The Holy Land

We arrived to Turkey in the morning and even though we would only be in the country for one full day, we had to buy a 90 day visas for $120 USD. The Americans behind us in line only paid $20USD and the Australians got free stamps. The lady at the visa desk was quite rude to us and we were not impressed. When we went through customs, the officer behind the counter did not even say one word to us. Our first impression of the country was not the best. We decided to rush to Fatih, an area in Istanbul where Baha u llah, the founder of the Bahai Faith lived in exile when he was banished from Iran. We tried to use the change we bought from the Kenyan guy at the airport but it was not working in the machines so we tried to speak with attendant. He took one look at the coins and told us they were too old and that they were garbage. My heart sank. The coins said 2006 on them but apparently the country had upgraded their coins and the ones we had were no longer accepted. We literally had a bag full of coins that were as good as dirty nappies.

We paid with new money and took a very convenient train to Fatih . We had vague directions to the house of Bahaullah but we still got very lost and the local people were trying to help us. They were coming up to us and asking if we needed help but no one seemed to know the street we were looking for. The people here seem to generally speak very little english compared to other countries we have been to. After walking around the area for over an hour we found the right house but there was no one there to let us in. We had arrived five minutes after closing and it was too late. We were very happy and content to pray and see the place even from the outside. It was very special. On our way back to the train, we had chicken shwarmas. We tried to pay with the old coins but the man spotted them right away and refused to take them. So again, we paid with new money. We took another train back to the city and decided to stop at a bank to ask them to change our money. They were very sympathetic but said that the only bank that can help us is the central bank. So we took another train further into town and walked several kilometers to this bank. Along the way we saw some of the very modern, clean and interesting city of Turkey. There were street vendors selling bagels, drinks, candies and other treats. There are large extravagant and surreal looking mosques in every direction. There is the odd church around as well but most of all it is completely full of tourists.

Outside the central bank, a lady overheard us telling the guard about what had happened with the coins and she got upset about it. She appologized on behalf of the person who cheated us. She works as a tour guide in the city and she said that she hated hearing stories about that from travellers. The staff inside the bank were also sympathetic but again they said that they stopped changing to old coins about a year ago, and there was nothing they could do for us. They currently only change bills. We were a bit upset that we got cheated out of the money but all of a sudden the tour guide lady from outside the bank came up to us and handed us Turkish cash. She told us to pretend that we had found the money or that the bad event had never happened. We told her we could not accept the gesture but she insisted. We were very humbled by the experience. We realized that every time something bad happened to us, a stranger came along and fixed it. The kindness of strangers comes out when one is in need.

So we walked around the city and saw the famous sights such as the blue mosque, the beautiful waterfront, the hundreds of men fishing, a few of the other 10,000 mosques, a couple of churches and some of the most beautiful architecture in the world. As we headed toward the ferry to meet with our couch surfing host, Guven, we came accross a small restaurant and took a quick look at the menu. The man working at the restaurant asked us where we were coming from and said that for Canadians the coffee is free. We sat down an enjoyed the delicious cup of coffee. We walked by an advertisement for local tours and one that we would have liked to do if we had more time, was the trip to the ancient city of Troy.

We hurried to catch the ferry to meet our friend and got there minutes before it departed. We met Guven on the other side, and he took us for a walking tour around Kadikoy. This area is about ten kilometers from where he lives, it is full of pubs, restaurants, and markets. He also treated us to an ice cream from a very popular parlour. After about an hour or so of wandering around and hearing about some of the history and current events of Turkey, we caught a bus back to his place. After a shower and washing some of our dirty clothes we ate the lovely dinner that Guven kindly prepared for us.

The next morning we caught the ferry back to get to the main bus terminal called Otogar. From there we were able to book a bus trip to Edirne. We expected this trip to cost about two Lira but it actually costed twenty five liras each. It is a two and a half hour ride to a place which Bahaullah lived for many years and wrote some significant tablets. We managed to talk to the guy at the counter a bit which saved us a couple lira each. The ride was very comfortable, they served drinks and snacks, as well as provided individual televisions with only Turkish channels. Upon our arrival in Edirne we took a free shuttle from the bus station to the center of town a few minutes away. Just up the street from our stop, there was a beautiful mosque which we were unable to photograph because I forgot the camera. As we wandered through the streets looking for the house, he walked in to a shop and the owner said simply, ``Bahai`? We were stunned but we said yes and he directed us to the House where Baha u llah lived during part of his time in Turkey. At the house, we were greeted warmly and the caretaker of the place presented a short orientation explaining the significance of the site. The lady spoke a little English and a little Farsi, so I was able to piece together most of what she was saying. We spent nearly one hour in the house visiting, praying and meditating and then made our way down the road to another house. This house was destroyed from bombs and an earthquake years ago but is surrounded by a lovely orchard and garden. It was a very peaceful place and the caretaker even gave us fruits off the trees to eat while we walked around.

We walked back to the park in front of the mosque while we waited for the shuttle to take us to the station. We saw a man selling some kind of treat and inquired about what it was. It was very bright, multi-coloured, thick paste that the man wraped around a stick into a popsicle like shape and rolled on a lemon. We tried it, and it was very good but very sweet, and Tyson had to finish mine as well as his. As we were relaxing in the park a small child ran away from her parents and was running straight toward the busy street. Tyson leapt into action and grabbed the child just before she went onto the road. He is a hero. After all the excitment it was time to head back for our 6pm bus back to Istanbul. We had more drinks and snacks on the bus which made the time go by fast. We arrived just before sunset at the Otogar and decided we should check out the famous night life. We took a free shuttle to Taksim. This part of the city is home to thousands of pubs, clubs, restaurants and shops. There were over a million people walking around the main street which is apparently a typical night in Taksim. As it was getting late we decided to try to call our host. This turned out to be a much more difficult task than we initally antisipated. Luckily the fourth hotel we asked, finally let us borrow their phone. We planned to meet at the pub where he was hanging out in a few hours so we ate at a spot that sold one lira donairs. We scarfed down five donairs and continued on to meet up with our host. It seemed like an impossible task but we surprisingly found him and met a few of his friends. We walked together to where the eight person taxi shuttles pick up and had to wait in a line for about twenty minutes before we could catch one back to near his place. Tyson and I fell asleep during the ride so we took a private taxi from the shuttle stop to his door step. After a quick shower it was off to bed after a long day.

The next morning we made a couple of wraps for breakfast and made our way to the ferry for the last time. On the other side we walked about five kilometers or so to the metro that took us to the airport. On the way we stopped for groceries and candy and could not resist some window shopping for the fabulous clothes and shoes available. As the walk took longer than expected, we thought we were going to be late for our flight and rushed to the airport. Luckily for us, the flight was delayed by an hour, so everything seemed to work out. We were in Turkey for a very short time we got a really great feeling about it and cannot wait to go back and spend more time there.


"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"

Wonderful people of Kenya

After entering the Kenyan border, there were crowds of people trying to sell us bus rides to Nairobi. We tried to make them compete against each other and finally agreed on a price with a decent looking bus. It was dark by this point and we were the only foreigners in site, but at this point in our travels, this did not fase us at all. We are quite comfortable in the middle of no where in the middle of the night with all the locals staring at us curiously. We tried to buy a pinapple but the lady was trying to rip us off so our new friend (the bus company guy) bought it for us at the local price which was significantly less. When we were on the bus several children started banging on our windows begging for food. There was only one at first so we threw out a piece of bread and cheese. It fell on the ground but he picked it up and ate it anyway. Within seconds four other children ran up to the bus and before we knew it most of our loaf of bread and cheese was out the window. They even got the last of our candy which they seemed very grateful for. It was a very sad and eye opening experience to witness hungrey children like that who ate our stale bread and cheese as if it were a five star meal.

That bus ride may have been the closest we have come to major injury so far this whole trip. The roads from Busia to Nairobi are awful, they are not paved and some of the pot holes are the size of vehicles. The first major pot hole we hit sent me shooting up so high that I bashed my head on the roof of the car. I cried out in pain but no one seemed to notice. With a massive headache brewing I decided that I would let that one go. There were several moderate bumps soon afterwards that sent us flying around the bus. Then I layed on my side accross both seats and the next major bump sent me all over the place and I cut open my elbow and had a tough looking bruise on my thigh. Tyson cursed out loud as his head slammed into the roof and his elbow cut open on the sharp edges of the elbow rests. Our bags fell out of the luggage rack and onto an elderly man who cried out in pain. This was the last straw as everyone half heartedly shouted at the driver. Since we did not have much more options, we found two empty seats with working seat belts and strapped ourselves in. The only other injuries we got after that was bruising on our hips from pulling on the belt but that was acceptable compared to what we experienced without seat belts. The bus jolted over pot holes and bumps for the whole ten hour ride to Nairobi. Needless to say we did not sleep at all and we were holding on tightly the whole ride. At one point the bus swayed from side to side so far that when I looked out the window the groud seemed inches away. I cannot believe we did not flip.

We stopped once on the way at a dingy eatery. When I got out of the bus everyone was glaring at me like I had something they wanted. I tried to act cool as I walked accross the restaurant to the bathrooms in the back. I used the reeking, disgusting, filthy washroom and on my way back out a girl stopped me and said there was someone who needed to speak with me. I told her I did not know anyone here but she insisted that I follow her. Since I had to go the way she was leading me anyway, I followed her to the door. She lead me to a guy and walked away. The guy looked up at me and said "yes?". I just stared at him, so he said "can I help you?" I said "no". It was strange and I believe he was about to say more when I walked away. When Tyson took his turn to go to the bathroom, I warned him that he might feel uncomfortable inside. He walked into the joint and several people just started to laugh at the sight of him in this place. When he was gone, the same guy who confused me earlier, came onto the bus, head straight for me and sat down in the next seat over. I was about to say something but as quick as he came in, he was gone off the bus. It was strange again.

