolling through the market and checking out all the different goods and trying all the samples, of course! Picked up some Biltong (South African equivalent of jerky) which I had been craving since Nelis made some for us in Fort Lauderdale way back when.

Another day the crew brought me down to the waterfront for lunch, which reminded me of Pier 39. It was definitely a tourist destination but a great place to wander around for the afternoon. We grabbed lunch at a German style beer haus and strolled down the promenade taking in the street performers and scenery. I enjoyed the African singers and musicians and it was fun taking a photo in the National Geographic photo op frame with Table Mountain in the background. The best part was just hanging with my friends, and I kept reassuring them there was no need to entertain me as I was just so darn happy to be with them no matter what we did.

Hiking table mountain was another must, as it is right in town and famous for its stunning views over Cape Town. Nelis (who had surprisingly never done the hike) and I got up early to beat the heat and made are way up the mountain at a vigorous pace, it took us about 2 hours. At the top you could go from one side to the other and enjoy the panoramic views of the city below. It was certainly tiring but felt great to take on the challenge. Once at the top we enjoyed the views, and then the best part is you can take a gondola back down as you are pretty spent at that point. The gondola revolves so you get to travel down the mountain and check out the view from every angle, it was awesome.

The last highlight was wine country, and what a highlight it was! South Africa is known for having an amazing wine region and it did not disappoint. We all loaded up and drove the hour or so out to Stellenbosch which is a university town in the middle of the wine region. We popped into Tokara winery for a tasting and to take in the views of the vineyards, it was a lot like Napa but the towering mountain ranges offered a reminder of being in another locale. The wine was delicious and the tasting was delightfully cheap. Next we headed over to Babylonstoren winery which was home to some AMAZING gardens that we spent an hour meandering through. It was gorgeous. I could have spent all day just enjoying the scenery and weaving my way through the property. We ended the self-led tour with a specialty dinner at the winery which was another meat lovers delight actually called "Nice to Meat You"that offered six courses of various meats prepared in different fashions and paired with delicious wines. It was super fun, but by the end I was pretty meat-ed out haha.

I was sad to have my time there end, goodbyes are never easy, but I know I will be back to visit. I loved the country and the trip also reaffirmed that my relationships with this group of people are really special to me. Seeing my friends also starting a family was really special and I look forward to seeing where all our lives take us. We all reminisce about how our time together in Thailand was once in a lifetime, and created a bond that would be hard to break. While we are separated by oceans and continents, we are always able to pick up right where we left off when we are together again and that is something to hold onto.

Better late then never...remembering the Darien

It has been almost 2 years since I returned from my amazing journey through SE Asia, and while I have remained rooted in Half Moon Bay I have continued to travel whenever possible. Just can't ever shake that wanderlust! Last February (2018) I decided to visit my sweet friend Mallory and her husband Richie (and Rose their sweet little pup) who manage the Tropic Star Lodge in the Darien rain forest of Panama. I never got around to blogging about it, but want to add it here now so I can have a record of my time there. Better late then never!

Tropic Star is a very famous sport fishing lodge that is only accessible via tiny plane and boat ride from the city, so just getting there is an adventure in itself. The little planes only go there a few days a week, and you board the plane and may as well be right in the cockpit with the pilots. The plane flies low over the forests and islands of the area to reach a dirt landing strip in the middle of nowhere, and once you land the Tropic Star shuttle picks you up. You take the little shuttle to the waters edge where you then board a boat that drives you to the Tropic Star dock.

The lodge is truly secluded which adds to the magic of the place. People travel from all over the world to stay here in hopes of catching the most prized fish of the sport including sailfish, blue marlin and the highly coveted black marlin. These fish are all catch and release, but guests also catch tuna, wahoo and other fish that is then cleaned and prepped for dinner that night. I experienced the freshest, most incredible sashimi there and it has ruined me for life! There are 13 boats in the fleet at the lodge and each day they post the stats for each boat, it is cool to see how everyone did! I think it also sparks some friendly competition among guests which is always fun.

I had an amazing time relaxing by the new pool, hiking to the private beach, meeting the lodge parrots, paddle boarding, kayaking through the mangroves and, of course, experiencing my fist sport fishing outing! It was so fun to finally experience Richie's passion and talent on the water. I have known him for years and heard his crazy fishing stores so it was fun to experience it first hand. I caught my first sailfish which was super exciting, with the help of a good luck tactic they use of putting money into the reel to call the fish in. Apparently it worked because I hooked a big one and man was it fun reeling that guy in from the seat they strap you into so you don't get pulled overboard. It is crazy how hard these fish fight and the strength and time it takes to bring them in, watching them jump out of the water is pretty epic. The best part is after you worked hard and brought them in, you get to release them back to the wild and not have to feel guilty about ending a life. Very cool. It was also really cool to see Mallory running the lodge, speaking Spanish to the locals and being an all around badass! It is a lot of work to keep guests happy and it was clear she does an amazing job! I am so grateful to have friends to host me in such a special place and cant wait to o back for another visit!