Showing posts with label garden route. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garden route. Show all posts

Today I woke up all and left to Cape Town. Instead of going on N2 the guy from the hostel told me to take R62 and I'm so glad I did!!! ...

On my way to Cape Town

Today I woke up all and left to Cape Town. Instead of going on N2 the guy from the hostel told me to take R62 and I'm so glad I did!!!


The view is AMAZING!!!!!! The route is completely breath taking!!! I'm driving in between mountains and can see snow covered hills! Just amazing!!!!





After a short time on the road I realized that I have been listening to the same playlist for TWO YEARS!!! (Franco de vita, Kany Garcia, & Oreja de VanGogh) so I found myself playing on repeat "my wish" by rascal flats. That song reminds me of the boys so much (i put it in the video i made for them before they left to Hawaii- my favorite part for them: "And while you're out there getting where you're fretting to I hope you know somebody loves you!") and maybe around replay #127 I started sobbing while driving! It reminded me of how hard it was to say goodbye to them with a straight face without just breaking down in tears.

The more I listened to the song and the more I cried the more I realized that the song was also speaking to me. During the past three weeks I have seen so much and have experienced so many things that I can't help but wonder what I should do with my life. I think the song in a way made me cry because I don't have anything to go back "home" to and has made me questioned if staying in the US is really what my heart is telling me to do... A big part of me has been saying "fuck it! Travel the world, go places, live the life you want to live!!!" And a small part of me, the rational Andrea I believe, keeps saying "you have worked so hard, stay, get your license and then travel... AND how about having your own family? Isn't that what you are supposed to be doing?!?" but then the other side of me says "you will be too old then, just do it now!!! AND you are too young to settle down, do you really want a family?!?!" Anyway, so much to think about it and no idea what I really want!

This song is just perfect for what I'm going through, specially "if you're faced with the choice and you have to choose I hope you choose the one that means the most to you" I really hope that the universe sends my way whatever is best for me and whatever would help me helps other and be of service to the people who need it the most!

I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow
And each road leads you where you want to go
And if you're faced with the choice and you have to choose
I hope you choose the one that means the most to you
And if one door opens to another door closed
I hope you keep on walkin' til you find the window
If it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile
But more than anything, more than anything
My wish for you
Is that this life becomes all that you want it to
Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small
You never need to carry more than you can hold
And while you're out there gettin' where you're gettin' to
I hope you know somebody loves you
And wants the same things too
Yeah, this is my wish
I hope you never look back but you never forget
All the ones who love you and the place you left
I hope you always forgive and you never regret
And you help somebody every chance you get
Oh, you'd find God's grace in every mistake
And always give more than you take
But more than anything, yeah more than anything
Of course I had to stop and compose myself... I did so at "Ronnie's sex shop!" Jajaja I know it sounds funny but it actually started as a joke! Ronnie wanted to have a fruit and veg shop and painted the "ronnies shop" sign and one night his friends wrote the word "sex" next to it and that's how it became "Ronnie's sex shop!!" And now it is a bar!

And here I am with Ronnie himself :-)

After my breakfast stop I had more than 200km to go. I changed the song to "unwritten" on replay for the next 3 hours (OCD much?!?!) and was singing and dancing my whole way to capetown!!!

Mid way I stopped for tea at a really cute tea shop and the owner asked me where I was from and made me put a pin in El Salvador since I was her first customer ever from there! This reminds me that I do need to get that world map that I've always wanted and pin the countries I've been to... Next on my list when I get back :-)

The drive was more than amazing!!! I actually enjoyed going really fast, passing cars and the thrill of passing a truck with another coming my way! Fun fun fun! I tried not to pass the speed limit since I already got a speeding ticket yesterday. The closer I got to Cape Town the more excited I was to get together with Leslie!

At around 2:30pm I finally arrived in Cape Town and before dinner Leslie and I caught up on our adventures! Then it was dinner time and we went and spent a lovely evening at the waterfront with great company... And super yummy food :-)






I spent the whole night asking the higher power to please please please give me a good day with not too much rain! Forecast was looking rea...

Knysna!!!

I spent the whole night asking the higher power to please please please give me a good day with not too much rain! Forecast was looking really bad and I hate hate hate driving in the rain!

I woke up at 6am and it was pouring! I was so sad because I thought my elephant back ride would be cancelled but right at 7am it stopped!! Yeay! I did my elephant back ride and I swear, the moment I got off it started raining!!! How much of a coincidence is that?!?

Then I went to the restaurant go get wifi and I changed my plans for the day! I cancelled my accommodation and booked a new one in oudthorn to go see the caves a day earlier.

Once I got out of the restaurant... It stopped raining! 