We eventually made it to our destination around 5am alive but shaken up and tired to Nairobi. The city looked scary at first because of all the pre judgements we had in our hearts. We called a few of our host offers in the area, none of whom who could not pick us up right away. Our best option was a guy who said he could come get us at 7:30am. So we stayed on the bus and slept until that time. We got off and met our host at the bus station, when he met us, he said that he was having some problems at home and could no longer host us at his place. He was very kind and took us to his work at a huge open air market in the downtown area. It is in the slums of town and we walked through muddy alleys and small walkways full of garbage. It smelled awful and everyone was staring at us. Our host made us feel very comfortable though and as we began to smile at people, they began to open up and smile back. Soon we were meeting people and making friends. Our host, Joseph, sews his own clothes and sells them at the market. He owns a small shop and works there on his own for the most part. As we freshened up we decided to call another one of our hosts, this was Pastor Dave. It was a good thing we called him because he was at the bus station waiting for us. He agreed to cab out to the market to meet with us. He was very kind and agreed to host us, so we arranged to meet him later that night after exploring the city for a bit. We left all our bags with our new friend at his shop and headed back to the bus station area on our own to find a taxi. This area of Nairobi is extremely crowded with people, the roads are not paved and the driving is crazy. There are huge pot holes everywhere and since it had recently rained most of the dirt alleys were now mud. The busses are speeding around painted with rainbows and decorated with quotes like "gansta rap", "thug life" and other inspiring words. Rap music was blasting so loud that I could not understand how the windows were not blowing out, it was great. Most of these busses belong to young children who inherited money and decided to buy busses for extra income. So they deck them out in vinyl, fur, inspiring quotes like "kill bitches" and stripper poles.

After asking several very friendly and helpful people for directions, we got to the taxi station where they asked for 70 shillings for the short drive. We took a different one for 30 shillings.The taxi dropped us off at Garden Village. It was a gorgeous shopping center with hotels, theaters, restaurants, shops and anything else one may need. It is truly a beautiful place, super clean with waterfalls, fountains and we could not believe that we were only a few kilometers from the open air market that we just left. We had been told that if we wanted to find the Bahais in the area, we could find them in this mall. This is all the information that we had so we started walking around looking for signs. We were loudly saying things like "Alla u Abha" and "Bahai" to each other but no one was paying attention. So we checked a notice board for clues and noticed a sign for a Persian carpet store. We started our search by looking there but we noticed that the lady had a veil over her hair so we were back at square one.

We checked the restaurants and stopped at a Persian restaurant. Of course a small percentage of Bahais are Persian but there are usually a few in every community and this stereotype is all we could think of at the time. Tyson asked the young attendant if he was Bahai. He said "No, but the owner of the whole village is". So we went upstairs and into the state of the art office of the owner. He was the kindest most humble man who happily met with us right away. He had a huge collection of African art and swords on his wall. The office was the size of a small house and decorated beautifully. It turns out that around fifty of the shop owners in the area are also from the local Bahai community. The man gave us the contact information for the Bahai center as well as his personal contact information. Having accomplished what we set out to do, we left in another taxi to the monkey park at the city park. Here there are thousands of various types of monkeys living freely. We enjoyed sitting in the park watching them play and live their interesting lives. We walked around the small market and ate lunch at a dark tiny stall in the back corner of the area. We had rice and beans, but the portions were so huge that we barely finished half of our food and we packed the rest to go in a plastic bag. We also inquired into having my dreads fixed but they all said that I had to buy my own dread wax and come back the next day. The prices I got were anywhere from 250 shillings to 3000 shillings.

We headed back to Joseph's market area and even shopped a bit on the way. Luckily we found our way around decently because we did not want anyone to think we are lost or new to the area. Joseph was one of the kindest guys we met and he bussed us back to the Pastor's house in Kayoley at his own expense. He took us all the way to the house which we never would have been able to do without him. We were met by two young ladies who walked us back to the house and we were greeted by dozens of young boys. They were all sitting politely in a corner of the suite. The place was small and extremely simple with one couch being the only piece of furniture. The kids are orphans from around the area who are being housed, fed and educated by the pastor and a few other volunteers. Almost all of their parents died from HIV, one parent died of a natural death and one of the boys was from an extremely abusive family. They did not have even one toy to play with. They just played with each other quietly. The one boy who had been abused was about twelve but he wore a diaper and could not speak as a result of the abuse. He used to be tied up naked at his parents home. They were trying to starve him to death because he had a mild dissability and in their culture this means that you are cursed. All their other children are happy, well looked after and thriving. The police helped the Pastor to get the child out of that environment. He has since learned to walk but his disabilities are very severe and they do not have the money to get him the education he needs so he stays home alone all day with a caregiver. For the boarding school that he needs it would cost about $20 per year, all in. He was very affectionate and loving with us and we developed a special relationship with the boy.

The Pastor welcomed us to his home and served tea and plain sliced bread pieces. We soon learned that this is the common food served to visitors at all the local homes. After chatting for while, Joseph left to go home and we had baths. We boiled water in a kettle and mixed it with the cold water out of the tap and used a small bucket to splash it onto ourselves.

We tried to tell the Pastor about the Bahai Faith when he asked why we had gone to the Garden Village but he was not quite grasping the teachings behind the faith. Nevertheless he seemed to be quite interested and was asking a lot of questions. Albeit they were a bit negative and condascending. It was an ejoyable conversation for me as it was testing my knowledge and patience. We slept in the Pastor's bedroom that night and he slept on the couch out of respect for his guests. It was a very comfortable and enjoyable place to stay.

The next morning the Pastor tried to wake us up around seven but he was not succesful. He tried again every half an hour or so until he gave up. We got up after nine feeling refreshed after two nights with no sleep. When we got up to breakfast of deep fried dough and very sweet milk tea wating for us on the table. We ate and then left the house to head downtown. On the short walk to the main street, children were running after us screaming "muzungo" and wanting to hold hands. We felt like celebrities. We flagged down a bus and as I mentioned the busses are extremely old, painted wildly, have gangster movie quotes on the sides and are blaring with vulgar rap music. We took one of these into town, on the bus, we met a nice lady Pastor who took it upon herself to make sure that we did not get lost. She had important plans for the day but she stuck with us for over an hour to make sure that we got on the correct taxi to get to where we wanted to go. She called her friends to ask the best way, she even had her son look it up online as we walked. She took down our information and emailed me the next day to invite us to dinner at her place but unfortunately we could not make it. So we took this taxi to a place called Bomas of Kenya. The taxis here charge whatever they want for their services. The same ride could cost anywhere from twenty to one hundred shillings depending on the time of day, the amount of traffic and how the driver is feeling that day. Bomas of Kenya is right accross from the National Park of Kenya where everyone does the safaris. In fact there were wild animals all over the place. We saw some large warthogs and took some photos.

At Bomas we watched a dance performance set up for tourists as well as life size replicas of the local villages around the country. We convinced the attendant to allow us to pay the student rate for the entrance even though it was still very expensive. The price for locals was 30 shillings and for foreigners the cost was 600 shillings. We attended the dance which included local dances and costumes from all the villages in the country. There were very few people watching but the performers still did a decent job. We then walked around the villages for about an hour. A guy who was dressed in local costume started to follow us around a bit giving us very simple information he was reading off the signs. He then asked us for a tip which we declined.

We checked out the National Park to see what they offered and planned to come back the next day to see the animals. We head back to town and after getting lost in the rain for a while we found our way to the Bahai center. We changed our clothes in the bushes and cleaned up a bit for the celebration of the declaration of the Bab. This was the day when the Bab declared that he was the for runner or "gate" for the coming of Baha u llah. The Bahai center was full of local Kenyan Bahais. We met most of the people before the celebration began including the kind man from the Garden Village. The choir sang some beautiful music in Swahili and two guys did a really great rap about the life of the Bab. Dinner was also prepared by one of the Bahais and it was delicious. When I walked into the center, I was greeted by a familiar face. I soon realized that I had volunteered in Haifa with this Kenyan guy nearly ten years ago. I had no idea he lived in Nairobi and it was great to catch up. We planned to meet up the next day to go to the safari park together. He even offered to let us stay at the Bahai center in the dorms.

We met a couple of Canadians and a young guy who is moving to Vancouver to study at UBC. We had a really great time and luckily, after the event, three people were headed in the same direction as us and agreed to let us tag along to get back to the house. We took a taxi van downtown and then switched to a bus for the hour long journey to Kayoley. When we got off the bus we quickly realized that one of the Bahai ladies lives accross the street from the pastor. The social rules in Kenya are quite different than the ones we have in Canada, the people there are very open and friendly with their neighbors and its very normal for people to show up to each other's houses without permission or warning. So our new Bahai friend came with us to the Pastor's house, walked in and sat down as if she had known him for years. It was strange to us but nice at the same time. When we walked into the house, we also noticed Joseph was waiting for us. He had not heard from us that day and had become worried so he came to the Pastor's home to make sure we were ok. When we were not there, he waited until we got home. It was an act that a long time friend may not have even done and we were touched. So we all visited together for a while and shared dinner prepared by the volunteer girls. The Pastor was very surprised that Rose was a Bahai because he was expecting that only Persians can be this religion. I think it opened his eyes a bit when he met her.

In the morning, Rose showed up around nine and picked us up to take us to her place accross the street. We met her sister and really cute niece named Anna. She was only two but very active, strong and social for her age. She jumped on my lap and I felt an instant bond with her. She even cried later on when we left. A few of the neighbor's kids wandered in and out of the house without knocking which seemed appropriate at the time. I quite like this open set up that the communities have here. Rose served us sweet milk tea with plain slices of white bread and we ate again even though we had just finished breakfast at the Pastor's place.

