South Africa Part I

The trip to SA kicked off with a tap of the snooze button at quarter to REM cycle in the morning on Tuesday, May 12. Before I knew it, we were out the door and on a shuttle to Chicago, anxiously awaiting our 4 flights and 3 hour layovers. The flight between Chicago and D.C. set a good tone for the trip with an in-flight episode of "The Office." Unfortunately, my luck did not hold, for when we boarded our international flight, I was lucky enough to have the window seat next to 'that fat guy that travels by himself with the tour groups and doesn't bring anything to do on the flight and instead talks to the person sitting next to him even when that person is wearing headphones and in the middle of a movie'.....if you don't know what I mean, think John Candy in PT&A. He was a nice enough guy, but I did switch with my mom (so I could have an aisle seat) after the first 8 hours at our layover in Senegal. The next 8 hours and the flight to Port Elizabeth were painless enough, but the 31 hours of traveling did get to me a bit. Mom was a wreck when Jacinda and Matt met us at the airport, even though dad and I told her they would.
In the morning, we had to fight the horrible jetlag and get up nice and early for a braai (cookout) at their pastor's house. The food was excellent and we met a lot of the people that have been involved in Jacinda and Matt's lives in SA. Later that afternoon we went down to the waterfront and enjoyed a little time on the beach. The whole day was quite an experience, mainly because of the driving. We picked up our Mercedes rental car in the morning before the braai and dad drove for the day. SA is one of the countries that drives on the left side of the road, so it made for an interesting first day. Mom was yelling at dad, I was yelling at mom for yelling at dad, dad was trying to keep from yelling at both of us for yelling.....and we then decided mom would be driving for the rest of the trip.

The next morning, we went to the creche (daycare/pre-school type of thing) that Jacinda and Matt work at. It was an interesting experience, but after an hour of screaming kids and the annoying warden lady that kept trying to give us bad directions and plan our trip for us, I was ready to go. After the creche, we left Port Elizabeth and got on The Garden Route on our way to Cape Town. After about an hour and a half, we came to one of the highlights of the trip: The Bloukrans Bridge and the World's Tallest Bungy Jump! 216 meters of pure adrenaline...that's almost a 70 story building!


We got to the bridge and got all signed up for the bungy jump, but then had to wait about an hour before we went out onto the bridge. We did get to see a few jumpers go from the overlook area, so this helped build the excitement. When it was finally our time to go to the middle of the bridge, we were pumped! Unfortunately, we had to walk a little catwalk cage underneath the bridge which was basically the equivalent of walking on chicken wire. I was ready to piss myself and we weren't even to the jump zone yet. After what felt like 10 miles, we made it out to the middle of the bridge and started jumping. Matt was the first to go, braving the unknown and plummetting to his imminent death. Luckily, he was able to avoid the jagged rocks and shallow water awaiting him at the bottom of the ravine and gave the rest of us a boost of courage. After watching a few strangers go, dad stepped up to the edge. He had the most awe-inspiring leap off of that bridge and would have fit in perfectly had a flock of eagles soared past at the same moment.

Unfortunately, I had to follow up dad's stellar bungy jumping performance. After watching a few of the strangers "jump" (basically fall) off of the bridge I had decided that I would have a jump that rivaled my father's. As I got strapped in and helped to the edge, I was surprisingly calm, focused on what would undoubtedly be the greatest minute or two of my life. Not even when I curled my toes over the edge and looked down to see where I would soon be falling to my death, did I get scared. I was prepared for an epic jump and a huge rush of adrenaline. They take my arms off of their shoulders and start to count down: FIVE FOUR THREE TWO ONE JUMP!!!!! I bend my knees and spring forward and up 15 feet away from the bridge....or so it felt. Turns out I did bend my knees, but somewhere in the split second that motion took, my body realized what I was about to make it do, and it fought back. I ended up crumpling off the bridge just like a swore I wouldn't. Nevertheless, I was still falling...and fast. As soon as my body began to turn over and the wind caught my cheeks, I realized that this was the biggest mistake of my life and that I would soon be dead. I distinctly remember wanting to yell "OH SH*T" but I don't think I was able to get the sound out. Lucky for me (and you!), the cord caught and I was safe.


Jacinda was up next and had a solid jump with the best scream I heard all day. Although it was a lot different than I had expected, it was a wonderful experience and I'm definitely glad I did it...even if my life did flash before my eyes.

I know I only got through the first few days of the trip, but I'll post again tomorrow and try to get a larger chunk of the trip up. Hopefully I can do the rest in only two more segments. Thanks for reading and sorry for taking so long to get this stuff up here. As I told Julie, my college days are over, but that doesn't mean I can't still procrastinate!

p.s. check facebook soon for more pictures!