After about an hour taxi ride Stefanie and I arrived at Amapondo – the backpacker spot where we would be staying. It was a little outside of the main town of Port St. John, in a slightly quieter area called second beach. It had a totally chilled out vibe – beautiful view to the ocean, cows strolling on the beach, and monkeys running around.

This was my first time staying at a full fledged backpacker type of place, and I was really liking it! Come to find out as I went to other backpacker spots later in my trip, this one was one of the best. It was pretty basic, not very good wifi, and not the newest of anything (sheets, beds etc), but for the equivalent of $15 US a night you could get a bed in a dorm, it was safe, clean, there were hot water showers and it was in an awesome location almost right on the beach. It’s a really informal, friendly type of atmosphere, a wide age-range of people, almost all wanting to meet and trade stories, and there were lots of common areas and a fireplace to lounge around. You could just hang out and do your own thing, or arrange a day trip with reception. There was a communal kitchen if you wanted to bring your own food and cook, or you could order breakfast, dinner and drinks at their restaurant for under $20 US a day! After living off the grid for a week and a half, it felt pretty luxurious to me. Particularly after a nice hot shower!!

That night was a full moon – and like any proper backpacker spot with a bar they were hosting a full moon party. From what I have heard about full moon parties, this one was pretty mild. Lots of people drinking, drumming, face painting, hoola hooping, and some wigs and wacky sunglasses came out. Just a night of good clean, slightly drunken fun. I spent the night sampling the South African drinks (some I bought on my own, and some I was given whether I wanted or not) – Hansa beer, Savanna Dry cider, Hunter’s Dry cider, some kind of shot, and Gluehwein (mulled wine – it’s German but somehow it got thrown in the mix)

The next morning we woke up, took stock of what kind of shape we were in after the mix of alcohol the night before, and after a little food and coffee decided we weren’t feeling bad at all! We ended up joining a group for a guided walk to a waterfall. The walk lasted a couple of hours and took us through the rain forest to the waterfall with 3 stops for “swings” along the way. I’m not a big fan of heights, but Stefanie went first, and was so nonchalant about it she got me to try them all. Unfortunately I only got pics of two of them….

The view on the way back.

That night was pretty uneventful, and then the next day we decided to take a walk to Third Beach. After some back and forth, the ladies at the backpacker decided it would be best for someone to go on the walk with us. I’m not really sure if they were worried about safety, or about us getting lost. In general I’m a little confused about what is and isn’t safe here. Everyone has different things to say about it, and pretty much the only thing they all agree on is not to walk anywhere after dark. There is a pretty big divide between the people who have money and the people who don’t. And in the Transkei even the budget backpackers are rich compared to most of the locals, and they’re easy to spot.

After recruiting an escort we headed off for our walk through the rainforest along the beach. Our guide was a pretty rad rasta named Bongs. He chatted us up with stories about the area as we went. We walked along the beach for a while, then walked out on the rocks in the water looking for – I don’t know what? Met these guys who were out fishing for crawfish. They sell them to people, or the restaurants around.

On our walk back we came across this – a poisonous water snake! It was dead thank god. Between the cold, the sharks and the snakes these waters were becoming less and less welcoming. Beautiful, but not welcoming. That’s Bongs by the way.

That night we hung out and visited with people at the bar. We talked with a couple of guys from Johannesburg who were working on some road construction in the area. From what I gathered they did something related to demolition, and in my experienced opinion were two prime examples of South African men – friendly, down to earth, earnest, rugged, “brus” (South Africanism – bro or dude). After a bit they broke off into a separate conversation which looked pretty serious. My ears perked up, mildly curious about what subject could possibly tear these two straight men away from conversation with two reasonably attractive women. Turns out they were debating the vocal stylings of Mariah Carey vs. Freddie Mercury. Very butch. Ouch – I need to start putting a little more effort into my appearance again.

We had a good laugh and spent the rest of a great night telling jokes, chatting and drinking. We were leaving to another backpacker spot in the morning, but had such a great time with those two we made plans to go on a hike with them the next day. After a little confusion in the morning we got a late start, so instead of a hike they gave us a ride to the place we were staying (The Kraal). Stefanie chose this place, and the owner was a friend of Louis’ I met when he came for an afternoon visit to Gwexintaba. All I really knew about his place was that it was a sustainable set
up, and was right on the beach. After driving for an hour we parked and took it all in as we got out of the truck. It was set in between two hills, with a view straight into the ocean and horses roaming the hills. Peaceful and calming. You could even see whales just off the coast.

We dropped our bags off, got a quick tour, and then went for a walk down to the water. We explored, climbed around the rocks, the boys chased crabs. I felt like a curious kid with new friends. We stopped to take a couple of pictures, and just as I was taking my turn behind the camera a huge wave came up and drenched the other three! It was cold and overcast, but everyone was giddy – because of the place? The people? I don’t know, but we were having a good time. Then already drenched, one of the boys jumped into the ocean and the other two followed suit.

On the way back to the Kraal a couple of kids came up and were selling crawfish. The guys bought some and we brought them back to cook on the fire. We sat around the fire until dark, ate, shared a couple of beers and talked. Finally the guys said goodbye, and we went to bed. As an adult it’s not often that you meet a group the you can play with like that, have the time to spend, or find a place that feels like it’s out of a dream. I was genuinely sad it had to end.

The next morning Stefanie and I watched the whales and dolphins as we had our coffee and breakfast. We went for a couple of walks, talked a lot, relaxed a lot. I’ve been lucky with my travel up until now in that I’ve had some great friends meet up along the way to share the trip and experiences. In South Africa I’ve been lucky to meet great new friends, and one really good one that I got to spend a little more time with in Stefanie. We had spent about two weeks together by this point, and with no TV, smartphones or news we – got to spend a lot of time talking. Where we came from, where we are going, what’s for dinner. It will be impossible to look back on my time in South Africa and not think of her. In a way she introduced me to the country, and helped me to feel comfortable here. In the morning I would leave for the next half of my trip down the coast, and have to say goodbye. I didn’t really want to leave, but knew it wasn’t right to stay either.