Another one of the hosts we were meant to stay with was called Abraham. He came by the Pastor's house in the morning and accompanied us to Rose's place even though he did not know her. This was not a problem at all. After visiting with Rose and her family we stopped back at the Pastor's house and showed the volunteer girl some of our photos. We waited until Abraham ran back to his house to grab something and he joined us on the bus into town. When the bus attendant came by to collect payment, Abraham told us to pay for him. It turned out that he expected us to pay his way through the day which we were not prepared to do, especially since we were not consulted about it beforehand. So we came to a mutual understanding that he should go home and we would meet with him another time.

We walked from the bus station about forty minutes to the Bahai center. We had all of our bags with us because we intended on staying at the center for the night. My friend was a bit busy at first but we met some other Bahais from the Northern part of the country who were there for some Bahai work. Their area is getting a brand new temple built so it is a very exciting time for them and they shared some of their feelings. We all had tea together and when we told them where we are staying they were shocked. They asked how we ended up staying in that part of town and how had we not gotten robbed yet. Tyson and I decided that we should go back to the Pastor's house to sleep but we left our bags at the center. We walked back to town about ten kilometers in the dark. Later when we told locals this, they again said we were lucky we did not get hurt. Everyone we asked for help with directions was super helpful and generous with their time and knowledge. We found the bus that took us back to the village and though there was a lot of traffic and the bus was driving all over the place, we made it back.

The Pastor was at a prayer camp for a few days so he was not there but the volunteer girls were surprised to see us back because we had told them we would be staying at the Bahai Center. On the way back we had stopped at the store to buy some candy for the children. We handed them out and their excitement was unbelievable. Some of them had never tasted candy before. We had also upladed some cartoon movies on our laptop so we put one on for them. They gathered around and were watching with great amusement. They had never seen a computor or television before. They did not even own any toys, they had no entertainment outside of school hours. One of the neigbors we had met a couple of nights ago came over and invited us for dinner at his place. We went there and met the whole family. We spoke of our trip and the differences in our countries. We shared a beautiful dinner with them and stayed until late into the night. When we got back to the Pastor's place, we passed out quite quickly.

The next morning after breakfast we confirmed with the volunteer girl that we would definitely be leaving this time. She and her friend volunteer all their time to the children and they have no personal income of their own. She has not seen her family in years and cannot attend college because of lack of funds. We gave her a small gift to help her start saving and she was grateful.

She took us to the school that the hundred and fifty orphans they have adopted attend. These children get food, clothing, education and accomadation from the Pastor's organization. They work by donations but of course they never have enough money. They are dressed in dirty rags and the boys wear girls clothes and vice versa. Some of their clothes really do not resemble clothing. There are also many more children that need help but there is no space for them yet. The plan is to build a large orphanage, they already have the land but no cash to build. They have also bought a corn farm to help with food. If anyone would like to donate anything to this legitimate organization, please let me know.

Our visit to the school was very special. We already knew a dozen or so of the kids who live in the Pastor's house but there were many we were meeting for the first time. Their classrooms were small and cold but at least they existed. The chidlren screamed and shouted when they saw us. They could hardly contain their excitement. They had even prepared a welcome song for visitors that each of the classes sang for us, so we heard it about eight times. We took photos with the children and visited for a while.

We then stopped for a visit to Rose's place to say bye. When we came through the doors Anna actually squealed with delight. She was almost asleep but she instantly woke up and jumped into my lap. We gave her the remaining candy and she loved us even more. We stayed for a short visit and Anna cried again when we left. The rest of the neighbor children ran up to us to say bye. They grabbed our hands and told us to "welcome again". It was sweet that after only a few days it felt like we had developed quite meaningful and long term relationships with the people in that village.

We stopped at an internet cafe for an hour and paid fifty cents. We checked in back home after several days and caught up with everything else. We expertly caught a bus to town to see joseph. We met his elderly mother at the shop who had heard so much about us that she recognized us right away. He left her in charge and came shopping with us in the market. He took us to all the cheaper shops but all the clothes there had stains and holes in them So we took it up a notch and bought some gifts in a better area. The three of us walked to grab our bags from the Bahai center miles away. We hung out there with my friend for a while and then had to get going. We walked a lot through the town from bank to bank to exchange our extra Kenyan money back to US. We had taken out too much cash thinking that we would be in town much longer than four days. All the banks were closed or had awful rates so we kept our money. We also tried to buy dread wax but the tourist prices were too steep so I let it go. We bought corn on the cob, roasted peanuts, eggs, mangos and other snacks off of street vendors for the night.

It was getting late so we rushed to catch the last taxi van but it seemed that we had missed it. As luck would have it though, a big empty airport staff bus drove by us at that time. Joseph waved it down and it stopped. The driver agreed to take us to the airport in the private bus for less than the cost of the taxi van. We were unbelievably lucky. Joseph took great care of us and even came all the way to the airport to see us off. While we were in line to get into the airport the Muslim Persian carpet store owner from the Garden Village and one of the Canadian Bahais we had met at the center tapped on my shoulder. It's a crazy small world, and we were shocked that after such a small amount of time in the country we had already developed a great circle of friends and we were running into people at the airport. When we got back into line a local guy pointed at Tyson's Canadian hat and asked us if we needed to change Kenyan money. It turned out that he collected coin money in different currencies and wanted to trade us some. Since we had been desperately searching for a way to trade back our extra Kenyan Shillings, we were ecstatic that he popped up. So he counted out some Canadian coins as well as some American coins and traded us for our extra Kenyan. Then he mentioned that he also had some extra Turkish Lira in coins and he would be very grateful if we could trade him for bills. Our next stop was Turkey and the coins looked legitimate so we tried to help the guy out. We paid him Lira in bills for the same in coins. He seemed very pleased and we were happy with everything as well so we said good bye to him as well as our good friend Joseph and we went inside the airport.

During our walk earlier we had bought a lot of snacks for around 5-15 Lira for each thing. At the airport we had an extra 60 or so Lira and the only thing we could afford was a small bottle of water. Money is worth so little in the airport!

We found seats to snooze on before out flight and a guy came over to speak with Tyson. He mentioned that he had noticed us and we looked like interesting people. He wanted something to remember us by. We thought that was nice so we offered him a prayer book and the Canadian flag tag off of our bag. He was visibley disappointed and said the last people gave him the shoes he was wearing.

We checked in for our flight at 1am and boarded around 3:30am. Thankfully we had no problems with the three day visa even though technically we were in the country illigaly for two extra days. Tyson was in the window seat and I was in the middle. Next to me, in the aisle seat, was one of the larger woman on the flight. She did not speak Englsih and was trying to communicate with the flight attendants throughout the flight. She was very uncomfortable in the seat even though she took up nearly half of my seat as well.

"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"

The slums of Uganda, accidentally

As we left the unbelievable home of the orphan children in Kazo, Uganda we knew that paying for one semester of school for all of them would only cost us $36. Less than we might spend on eating out for one night. Ultimately though, they need more than cash, they need sustainable income, free or affordable education, a profession, constant and advanced medical care for their HIV and related issues, sanitary living conditions. All of these are very simple necessities of life that we may take for granted in the developed world, could help give these children hope for a succesful life. Most of these things are ones that we have never gone without. This makes us richer than almost every person in these villages full of shacks, disease, hardship and unfortunate people. When we watch these children on television, we quickly forget about them when we change the channel, or it may seem surreal. When we walk through the villages, see the sights and meet the people, there is no forgetting them ever.

We walked back to our host's place where we decided to take a vehicle to the Bahai temple. The American volunteer, our host and his friend wanted to join us but there was no fuel in the car so they walked to the petrol station to fill a jerry can and feed the car. It took about twenty tries to get the car to start and its top speed was literally 10 kilometers per hour. There were children on foot passing us but we stuck by our driver and drove an hour to the temple less than five kilometers away. We were greeted kindly by the hosts of the temple, several National Assembly members and the caretaker of the building. They said they had been expecting us the night before because I had been communicating with them via email. They had stayed up late waiting for us, I felt very guilty about this but they were happy we were ok. They even invited us to stay at the temple during our time in the country. We spent some time praying and meditating in the temple and enjoying the beautiful surrounding full of greenery and gardens. We had also been in contact with one of my cousin's friends who lives nearby, she had arranged for her sister Judith to come to the temple and meet with us. Judith was waiting patiently for us and when we finally met with her, she took us into town to meet with Lillian as she finshed work for the day. They took us around the town and to the bus station so we could see about tickets to Nairobi, Kenya. They brought us to a local mall called Garden city where we ate dinner of Turkish food and talked. We tried to take out money from and ATM but our card did not work at any of the seven banks we tried. So luckily we had Kenyan money that we could exchange at at terribly painful rate. At dinner, we spoke with our new friends about the place where we were staying and they instantly became very worried about our situation. They said this is the "slum" of the country and so before we knew it we were in the car and heading back to Kazo to get our things. They could not believe that we were staying in a place that they would never normally step foot into.

None of us really knew how to get there so our kind driver David, hired a Bodaboda driver (motorcycle taxis) to lead us to our temporary home. As we were driving Tyson yelled to stop the car and him and David disappeared into the slum and were gone for a few minutes before emerging from the darkness with all our bags. We were amazed that Tyson could find this small little shack in the middle of this village in the dark. Our friends told us they were so worried about this place that they didn't even want to drive there. When we stopped, they all locked their doors and feared the worst. Nothing happened and we made it back to their home where we were greeted by the girls' parents and tea. We also tried some home cooked Ugandan food of corn meal, intestine stew and kale. I could have done without the intestines but the rest was pretty good. They set us up in our room and we passed out shortly after.

