"Study" Week

I must say, "studying" has never been so much fun! I'm officially back in Cape Town after a week of relaxation along a segment of South Africa's southern coast known as the Garden Route.

There are a few things that must be explained in order for you to understand our adventure. First, most of our transportation was provided by the "Baz Bus". The Baz Bus is a bus designed to transport people from one backpacker/hostel to another, allowing people to hop on and off in numerous locations along a route from Cape Town around the southern and eastern coasts of the country all the way up to Johannesburg and Pretoria. Second, we spent all of our nights staying in backpackers, or hostels. Staying at a backpacker is very like going to summer camp. The dorms at backpackers are large rooms with several bunk beds, and you pay for a bunk for the night. Once you've paid for a bed (usually R70-80 per night, or about $12 US) you also may use the kitchen facilities and bathrooms (both communal) free of charge. While the Baz Bus and backpackers aren't luxury facilities, the prices are amazing and the atmosphere allows you to meet travellers like yourself from all over the world.

The adventure began last Tuesday, when my friend Jenny and I boarded the Baz Bus going east out of Cape Town. We rode the bus all day, arriving in the early evening in a tiny town called Nature's Valley, on the edge of Tsitsikamma National Park. We spent the next day hiking through Tsitsikamma National Park and enjoying the lovely Indian Ocean beach at Nature's Valley, despite the cool, misty weather. On Thursday we caught the Baz Bus west to Knysna, a touristy town on the coast, where we relaxed in their waterfront area and spent the evening discussing sport (cricket, rugby, baseball, and American football) with some of the other guests at the backpacker.

On Friday we took an old-fashioned steam train along the coast and through lagoons to the small-ish town of Wilderness. We stayed there for two days, enjoying the beautiful beach and the fantastic hikes at Wilderness National Park. We wandered along the beach and enjoyed the sand under our feet and the cool waves of the brilliantly blue Indian Ocean washing our ankles. I got sunburned, but it was worth it! We also hiked 10k to a waterfall through the wetlands and forests of Wilderness N.P. and visited the town festival and market, where we enjoyed delicious homemade foods and watched crazy boat races in the lagoon. On Sunday we headed west again, this time stopping in the village of Swellendam, where we hiked some more in a nature reserve and enjoyed the quiet of a woodland town. On our hikes we saw bushbuck, giant millipedes, dassies, fish, huge grasshoppers, colorful butterflies, and even a snake.

On Monday night we returned to Cape Town, refreshed and relaxed. Now it's time to commence the real studying, since I now have one week before my first final. Finals here are three hours long and all of mine consist of several essay questions, so my studying will have to be serious. At least I have a few days between each of the finals so I don't have to study everything at once!