Saturday, June 13, 2009

The week so nice I blogged it twice!


With the browser I'm using on my phone I can only type so much at one time so here's the rest! Don't worry, not too much longer...

The people here are generally very friendly! The weather is good, I'm feeling strong so I'm looking forward to the road ahead! My shoes aren't though, I've worn the heels down to the midsole! Hopefully Kakamas has a shoes store... Can't say for sure when I'll be able to blog as signal is dodge out here and without my solar panel, even when there is signal my battery on this phone doesn't last long out of towns. Fortunately for sms and call sake I have a basic phone that is bomb-proof! Also, I have a Vodacom sim card for when there's no MTN signal, will be interesting to see which network has the best coverage, so far Vodacom's winning... But there's still a long way to go. A very long way!

So much to say, so few characters...

One might be inclined to think that I haven't blogged for a while because I've been sulking about my guitar, but one would be wrong. My spirit in fact has been high lately! My cellphone signal and battery though have been otherwise. But now in Pofadder I find spirit, signal and battery in agreement so here is an update.

The road from Garies to Springbok was anything but flat. Fortunately it had been that way for sometime though so my muscles had adapted and walking wasn't too bad. One of the things I miss now about that mountainous terrain is the sections where a hill had been cut away for the road leaving two parallel bands of vertical rock. The harmonics in these little gullies were amazing and were a big help in passing the time during rests learning to throat sing. Throat singing is when you isolate the harmonics in your voice to produce more than one tone at the same time. It helps to have a practice area with good acoustics, and thanks to those spots I'm getting pretty good. I can now construct basic melodies from the overtones. I was hoping to be able to integrate this technique into some songs but it sounds pretty strange so we'll see. When I was researching the technique I discovered that there are some western musicians who have collaborated with throat singers (aka overtone singers) or learned the technique themselves and used it in folk-type music. It would be interesting to hear what they came up with. Glued my guitar today so by tomorrow evening it should have set rock solid and be ready for some serious experimentation!

The day before I got to Springbok, I was given a free bed at Namakwa Game Lodge! I had a great time playing songs and chatting about the area with the owner and the groundskeeper! A hot shower, a comfortable bed and 25km later I found myself in Springbok. It was alot bigger and busier than I expected and in trying to negotiate the traffic and pavements I buckled the right wheel severely. It didn't spring back humorously like it had done before, this was a proper buckle! I couldn't fuss too much because I was right in the middle of the road so I dragged poor Olive to next pavement. Stepping off the last one had rendered her in a condition unsuitable for any more pavement hopping so I had to drag her in the road, dodging taxis and catatonic locals on my way to Springbok Lodge where I joined two journalists who I had met a few hours before on the road. Erns and Simone are a writer and photographer busy working on an article on the Northern Cape for Weg magazine. A writer and a photographer!!! Like minded people!!! It was very cool chatting to them when they interviewed me just before Springbok and when I arrived, in shock after emerging from desolation, in the metropolis of Springbok they somehow provided a sense of familiarity. They, like Johan from Garies, had told me to come to the lodge to speak to Oom Jopie, king of namakwaland tourism, about the history of the area. I'm very glad I did because he also offered me a free bed! His timing was especially good as the lid for my container on my cart had given way, emptying all my possession onto the street, while inverted in my efforts to fix my wheel. So from the lowest of the low things suddenly weren't so bad! Then the guy who helped me carry my stuff broke my guitar.

Fortunately, thanks to Oom Jopie, I had a place to stay where I rested well, ate well, and bought a puzzle book which has now got me hooked on sudoku! I managed to fix the wheel enough to continue, though at one point the steel exceeded its elastic limit leaving the rim deformed. Hopefully in Kakamas I'll find somewhere to buy a new wheel.