The next day Judith took us into town so that we could figure out a better way to get to Kenya, the local mini bus taxis called matundos. When she brought us to the downtown area, she warned us to watch our bags very closely and to be prepared for large crowds. She told us about the time her and her sisters came to this area and one of the sisters fainted because of all the commotion and crowds. This is also one of the most dangerous areas in the country for theft. The taxis vans are the way the locals travel because they are the cheapest choice, although not the most comfortable or convenient. So we parked outside of the taxi park and walked into the area. The closer we got, the seedier people began to look and the wierder glances we were getting. So we quickened our steps past the street vendors to the local transportation hub. There were thousands of white mini vans everywhere, each labelled with different cities in the country. We walked over to Busia and Malaba which are the two bordering cities that lead into Kenya. We got the information we needed, exchanged some Kenyan money into Shillings and got out of the area pretty quick.

After that we went back to the house to pick up Judith's twin sisters. Their family includes ten kids including six girls and a cousin who lives with them, so as you can imagine, the house is a busy place. The twins and Judith dropped us off back at the Bahai temple and arranged to pick us up a few hours later. We prayed, read some books and socialized there which was very nice. The temple is a very beautiful place, surrounded with immaculate gardens and a stunning Bahai center. This temple is one of the oldest Bahai houses of worship but it still appears modern looking. Inside, tourists came and went but were respectful of the quiet atmosphere. Volunteers attend to the visitors and the gardens all year round to keep it in the great shape that it is.

Judith picked us up and we were (again) late coming out of the temple to meet her. We all went back to the house for a while where we napped and got dressed up for the night. Several of the sisters, their friends and Tyson and I went to a very upscale restaurant/pub and had some Cokes. The place had mainly tourists inside and was set up very nicely. After that we went to a very trendy outdoor jaz club. On stage was a band with many different musicians and two female singers who were singing popular jaz songs. The place was so packed that they had to quickly set up a makeshift table and chairs for our big group. We ate huge plates of barbequed pork and beef and chips. This was some of the best meat I have ever tasted in my life. We enjoyed the music and chatted. At one point Tyson got singled out by a male band member who insisted that he come dance on stage. Tyson was very apprehansive but he caved under pressure and went onto the stage. The guy showed him some moves and Tyson tried to copy but lacked the rythym of the booty shake of his teachers. It was very entertaining for the rest of us and there were several youtube videos posted right away. We then headed over to an outdoor club for some dancing. The construction on the place wasn't even complete but it was already packed with rap music blasting through the speakers. Although we felt a bit out of place at first, we were quickly put at ease and danced for a few hours until we were all falling asleep on the dance floor. We head home and it did not take us long to pass out.

In the morning we did some laundry by hand in buckets and hung it out to dry. We fiddled a bit on the internet and then headed out to catch a taxi into a town called Jinja. It is near the water with lovely beaches and is popular with tourists. This is where the source of the Nile is located. We caught a two hour taxi van out to the area. The drive was nice and uneventful except for the bewildered looks we keep getting for travelling like the locals in the vans instead of using private taxis like other tourists. Most tourists take private taxis and only stay in the cities but we walked the ten or so kilometers to the source of the Nile. Along the way we passed through several small villages where again people stared at us as if we were the strangest things they had ever seen. Most of the children were not scared, but rather they got very excited to see "muzungus" (means "white", they use it to describe foreigners). They would scream and carry on and run after us trying to use the very few English words they knew. As we were walking, Tyson suddenly jumped back and I looked over to see a very large grey coloured snake. I am not sure the type but we took a photo of it. We figure it was poisonous because when the children saw it they ran away.

When we neared the source, we tried to follow people to the water but we were stopped and told that there is an entrance fee. It was strange because a dozen locals had just walked through and no one had paid anything but as soon as they saw tourists they created this fee. Sure enough they even had a sign with prices on it. So we negotiated and paid a bit less than what was asked but still felt cheated about it. Once inside, a couple of kids followed us singing and dancing for tips. We did not pay them.

The source of the Nile was quite beautiful and people were offering boat rides and bungee jumping in the area. We declined both of these offers and spent the afternoon sitting around the water. There were many locals doing their laundry there or just hanging out enjoying the scenery. Before we knew it, the sun was setting and we had to get going. As it got darker we realized that we should probably get a ride so we hitchhiked with two guys in a truck who kindly drove us to the main street. By this time it was dark and there were many people trying to catch taxis back to Kampala but every single one was completely full. Sometimes there would be one or two empty spots but the experienced locals would lunge themselves into the vans and snatch it up before we could even blink. There were also brokers there who tried to work to get us into the taxis for a tip. We finally hitched again with a very nice truck driver who was transporting twenty tons of steel to Kampala. Six hours it took us to get back! The truck was going at 5-10 kilometers an hour at times, struggling up hills with its weight. The guy brought us to town and did not ask us for anything, it was very sweet of him. During the ride he was telling us stories that the school next to his place in Norther Kenya is one of the ones that Joseph Kony attacked. Joseph Kony is a terrible guy who kidnapped hundreds of thousands of chidren from schools and homes in Northern Uganda and made them kill their parents to show their loyalty to his cause. He brainwashed them and turned them into soldiers and caused chaos throughout the area. He has still not been caught.

We finally made it to town and our hosts asked us to meet them at Nando's Chicken so we walked into the restaurant and a guy told us to follow him. We declined saying we were waiting for friends and he said that our friends were in the car and that we should follow him. It was suspicious to say the least but we cautiously followed at a distance and were relieved when our friends were waiting for us in the car.

We met Lillian and the twins at an ice cream shop where we paid seven dollars for a huge multi flavored sundae. We chose several flavors and they topped it off with many toppings and syrups. It was a great dinner. After that we head back to the house where our hosts had prepared more dinner for us and we happily ate the delicious Ugandan food. It was corn starch paste with vegetables and stew. We used the computor a bit, watched TV and slept under the mosquito net. I got up to go to the washroom late at night and it was an outdoor hole in the ground (as most of them seem to be around there). Tyson got up to flash a torch for me. As soon as he turned it on hundreds of fist sized cockroaches scattered around, startled by the light. Needless to say, I held my pee.

The next morning we ate breakfast and went to Sunday morning prayers at the Bahai House of Worship. There were many Baha'is there and it was nice to meet the local community in Uganda. They were very sweet and interesting to speak with. There were many young people volunteering from other parts of the country, a few Canadians and even an Egyptian man who told us about the hardships there. They had a Bahai choir perform, that was outstanding.

Lillian, one of her friends, Tyson and I went towards town and we had to stop at a handy man's shop to get the locks cut off our bag because Tyson accidentally locked the keys in our bag. We hid in the car so the guy would not jack up the prices for foreigners. We then head to the crazy crowded central taxi station in town. We tried exchanging money to pay for the tickets but all the legitimate forex places were closed on a Sunday. So we exchanged with a seedy looking guy on the street. As we were walking through the most dangerous parts of Central Africa with all of our baggage in tow, Tyson felt someone unzip our big backpack. When we looked at the guy, he shuffled away into a corner still eyeing us. We glared at him and felt a bit vulnerable but he soon left.

We chose to take a taxi van to the Busia border to Kenya. We paid the driver 30,000 shillings ($12) and waited until the car filled up. We tried to buy a loaf of bread from a street guy who tried to short change us but the guy sitting next to us in the van yelled at him to give us our money. The bread was stale but we have low standards. We closed our windows at his advice so the locals would not snatch things through them. We were soon on our way. The ride was surprisingly comfortable and both Tyson and I slept most of the four hour trip. At the border we exited the country without incident and when we entered Kenya we chose to get transit visas. Transit visas are $20 each instead of $50 but they are only valid for three days and we would be in the country for five so we were not sure the consequences for this but decided to risk it anyway.

"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"

Parts of Africa

On our first night staying with my cousins in Swakopmund they treated us out to a delicious steak house and took pride in having us taste their famous meat. Apparently Namibia is famous for its red meats, and we can understand why. I had the garlic butter steak and Tyson and Rayyan had the 500 gram T-bone. This is the largest steak they sell at the restaurant and when I saw the steak with all the side dishes I almost doubted Tyson could finish his. I was proven very wrong within minutes when a polished bone remained on his plate and he hungrily began eyeing my 200 gram piece.

After dinner my cousin took us to the beach area so we could take a walk down the pier under the moonlight. Tyson and I took a quick stroll, it is undoubtedly a very beautiful town, also one of the priciest in Southern Africa. It is colonized by Germans, so the street signs and shops are often written in German. Many of the enormous and luxurious holiday homes are empty most of the year. The owners just keep them as a place to stay when they come to town.

That night after my baby cousin Taeed went to bed with his mommy, the rest of us sat up until late chatting away. Sunday morning we woke up and had breakfast together. Then we had a Bahai devotional meeting where we met some of the local community. We said prayers together and talked through the morning. As luck would have it, two of the friends were going quadbiking in the sand dunes that afternoon and invited us to join them. This worked out perfectly because he picked us up an hour later after we ate a delicious lunch courtesy of my cousins. There are several companies that offer sand activities in the area, but we heard the one we used is the best. Tyson and I decided to share one larger and more powerful bike because he was scared to go on his own. So with Tyson and myself on one bike and our two new friends ahead of us, we follwed our guide into one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen. We rode up into the sand dunes in one of the biggest and the absolute oldest dessert in the world. The ocean sparkled on our right hand side, and we enjoyed this unique scenery because this is the only place in the world where the dessert meets the ocean in this manner. We marvelled at this phenomenon as we rode up and over huge dunes on our bikes. One of our friends was a bit slower on the bike and wanted to try to double so Tyson and I took the single bikes and the other two shared for a while. During this time, of course, I rode on the quadbike by myself. It was exhilerating and scary when the bike seemed to have a mind of its own in the sand and would veer where ever it wanted to. I almost ran into the very rare bushes more than once, luckily, Tyson managed to catch this on video. We eventually swapped back to sharing a bike and continued on for over an hour. We stopped at a couple points to take photos and help a lady with a possible broken arm in the middle of the dessert. This activity was one of the highlights of our trip.

