Before that was Durban, and a few days of surfing in the warm water and sunshine.

Now I'm in Pretoria, sequestered in a compound surrounded by razor-wire and an electric fence. They take their security seriously down here. This is a good neighborhood, which means that I get to walk around in the daylight. In Jo'burg, you are strongly discouraged from leaving the hostel for any reason.

written by  Jason Kester on April 2, 2003 from Pretoria, South Africa
from the travel blog: Africa, 2003
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

I finally got on my first bus today. Everybody has rental cars here, so I've been pretty lucky at finding people who were going in the right direction. Now I'm in Cintsa, at the backpacker's equivilant of a black hole. Everywhere you look, there's a nice hammock in the shade overlooking the beach or the pool, and a friendly barmaid to hand you another 75 cent beer. Laziness beckons at every turn. I don't see how I can possibly escape.

written by  Jason Kester on March 21, 2003 from Cintsa Mouth, South Africa
from the travel blog: Africa, 2003
tagged Drinking and Laziness
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

I headed up to the rocklands for a couple days to check out some world-class bouldering, and possibly get eaten by a leopard. The place is pretty cool, loads of rock for miles in any direction, with Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom living in between. I got on some fun problems, but I kept getting more and more tentative to slap blindly for holds after seeing all the spiders, snakes, and assorded angry critters living in them.

Next stop was Montagu, the western cape's premier sport climbing destination area, and home to absolutely no climbers at the moment. Nobody to climb with, hence no real reason for me to be at the western cape's premier sport climbing destination area. In fact, in the short time I've been down here, I have become convinced that I am the only travelling rock climber in all of South Africa. Looks like I'll stick to bouldering.

Anyway, I'll probably tourist up the joint in Cape Town for a couple days more before heading east. If I'm feeling lucky, next stop will be Outdoorshoorn and the awesome limestone with likely zero partners to be had. Otherwise, it's off to J-Bay to find some waves.

It remains All Good.

written by  Jason Kester on March 11, 2003 from Cape Town, South Africa
from the travel blog: Africa, 2003
tagged Climbing and Bouldering
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

Made it out bouldering today up at Table mountain. It was cool. I'm starting
to run out of Cape Town things to do though. I think I may rent a car and head
up to the rocklands for a while.

written by  Jason Kester on March 7, 2003 from Cape Town, South Africa
from the travel blog: Africa, 2003
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

So yeah, I've already written it off, but I'll humor them for a couple days before I replace all my stuff. And by all my stuff, I mean ALL my stuff. I've got the clothes I'm wearing, the book that I finished reading on the flight, and an ATM card that expires sometime in the next few weeks. And a Mars bar.

It's all good!

written by  Jason Kester on March 5, 2003 from Cape Town, South Africa
from the travel blog: Africa, 2003
tagged LostBags
Send a Compliment

---

2 comments...

It just got good.

We blew 3 days there, in a grass hut in a cow pasture, intending to head back to Coban and then bus it down to El Estor and onward to Livingston on the coast. But then, we heard about the secret back way.

Apparently, people had, in the past, come into town from the other direction over a series of unmaintained roads that weren't on any of the maps we had along. Others had left town for El Estor that way, with apparent success. No details were available though, as none of them ever came back. We're there!

First stop was Cahabon, a town remote enough that the sight of westerners is still novel enough to draw stares, pointing, and laughter. We stayed there for a day, and set the alarm for 2:45.

At 3:30am, we hit the road for what was possibly the most interesting travel day of my life. The locals head out for work at 4 in a series of 2 ton farm trucks. We hopped on the one that looked like it was heading the farthest out of town, and rode it as far as it would go.

The next several hours were spent alternately sitting by the side of the road in remote Guatemalan jungle, and standing inside or on the bumper of small pickups with up to 30 people in the bed. Eventually we hit the highway (also a dirt road, but straighter), and found a ride to El Estor.

28 Hours, 5 rides (one in a truck full of guys with shotguns), 50 miles, $2.50 not including room and board in Cahabon.

I'm in Livingston now, enjoying the Caribbean sun for one last day before heading back to Guatemala city and home.

written by  Jason Kester on March 2, 2002 from Livingston, Guatemala
from the travel blog: Central America
tagged CertainDeath, HitchHiking, Adventure and BFE
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

So we hop on this bus at the station. You can tell that it started its career in some San Antonio school district circa 1964. Certainly was taken out of service long before I hit grade school. it's not too crowded, meaning that there is one seat left with only two people on it. I take this one and hang out for roughly an hour while locals pile on and the bus idles in the sun.
It's 87 degrees outside, and a man is standing in the front of the bus selling some sort of miracle cure at full volume.

Once enough people are aboard that nobody can move anymore, the bus starts moving. It stops a few more times to cram more folks aboard, then one last time so that a guy in a pickup truck can throw a bunch of mail packages in the windows and fill up any additional space.

We continue to pick up passengers along the way, sometimes stopping twice in 50 feet. After about half an hour, I give up my seat to a woman, her baby, her son, and their chicken. I'll be standing for the rest of the trip, 2 more hours to the border. The bus is packed tight enough now that I can no longer fall over. I even manage to fall asleep standing up for a while. Then the pavement ends.

2 1/2 hours, 60 miles, $1.25. In short, a pretty typical bus ride down here. It usually takes about three of them to get from one place to the next.

written by  Jason Kester on February 22, 2002 from Dangriga, Belize
from the travel blog: Central America
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

So I've accumulated another half dozen passport stamps since the last report. I'm back in Guatemala now, speaking broken Spanish and climbing Mayan temples. Spent a day at Tikal, looking up at big ruins, and looking down from on top of them. Wow. I'm gonna be an archeologist when I grow up.

My tan is starting to fade, so I think the next stop is the beach. A Couple friends are flying into Belize tomorrow, so it's off to Placencia to meet them.

Yavin

Been diving lots in fact. Been down to 37 meters, squeezed into caves, Poked fish and been bitten by them. Picked up enough of a tan to make all the co-workers jealous. Time to head back to the mainland.

Belize is the next stop, en route to the Guatemalan highlands and possibly into Mexico for a few days and a few ruins.

In short, it's all good and it's not yet half over.

written by  Jason Kester on February 10, 2002 from West End, Honduras
from the travel blog: Central America
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...

So I skipped out of El Salvador without riding a single wave. The surf just never materialized, and the town never got any more charming. Two full days in decommissioned Midwestern school busses put me over the border into Honduras on to Copan Ruinas.

Copan. What can I say? It's spectacular. I can see why people dedicate their whole lives to this sort of thing. I'm sure my pictures won't do the place justice.

I'm now on Roatan, trying to get in a few dives and a suntan. Everybody here speaks English. I feel like I'm cheating.

written by  Jason Kester on February 4, 2002 from West End, Honduras
from the travel blog: Central America
Send a Compliment

---

comment on this...