Another week has come and pass, and this past weekend brought a much needed road trip. On Friday, Werner took us to an Indian restaurant, and then we went to a movie. We saw a movie called the Roepman (the Callman) which was in Afrikaans with English subtitles. It was very slow and weird at times, but for some reason I found it enjoyable. This past weekend Jorge and I went Outshoorn, Cango Caves, and Mosselbaai. Jorge and I first decided that we would rent a car and drive everywhere we wanted to go. Later we were discussing our plans to go on our weekend trip, and a guy from work offered to take us. It was great because it saves us a lot of money, and we only have to split the petrol. Petrol hear costs roughly $5 per gallon, so I guess I cannot complain when I make it back to the states. The guy who took us on the trip is named Werner. He is a great guy, and he loves showing his culture and country to tourist or just anyone. We left at 7 am Saturday morning to head to Oudtshoorn. This town is home of the ostrich farms and the Cango Caves. It was very exciting driving there because this is the first time that I was able to cross the mountains that border the sea here. Once you cross the mountains, heading north, the landscape is very similar to West and South Texas; its like a mixture of the two. Crossing the mountains was an amazing site. The sun was just breaking over the mountain tops, and there was a heavy fog that had settled in the mountain valleys.
Our first stop was the Cango Caves. I am not sure, but it may be the only known cave system in South Africa. This was the first time that I have ever be in a cave, and I was amazing. A lot of the formations dated back a million years ago. We decided to be extremest that morning, and we took the Adventure tour instead of the Standard tour. This just meant that we had to do more climbing, crawling, and sliding everywhere. There were some very tight places, and I though I might get stuck, but I managed to make it through there. There was one point called the Chimney, where to had a vertical climb in a shaft that was a little bigger round than me. It was very difficult because there was not much room to move about and used your arms and legs. The smallest space that I squeezed through was roughly 25 cm. That's not very wide. It was at an opening they call the "Postbox." It looks like a little slot where you drop an envelope. You have to slide through it on your stomach head first, and that was a lot of fun. I will be posting a link at the bottom of this post which will take you to all of my pictures.
Once we were done with the caves, we went to an ostrich farm. Here they tell you everything there is to know about ostriches. It was interesting and some people even rode the birds. I would have rode one, but the weight limit was 75 kg, so that was out of the question. They allowed you to pet the birds, and you could even stand on their eggs. I guess I now know more about ostriches than I every planned on knowing.
After that, we all drove to Mosselbaai. We went to a maritime museum and were able to see a life size replica of the ship believed to be the first Portuguese ship to land in South Africa, but do not quote me on that. It was nice having Werner with us because he grew up in Mosselbaai, and he took us to some of hte local spots. One of the most fun parts of the trip was staying in Mosselbaai. Werner's family lives in Mosselbaai, so we stayed with them. It was really a great experience to get to interact with an Afrikaans house. I ate some authentic South African food called pudu pop. I am not sure of the spelling but that is what it sounded like. It was very similar to grits, and it was very good. I learned some new Afrikaans words, but yet again I do not know how to spell any of them. I also drank moonshine with Verner's dad. It was made out of grapes, and I would say it was the smoothest brandy that I have every drank. Sunday did not bring much because it started raining Saturday night. It rained all day Sunday, so we just came back to Knysna. I hate to say this, but it is still raining here. That makes two straight days of rain. Sorry Texas, but I am trying to send some your way. Anyways, it was a great weekend. We will probably stay in town this weekend to save money, and we are going to Cape Town in two weekends. I am really excited. It is hard to believe that I only have four weeks left.
Here is the link to my pictures.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.189523451108379.47394.100001521768928&l=e2cf545144&type=1
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