Saturday, February 18, 2023
We woke up to a beautiful sunrise over the Indian Ocean, and a nice and sunny day!
The lighthouse greeted us as we headed for breakfast at a local café.
We were at the door waiting for them to open at 8, when suddenly a truck drove up, and several people jumped out and scurried about, getting the place open, hanging flags outside, and then showed us to a table. It was a wonderful breakfast and a great way to start the day. The coffee came with a pink marshmallow…something different and fun!
I found out what the Ablution Block is—it’s what they call
the showers and restroom facilities at the campground. Now that’s different! At least the showers were hot, and there’s
more room than in the rv “shower”. But, there were no plugs for hair
dryers. Using the rv power, my hair
dryer isn’t very effective, but I think everybody is in the same boat. We all might be wearing hats for the next 30
days!
It was a long day’s drive to our destination, but very scenic along the way. We stopped at Kapula, a fair trade shop with beautiful candles and ceramics, all handmade by local artisans. Even the bathroom had a nice flair!
Along the way, two baboons scampered across the road—too quickly to be caught by my camera. (They were probably looking for the girl with the sandwich from a few days ago!) We continued on the drive through the Klein Karoo, a semi-desert area between the Swartberg Mountains to the north, and the Outeniqua range to the south. We passed over the Tradouw Pass, a road built in 1872 with convict labor. It was full of zig-zags, twists and steep grades. It’s hard to imagine how they were able to build a road like this through the mountains that long ago. At one point you could see four levels of waterfalls cascading down the side of the mountain, but you couldn’t look very long because there was another turn ahead, and I felt like I needed to hang on!
There was a hard-core biker on the road. (I know some friends who might enjoy this kind of torture!)
We made our second fuel stop—still can’t get used to those numbers on the tank! The attendant discovered that the front tire was very low. We had him add air to all tires, and made it to the campground where Howard was able to check it out.
It was interesting to see the number of people walking along the side of the road…and there was nothing around for miles. One young person was wheeling a suitcase behind him; another was carrying a watermelon. I can only imagine how far they walked to wherever they were going.
We had heard about Ronnie’s Sex Shop, and had to stop to check it out. Turns out it was a bar/pub/shop that started out as Ronnie’s Shop. A couple of his buddies added the work “sex” to the painted sign as a joke. Business picked up significantly, so Ronnie kept the name! As you walk in the bar, there are tshirts and braissaires hanging from the ceiling. I guess it’s a regular stop for motorcyclists, since it’s on Route 62 (South Africa’s version of Route 66)
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We only made one wrong turn today, but with the help of maps
on our phone, we were able to recover quickly.
And that’s another subject—the phone.
Thank goodness Jim had researched the different international phone
plans and found that ATT has a special plan for international travel. Both of us can have service exactly as we
would in the US, for $150. It has been a
godsend…that’ s how I’ve been able to post my blog (except for tonight when
there is no service at all.)
South Africa has a power shortage, so to combat the problem they have rolling blackouts, or power load shedding periods to conserve energy. Most of the time there is a warning… tonight it is from 8-12 midnight, and 4-6am. So, we have to hurry and get our charging done while we have electric power.
The blackout was right on schedule. The tradeoff was that we got to see a gorgeous night sky with stars popping out and blanketing the sky—it was quite a sight to see. (I need to get some photo help on capturing the night sky.)
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