Blue Sky Mining

So as I mentioned, there was some slight drama and confusion over attending the cow slaughtering and party this weekend, so I ended up going with a crew of people to Blue Sky Mining Backpackers in Amanzimtoti, which turned out to be one of the most amazing decisions that I have made in a long time!

We drove down on Friday after school and pulled up to this beautifully painted front gate. We were then ushered inside, shown our rooms, and given a tour of the property. There were two pools, a little porch/patio thing, and the rooms were incredible. I roomed with Stef for the weekend in a cute little room (we called it the honey moon sweet) with its own bathroom, a spacious shower, and a wonderful queen bed with two towels folded at the foot with plumeria flowers tucked inside. They have a mini restaurant type of thing in the hostel, so we all ordered dinner. I got a ham and cheese, which as delicious! And they delivered everything to us at these picnic benches outside, complete with a placemat and condiment rack! After dinner I hung out for a little while, took advantage of the basically free internet to upload some pictures to facebook, etc., and then listened to some music in my room with Stef before heading to bed. 

Warner Beach all to ourselves!

Saturday we woke up around 7:30, we had pre-ordered breakfast to be ready for us at 8, so we sat by the pool and did some reading, had a breakfast of two eggs on toast and a muffin (by the way the muffins are delicious. I think I’ve eaten at least 6 over the course of the past two days), and then went on an adventure to the beach! We found these cool rocks which looked like they used to be the foundation of a light house or something, and played on them for a while. It was cold and kind of rainy out so we didn’t really go swimming – the waves were also very rough there. Unfortunately, one of the waves unexpectedly crashed over the wall as Rachel was trying to get down off the rocks and she slipped and cut her self up, so we decided it was probably a good time to head back towards the hostel. We ended up stopping at Sparr, a supermarket down the street, and we got some PB&J (well actually our jelly ended up being diabetic strawberry jam since that was all they seemed to have…), some yoghurt, some candy bars (essential), and some apples! We then walked back to the hostel, up a ginormous hill, and made lunch. The rest of the day was pretty lazy. It was rainy so we cooped ourselves up in the hostel, read for a few hours, and took advantage of the unlimited internet use (even if it was extremely slow as we all tried to skype and upload pictures). That pretty much summed up the rest of my Saturday – eating, relaxing, socializing, smores, ya know.  Unfortunately I didn’t get to start the hunger games, but I did get some other quality reading and homeworking done! Oh! I almost forgot, I also took the most amazing two hour nap. It was heavenly. That is only the second nap I have taken since coming to Africa, and it was much needed.

I love the ocean, and I love my camera.

Sunday morning we woke up at 6:15! I know, crazy, but it was for a good cause. After a nice bowl of corn flakes, we got picked up by Gary and driven to his stables! He runs a like trail ride sort of gig out of his stables and it was only R250 for a two hour ride! We got to the stables, got some bomb riding hats, and saddled up! My horses name was Tequila and she/he was very well behaved. Jess somehow managed to get the trouble maker, and her Becky and I were the ones with pretty much zero experience. Silpa and Stef actually ride, so they had a little easier time, but Gary & co did such a great job! Definitely the best horseback riding experience I have ever had. They took the time to actually teach us how to ride, and not just the basic this is how you turn, this is how you stop. They taught us how you’re supposed to move up and down in rhythm with the trot, and what a proper stance was and how to hold the reins etc., but the best part was that they taught me how to canter! The first time Gary held onto my leash the whole time and I rode right beside him. It was seriously one of the most exhilarating experiences I have ever had. There aren’t many things in the world that come close to the feeling of galloping on a horse. The next time I went with Shirley, the other girl who was riding with us, and she let me run free, all by myself! It was all at once terrifying and liberating, to feel the horse working beneath you, to feel the wind through your hair, its almost indescribable!!!! Stef told me that I had the biggest smile on my face – pure joy! It was so much fun. I got to gallop along the beach!

One of the two pools at the hostel and the ocean view!

But anyways, afterwards we came back to the hostel, had some more food, and then headed to the beach! It was extremely windy (and I mean EXTREMELY windy) so we ended up setting up camp on the wet sand because it didn’t blow up and pelt us continuously. The water was so incredibly warm and felt amazing. The waves were massive and intense, as they seem to always be here in Africa, but we had fun in them anyways. I did end up getting a lot of water up my nose and turned over a few times… one of which I saw Becky fly over me…But it was a lot of fun as always. After playing in the waves we went back to our towels and I read my book (I was so close to finishing Hemmingway! Which would mean I could start the Hunger Games!). All of the sudden, out of nowhere, we were all submerged under water. All of our stuff got soaked, our towels were soaked and sandy, and our books were soggy. We all instantly screamed and jumped up surprisingly quickly and rescued all of our stuff as we were cracking up. We then tried to dry out our phones and cameras (good thing I didn’t bring my good Nikon!) and ran into the water with our sandy towels. We decided that that was a sign that we should probably leave, so we headed back to the hostel with our soggy bags and clothes and towels. 

Becky in her riding get up and the view as we descended to the beach.

Back at the hostel we had another extremely relaxing rest of our day. I spend the afternoon in the sun by the pool and finished my book! Finally! I did some homework – We have a lot due in the next week. Boo. My assignment due Tuesday is already 42 pages. Oops! Its an outline of all of our big papers and projects – we call it a consolidated field journal because it is based off of our journal entries and experiences we have had so far. Anyways, we also have a Zulu oral exam on Wednesday, and a creative assignment due next Monday… still not so sure what the heck I’m doing for that one.. I’ll keep you posted. But uhmmm, other than that, that pretty much summed up my day. I started the hunger games and even just the first chapter was addicting (meaning I obviously didn’t stop there…)

The crew on the beach!

This morning we were picked up at 6:45 to head back to school. So depressing. We had Zulu for two hours this morning as usual… well actually Bev showed up late, so it was probably more like an hour and fifteen minutes, which was wonderful, but then instead of having lectures we had a solid 5 hours to do some work on planning for our independent projects that we are doing at the end of the semester! So that’s what I’m doing now! Wahoo! Haha kidding. Really I have been reading the hunger games ALL DAY. I essentially started this morning (I was on chapter 4) and then read the rest of it over the course of the day, finishing right as Sdu came to pick us up to go home. It was amazingly addicting and I’m forcing myself to wait at least a day before starting the second one so I can be at least somewhat productive!

Me and my horsey, Tequila.

Anyways, its been a long day and I’m exhausted, so that’s all I have to say for now. Hamba kahle!