One trip ends, another begins

After our shark cage diving adventure, we drove to Swellendam (northeast of Gansbaai where we did the diving) to the location of Up the Creek, easily the COOLEST music festival I’ve ever been to!! Everyone camps on site so the festival has a great community feel. But the best part of Up the Creek is that during the day, the bands perform on a stage ON THE CREEK, and everyone just chills out on floaty devices in the sun!! It’s a gigantic pool party with awesome music – I couldn’t think of a better festival!

Luckily none of us got sunburned due to regular sunscreen application parties. By the time the sun went down and the bands began to play on the upper stage (featuring awesome musicians like Jeremy Loops and bands like Desmond and the Tutus and December Walks), I was exhausted but so pumped that I continued enjoying the fun.

A near-drowning dog sought shelter on my floaty for about an hour!

On Sunday, we said goodbye to the floaty madness of Up the Creek and drove to Outshoorn, our final destination of the trip. We explored the vast and challenging Cango Caves, followed by a foiled attempt to go ostrich riding (Chida desperately wanted to go but it was too rainy!). Then we piled into the car for the long final stretch to St Francis – we got in at 9pm that night completely wiped.

I could get used to being a cave spelunker ... 

We had less than 12 hours to enjoy a break at our apartment, though – the next morning we were up early to drive to Port Elizabeth to drop off our car rental, where we immediately picked up another one. Our holiday was swiftly followed by a business trip! We drove to the SST head office in Grahamstown, where we spent a day making preparations for the week ahead. We were on an assignment to Hamburg, the little coastal town I mentioned in a blog a while back. We drove there on Tuesday and over the course of the week we met with community members to discuss the development of posters, booklets, and other educational materials that would improve the sustainability of Hamburg’s fisheries and agriculture.

We had an extremely rewarding week – I finally spent time with kids, running educational programs and visiting the local high school. There was even time to just goof around and make friends with these awesome little tots!

One of the most amazing moments of the week was on Sunday, when we were invited to a traditional Xhosa ox slaughter. The feast honoured the deceased head of household, one year after his death. When we arrived, we were taken into a small hut to be greeted; Alex and Blair were seated on a couch, Chida and I on the floor. Speaking only in isiXhosa, we were warmly welcomed to the feast and into their clan - we were the only white people in attendance, and the family was very grateful for the work we were doing in the Hamburg community.

Enathi, myself, Sirkka, Chida, and Nozeti

As women, we were required to wear long skirts and spent the afternoon completely separate from the men – cooking different food, and receiving the least desirable parts of the ox. I had my first taste of traditional home-brewed South African beer, which tasted like watery smokey milk. I spent the afternoon enthralled with everything I saw, and playing with kids whose language I couldn’t understand – but that didn’t get in the way of fun!

I was so sad when our weekend in Hamburg drew to a close and we had to head back to St Francis. I learned so much about South African culture, communication, and time during that week. It was easily one of the most memorable parts of my trip!