After a rest day, the road held some pleasant suprises... There were no more hills! And there was an emergency lane to walk in! And the tar doesn't trap my trekking poles yanking my arms backwards like the N7 did! The N14 rocks!! Then the wind started. I can handle the rain, the heat, the cold, but the wind will take some getting used to. Other than the wind though, the six days (including a rest day) between Springbok and Pofadder were really enjoyable! I settled into a good rhythm on the flat ground. The clouds on the first few days caught the sun in a manner that had the continuous carpet of grass glowing in silvers and golds from horizon to horizon. The plant and bird life here are spectacular! An endless variety of succulents under the giant nests of communal weavers! Everywhere you go there are these beetles that look like tok-tokkies but are covered in spikes and I can't help but picture them in a Gary Larson world: The rebels of the insect world, covered in piercings, spray-painting misspelt graffiti while making rude comments at passing lady-bugs.

Now I find myself in Pofadder at a motel-style self catering place. Not too much in Pofadder. At all. I did have a very interesting chat though to oom Gertjie Niemöller who makes some amazing ornaments out of the local rock. My Afrikaans isn't great unfortunately so I missed alot of what he said but the manner in which he said it was very cool. There he sat, 81 years old, robed, at his command post in the middle of 60 years worth of boxes, photographs, stones, catalogues of his highly skilled work, all which he had one of his employees charging around and fetching at his command with the coordination of a military strike which, when the smoke of the battle and his "most terrible tobacco" had cleared, found me far wiser and three stone pendants richer.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Somebody broke my guitar

Somebody snapped the neck of my guitar today. I don't much feel like talking about what exactly happened because I'm pretty bleak about it. So all I'm gonna say for now is that somebody broke my guitar. I'm gonna let myself feel sorry for myself tonight but in the morning I'll see if I can find someone who can help me fix it. If I can't then I'm not allowed to let it bother me and I'm gonna write an update on the week so far in a good mood without mentioning the guitar. But right now I'm pretty bummed because I can't play guitar. Because somebody broke it. Fool.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Cows


Cows aren't the smartest of animals. I know this because during high school I had a part time job as a horse-back trail guide where, when there were no guests, one of my duties was to help herd the small herd of cattle between pastures and the kraal. After endless dismounting from my horse to chase stray cows from thorny thickets and generally keep them alive and going where they were supposed to be despite their best efforts to get lost and die, I concluded that cows are dumb. The reason I am mentioning this is that I have noticed a startling similarity between the looks that I get from most people on the road, and the looks that you get from a herd of cattle as you walk past: That blank stare with jaw ajar and slightly to one side, caught off guard during its routine of cud chewing by your unexpected appearance. Knowing what I know about cattle, this leads me to wonder about the general population of the country... But I digress.

Jeremy and I joked about me losing my mind when I started walking through what we affectionately called "the nothing", and I came pretty darn close! "The nothing" refers to the desolate semi-desert that I find myself in at the moment, the Hardeveld and the Namakwaland, but I must say it is actually very beautiful out here! The mountains are hard on the legs but easy on the eyes. Scattered here and there are tiny clusters of yellow, pink, and white flowers, I can only imagine how pretty it is here when the daisies bloom! It took a few days to see the beauty here though, and walking out from Strandfontein without having had a proper rest took me for a physical and psychological 6 runs! But I trudged on through uphills and headwinds, driven by anticipation for what the brochure had described as the cultural oasis of the Hardeveld: Bitterfontein. The brochure lied.

Bitterfontein is the end of the line, literally. It started when a trucking company won a legal battle, halting the construction of a railway line to Springbok. Nevertheless I found my oasis in the Dawn Ridge Guest House, where I was given a bed in trade for some computer help by John (a retired parabat, amongst other things) and Dawn (a retired nurse). Staying with them was more like visiting eccentric relatives than staying at a guest house which made Bitterfontein a great experience! This despite the nature of the rest of the locals. Bitterfontein, my hosts explained got its name not from the taste of the water but from the nature of the people. I had to laugh at the honest humour.

After two days' rest to make up for the lack of rest the previous week, I walked another 2 days to Garies to conclude a 154km week. Yesterday I walked to a picnic spot where I had a great rest day! Writing, playing guitar and drinking coffee made with the local water(which tastes pretty bad on its own but makes a great coffee strangely enough). A few hundred metres down the road I met Johan and Magrieta Leeuwner who cooked me supper and gave me a bed, so today I return to my usual routine feeling strong as an ox! And smarter than a cow...