Travel Week: July 12-21

Making our way up the southern coast of Africa, we left Cape Town Saturday, July 12 and travelled for a week up through Swaziland, until our arrival in Mozambique. We travelled by the Baz Bus, a mostly backpacker bus in which you can hop on and off as many times as you wish in seven days. This was such a fantastic way to travel. Days where we had a long duration on the bus (up to 15 hours), we slept, read, and typed up blogs to post later on. We also watched one or two movies as well as the gorgeous coast of mountains, farm lands, orange groves and ocean. Most days we could find accommodations for $10-15 a person, and eat for about $10 a day each. We usually bought bread and jam and fruit and ate that a lot! Thanks Mom for the almond butter- we ate through the jar!
Some Highlights: The first Sunday in a tiny beach town called Knysna, we were at an Anglican church and happened to meet the Consul General of Canada. He and his wife are stationed in Cape Town and were just visiting Knysna for the weekend. He gave me his card in case of emergencies and his wife filled my hands with Canadian flag pins and told me she thought her role was to pass out ‘Canadian propaganda’ in Africa. The SA naval fleet was also attending this church that day!
By far the best food was also the cheapest. Durban, a city along the SA coast, is known to have the largest population of East Indians of anywhere in the world, outside of India. As a result, they also have some of the best Indian food, especially curries. On a recommendation, we went to a vegetarian restaurant that served ‘bunny’. Curried bunny is either a 1/4, 1/2 or full loaf of bread, hollowed out and filled with your choice of curry. The extra bread is served on the side for dipping. It was so good, definitely some of the best food yet. The greatest thing is that a 1/4 bunny only costs about a dollar. Definitely the best highlight of the week was meeting so many amazing people from around the world. We spent hours on the bus and at backpackers hearing so many stories about where people were from and where they had been. We met lots of people, only to meet them again a few days down the road at a different location. We travelled with a few of them. A few Canadians we met were from the East Coast and one was from Winnipeg. It was such an incredible time of relaxing, taking in the country, and processing what life has already brought. Thanks God!