A curious country. November 2010, even in South Africa South Africa
South Africa, a paradise relative.
Time has passed quickly, as we are unaware of how to run .. only what we perceive in the absence of adventures that make us feel more alive.
few hours after we published the last blog, in the month of October, Barto took a plane bound for that place where we belong and it is said that makes us feel good, at least think we came from somewhere in particular. Who has traveled can imagine what that can mean going home after so long, but a continually miss their own. It creates an internal contradiction that everyone experiences differently .. There are soft landings, other labor.
is very difficult to re-fill that gap so rare and until recently non-existent .. and that there appears to be a way to satisfy it. Leave in search of new adventures, and as Richard Burton said "get rid of the fetters of habit, routine weight, coat of many concerns and household slave to a man feel happy again. " Surely, not everyone has the same needs as Burton and less evil. Others share his sentiment, albeit modest if we compare the life I lead this great explorer of the nineteenth century.
After a few more than 365 days is the time for goodbyes. El Barto, after long brooding and the resulting financial problems after a journey of a year, decided to return home. He turns to shake the fragon with the decision, but Sofia and I want some more of this Africa that has welcomed us into his arms and decided to go a little over South Africa with expectations of going to Mozambique.
Fragonafrica
So be lame again with the departure of Barto. These last twelve months of intense journey creates a kind of strange relationship. It is not easy to explain the feeling of spending so much time with the same person. Those 24 hours in the day stuck in the van. Sharing everything and learning, each in its way, the task of empathy and tolerance. If we had the idea of \u200b\u200bputting a pair of cameras inside the van, we would surely triumph today on TV5, would come out on the covers of celebrity magazines and we might be thinking about recording an album. What I do is clear is that if the van is out but I take it as if I had cut her leg after so much time together. Life is full of surprises.
On leaving the plane Barto, Sofia stayed there and I, face to face and the engine is overheated, in front of the airport. So while I devote myself to add water to the reservoir is about a curious guy if we have a problem. After an interesting talk, long and intense just advise on a mechanism in Somerset West, about 30 km from Cape Town. Le call by phone and we agreed that tomorrow morning we'll be there. And by the way give us some advice. When we lose the engine overheated water cooling system very quickly and we have to be stopping to fill with water, sometimes every 5 km. Above all warn us that we care to stop away from the townships because sometimes, "in theory" and according to them, free violent attacks occur just for the simple fact of being white. As if that is the case, try to ignore them.
townships are separated black neighborhoods of the city where they normally live thousands of people crammed into small houses of wood and tin. I guess not unlike a Brazilian favela or shantytown outside Lima. Most were created during the apartheid era where most of the people who worked for whites living in the city, and had a curfew when out of the white area and return to their suburbs. Even the townships were separated by race of those who populated. There was a racial classification extreme even for them and they were forbidden to mingle.
Not much we knew of apartheid, but after touring several museums, and read some books, one is left paralyzed from view until the end comes to be human. What if it is perceived is that even though apartheid was abolished and the government is in the hands of black people in the elections of 1994, when Nelson Mandela was elected the first black president, the atmosphere remains tense. So much so that many whites emigrated in search of new horizons and Australia, with a culture very similar .. and I guess it whiter.
With Mandela decided to make a fresh start with a request not to grudge against white people, to imagine that investors refused to leave the country The overnight with all their capital and infrastructure and the sinking economy. Not everything they did for whites was so bad and certainly had more things usable. Instead we have received information from the mouth of a white South African, 94 that after more than 2000 farmers were killed. We do not know enough to talk about it anymore, maybe the bitterness can reach beyond logic and certainly can not be easily forgotten after a past that many had to be a real torture.
Somerset West find a good guy in the shop that we remove the thermostat is broken and that is what causes the overheating of the J5. At the moment we take off a load off because we it was the water pump and would have been more difficult to repair but does not make us go gracefully without a thermostat, follow his advice that it's okay to go without such a pileup, and that is the most normal of the world .. I think he meant the most normal of Africa!
