Surprise Weekend!

Ok so this is all a bit behind, this blog is from the weekend of the 14th March.

Hannah, if you're reading, there are a lot of blogs so maybe check your time before you are late for university :D

Will update this weekend (19/20/21st March) epic trip to Port St Johns asap. Enjoy:

I appear to be living in a conspiracy theory here, because one surprise after another just keeps on rolling in! On Thursday afternoon as I was leaving the pharmacy, I felt a pair of hands grab me from behind and cover my eyes – luckily I was not being mugged by a rogue Tsotsi, but Sam had organised a surprise visit from the PT volunteers in Durbanville!

Catherine, Flo, Rhiannon and Sarah [a German volunteer] had driven all the way from Cape Town on their holidays and had come to visit us in Zithuele :D It was a great surprise to see them and we had good chats. Etienne and Anita hosted a braai for us complete with a tonne of boerwors, chilli bread and red wine. It was a fun evening but we were all a bit tired so we came home at ten with the intention of an early night. Sadly, due to some kind person stealing R2000 out of Catherine's bank account, we were all up until half one as she tried to sort it out with banks in South Africa and the UK to no avail. The next day they had a brief tour of Zithulele [cute babies, amaguena, all the important stuff], then headed off to Coffee Bay for the weekend, little did I know I would be seeing them again sooner than I thought...

My next surprise was organised by Anita, Etienne, Jess and Shannon who booked for Sam, me and the four of them to have a night in Bomvu backpackers in Coffee Bay. They came and picked us up at 10am yesterday [Saturday] and we had pancakes with cinammon sugar in the car on the way there.

Sam, Catherine and Flo

We arrived at Bomvu and were shown to our dorm which was really cool. Bomvu is all decorated in an African/surfer style so it has a nice vibe [vibe is a favourite word around here]. We met up with the other PT girls and went to look at the little shops in Coffee Bay which sell jewellery and t-shirts and avoided the men who lurk about and try to sell you magic mushrooms and other such things. Lunch was in the Ubuntu Kitchen, cheese toasties :D Goooood times! We had a Savannah over at Coffee Shack and chilled for a bit before Sam and I embarked on an exciting adventure...

We had booked for an hour's horse ride along the beach and through the hills - I haven't ridden in about five years so wasn't sure how it was going to go, and as there were no riding hats and I was only wearing flip flops I kept imagining that I would end up falling off and ending up in a coma, but oh well. We rode for a while along Bomvu beach through a couple of rivers before ending up on Coffee Bay beach itself which must be beautiful on a sunny day given that today was pretty overcast and it was nicer than most British beaches are! The guide asked us if we wanted to run and we said yes so next thing we were flying along the surf on our horses :D It was amazing, I've always wanted to gallop along a beach so that's another thing to cross off my list!

We left the beach and went up into the hills, the guide constantly urging the horses to run so there we were, cantering along in this beautiful valley covered in rondavels. It was like going back in time because you couldn't hear or see any cars or roads, just trees and farms and livestock roaming around free. As we crested the hill that looks down into Coffee Bay we got the most gorgeous view, exactly the kind of thing I guess people come to Africa for. When I got off the horse however, I had very sore legs, [not something I came to Africa for] so may not be doing that again for a while! But seriously, it was amazing.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent drinking, playing pool and eating. Everyone convinced me to have my first shot (Jaegermeister) which I proceeded to spill all over myself, then my second (Tequila) which despite actually making it into my mouth was not particularly pleasant! Something tells me that shots are not my thing. I played some pool, very badly, then got some coaching from Etienne and actually sank a ball or two before it was time to eat.

Dinner was a Poitje [I think that's how you spell it] in the Ubuntu kitchen which due to a power cut was candlelit. I couldn't see much of what I ate but it tasted brilliant [Mum, we are going there for dinner at least once]. There was salad, rice and curry and this delicious Xhosa bread which I ended up eating many many pieces of. We went for cocktails at Coffee Shack but by this time most of us were waning so after a Long Island Iced Tea [why is it called that?!] we went to bed. In bed by 10pm – what a wild night!

It was a really fun day so thanks to Shannon, Jess, Anita, Etienna and Sam for organising yet another birthday surprise for me :D:D

xxxxx