Garden Route Learnings

1.  The Garden Route and Whale Coast Route run along the Southern coast of South Africa.  The views are similar to Highway 1...without all the Malibu traffic.

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2.  Wildlife, including whales, performs for no man.  You gotta be patient.

3.  When whale watching, you can determine the different whale species by the shape of the spout of water that the whale projects.  The Southern Right Whale (which is common in SA) spouts a V shaped spray.

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"I can't look right now I just saw a whale."

4.  Scientists have yet to record how Great White Sharks give birth or mate.  So that's something to think about.  Also, Cage Diving with Great Whites is a lot easier when you're too cold to be scared.

5.  Every price is a negotiation.

6.  Our new scale for accommodation negotiations: Over $40 per night, no way.  $35-$40, it should be on the beach with a beach view.  $30-$35, it better be a block from the beach and include breakfast.  $20-30, is it safe and clean?  Ok fine.

7.  While we think monkeys are adorable, locals here find them a menace.  They break into homes and cars, steal, bite, and wreck.  Ends up this isn't too far off.

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8.  African cuisine is hearty and ALL about the meat.  The food has tribal, Dutch, and Indian influences.  When eating at someone’s home, it’s polite to leave a bit of food on your plate after you’re finished to show the host that you’re satisfied.  We're having a bit of trouble with that one.

9.  KFC is huge in South Africa.  It’s everywhere.  The small villages may not have a grocery store, but they have a KFC (no we haven’t given in and eaten there yet.  We are models of self discipline.).

10.  Driving on the left side is easier than expected.  Tip for the driver: Always keep yourself at the center.  This is the opposite of our advice for couples traveling.

Next up, The Wild Coast and the Mountains of Drakensberg!  Until then, Click Here to read details on What We Did on the Garden Route.

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Ryan and our noble steed, Betty.

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Baboons.  Are.  Everywhere.

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Rollin.

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The view from our room at our hostel in Wilderness, SA.  

Reading for Adventure

As we planned, we needed inspiration for our adventure.  And what better place to find it than reading?  Here are our recommends if you're thirsting for a voyage and need to reconnect with man's need for exploration.

Our Favorite Finds?  Around the World in 80 Days, Arabian Nights, and Roughing It.  Then the MUST read: The Alchemist.  The undercover delight: Dark Eden.  Know of a great adventure read we missed?  Comment below.

Up next, reads on Africa (and Go Set A Watchmen because I can't help it). If you have any suggestions please comment-- I've started with The Power of One and am fairly obsessed.

Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne

Roughing It by Mark Twain

Arabian Nights

The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien

Dark Eden by Chris Beckett

The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe

What We Learned in Cape Town

Good news: We made it to Cape Town.  Bad news: We've been having too much fun to post.  But don't worry-- content is coming.  Until then, here are 10 things we learned this week.

1. Banana and peanut butter tastes delicious anywhere and is a perfectly suitable dinner option.
2. South Africa has eleven official languages (including English, thank heaven).  
3. Internet is just as bad as they warned us it would be...and we're still in a major city.
4. South African penguins on Boulders Beach came from only two breeding pairs in 1982 and the population has grown to about 3,000.  They got busy!
5. People from Madagascar and their language are called Malagasy.
6. Don't be scared.  Be careful.
7. Apartheid: an Afrikaans word meaning "the state of being apart" (literally "apart-hood") was a system of racial segregation in South Africa enforced through legislation by the National Party (NP), the governing party from 1948 to 1994.  This segregation categorizes people as white, black, and colored and there is an unlimited combination of terribleness between and within all three.
8. South African history shows great dedication to freedom of religion and has a wide diversity of thriving religions as a result.
9. The currency in SA is the Ran but everyone calls them "bucks."
10. We're tougher than we thought.

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That Time We Chose Love.

Our trip is focused on love (duh).  And two things happened around the same time that helped us to choose the big L as our trip's focus.