We return to Cape Town where we visited a couple who had met in West Africa, Amos and Jaye. We stayed for a week as true kings at home, drawing up the famous mountain that watches over the Fals Bay, the legendary Table Mountain,
visit some interesting museums of the city, and go to nice places for watching whales hallucinate just a few hundred meters from the rocks, as in Hermanus. Have behaved as a true host and helped us to know well the country's tourism capital.
Cape Town is a city located in a corner of paradise, always under the gaze of Table Mountain and Devil's Peak, in Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope on the horizon, the more points south of the African West Coast. Mythical places in the legends of sailors and geographies to conquer all or ambitious romantic traveler collection. And of course it is a good town to learn about South African history, apartheid and slavery.
We left the road again, this time in search of climbing areas, and this is how we Montagu, a beautiful and peaceful people of South Africa in which the atmosphere is very different we had met so far. We were happy to find a place where you feel that peace of mind and we can re-shod feet of cat after so long.
With arms swollen and excited to have crushed a little lonely body followed by Route 62 in search of more sectors of climbing. We went to Ousthoorn, famous worldwide for its ostrich farms. Peered everywhere ostrich, plumes of colored fuchsia and farms that allow tourists to ride this huge ovipero, which incidentally has the largest eye to the brain. As we are not attracted to the fantastic world of ostriches we move a few miles in search of the rock.
On the way we see a Toyota pickup truck painted like a zebra in red and black and registered in Switzerland. Is the first European truck we see in our African trip without hesitation so we stopped to meet these other fragonafricanos. Two Swiss-German, Bruno and Adrian came home 8 months ago with his car, although van is 4x4. If so who knows, you know. They have also toured the West Coast, although by different routes. Chatting among others convince us, we are wrong to cross Nigeria by Lagos and Delta. Another curiosity is that the same ferry that took us between Brazzaville and Kinshasa was not working anymore, just three months after our triumphant and unforgettable crossing, and had no prospects of returning to sail at a time, at least until it is repaired, what could be a few insurance months. So we also discovered that there was a bridge between the two Congos to the height of Matadi, information we ignored completely, but we were forced to go through Kinshasa to demand, in those days, almost Platonic Angola visa.
After sharing our experiences we decided to climb together near the Kangoo Caves. It is an unforgettable place for its scale, but calm and relaxed in a small valley surrounded by small mountains. We parted the next day vowing to stay in touch and meet again on the road.
We turn to go to the coast, to George and Knysna. We had recommended a couple places that are climbing to be private so we continue a little farther to the east, the National Park Tsitsicama. The park is one of the few places where you can still enjoy an indigenous native forest meets the sea, some trails with bridges hanging over the sea and of course, camping sites, barbecue, restaurants, bungalows, bar, and all type of services most suited to the type of customer that the nature around him. It is recommended not to go on a weekend!
One thing that is bringing our way to travel is the hospitality of white South Africans. Many curious come to see us come to this strange vehicle in their eyes and give us a cordial welcome. A few days ago we went to a dirt road looking for a place to stop and just asking permission from a farmer in charge of a plantation of trees to sleep on their land. His curiosity quickly explain causes of our journey and leave them in the eyes of the face when we tell them who come from Spain with our van. These same farmers, after a walk we arrived, we were waiting for a barbecue dinner with family, and a cold beer. Lest they get upset accept the invitation! But the best thing for us, almost better than the grilled chicken is the possibility of finding answers to our questions about the country's history, though of course they are responses from one side and very personal, but they are very interesting .
In Grahamstown we meet again with the same hospitality white but this time without a barbecue and beer but with tea and biscuits, and we promise ourselves instead try to search later where blacks have been sleeping so you can see about the other side of the coin. Leaving
inward, toward the mountains where life is very different. Small towns populated entirely by blacks, and round houses with thatched roofs give these lands back Xhosa African aroma. We camped for a couple of days in the mountains of Ford Foryce between rain and showers where we enjoy quiet trails in a lush forest.
