A Good Traveler Has No Fixed Plans

The start of a new month. I love new beginnings. Today two of my roommates are moving out, one guy from Norway and a girl from Germany. It will be strange to not see them everyday and I will definitely miss them, but that just means that I have two more people to meet.

Life has been beautiful. We had a week off for Easter so my friends and I decided to take a little trip on the Garden Route, which is a road that goes along the coast all the way to Durban. We had to wait for our friend Paige because she had this biology camp that she had to go to. Until we left, I relaxed here: went to the beach, out to the clubs, figured out my trips, etc. We left on Wednesday full of excitement. I forgot to mention that I bought a car! A nice little hatchback 1985 Toyota Corolla, named Lloyd after the scientist from Back to the Future. The car ride was going great, we were enjoying the scenery, laughing, singing, etc. Then all of a sudden Lloyd stopped accelerating. We pulled over on the side of the road and luckily there were police people there, “being visible” as they call it. They stayed with us until the tow truck came. We were so fortunate that we were only 13 kilometers from Swellendam, a quaint Afrikaans country town, similar to Ojai. The policewomen took us to Lulu’s Bed and Breakfast while telling us about how hard it was to be a policewomen because everyone things you are the enemy. But she was our savior that night.

We ended up staying in Swellendam for two days, checking out the one main street and talking to pretty much everyone we came in contact with. Lulu’s B&B was great. For only $20 a night we got a great room and a tasty breakfast. The best was the fairy sanctuary, where there were millions of little fairy caricatures. Apparently they were here before humans and can bring us out of our modern life to an imaginary land. Nevertheless, it was a relaxing couple of days and I am just glad that I was with my two good friends to laugh with since the situation was pretty entertaining. When we found out that the car had larger problems than we thought we realized we needed to get out of there! We left the car at the shop and got a ride with Lulu and her husband to half way to Cape Town in the back of her truck. It was amazing laying on the back, taking in the scenery. Our luck didn’t end there, instead of taking a bus back we were able to get a ride with the manager of the Shell station where the bus comes to pick up. We made it back safe and sound and were ready to enjoy our days in Cape Town.  We went to two clubs that we have been meaning to check out. The first was a little too yuppie for my taste but the second one was so amazing! It was at the beach so you could just walk up after a day at the beach. Dancing was great and they actually played hip-hop for a little, as opposed to the usual techno/house/trans (I’m still trying to figure out the difference).

Anyways I’m back to my schedule of school, running, going to the refugee center, chilling, and enjoying the great weather. I pick up Lloyd this weekend and hope that he will behave. I got him a car wash and everything before and this is how he acts. I’m excited for all my adventures to come, I bought a ticket for Mozambique and Ghana! Life is good and I hope that everything is going well in the States.

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