Well, my foot is no good for hard walking after the cut. So tomorrow I catch a taxi to Kei Mouth for a holiday with friends! After some rest and recouperation I'll catch a taxi back here to Coffee Bay and carry on South...
Holiday!!!
Friday, December 11, 2009
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Coffee Bay: a Sunny Disposition to go with Sunny Weather!
There is alot of blue stuff and this bright thing in the sky... At first I was quite freaked out but then I remembered something about it being described as "good weather" in the days before the rain (It's been very wet lately!). It even had me waking up with a smile this morning!
I worked through what I think I need to work through in my head and have been feeling alot better lately! The Transkei really is a beautiful place! Also, since Piet Retief, I have met some fantastic people! I am now in a much better frame of mind to write about them now after my previous rant, and I look forward to writing a proper update. Unfortunately, I lost my phone capable of accessing the Internet to water damage so I am on a rented line at a backpackers now just to say that I am in good spirits! I am staying with my great great aunt's (my grandmother's aunt) friend here. I might have to stay here a bit longer as I cut my foot quite badly on a river crossing while doing some shopping this morning, I think it should heal pretty quickly though.
My next major stop will be Kei Mouth, where I am going to take a break till the new year to let my feet recover and just relax and let this new, more positive headspace kick in. A long-time good friend of mine, Tyron, is heading down there with his girlfriend, step-mom and his dad , Roger (Roger drew me up a fantastic map of the Trankskei which I would have been totally lost without! I really underestimated the terrain!), and I'll be staying with them for a while which I'm really looking forward to! I always tell people it's just walking when they tell me what I'm doing is impressive, but I think it's a little harder than I let myself think it is. Realising that I am now able to deal a bit better with obstacles. It's quite tough to gauge one's performance when alone, I think if someone else was having a bad day with me it would be alot easier to deal with, but it is perhaps a good thing as I am learning alot about myself, the human body, mind, and population in general. I enjoy the physicallity of this trip but lately the experience has taken priority so I am slowing down a bit and enjoying speaking with locals and enjoying the scenery. The only thing I was worried about with taking my time was getting back in time to train properly for the Rhodes Trail Run, but I spoke to Darrel, one of the organisers (and whose son, Andrew, is a good friend of mine and lent me his permanent number to run next year) the other day and he put my worries at ease. Both Darrel and Andrew are very talented athletes and I respect their opinion alot.
So, I hope to update properly soon but if I don't, know that I am in good spirits, in good company and hopefully under good weather!
I worked through what I think I need to work through in my head and have been feeling alot better lately! The Transkei really is a beautiful place! Also, since Piet Retief, I have met some fantastic people! I am now in a much better frame of mind to write about them now after my previous rant, and I look forward to writing a proper update. Unfortunately, I lost my phone capable of accessing the Internet to water damage so I am on a rented line at a backpackers now just to say that I am in good spirits! I am staying with my great great aunt's (my grandmother's aunt) friend here. I might have to stay here a bit longer as I cut my foot quite badly on a river crossing while doing some shopping this morning, I think it should heal pretty quickly though.
My next major stop will be Kei Mouth, where I am going to take a break till the new year to let my feet recover and just relax and let this new, more positive headspace kick in. A long-time good friend of mine, Tyron, is heading down there with his girlfriend, step-mom and his dad , Roger (Roger drew me up a fantastic map of the Trankskei which I would have been totally lost without! I really underestimated the terrain!), and I'll be staying with them for a while which I'm really looking forward to! I always tell people it's just walking when they tell me what I'm doing is impressive, but I think it's a little harder than I let myself think it is. Realising that I am now able to deal a bit better with obstacles. It's quite tough to gauge one's performance when alone, I think if someone else was having a bad day with me it would be alot easier to deal with, but it is perhaps a good thing as I am learning alot about myself, the human body, mind, and population in general. I enjoy the physicallity of this trip but lately the experience has taken priority so I am slowing down a bit and enjoying speaking with locals and enjoying the scenery. The only thing I was worried about with taking my time was getting back in time to train properly for the Rhodes Trail Run, but I spoke to Darrel, one of the organisers (and whose son, Andrew, is a good friend of mine and lent me his permanent number to run next year) the other day and he put my worries at ease. Both Darrel and Andrew are very talented athletes and I respect their opinion alot.
So, I hope to update properly soon but if I don't, know that I am in good spirits, in good company and hopefully under good weather!
Friday, December 4, 2009
Port st. Johns
Right now I am escaping bad weather in a backpackers' lodge in Port st. Johns, I have covered about 4200km at this point.
This is just a quick entry, I am on the Internet line at the lodge which is very reasonably priced, but I'm trying to keep spending down.
Just south of St. Lucia, two guys came at me with a knife and a machete. There is little doubt in my mind that if I didn't have my pepper spray with me... Well. In the end they made off with my money, phone, iPod, and headlamp. Naturally I lost all my numbers, so please forgive my lack of phone contact.