I headed to knysna with no plan and had no idea what I could do there so I just followed the signs and ended by the water and only saw closed shops and restaurants (it was 10am!) I asked a guy from a restaurant to help me figure out what to do and he was SO helpful! He got his phone out and showed me exactly where I needed to go!... Such an angel :-)

First stop... The waterfront!




Then I went to knysna head... It was amazing!!!




Then it was lunch time and I HAD to have oysters!! Yummm... With the perfect view!!!


After lunch I had to drive 2hours to the cango caves!
During my whole drive it did not rain hard, maybe some mist here and there but not even close to what was predicted for the day.

Driving to Oudtshoorn has been one of the scariest things I've done in this trip... Forget bungee jumping or microlight! I was terrified the whole time! Super windy and wet road, I was so scared of loosing control and brought flashbacks of my bad car accident... Rainy day, windy road, I lost control... I wanted to cry and turn around! But I couldn't... There was no turning back!!!!! :-(

It took a lot of power not to fall apart during the drive! I had English music on and I had to put Spanish songs to relax and enjoy the ride! I was so tense and I bet my heart skipped a couple of beats!!

After 2.5 hours and hyperventilation I finally arrived to the cango caves!!!

The caves were impressive to say the least. Inside I couldn't believe what nature is capable of. Picture don't do it justice! You have to come and see for yourself :-)




On my drive back I was more relaxed and drove downhill at 45km/h on an 80km/h zone... Nobody was behind me and it felt safer and I felt in control! The road was wet and once I reached the hostel it started raining horribly!!! Call me crazy but I really think the rain God is on my side!!!

Now wish me luck on my way down from Oudtshoorn in the windy, wet road!!!!!

Tomorrow I'm off to Cape Town!!!!!!!! And meet with Leslie!!! Yeay!!! I'm so so excited!!! ... I could do a happy dance just about now :-)








For tonight I decided to splurge and stay at an elephant park with a great cause. I booked the accommodation months ago so I was super exc...

Knysna Elephant Park

For tonight I decided to splurge and stay at an elephant park with a great cause. I booked the accommodation months ago so I was super excited to spend the night there and get to interact with elephants!

The knysna elephant park was created in order to help those elephants struggling in the knysna Forrest, all of them are rescued orphans or attacked elephants. All the elephants at the park are unable to live in the wild and if they weren't at the park they wouldn't be alive! Everybody working at the park has a passion for animals and they make sure they are well taken care of. All elephants are trained to be around humans and can be touched and fed!

Of course I had to ask them how they train the elephants is a humane way... The answer: POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT!!! Jajaja just like "training" a kid!!!


I got to the park at 3:45 and by 4 I was already "playing" with the animals... We went for a walk and then put them in their "cage" at night.  They are on their cage from 5pm to 7am everyday and their behavior during the night is monitored by volunteers. Watching the volunteers work and gather data was fascinating! They sleep in cages because they are hard to control at night and could easily walk past the fence! 

Here are some of my favorite pictures:






One of my very favorites, just because I look totally ridiculous... I even got a double-triple chin! Jajaja I was wearing flip flops and the elephant touched my feet with his trunk.. Which was very spiky and ticklish!!!




Elephants eat 18 hours a day so from 5pm until 9pm (when they turn off the light) they are being fed good branches and leaves.

The hotel has an amazing lounge overlooking the elephant cages. For hours I got to write and look at the "ellies." It was fascinating to see them eat! At 9pm they turned off the regular lights and for about 5 mins it was dark and then a red light came off. It was amazing to see the animals lay down and go to sleep :-) 
I loved it!



The next day I was up bright and early to see the elephants get out of their cages and take my morning ride on an elephant!

Riding was super scary! I held tightly to the guy!! And it was amazing... Not holding the guy, but the ride!!!! Many times I said to myself "oh my god! Oh my god" and squinted... It had been raining all night and the guy kept saying "it's very slippery, we need to becareful the elephant doesn't slide down"... Way to keep me calm dude!!!


There we go














My first stop on the garden route was of course the bungee jumping and was kind of bumped that the storm river bridge that I've been...

Tsitsikamma: stormsriver mouth & Plett

My first stop on the garden route was of course the bungee jumping and was kind of bumped that the storm river bridge that I've been wanting to go to was like 40 mins away going back. 

I somehow really wanted to go to the suspension bridge, maybe because it reminded me of the days where I used to go to the zoo in El Salvador and we had to cross a suspension bridge if we wanted to see the monkeys! (That suspension bridge at the zoo was very bad, maybe I needed a suspension bridge corrective experience!)

Anyway, I asked at the bungee place where the suspension bridge was exactly and oh surprise! It was only 15 mins away! Yeay! 

The Egyptian guy asked me why I would go back and I said "I would rather go back now than go home and wished I had gone to the suspension bridge!!" So I headed there!!!

