Zimbali to Capetown

Pete's been doing all the heavy lifting on this blog, so I thought I'd better chime in while I can. SA has been a really interesting trip so far. I know we're getting the nicely scrubbed Disneyland version of the country and there are still lots of problems and inequalities, but for a vacation spot, I guess the clean Disneyland version is what you're looking for. The Zimbali was super nice - according to our driver, Oprah, the king of the Zulu's (and his 7 or so wives), Ludicris, and the illustrious Steve Harvey have all stayed there. The rooms were little bungalows in the middle of the forest - for the third time this trip, we were warned against leaving doors open because monkeys could break in and trash the room. So weird.

The wedding was very pretty, with the kind of ambiance you just couldn't create in the states. The abbreviated Hindu ceremony was on a wooden platform in a grove of trees providing perfect shade. The priest was great and explained everything as he went along. Basically, all the chanting in Sanskrit that sounds so exotic boils down to different ways of saying "marriage is forever, we don't recognize divorce, so make it work." Loved it.

Pete mentioned that he walked down to the beach the next day. What he didn't mention was I was unable to leave our room until around 5pm, and even then it was painful. They have this local beer called Black Label that is so tasty and so dangerous. Worth it, though I am sad to have missed a day in the sun. I was, however, able to watch a lot of cricket and rugby instead - rugby I think I'm starting to understand a bit. Cricket, I have no clue. Watched the last half of the match between India and England and couldn't even tell who won until we read about it in the paper the next day. There are like 9 different scores within each score and what the heck is a wicket? It's nonsensical.

Since then, we've made it to Capetown and it's superior Internet service. We're staying at the Westin, which I would highly recommend to anyone coming here. Right between the waterfront and city center, our room has a crazy view of Table Mountain looming over some tall buildings nearby. Unreal. Hopefully we'll get to the top on Thursday.

Last night we walked down Long Street to the de Waterkant district. Had a drink at a Cuban place that had the best ambiance - you walk through this kind of dilapidated stairwell with crooked art and dusty chandeliers and emerge into this fantastic high ceilinged space with even more mirrors and chandeliers and a great, I don't know how to explain it, very authentic dilapidated glamour vibe and decor. Everything was very plush but faded, if you know what I mean. We had drinks out on the Dutch inspired terrace - it was very House Hunters International. We followed that up with dinner at Five Flies, which was also a cool space - the restaurant looked like a turn of the century inn with high wooden beamed ceilings and brick walls. The perfect place to eat springbok (actually, I had steak and Pete had line fish, but you get the idea).

Today, we're driving to wine country and tomorrow, baby penguins!

Africa - Day 7 and 8; The Wedding!

Too many pics pushed it over the size limit, let me try this again
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> The wedding was in the afternoon, so after breakfast with Justin's parents, we spent the morning lounging by the pool with Aram and Cana. Amazing view! (see first pic) We also spent a few minutes changing our plans to stay an extra day at the Zimbali.
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> We went over to the country club for the ceremony around 4 PM. It was set on a deck just below the clubhouse and it was beautiful. (video to come) At the reception, we sat with Aram, Cana and a couple from Johannesburg who were friends of the bride. One of the side benefits of this trip has been getting to know everyone better (see pic of the 3 SF couples who made the trip).
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> After the reception, we all gathered by the lodge and drank some beer by the pool. Most of us even stuck our feet in the water. It ended up being a pretty late night, so a number of people were somewhat slowed on Sunday (including my beautiful wife).
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> I took a brief walk down the beach and "the Valley of Pools". The beach was stunning, though the surf was quite rough. I can't imagine swimming in that water. I guess that's why they built the series of pools with a view of the beach. I saw some spring bok or other type of antelope, and then monkeys on the ride back up to the lodge. The wildlife really is everywhere.
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> Tonight, dinner at the lodge; tomorrow, on to Cape Town!
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> --Pete
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Day 5 and 6 Recap and Pics

After flying from Jo-burg to Durban, we were met by Jana and his wife, a very cute older couple. He is Indian, originally from Umkomas, just south of Durban proper, and she is German. They met in Umkomas before moving to Germany for 20 years because they weren't allowed to marry in South Africa during apartheid. It was interesting to hear about the real personal impact of the politics.

In Umkomas we stayed above the Aliwal Dive Center. Amazing view of the ocean! (see pic below) We checked in at about 4 PM, and decided to take a little nap. We didn't wake up until 5 AM the next day! Clearly we needed to catch up on some sleep.

After waking on Friday (day 6), we walked downstairs to the dive shop. We went out for 2 dives on Aliwal Shoal, on the top dive spots in the world. Conditions were ok, medium visibility, lots of surge. We did see a bunch of different rays and one black tip shark. We took some pics using an underwater disposable, but we'll have to get them developed to see how they turn out.