Afterwards our friends drove us through Long Beach where the beautiful holiday mansions sit pretty until their owners pop by. In fact, Brad and Angelina, Pitt and Jolie spent their time in this area while giving birth to their children. After this we went to Dolphin Bay which is similar to Long Beach and then we stopped at Guano Island. This is a man made island, created to collect bird droppings for harvesting nitrate for gun powder. The story behind this man who created the island is that he noticed when the tide was low, the birds would gather on the rocks and waste all their valuable droppings. So he built this permanent dry spot where the birds now gather. After spending all his money, that of the banks, and that of anyone else who listened to him, he went bankrupt without finishing. Later on he found a man from the US who invested enough to allow him to finish his project and make enough money in the first year to pay off all his debts and not worry about cash again. The Island sits untouched by man most of the year and when the birds migrate, they harvest the guana. Wish I had though of that.

After that we went to Walvis Bay where they have the most efficient port in the world. At other ports in the world, a container, once offloaded, sits in a yard for an average of two months. Here in Walvis Bay, the average is only two weeks. This is their main resource. Unfortunately that day there was a planned power outage to upgrade their systems to diesel, so most places were closed. We stopped at a lagoon, where due to the high winds, a sail boat beat the fastest speed record. There is also a peninsula that blocks off the lagoon that grows further into the ocean an average of seventeen meters per year.

After learning all these fun facts, we met with Rayyan and Lewam to visit their friends in town. The couple we visited, have a grown child and the husband had recently suffered a stroke and was working through a new parkinsons diagnosis. We had a short but sweet visit and head back to Swakopmund. Here Rayyan cooked us to a five star steak dinner with salads, corn on the cob, mashed potatos and more. That night, like the others we sat, snacked, talked and bonded before passing out late at night.

Luckily Tyson and I are unemployed so we could sleep in but poor Rayyan and Lewam got up a few hours later and put in a full days work. Tyson and I took our time to get up, shower, eat breakfast, do laundry, fiddle on the computor and finally we called Lewam for directions to their Persian Carpet shop. She was explaining but then decided that it would be easier to pick us up. So we went to their shop in the center of town. They have not had a grand opening yet and are still setting up but it looks great already. We hung out for a bit and then Lewam closed up and took us to a Crystal Museam accross the street. Inside we learned all about how valuable stones are mined, polished, cut, designed into jewlery and other decor and created. All of the precious stones displayed are ones found in Namibia. Mining is one of the largest industries in Namibia and many of the folk in Swakopmund work in the mines. The area is very rich in Uranium. We also saw the largest crystal in one piece in the world on display. It was gigantic and I have posted some pictures of us standing next to it. We walked around for an hour or so and then went for lunch at a lovely place on the beach. The weather was warm but since it is winter the water was very cold. This did not however, stop people from swimming and hanging out in the sand. At the restaurant I had a burger meal and Tyson ordered a calamari ceasar salad which Lewam treated us to. We had a great time chatting and finally thought to head back to the shop. Lewam stayed to run the place while Tyson and I went for a walk in town. We stopped by several shops including the tourist office which was very busy. The lady behind the counter was an elderly German lady who went on about nothing but was very sweet. We got some information about how to catch a ride back to Windhoek the next day. Our choices were a twelve hour train, a pricier four hour tourist bus or a four hour local mini bus.

The town is very cute and small and everyone seems to know everyone else. The shops are quaint and seem like they have been around for a long time even though they are in great shape. There are no skyscrapers or even apartment buidings which creates a nice atmosphere. We were a bit shocked that many of the stores had metal bars blocking the doors and customers have to ring a bell to gain entrance for security reasons but we never felt unsafe.

Back at the shop, Rayyan arrived with baby Taeed and we all head out to buy some groceries. After that we went to a local pizza shop where Tyson and I split a large Swakop special with salami, ham, feta cheese and mozzarella. It was quite good and we all took turns playing with Taeed who was sleepy and wanted to interact. He is the busiest and cutest eighteen month old ever and we had a great time with him.

Back at the house, the adults sat up and chatted into the night. We sipped tea and ate bisquits and tossed back jelly tots. We laughed a lot and short of passing out on the couches we all went to bed. Again, Tyson and I did not suffer since we are on holidays but my poor cousins lost a lot of sleep during our visit.

In the morning we packed up our things and ate breakfast. We did some computor work and head out with Lewam to the shop to do some printing. Then we went back to the house to load some movies onto our laptop from their hard drive. After this Lewam took us to my Aunt's ginormous holiday home. It is an empty nine bedroom, ten bathroom fully furnished home on the beach. It is set up to be a bed and breakfast, and each room has a private bathroom, most even have jaccuzis in the rooms. There is a sauna, huge dining hall, tons of balconies and decks everywhere with a private brai. From the house, you can walk right onto the beach. My cousins are trying to sort out a bed and breakfast liscence which would be perfect for that place.

While I loaded movies onto our laptop, Lewam drove us to the mini bus station. The mini busses were full of locals and they wait until the van was full to the brim before leaving. So Lewam waited with us and made sure we were well taken care of before saying see you later. It was a very short but very special visit and we enjoyed our time there thoroughly. Tyson and I boarded on different ends of the van, Tyson in the back and me near the front. The driver finally drove off stopping at a petrol station and driving around until about thirty minutes later we arrived back where we began. We were confused but decided to let it go and after two more bodies squeezed in, we were off. It was hot and not the most comfortable but it was a safe ride and after stopping at several rest stations for pees, poops and drinks we finally got dropped off at my cousin's friend's home in Windhoek. Our flight out of Namibia was not until the next morning so we had to leave the day before and spend the night in Windhoek to make it work. My cousins kindly set us up with their lovely friends and we were so lucky to stay with them. We instantly felt at home with the young couple and their two young children in their lovely house. Soon after the husband's parents came by the house for dinner and we quickly worked out that his mother and my granfather are first cousins. It is not unusual for me to find a relation with any Persian Bahai that I meet but it was still very special. I felt an even closer connection to the whole family and we had a great dinner while chatting the whole time. We hung out late into the night discussing every topic possible including how they were the second family to pioneer to Namibia ages ago to teach the Bahai faith. Tyson got a wack load of new music to obssess over and he was able to put it onto our computor which made him happy. We took pictures and finally retired for the night.

The next morning our alarm assaulted us at 4:30am. We got up at 5am and left the house at 5:30am to catch our 7am flight. Our lovely host sacrificed hours of sleep to drive us the 50 kilometers to the airport and even waited with us until we were checked in and all set to go. We were very well taken care of and it was such a pleasure to have met them. After lingering in the gift shops and blowing the last of our money on chocolate we were, of course, the last two people to enter the plane. We slept most of the flight, while obviously waking up in time for the hot breakfast they served. We arrived in Johannesburg for a four hour layover, which we spent wandering, reading, chatting and blogging. On to "real Africa" as we have been told.

We were also the last two people on our connecting four hour flight to Entebbe airport in Uganda. When we got on the airplane, the pungent smell of body odor was unmistakable. Smells are not usually something that I mention in the blog, but as we got closer to our seats, I was in pain. I am not prissy by any means, but I had to get Tyson to inquire into switching seats. Just before I passed out, we got moved out of the odorous area to new seats. They served a big lunch and put on movies during the flight so we were happy. We also watched one of the most stunning sunsets on the planet ever in history. We have it on camera to prove it.

After paying $100 USD for visas at the airport, we were greeted by an American guy calling out Tyson's name. We followed the voice and met the American volunteer and our new host for the next few days. He goes by "Lucky" and he is a local guy who offered us a place while we are in town through couchsurfing. We followed Lucky, his other local friend (our driver) and the American guy out to their vehicle. The drive to their tiny village in te boonies was more like a roller coaster ride than anything else. We all chatted in the car while rap music boomed through the speakers and we sped through the streets like we were running for our lives. As I looked out the window at the thousands of people out on the dirt streets with no electricity, just small candles, I realized we were back in the third world, and I was happy. We stared out the window at the apparent poverty, at the tiny shacks, litter, overpopulation, thoroughly crazy drivers and flooding from the rain. We stopped to bribe a cop to let us past the traffic and carried on. It took us forty minutes to drive what should have taken several hours but we arrived in one piece which is a bonus.

We arrived to a village that one may see in the movies. This is what some may visualize when thinking of "Africa". Up until this point we had been staying at beautiful luxury homes in the wealthy uptown areas. This was our first taste of the rest of the continent. We were greeted by several men and one woman who work with Lucky on his campaign to help out his community. They are all volunteers who lobby the government and help the locals in any ways that they can. This is what we are here to help with as well. After meeting the rest of the team, they all left us alone in the tiny house by ourselves. It had two rooms, one living area and one bedroom with a mosquito net. As they left they told us a secret password and told us not to open the door for anyone. Our instructions were loud and clear, they said that even if the person on the other side of the door was being killed or dying, we should let them die. We were not to open the door until they would be back at 10am with the secret password. Of course there was no toilet in the shack so we were given a small yogurt container to urinate in through the night. So yes, Tyson and I peed in a bucket in the middle of the room until morning when we could dump it out outside.

We secured the doors as best as we could, as stayed quiet for the rest of the time. Several minutes after everyone left, someone knocked on the door and called out. We held our breath and ignored them. We gathered everything that could potentially be used to protect us against bad guys and hid them around the room. We put down the mosquito net, prayed and then watched some of our new movies on the computor. I have to admit that I woke up more than once in the night thinking I heard something suspicious but I was quickly assured by a sleepy husband that everything was ok.