Surrounded by green landscapes and beautiful forests move into the small town of Hogsback. We are still waiting for clarification of the sky to go climbing but it seems that the rain does not stop, and before our despair is the joy of its inhabitants that they explain the long period of drought that have lived the last years. Every cloud has a silver lining and have to wait, but well accompanied by Nacho, a Basque who works at the hostel we are staying and making our stay a very pleasant memory.
Hogsback Leaving the problems seemed to come back were gone, and we have to stop because inexplicably the needle on the temperature of engine is hiperalta. By stopping the van and lift the engine hood we see the water shoots up like a trap and that causes the cooling water tank is completely empty. We return to fill but the water stops coming out so we ask whether a big city get to fill every bit the water tank, or try to find a smaller place, where sometimes things are easier. We opted for the second but the place is something more distant than East London, the nearest city, and we stumbled Cintsa, we never thought it was so small and therefore was not the right decision.
In Cintsa Backpackers is one of the most sought after in the country. Situated on the hillside with an endless beach where it meets a small lake with a river. A nice camping with monkeys steal food dismissal and a bar with the absurd mania buy you a shot if you take off your shirt at the orders of the waiter. (Of course, we have removed us!) The place is run by a Swiss couple who fell in love the place and that never again escaped, and really see them happy and proud of your home.
A couple of days later we arrived in Cintsa, nice place but not valid for our needs, less playful than those offered, try to move the van to a larger town with a garage, but definitely saw that it was impossible to move when the boot is doubtful audible noise and belt that moves the water pump stopped rotate. Peter, the manager offered to immediately get a mechanic to help us and an hour later Dave arrived, hundred per cent boer.
Dave then puts his hand to the engine and puts no problem whatsoever in working in a Peugeot unknown. In an hour or so has removed the water pump, shows like this one useless, it has been saying that soon they will put to find an equal. The truth is that it gives us enough hope to fix the van but we know that there is no model like thousands of miles.
The next day we asked about 70 euro deposit because he says they have found a well pump and has to pay a deposit, but when they give is not the same. After five days things do not go ahead and Dave decides to pump directly to repair but do not know when or how the repair might cost. That is, do not give us any kind of budget but we advise that if a donkey is going to cost always goes better if we send a new one from Spain. That same day displayed by the Swiss camping in the van and decided to go together for a few days to Coffee Bay to disconnect a bit of so much history with the van.
Coffee Bay is a small coastal area belonging to the region Transkai. The current province South Africa was something like an independent state during the apartheid where only blacks lived, and where there was a relentless poverty that made people migrated near the cities in search of work.
Today
near some beaches are for surfers and backpackers hostels where we stayed a few days between rain and rain that has allowed us to push us into the water and try a little "and" surf. The thing does not end so well, because they open the van of the boys and some wise guy has been a couple of backpacks. Bad luck!
Cintsa We again see what happens with the truck and pump water, that the mechanic only makes us long. After a few days we put edges and ask that you return the money because they also already confirmed that the operation of my father is 15 November and I go home, that's Spain. The mechanic of a sudden I have arranged the piece and ask for a price three times more expensive than the principle and therefore the double of the cost of a new pump. If not a joke or is it out of hand the budget, but we are not willing to pay. Given this response rate is threatening to take away the wheels on our absence, because we eventually got him to keep the van where it left off (which actually remedy if you can not move) in Cintsa camping. We left with Swiss boys offered to take us to Durban, making some routes along the coast. It is a golden opportunity and so we stayed closer to Johannesburg from where we flew the twelfth day of this month, I mean, on Friday, ... ie .. in five days!
So here we are at the entrance to Durban, about to return to Spain, thinking that maybe when we get the van this levitating over a mountain of bricks and wheels are resting at the home of mechanic. Of course what is not happening to us does not happen to anyone. and maybe that's why we come back in January because it will be our life without much excitement and headaches ... ! masochism alive!
So besides unconditional hugs and kisses to all, and apologies for such a long blog without too many adventures, I can only tell you soon many of you, that in a few days I'm home to be with the family, but in mid-January to return to the adventure fragonafricana, that hopefully we can fix the van, and we know more of Africa.
A million kisses and thanks to all !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
