After leaving Knysna we drove a couple of hours to Plettenberg Bay, location of the world's highest bungee jump (216m). The age-old question "if all of your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?" applies here. My answer is "hell no, but I will pay a little money to go and stand on the bridge and cheer them on," which is what I did. Something I have come to realize in the past few months is that I do not manage heights well. I don't mind them so much when I'm in a harness and securely attached to something, but jumping off and then dangling from an extremely high bridge by my ankles is just not something I feel compelled to do. Ever. It was truly fun to watch, though. They were blasting techno music at 11am, and the staff basically dance people off the bridge. Seems like a pretty great way to make a living...
We drove for the rest of the day to Chintsa, a beautiful and remote beach town in East London. We arrived at the Buccaneers Backpackers in time for a late dinner, which was absolutely delicious after eating fast food all day. Road-tripping in South Africa is very different from the US. There are no big exits with 10 different restaurants and gas stations to choose from. Here, there are rest stops with one gas station and one restaurant attached (sometimes two or three if you're near a bigger town). They usually have the same restaurants, either Steers or Spur. Tasty the first time, not so much after the fifth or sixth. These are pretty few and far between...we stopped for quite a few "nature pees" in the more remote areas. One particularly scenic spot was by this awesome herd of zebras:
We didn't get to spend a lot of time in any one place, so we learned fast that it was best to wake up early and get as much out of it as we could. I woke up in time to see the sunrise at the Buccaneers and spend time at the nearby beach. This was one of my favorite mornings, dozing in the sand and standing in the warm Indian ocean, appreciating the simultaneous stillness and constant motion. After breakfast, we set out for Coffee Bay, driving through the Transkei to the Wild Coast. The Eastern Cape is absolutely beautiful, and actually reminded me a lot of the Blue Ridge mountains at home...just without all the trees.
Almost every time I tell a South African that I'm living in Cape Town for the semester, they always say "Ah, but you must go to the Eastern Cape. That's the real South Africa." So, from what I gather, the "real" South Africa is full of small villages and towns nestled into these gorgeous mountains. It's kind of mind-blowing that you can start the day in a very modern looking town, and then end it in a place that's about as rural as you can imagine. However, never doubt the power of globalization–please don't think it's the middle of nowhere, therefore they don't have Coke or electricity. Rest assured, I saw satellite dishes in the Transkei, just not as many as you'd see in a bigger town. It's a complex blend of modern and traditional, poverty and contentment. Though some people have started to build modern houses, most still live in traditional round thatch-roof houses made with mud bricks, painted bright greens, pinks, and blues:
The round houses make a lot more sense than rectangular ones, because the corners of a rectangle house are more likely to buckle over time with the mud bricks. Round houses are far more strong, and can last for a really long time. They repaint and replace the thatch roofs every year, but otherwise they're really sturdy. The aqua houses in the pictures above are the most common color, not because it's beautiful but because it's the most affordable paint available. I want to live in one. At any rate, you can count on the fact that I will paint my house that color someday.
Next up, Coffee Bay!
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