The incident didn't trouble me at first but slowly I began to see the same attitude that led those two towards their incompassionate actions in most people that I meet. I have trouble discerning between people to try to kill or harm with machetes and people who try to kill or harm in courtrooms in suits and university degrees. People who cause unspeakable cruelty to animals through their purchases of certain products. I find it very hard to feel compassion for many people nowadays because their are very, very few compassionate people on this planet. At least, one might say as a climber, we have the hills to retreat to, but I just read about a terrible incident on Wellington's Dome (a spectacular and popular climbing area in Limpopo Province) that has, along with accounts of incidences in the Magaliesberg, the Drakensberg, and my incident in the St. Lucia Wetlands, all but destroyed the comfort I find in the South African wilderness. I find it intolerable that people complain about corruption after fueling it by bribing cops. I find it intolerable when people complain about animal cruelty while eating a KFC chicken burger. In truth, I find most people intolerable at the moment, yet when there are no people around, I cannot help but feel as vulnerable as I was in the St. Lucia Wetlands where I had to walk about 25 km before I found someone who could help me.
I used to get very bad eczema on my fingers and feet that prohibited me from climbing, playing guitar, walking barefoot, and when it got really bad even walking with shoes was painful. It was narrowed down to a wheat allergy and as soon as I stopped eating wheat I was able to climb properly! Lately though, without any consumption of wheat, the eczema on my feet has flared up to a degree that any worse will seriously hinder my walking. Though I was reluctant to make the conclusion, I think it has been brought on by stress. People tell me that I should stop judging my actions and the actions of others so harshly, but is precisely that attitude of, "just take it easy man!" that has led society to many of its shortcomings. And so, I lose health in concern.
That being said, I am still enjoying the walk. I will right a proper update sometime soon but right now I think I'm too angry to right properly and find it very hard to express myself, particularly hard to not offend people close to me as they are often guilty of the detached incompassion I find so unacceptable lately. I smile when I talk to people but I find myself annoyed at myself afterwards for not screaming at them that their bourgeois reactionary lifestyles are the root of many of the world's solvable problems. Mostly, though, I am having a good time, it the bad that plagues my mind though. I find myself tossing and turning trying to figure out how to instigate some sort of change.
But, setting that aside for now...
There is less than a month to go for the Supertramp Application deadline this year, and their are no applicants!!! If you are an MCSA Member and between the ages of 18 and 25, check out the MCSA sight for details.
This is just a quick entry, I am on the Internet line at the lodge which is very reasonably priced, but I'm trying to keep spending down.
Just south of St. Lucia, two guys came at me with a knife and a machete. There is little doubt in my mind that if I didn't have my pepper spray with me... Well. In the end they made off with my money, phone, iPod, and headlamp. Naturally I lost all my numbers, so please forgive my lack of phone contact.
The incident didn't trouble me at first but slowly I began to see the same attitude that led those two towards their incompassionate actions in most people that I meet. I have trouble discerning between people to try to kill or harm with machetes and people who try to kill or harm in courtrooms in suits and university degrees. People who cause unspeakable cruelty to animals through their purchases of certain products. I find it very hard to feel compassion for many people nowadays because their are very, very few compassionate people on this planet. At least, one might say as a climber, we have the hills to retreat to, but I just read about a terrible incident on Wellington's Dome (a spectacular and popular climbing area in Limpopo Province) that has, along with accounts of incidences in the Magaliesberg, the Drakensberg, and my incident in the St. Lucia Wetlands, all but destroyed the comfort I find in the South African wilderness. I find it intolerable that people complain about corruption after fueling it by bribing cops. I find it intolerable when people complain about animal cruelty while eating a KFC chicken burger. In truth, I find most people intolerable at the moment, yet when there are no people around, I cannot help but feel as vulnerable as I was in the St. Lucia Wetlands where I had to walk about 25 km before I found someone who could help me.
I used to get very bad eczema on my fingers and feet that prohibited me from climbing, playing guitar, walking barefoot, and when it got really bad even walking with shoes was painful. It was narrowed down to a wheat allergy and as soon as I stopped eating wheat I was able to climb properly! Lately though, without any consumption of wheat, the eczema on my feet has flared up to a degree that any worse will seriously hinder my walking. Though I was reluctant to make the conclusion, I think it has been brought on by stress. People tell me that I should stop judging my actions and the actions of others so harshly, but is precisely that attitude of, "just take it easy man!" that has led society to many of its shortcomings. And so, I lose health in concern.
That being said, I am still enjoying the walk. I will right a proper update sometime soon but right now I think I'm too angry to right properly and find it very hard to express myself, particularly hard to not offend people close to me as they are often guilty of the detached incompassion I find so unacceptable lately. I smile when I talk to people but I find myself annoyed at myself afterwards for not screaming at them that their bourgeois reactionary lifestyles are the root of many of the world's solvable problems. Mostly, though, I am having a good time, it the bad that plagues my mind though. I find myself tossing and turning trying to figure out how to instigate some sort of change.
But, setting that aside for now...
There is less than a month to go for the Supertramp Application deadline this year, and their are no applicants!!! If you are an MCSA Member and between the ages of 18 and 25, check out the MCSA sight for details.
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