We've already told you the first reason. But there's a second reason that was too precious to shout.

It's this: we watched Andy Stanley's message on the definition of Christianity.  Yep.  That loaded and terribly convoluted word "Christianity."  And, as usual, he made so much sense.  

What only a few people may guess, Christianity is only about love (not mostly.  Only).  And his words reminded us of this and this and this and we felt encouraged.  But then we remembered this and this and this.  And we got furious.  And so sad.  But mostly furious.  Furious that it got so wrong.  And overwhelmed with how to make it right.

The harsh reality is that, in most places in the world, Christianity is associated with judgement, ignorance, and even hatred.  And that is exactly the opposite of everything we should be.  In the beginning, disciples of Christ were known for their extraordinary, unconventional, and unconditional love.  And now look where we are.

So.  Back to us.  

We aren't the smartest in the world.  Nor the bravest.  Nor the wisest/coolest/rightest/anythingest.  We can't do much.  But we can do this.

So we are.  To as much as our (very) limited abilities allow, we're gonna shovel out love as we go.  And we'll fail tons of times.  But we gotta start somewhere.  And frankly, as Christians, we have a lot to make up for.

This is the last time we'll say on the blog that we're Christians.  It's our hope that, by our love, everyone will know.

Frequently Asked Questions

We will talk about this trip until our faces are blue and our vocal chords are dry.  But there is a more efficient way to handle this.  So here are answers to the questions EVERYONE asks.  And now, when we talk we can focus on the more interesting topics.  Like Ryan's beauty regiment on the road. 

• What electronics are you bringing?  1 iPhone, 1 iPad, 1 Kindle, 1 iPod, 2 computers, a SLR camera, and GoPro.  Note: this is ENTIRELY too many but we're allowing ourselves an extra computer and a kindle.
• Are you really only bring 1 backpack each?  And how?  Yes, 1 backpack each.  Honeytrek has an awesome packing list that we started with.  The list breaks down to us each having about 12 shirts, 6 bottoms, a few dresses for Blakely, raincoat, long underwear, base fleece, bsuit, underwear and hats/gloves/misc.  Our style will be nomad-chic.
• What about shoes? That's a doozie-- 1 pair of hiking shoes, 1 pair of flip flops, 1 pair of nicer shoes. 
• Anything else?  Cool things like steripens to sanitize the water and a sewing kit to keep ourselves together.  
• What are you most excited about?  Blakely says SE Asia.  She's never been to that region and it promises to be so different and beautiful.  Ryan says safaris in Africa.  But he promises to keep the car doors locked.
• What are you most scared of?  Ryan says the first moment when we break down on each other (how to avoid that: keep Blakely fed).  Blakely says random acts of violence that could occur in a foreign country (but could also occur in New York, so...).
• Where are you going? See Blog.
• How did you plan the trip?  See Resources.
• Do you have the entire trip planned out?  Yes and No.  We have our itinerary based on seasons and priorities.  We have our Must-Dos and recommendations for each country.  But our lodging and most activities we will book when we get to each place.  Since we're traveling slowly, this will be the main way to save money since we can barter.
• How do you pick where to go?  First of all, there's a checklist.  But the breakdown is: first you write an insane to-do list (we're thinking about posting this, stay tuned).  Then you prioritize that list.  Some of those priorities will have certain time windows (seasons) and you start puzzle piecing it together.  Next comes the budget and the saving.
• How will you give back?  We have scheduled some volunteer opportunities ahead of time.  Those are the ones with organizations that require a bit of notice (orphanages, animal hospitals, etc).  But as we travel, we'll give back as we go.  We'll pick up trash while hiking.  We'll speak in schools when helpful.  In cities, we'll give out money (Baha just kidding.  Who do you think we are?  We will give out food though).  The opportunities to do small unremarkable good are everywhere.

Keep the questions coming.  It's our dream and who gets tired of talking about their dream?