The next morning I was relieved that we were both still alive and intact. We both used the bucket in the living room to urinate and waited patiently for our host to show up. He did so around 10:30 am after we had eaten our breakfast of chocolate, bread, and cheese. We left all our belongings in the house, unsure if we'd ever see them again. We walked out into the village of Kazo during the day light and saw in front of us what many people may believe Africa to look like. The roads were extremely uneven, unpaved and covered in reddish dust. We saw the outdoor shared bathrooms which were the poorest we had ever seen. They were nothing more than a small space with a tiny slit dug into the ground. There were people everywhere in torn and dirty clothing. Children were running were running around in the nude or poorly dressed and they rarely had footwear on. The homes were less than shacks and in very poor condition. They looked like they could be blown over with the next gust of wind. Of course the area was also extremely dirty with litter everywhere and a strong odour of rotting food and dirt. Every single pair of eyes were on us as we walked through the village that had barely seen another white face. Some kids said hi, and how are you, some just stared, some laughed and others ran up to us in greeting. We walked to the place that our host was staying on the other side of the village. There were a few children there with several other adults that work with his foundation. Our host, along with six or so other locals have started an organization to help out their community. They assist children with food, money and medical treatment, they fight for free education for students, they look after the elderly and so on. Of course they are short of funds and other resources so this is always a challenge. The poverty in the area was in plain sight for us to gawk at. There was no hiding the under nourished children, the lack of resources, the unhygenic environment and the pain.

We went for a walk to the local market where the sellers allowed us to take some photos of them and their families. They seemed very excited to have visitors and even though some spoke broken English, they managed to smile big enough to make us feel welcome. We ate a delicious pinapple and walked accross the dirt field where everyone was hanging out. We walked through a long dirty alley covered in mud and garbage to a tiny room where three children were sitting on the concrete floor in dressed in rags. A very elderly lady greeted us kindly in her local tongue, she looked very frail and weak. Our host explained that this is one of the families that they support. This elderly lady looks after five of the local orphaned children. In her old age, she cannot do much for them so they rarely eat and when they do it is because the eldest boy (perhaps five years old) walks to the market after closing and pick up the rotton vegetables that have been thrown out. They boil and mash everything they can find, if anything, and this will be their meal for the day. None of the children go to school because they cannnot afford the school fees of 30,000 shillings ($12) per semester, per child. The children all drink water they find which has caused them illnesses. We interviewed the family on camera and took many photos. Their home could not be comfortable for one person, let alone six. They all sleep on a small single bed and the rest of the area is covered in garbage. It is extremely filthy, with no electricity or sanitary precautions. There is no electricity and no running water. All of these children, in addition to millions of others in Africa, have lost their parents to HIV AIDS which is on a rampage killing the people of the continent.

"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"

Namibia

After our bacon and banana pizzas (it was delicious), we tried walnut whips for dessert. They are imported from the United Kindom and they are a thick, hollow chocolate triangles filled with cream and topped with a walnut. We watched movies in the family room all together that evening.

The next morning we gathered our things together and prepared to leave for Cape Town. Crawford came around to say bye and Joyce had made us a lovely package of food to take on the train. It was full of sandwhiches, candy, chips and drinks. It was a life saver because we could not leave the train to buy food during our thirty hour trip. We stopped by the bus stand to pay for our tickets from Cape Town to Namibia via Intercape bus company, said our good byes, and then got on the train. It was an older train painted purple and baby blue from the 80's. When we got on the economy class car, it was all plastic seats with thin cushioning. We chose two seats at random and it turned out to be on a car that was full of dozens of toddlers. Each woman had a baby and a couple of toddlers in tow. The males on our car were already stumbling and slurring but didn't seem to see the harm in another beer. Of course the car behind us was selling cheap beer and other alcoholic beverages so there was no problem of access. We watched as two men got into an argument but were too drunk to fight. They swung fists in the air but could not quite reach one another. The kids started off cute and clean but it was not long before they were running around crying, screaming, fighting and covered in sticky substances. The car had garbage and pieces of food all over the floor in no time. There were cleaners who swept regularly but it was a futile effort to keep the place clean. There was also a large amount of secuirty guards and police officers patrolling up and down the aisles but they just high fived the drunk, flirted with the ladies and played with the kids. This went on all day, through the night and the next day. We found it amusing at first, then annoying, then we got used to it and it did not bother us too much (except the screeching kids).

The scenery was mostly desert but once in a while we would pass beautiful mountains and huge townships covered in one room homes built up with scraps of aluminum and sheet metal and covered with ripped tarps. On the edge of the villiages we saw piles of garbage and stray animals looking for food.

In the evening, the train stopped for half an hour and then continued to stop once in a while for several minutes at a time. Tyson moved over to his own seats so we each had some extra space to sleep that night. We had sent our blankets home with my mom in Oman so we used towels to keep warm but it was quite cold through the night. Other people had full, thick winter blankets and pillows with them. At around 7:30am the staff told us that we were six hours delayed and we would be getting to Cape Town around 9:30pm. Around 2pm, however, they told us that that we were getting put on busses for the last part of the trip. We were very surprised and impressed on their organization. Hundreds of people were moved off the train and put on very nice busses that got us back to Cape Town by 5:30pm which was only two hours late. The bus was great, the driver had Bob Marley on full blast the entire time. Bob has definitely popped his head up at some point in every country and his music will always remind us of our trip.

Something we did notice about the train was that (without exception) Tyson and I were the only non-black people on the car and when we walked past the first class cabins, every human was white. Although we were already aware that poverty is more rampant among the black people, this was a clear example of the effects of the history of the country still greatly contributing to the life of the people.

When we got to the bus station in Cape Town, we stopped at the Intercape desk because during the train ride we realized that we had never gotten our change back from buying the tickets in Johannesburg. We did not expect to get the money returned but we thought to try. To our surprise the kind lady at the desk made a complaint and the next day we got an email that the till was over by exactly the amount of money we had lost so they repaid us the cash. It was very professional service. After settling this business, we contacted Michelle who is Tyson's uncle's wife's sister. She has two children, one sixteen year old son and an eleven year old daughter. We misunderstood the meeting spot and waited in the wrong spot for a while before borrowing a phone and calling again. We finally met up and she took us to her gorgeous home in Seapoint. The location is perfect because it is minutes to the city but also near the beach in a quiet area.

As anyone who has been to Cape Town or has been the pictures can attest, this is one of the most beautiful cities on the planet. It is breathtaking no matter which way you look. From the moment we arrived and looked up to all the mountains in the blue sky and then turned our heads to the beaches and the ocean we were in love with the place. The city is very clean, the homes are modern and lovely and the people are kind.

We saw the family and met the family dog, Ponsar, that night. We ate dinner of chicken curry with rice, squash and corn followed by angel food cake for dessert before happily falling asleep on the comfy bed. The next morning we, of course, woke up later than planned. We met the maid, Rea who has worked with the family for 17 years. We walked down the street and along Beach road while enjoying the perfect weather. We were very lucky with the weather during our three days in the city, it is coming into winter here and so it is meant to be rainy. Beach road is, of course, along the water, it is kept very clean and there is grass and flowers all the way along. People seem very active here because we saw many folk out with dogs, running and biking along. The homes in this area are huge and luxurious. They are on a hill with a view of the ocean, many seem to have at least one pool and some even had inclinators from the garage up to their homes. We walked all the way to the waterfront which is much like the one we have in Vancouver. They have a huge ferris wheel and carousel in the center, many specialty shops selling crafts and souveniers and an indoor mall. They have many attractions in the area such as monuments, a huge lego art piece and a clocktower. They offer many harbor cruises and the area was full of tourists. Cape Town is one of the top ten most visited cities in the world and in our brief time there we can understand why.

Also in the waterfront, there is the gateway to Robben Island. The boat we wanted to take was full but we managed to get tickets for the next departure. The price of the tickets were steep but that did not stop tourists from selling out every single boat everyday. We paid 230 Rand each ($30 CAD) which included the tour and museam. We met an Irish couple who had missed their boat and had to pay a penalty to catch the next one. They were quite upset but still talked to us for a little while about their travels. We spent about two hours in the exhibition that they had prepared about the history of Cape Town. When the Dutch came to South Africa there was a lot of fighting over power with the black people and rascism played a big part in the trajedy of the area. Apartheid, as I understand, was the white people taking power and seperating the people into designated areas according to their background. So the Muslims, Jews, Christians, Blacks, Coloureds and Whites were assigned an area to live in and had to move out of the homes they knew and loved. Also the black people's rights were taken away, things such as education were no longer permitted. There were seperate benches, entrances and areas for white people that black people were not permitted to use. This, of course, caused resistance and many innocent people died. People involved in politics and who spoke against the government were arrested and imprisoned on Robben Island. The white political prisoners however, were not kept on the island, but rather in a prison on the mainland. Former president, Nelson Mandela, spent 18 of his 27 years in prison, on the island.

Throughout the last 400 years, Robben Island has also been used to contain people suffering from leperosy. They believed this disease was contagious, so people were locked up here. Men were seperated from women but somehow they managed to find each other because forty one childern were born on the island. These children however were taken from their mothers and never seen again. The island also housed mentally ill people at some point in its history.

We took a ferry for thirty minutes to the island where we caught a bus with a tour guide to take us around. All the guides and staff working on Robben island are former prisoners. We were very fortunate that we happened to get the same guide who usually guides VIPs who visit the island. He has hosted people like Barack Obama, Oprah and Hilary Clinton to name a few. He was very funny and incorporated everyone and their home countries in his explanation of how we all play a part in the history of the island. We were taken to the grave site of the lepers, we saw the limestone quarry where the prisoners were made to work all day, we saw the cannons (bought for the war), we were shown the churches and mosques used for the guards, lastly we were shown around the prison by another former prisoner. He showed us the cells including the one that was once occupied by Nelson Mandella. We also took some lovely photos by the water with a view of Cape Town.