After the dive, we had some breakfast and then Jana drove us up to the Fairmont Zimbali Lodge. Our room is very nice, big upgrade in comfort from the dive shop. Neat view of the jungle. The lodge in general is pretty nice. It's only 14 years old, but was designed to look kind of old timey.

Friday evening, we went to the Sangeeth celebration. It was nice to see some friends and to meet Justin and Ree's parents. The ceremony is to cleanse Ree and get her ready for marriage (Stef and Leslie help out below). Apparently another tradition is that the boys sneak outside for a few drinks, at an otherwise dry ceremony. I was much more a fan of this then Stef was. After dinner, the DJ turned down the house lights and turned on the lasers and the heaviest strobe light I've ever seen. It was pretty awesome. Everyone was moving like Anne Rice vampires.

We got back to the hotel around midnight and had a night cap at the bar before heading to bed. Wedding tomorrow!

Day 4 Pics

Marulo Fruit / Abel feeling the heat coming from termite mound vents / Stef at the Blyde river canyon / John and Leslie

Africa - Day 4 & 5

Our bush walk was pretty awesome, we tasted marulo fruit from the ground, walked around a bit, watched our guide, Abel, eat nuts fished out of elephant dung and spit giraffe droppings 20 feet! (the first time he did it, we all looked at each other and were like, um did he just do what I think he did? The second time, I dry heaved a little -- Stef)

The bus ride back to Jo-burg with John and Leslie was pretty fun. We stopped at the stunning Blyde river canyon for some photos (and souvenir shopping), had lunch at Wimpy's, then got stuck in Jo-burg rush hour. Leslie found a really cute guest house in the Melville section of Jo-burg. The house was right around the corner of a cute street with candle lit restaurants and bars. We walked out for dinner and a few beers 2 blocks from the guest house, watched a crazy lightening storm from a Portuguese restaurant, and stopped for a night cap on the way back at a night club with a fishtank susoended in velvet walls.

The proprietor of the guest house cautioned us about Jo-burg traffic, resulting in an early departure for the airport. A taxi picked us up at 6:15 and dropped us at the airport around 7, where we found our 11 AM flight was cancelled and we had been re-booked on the 12:10 flight. Not quite the 3 hours of traffic we were told to expect, but we're pretty used to getting up early at this point.

We had plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast with John and Leslie, and then a few beers before boarding. A little breakfast Guiness to settle the stomach!

-- Pete and Stef

Day 3 Pics - con't

Pete feeds a vulture

Day 2 Pics - con't 2

Our safari truck / giraffes!

Day 2 Pics

Zebras in Kruger National Park

Africa - Day 2 & 3

4:45 wake up this morning, pick up at 5:15. What a difference a few hours sleep make! We pick up 3 Germans from the treehouse resort down the road and we're off for Krueger National Park for 14 hours of safari. Day breaks as we make the 45 min drive over in what is basically an extended jeep with sides and front that roll down. Pete and I take the first of about 1000 pictures of the clouds and sky - it's pretty vast and finally really starts feel like we're in Africa. The weather is perfect, the sun is shining, and thank goodness the jeep has a roof today.

Highlights of the day... Young elephants playing on the road, tussling with each other by ramming their heads together, giraffes and zebras (both my personal faves), lots of impalas, kudus, warthogs, lots and lots of birds, vultures. I was making fun of all the birdwatchers (seriously, staring at birds when a herd of zebras is passing in front of you?), but I realized by the end of the day, chances are good that I'll be one of them soon. So pretty, and a lot bigger and more varied than back home.

We had a late lunch - Pete didn't realize his kuduroll was basically a kudu sausage dog until after he got it - I couldn't take a bite (they've been so cute all day!), but Pete says it was pretty tasty. And then began the 4 hour search for a lion.

--Stef

The day did get a bit long after lunch. It took us the rest of the afternoon to find any lions and even then, we only saw them for a few seconds before they dashed off into the bush, so no pics. We finally got back to Thornhill around 7:30 PM, making it a very long 14 hour day. Thank goodness we were in a covered vehicle, and didn't get too much sun! At dinner, we met up with John and Leslie, who had just arrived from Johannesburg. We stayed up after dinner and had a few beers with them before heading to bed.

On Day 3, we finally had time to sleep in, though still lacked the ability (not sure what time zone we're adjusted to at this point). I was up around 6, and decided to finish reading "The Road". Really enjoyed the perspective its given me, my discomforts are minimal and my experiences are literally extra-ordinary.

After our first breakfast at the lodge, we headed over to the Maholoholo Rehab Center. Amazing place. They take injured or problem animals in and help house, heal, or relocate them. In the span of a few hours we managed to pet a cheetah, feed a vulture, and give a mud bath to a baby rhino. We also got within 2 feet of a pair of lions, some leopards, hyenas, a pack of wild dogs, and a pair honey badgers with escapist tendencies. The guides were really funny, though definitely scripted. It seems like there are a lot of problems living in such proximity to these dangerous animals, but no easy solutions. We also meta nice couple from Jerusalem (Israel). The man was wearing an '08 WS Champs t-shirt, so we asked him about it. Turns out he was originally from Bethlehem (PA)!