The hike up to the bridges was super easy and fun. Since the morning I've been in a great mood and for the day I had the goal of smiling and saying hi to everybody that I saw! It was so much fun! I waved and smiled at people working on the road, greeted and said "have a good day" at the gas station, the supermarket, at the bungee place and to every single person that provided me some kind of service. On the hike I smiled and said "hello" to every single person and it was really funny to see their reaction! I think we are so used to just walk by people and many of us have forgotten the impact that a simple smile and a hello has in others. It was a very cool experience, I felt happy and found myself skipping through the trail, jumping up the stairs and feeling energized.

I LOVED the reaction of the road workers!!!! They all had this very bored face while holding a flag and I guess the sight of a "white" girl waving and smiling like crazy was funny enough that they had to smile back and wave! It was so cool to see the transformation of their face! I loved it!!!

I spent about an hour or so hiking the trail and then when I was ready to leave I passed by the water, looked at it and I just had to put my feet in (I know a friend who would be disappointed if I didn't!) water was very cold but refreshing!

Next stop... Plettenberg bay


Before going to my accommodation I stopped by Plettenberg bay where I had a really nice lunch and a wonderful conversation with a couple from Cape Town who were on vacation in the garden route.
Everybody is very impressed about the fact that I'm traveling by myself. The guy I was talking to he said "you are not scared! You are very brave" and that got me thinking about the fact that I am not scared! It also got me thinking that if I were not brave I would not be here... Or anywhere! I wouldn't go places! Ever since I was a little girl I have been very independent and fearless, I even remember moms from my school telling my friends "if Andrea goes, you can go" jajaja I just remember the phrase "Quien dijo miedo?!?!" (Who said scare?) ... My mom always says that when I do something.

So last night I was talking to my mom and I said "go check out my Instagram!!!!!!" And she said "pictures are beautiful" and I said "MOM! You don't get it! I went bungee jumping!" And she replied "I got it! But I also know what I got" meaning that I'm a little crazy! Jajajajaja I love my mom!








So last night at the hostel one of the guys shared with me that he went bungee jumping and he said "you HAVE to do it! You HAVE to...

You say "bungee" I say "jump"... Bungee... JUMP... Bungee... JUMP!!!!!!

So last night at the hostel one of the guys shared with me that he went bungee jumping and he said "you HAVE to do it! You HAVE to" and then the conversation went something like this:
Me: "No way, never"
Dennis: "yes! You have to"
Me: "No"
Dennis: "YES!"
Me: "NO"
Dennis: "Trust me, best experience ever!"
Me: "Nope, not for me!"
Dennis: "you have to, believe me it's amazing" blah blah blah

So he kind of convinced me and guess what?!?! Got out of Port Elizabeth at 7am and at 10am I was bungee jumping in Tsitsikamma national park!!! Since I was going all out with the bungee I made sure it was from the highest bungee bridge in the world!!!! Woohoo!!!

I had such a great time driving all by myself... I put my Spanish music on and sung the whole way until I reached my first destination!


I was scared, of course, but I kept saying "nobody has ever died! Nobody has ever died!" All the guys were super nice so once I got to the platform I was talking to everybody and making myself at home. Of course I had to explain where El Salvador was and blah blah blah.
Ahead of me was one guy from Egypt and I got to see him jump so I wasn't that scared. To be honest I did not pay much attention, I was busy trying to get a funny picture before I jumped and trying to convince the guys to take a picture with my camera but I got them to do it pretty easily with a smile and small talk.

The jump..
I had to walk to the edge of the bridge and have the top of my toes hanging from the bridge and then throw myself out by jumping far away and always looking in front on me (if you look down you tilt your body the wrong way!) I tried not to think about it because if I did I would have probably backed down! So they went 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... JUMP!!!! I just threw myself out and it was... Nice?!?!? Jajaja umm it was of course heart stopping! I did not scream, I did not move... I froze... I did think it was cool but after that the only thought in my head was "what were you thinking?!?!" It wasn't a bad experience but it was scary! The jump was fun the scary part was the end... I was hanging upside down for good 45 seconds which felt like an eternity... The thought of "what if my feet slip and I go down?!" And I then I started thinking "what if I'm the first one that goes down?!?" And even though i could hear the guy coming down i started to freak out and out of nowhere I just screamed "Is anybody going to get me?" And of course i had the thought of "maybe I'm too heavy and they won't be able to pull me back up" jajaja so many irrational thoughts going at once! When the man came down I felt like hugging him and I asked "what do I do?" And he said "nothing, just relax" but of course I tried to hold on to him! Jajajaja




Here I come


I took the boys down with me!! Jajaja


Once up I was so glad it was over... I'm all up for trying everything at least once but I know that this experience was a one time only kind of deal!!!!
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