After the ferry ride back to the waterfront we saw some seals resting and laying in the sun. We walked along the canals to the city. This was when (within minutes) a fog rolled in and we could no longer see anything. The day was perfectly clear and then suddenly the mist and fog prevented us from seeing fifteen feet in front of us. The weather here is famous for changing radically and without warning. We witnessed this several times throughout the next few days. We walked back to the house and had tuna lasagnea with vegetables for dinner and more cake for dessert.

The next morning, after breakfast, Michelle rushed home from work during a break to drive us to the bottom of table mountain. This, along with Robben Island, are arguably the most famous activities in Cape Town. We had researched quite a bit into climbing the mountain and found that the information center, the tourist office, our host and several websites advise people against climbing the mountain without a guide. The mountain is 1086 meters high and very steep, so we climbed it. We were greeted at the bottom by a white rastaman who asked for a tip and we were on our way. We saw many other people climbing the mountain and while it was not the easiest hike we have ever done, it definitely was not the most difficult. It took about an hour and a half at a relaxed pace but the sign at the bottom says it should take at least three hours. There were steep areas but Tyson and I are both completely confused as to why people would carry on the way thry do about it. If you are in good health and feel comfortable hiking, it is doable and SO WORTH IT. The view on the way up is absolutely priceless and the people who take the cable car actually miss a lot. We have hundreds of photos but they do not do justice to the panoramic wonder that we saw. There were times along the way that we could not help but to sit and stare at the views of the mountains on either side and the cape below.

At the top of Table Mountain there is a restaurant and a few stores. We did some hiking on top as well. We did two 45 minute hikes, two fifteen minute ones and one 30 minute one which included climbing to the highest point of the mountain. We saw some wildlife, had a snack and climbed back down. This was more challenging than climbing up because of the steep drops and our already fatigued legs. We then walked all the way along the beaches back to the house. We saw the sunset on the way which was divine. It is difficult to explain the beauty of the sunset along the beaches through the trees reflecting on the mountains, and even the photos do not justify it, but it is a work of God that we are so lucky to have seen. Back at the house,we ate a delcious local type of food for dinner. It was fried rice with minced beef covered in an egg and cream sauce. We also had milk pie for dessert.

I have to admit that we were limping around the night before and in the morning after the hike (Tyson was plenty worse than me). However we still decided that we did not want to miss Lion's Head hike. When we woke up in the morning the clouds were in and it would not have been safe to go ahead due to decreased visibility, so we went back to sleep. Around 9:30am we got up and decided that it had cleared up enough to go ahead. Michelle, again, left work on a break to drop us at the bottom of the hike. It cleared up wonderfully and we climbed the shorter but very steep mountain. This hike involved climbing ladders, chains, steps, handlebars and other tools. It was a very fun and challenging hike that I would compare to the Chief hike in Squamish back home. The views here were slightly different than those from Table mountian although equally beautiful and breathtaking. We took many breaks and sat at the top for several hours talking and enjoying the view. It was a wonderful time. We climbed back down and head into the city on foot. We walked through the clean, friendly and attractive downtown Cape Town. We walked through greensquare market where African souveniers and crafts are sold. We stopped at the bank and the train station beforing wandering around a bit. We were approached by a handful of beggars including one young girl with a baby and her grandmother and a few young men. There is still a lot of poverty here, that seems to be consistent everywhere we go.

We jumped on a public bus to get to Hout bay which was the only place we went that was far enough for us to take transit. The cost for one person, one way on the bus was 18 Rand ($2.50 CAD) which is very expensive compared to the income here. The cost of living is as high, if not higher, than Vancouver. Second to Sydney (where the bus cost $6 one way) , Cape Town has been the most expensive city we have been to. Hout Bay was a thirty minute drive away and had a decent beach with a harbour that smelled like fish. We walked around the area for a while and indulged in the famous fish and chips at Fish on the Rocks which were also quite expensive but worth it because they were the best we have ever had. They served the meal in newspaper and supplied vinigar, salt, tomato sauce and chili sauce. We managed to catch the last bus of the night back to Seapoint. We stopped at Checkers grocery store to stock up on food for the thirty hour trip to Nambia the next day. Back at the house we ate dinner of rice, squash and teriyaki chicken before packing up our things and passing out.

The next morning our legs were quite pissed at us as evidenced by our inability to walk without looking like invalids. So we limped and cried and carried on. We said goodbye and got dropped off at the bus station in the morning where we caught our bus (that did not look like the advertised pictures). This was quite a different trip than the train because it was a tourist filled bus. It was quiet with only one child who muttered to himself the whole time. The televisions only played Christian music and movies but luckily they broke twenty minutes into the journey and they were shut off. There were regular stops to purchase food or drinks. The view on the way was mountains and desert until we reached the border of Namibia around 8:00pm.

At around 7:30pm we stopped at the border and everyone got off the bus to go through the paper work. Customs officers did random checks of the baggage and we got back on the bus to drive into Nambia. This was a fairly smooth yet tedious and time consuming process. We are running out of pages in our passports with several countries still to come. This is a bit concerning so we had to try to convince the officers to stamp over previous stamps. The guy I had agreed, but the lady Tyson had did not. An hour and a half later we were on our way again.

In the morning the driver woke us up but as I have a major problem, I was not woken by the announcement and stayed sleeping for forty minutes on an empty bus. Finally the cleaner woke us up. Luckily our next bus from Windhoek to Swakupmond was not until 9:00am so we had not missed our connection. We hung out at the Intercape office for the remainder of the wait and worked on our hygiene a bit.

My cousin picked us up at the Swakopmund bus station and  we went to see their lovely house and and family. He lives with his wife and their one and a half year old son who is the cutest child. We all went out to the beach to walk around. We saw a large craft market and walked along the pier. There were many tourists around and the local population is largely of black, white and German descent. The ocean was very cold but people were still swimming and enjoying the ocean. We also went to the sand dunes which are alongside the ocean, this is the only place in the world where one can see such a miracle. There were huge mountains of sand about fou rstories high, this is the oldest desert in the world. We climbed up the dunes and then ran down at full speed. It was great fun. We also saw people sandboarding and sledding down the mountain. We will look into this activity in the next few days. After picking up some groceries, we had a delicious meal at Spur's of huge steaks and side dishes. We came home for tea and desserts and more chit chat before having a lovely sleep.


"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"

Kruger National Park

Today we had to start our day off with some administrative things that we have been putting off including getting in touch with the bus company and the airlines. It's not interesting so I'll skip the details. Basically we had been spending the last few days researching the tickets and we finally decided on our dates and made the big purchases. Transportation in Africa, even the budget type, is quite expensive and is adding up. This plus the cost of visas for most countries is a bit crippling. We went to one of the more posh malls in Stanton which also has Nelson Mandella Square right in the middle of it. Its a large open area with fountains, restaurants and a giant statue of Nelson Mandella. He is a hero to the people of South Africa and well loved by them. His role in the abolishment of racial segregation was key for his success. He was a freedom fighter who stood up against the appartheid the Africans had set up. We spent the rest of the evening with our hosts eating dinner and watching movies. This is a nice relaxing way to end each day and learn more about each other.

The next morning Crawford (our host's son) took us out once again. It was very nice of him to take the time to do so on his day off and we had a great time. We drove over an hour out of town to a place called Maropeng, The Cradle of Humanity. This is the place where human skulls were found that are the oldest ever found on earth. They date back over two million years. This was a time when the earth was one continent called Pandora, it was only later in the years that the earth's land has come to be the way it is now. This is where the human race first started as believed by most scientists and experts around the world. It is a Unesco World Heritage site. There is a huge interactive museum and gallery giving all sorts of information on human evolvution, evolution of the earth and the history of the African people. The surrounding area is all protected land and all over the continent there are other sites like this where ancient human skeletons have been found but the ones found here are the oldest. There was a boat ride and tour involved and we spent several hours there.

After the museum we went to grab some famous chicken pies from a nearby restaurant. On the way, we got pulled over by some cops who wanted to search the vehicle. Apparently sometimes the cops need a little extra cash and they will pull someone over and try to find anything they can to try and get a bribe. This is true in many of the countries we have visited where the police offices do not make much money and they try to supplement their income. It surely happens in Canada as well, but it is more discreet there. Upon finding nothing, they waved us on our way. We thoroughly enjoyed the chicken pies and swung by Crawford's friends house for a quick visit. We were greeted by two of the cutest dogs ever. One was a bulldog and the other was a type of bull mastif. We talked with his friends and played with the dogs for a short time then headed home.

Before supper our hosts had to deliver their birds to their daughter's home who would be looking after them while we were away. We tagged along and had a nice visit before returning home for dinner. Then next morning we were off early (5:30am) to Kruger National Park so we packed our things and went to bed.

The drive to the park was around six hours with a couple of stops for fuel and breakfast. We had breakfast at a very cute restaurant where Tyson had an American style meal full of meats and I had spinach and feta pancakes. Our first day in the park was wonderful, our expectations were blown away. In a park bigger than Scotland, Wales and Israel, we were expecting the animals to be hiding in the non developed areas. Before we even entered the official park , however, we saw crocodiles and hippos near a small pond. Once we entered we were told the rules of sharing the animals with everyone in the vehicle. Everyone must stare out their window on their side of the car, if you spot something you must yell STOP. This is the only word that the driver will stop for. I learned this the hard way when I yelled "ZEBRA" and no one got to see it because we continued on. With our eyes glued on the terrain we spotted loads of animals. Impalas are very common and after seeing fifty or so of them we stopped stopping and just saw them in passing. We saw many African elephants in families with babies crossing the street, playing and eating.We saw rhinos hiding in the bushes, zebras near the roads a few times, many warthogs eating grass, many wildebeasts in groups, a few kudu, and many different types of birds including the famous hornbill (as seen on the Lion King). All of this was just on our first day on our way to the first camp called Skakuza which is the biggest campsite.