After a delicious plate of steak and chips for lunch, we took a little siesta before departing on our final game drive of the trip. The Israeli couple was on the drive, along with their guide, who managed to talk most of the time and lean his head into several of our photos. Other than that, it was a very pleasant afternoon. We didn't see any new / additional animals, but I think we got some better shots of the lions, rhinos, and elephants. We also got some video footage, so we'll see how that comes out.

Another early evening as we have a 5:30 AM wake up call for the bush-walk we are taking tomorrow.

--Pete

Sent from my iPad

Day 1 Pics - con't 2

Rhinos!

Day 1 Pics - con't

Lions on our evening game drive

Day 2 Pics - con't

Teenage male elephants playing around / getting annoyed at us watching

Day 1 Pics

Roadside waterfall on the way from Jo-burg to Kruger

Africa - Day 1

Just got back into wi-fi range (it's Friday the 22nd), should be a couple posts coming...

We left for SFO at 5:45 AM Pacific Friday morning, sat on the runway a bit to let the Pres. pass through, ran between two terminals in Minneapolis and hopped right onto our connecting flight, then watched 3 movies on the way to Amsterdam (in decreasing order of preference: The Other Guys, Red, and Going the Distance). In Amsterdam, we had a cup of coffee and a Danish before departing for Johannesburg. We both slept a lot on the 10 hour flight, but we were still exhausted when we checked into our hotel at 11 PM local time on Saturday. 31 hours door to door. Sitting on planes for so long (doing nothing but eating, drinking, and going to the bathroom) makes me think of the Matrix.

We got picked up from our Jo'burg hotel at 6 AM to start the drive to Kruger National Park. Our driver, Collin (sp?), and I had great discussion about South African language, African borders and colonization, and even US politics! Beautiful scenery the whole way, from the highlands outside Jo'burg to the low veld outside Kruger. I'll let Stef tell you about our lodging and our evening game drive.

--Pete

A few people may recall me saying I wasn't that excited about going on safari. Yeah, that was stupid. Safari, even while driving in a roofless land cruiser in the sometimes pouring rain, going on 4 hours of real sleep over the last two days, immediately after flying across the world on three different planes... in coach... is... AWESOME! I see what the hype is about.

Our first game drive started a couple hours after our arrival. I was so jet lagged, I was literally cursing at Pete as he dragged me out the door to meet our ride. Colin drove us up the road to the entrance of the Thornybush private game lodge, where our guides, one a driver, the other a tracker, handed us ponchos and said, it's probably too late for you to see anything. Oh, and wear these, it'll start raining soon. Great, I thought, climbing into the truck with no roof. We should've kept napping.

So... that was a family of lions, rhinos, water buffalo, wildebeest, a giant pack of deer-like things with horns I can't remember the name of now (Pete says they're called kudu), impalas, a bunch of birds, including a big family of Guinea fowl running in front of our truck for ages (apparently thy don't like to run into the grass when it's wet because it makes it harder for them to fly), a jackal, and a hyena ago. Driving around in the truck was so fun and the rain definitely added to the sense of adventure. We wove in and out of the brush, over trees, way off the main, ducking under and to the side or branches whipping past. When the tracker found the lions laying in tall grass about ten feet away from us just 20 minutes or so into our three hour drive, I remember thinking, okay, we can stop now, that already made the trip out here worth it. And then our guides found some rhino prints and literally tracked them (I've only ever seen someone like Crocodile Dundee do that in, you guessed it, Crocodile Dundee) to where they were scratching themselves with some trees, a mom, dad and two kids. It was very cute until it got a little terrifying the couple of times they got within a few feet from us and I realized they were bigger than our truck. And a couple of zebras crossed in front of us on the way back to the lodge - and adult with a much smaller one. So adorable.

I can't wait to see how Kruger is tomorrow, especially on a full nights sleep. Oh, and since we've been here, everyone's been telling us an elephant likes to hang out outside out room and we may see him peering in our window in the morning. I think I might be more excited about that prospect than Pete is.

Okay, time for bed. 5:15am start tomorrow.

--Stef

Now we're ready to start!

At the gate, the plane just started boarding....

(also, note the reference to Grammy winners, the suburbs, in the subject)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sunday Feb 13th

Crab fest!!!!

More Leftovers

Chili-cheese dogs with chips to scoop up anything that falls off

Post SB Dinner

Celebrating the Pack win with a second round of chili nachos and fat tire

Lunch

and a McCovey Cove Roll to go along with the pictures of the bay.

The Bay at Lunch

I know there are too many pictures taken from the Genentech campus, but it had been a while since we posted anything, and I think this is the first post using my new iPhone 4 camera (also it's a pretty nice day out).