It is nothing like seeing animals at a zoo, we are watching wild animals in their own habitat, living in harmony and completing the circle of life. They only kill what they need to eat, they stay on their own land, create offspring and try to survive. It is amazing to look out of the window and see these creatures out in the open and not constricted to small cages. Embarasingly enough, most of my knowledge about the animals came from the Lion King. For example, I recognized the hornbill because of "Zazu", I knew that hyenas eat meat because they chased Simba when they were hungry, I knew of warthogs because of Pumba (and I was saddened that I couldn't find Timone anywhere) and so on.

We settled in to our gigantic two bedroom accomadation which was actually a chalet that sleeps six and went for a walk around the area. The four of us sat by the river and ate a variety of flavors of frozen yogurt with our binoculars out just in case. We saw more elephants, geese, fish, bats, birds and baboons near to our chalet. There were two wild bores feeding in the grass just outside our place. Tyson and I got close enough to get a picture with them and quickly left them alone when they glared at us. The rest of the evening was spent relaxing, snacking, reading books and chatting. We had a huge braii of steaks, sweet corn, potatoes, sausages and coleslaw. After dinner we walked around and spotted a few exotic looking bugs and geckos and watched the stars through an Iphone application that identifies the constellations and satellites. You just point the phone at the sky and it connects the stars and labels them. We even saw Mars and Saturn.

All in all the first day was an amazing experience. We are so lucky to have our hosts with us who have been to the park twice a year for dozens of years and have the experience of how to work the visit best. Without them, we could not have made the trip here because it is far from Johannesburg and you have to drive through the park. We are again so very grateful for so much that they have done for us!!

On the second day we set the alarm for 6:30 am and planned to wake up early to catch all the animals at the lake. At 8:00am we heard our host's voice waking us up. We now realize we truly have a problem with mornings and we need help. We had a huge fried breakfast with eggs, tomatos, sausages, bacon and coffee, we went for a walk around the property and head out in the car for day two. We drove over one hundred kilometers stoppng for lunch at an accomadation half way to where we were staying for the night called Olifants. We ate chicken pies and chips and gravy while watching monkeys fighting and playing in the trees. As far as game today we were fortunate. We saw dozens and dozens of elephants throughout the day. Most were in families of ten or more and they were much larger and darker skinned than the ones we saw yesterday. I was videotaping one when it started towards the car which freaked me out slightly. We saw a black rhinoscerous and a white rhinoscerous which is very rare and endangered in Africa. Of course we saw hundreds of impala eating and running in herds. We saw many giraffes today which was new for us. They are amazing creatures that reach their heads high above the trees and stare at the car as we stop to take a look and snap some photos. We saw many warthogs, buffalo, hippos in the water swimming, water bucks, a variety of birds, a snake, herring, ostriches, wildabeasts, mongoose, mere cats, hornbills, ground hornbills, fish eagle, saddle bill stork, glossy starling, black widows, baboons, vultures, cape vultures, bats, sacred ibis, oxpecker, vervet monkeys, lizards, geckos, huge cockroaches, squirrels, kudus, buffalos and zebras. We have photos to prove all of this if anyone doubts us.

We got to our private bungalow with a gorgeous lake view around four pm. We settled and went to the viewpoint to see more impalas and hippos near the water. We relaxed for a bit in our own place before joining Alesdair and Joyce in their suite two doors down. They cooked a delicious braii with chicken, sausages, sweet corn, potatos and green salad which we enjoyed greatly with non alcoholic wine. We even roasted marshmellows afterwards. It was a great evening all together and we despite our record, Tyson and I still set the alarm for the next morning at 6:30am.

Of course the alarm did nothing to wake us up. In fact Alisdair came by our place and woke us up around 7:30am when we got up to see some hippos out of our deck for a few minutes and then we fell back asleep. We got woken up again at 8:30 am when we finally got out of bed. We had cereal and fruit and braii for breakfast before walking to the viewpoint in the camp. On our third day we made the drive to Lower Sabie accomadations about 150 kilometers away. On the drive we started seeing the same animals that we had been seeing for the last two days but in different situations. We saw the animals bathing, eating, fighting, running and so on. We saw them closer up than previous times. We also saw many more types of beautiful birds. Our third accomadation was beautiful in the southern part of the park. It had a large pool and since the weather was floating around 40 degrees, we went for a swim right away. We saw many rare birds flying around the trees above us and it was quite a peaceful time. Later that evening we went to the lookout and saw some hippos and crocodiles with a torch. We missed the "sundowners" by the lake because we both passed out for two hours. This is an African term that is used to describe drinks around the time of sunset.

In the morning we had a big fried breakfast with eggs, potatos, tomatos, bacon and coffee. Then we packed up and hit the road with a brief stopover at the viewpoint. We watched hard for lions, leaopards and cheetahs which are very commonly seen in the park but alas we only saw a rock shaped like a lion, but we were happy. We saw all the other animals we were looking forward to seeing and this was an unforgettable trip. We stopped for lunch on the way home and had chicken wraps. We napped, sang and read all the way back to Northcliff where Alisdair and Joyce live. Then we attacked the computor to catch up on the few days worth of emails from when we were away. That night we pigged out on pizza and enjoyed our last sleep in Johannesburg. It's been wonderful!!!

"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"

Jo hannes blog

In the last few days we have continued our non-backpacking part of the trip that has been on going since we left India. We are sleeping in the comfiest bed ever, taking hot showers, driving in a car and eating large amounts of tasty food regularly. We have had large braiis (barbeque) with all the fixings almost every night followed with desserts. I am not sure if we even remember how to be backpackers which may cause some trouble in the next few months. We have been sleeping in and touring the city during the days. While Johannesburg has its problems, as does any other city in the world, most of it has been everything except for the crap they show on television. There are definitely the poor slummy areas that seem to be mainly populated by black people. They seem to live in the lower class areas in tents and shacks and there is not a white person in sight. It is quite strange and I cannot explain it. That being said, we see a mix of people living in the upper class neighborhoods but we cannot deny that (based on what we have seen and heard) that a large majority of the wealthier people are white skinned. The stereotypes of the people living here are mind boggling in this day and age. The different cultures seem to steer clear of each other and live comfortably in this manner. It is a strange concept for me to grasp as I pride Vancouver on its unity in diversity.

The "Africa" that is portrayed on the news and in movies is not the reality of South Africa. I understand that other countries in Africa may vary of course, but the difference in rich and poor is vast and clear. If you are looking for the third world Africa then you may want to visit another country. We have enjoyed going to the crummier looking areas of town where the people are overly friendly and upbeat. People are singing and dancing with big smiles on their faces at all times. It's difficult to be in a sour mood.

We walked through the botannical gardens on a Saturday where we saw six weddings taking place. The gardens were lovely and full of people enjoying the great weather. South Africa is in autumn now and this is the first autumn we have seen in two years. The temperature was cold the first few days we arrived here but now has risen to the high twenties and we are quite comfortable in only one jumper.

We went to a local market where people were selling crafts and African souveniers. The sellers are quite forward and we found it difficult to walk away without buying anything. This is similar to the selling style in Bali, Indonesia. Having travelled for a while now, we are becoming more comfortable saying no. We went to an organic Africans shopping center with a huge windmill in the front. Here everything was exactly how one would find in Holland and the Africans language also sounds quite a bit like Dutch to us (but what do we know).

One night we went out with the younger son of our hosts and he took us to many of the sight seeing areas of the city. We went to see the water tower that people hang out at and we walked around the ecological park for a while. This is where him and his friends used to roll boulders down the mountain into the fences of unsuspecting neighbors. We went to a fancy area called Montecasino. This is a covered area full of many restaurants, shops, casinos, theaters, clubs, children's parks, arcades and more. It is a huge place and the ceiling is painted like a sunny day so no matter what time it is, it feels like day. We also went out to a couple of pubs and hung out for a while. It was exactly like one we would expect to see in Vancouver except there were big black bouncers at the doors (so it's the same?). Other than that the music was the same, the people were dressed the same, the drinks were the same and the pukers at the end of the night similarly annoying and classy. We walked by a guy sniffing glue and another guy pepper spraying a group of partiers. A semi tralier drove by with loud music and people dancing inside. Apparently the call this a party bus. We had a great time and set off the motion detector alarms when we got back home which caused quite the cafuffle. That night there was a huge lightening and thunder storm but of course Tyson and and I slept through it.

We have gone shopping some of the days and the prices seem very close to what we would see in Vancouver although they have much different electronics available. We also went to see a graffiti contest because our friend has been painting for a very long time. I have posted some pictures of the work and it was unbelievable. Much of the artists have been published in magazines. We were very impressed. Graffiti seems to be very common here, it exists everywhere and they do not seem to be in a hurry to cover it up around the city of Johannesburg. We drove by some graveyards where hundreds of fresh graves had been dug out. As you may know the Aids epidemic is still huge and rampant here. People are dying everyday and about one in three people here are infected. From home it sounds like so much is being done for aids in Africa but it is obviously not enough. The education level surrounding the fatal disease is so low. People believe that things like hot showers and vegetables can prevent aids and that condoms are not necessary. One guy gave a lesson about how a condom works and he used a broom handle for the example. Next thing he heard was people were putting condoms on brooms during sex to prevent diseases. As in other countries we have visited, South Africa needs education and this seems to be the big issue here.

"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"