South America and South Africa

Dear all,

As the internet access in my hostel was on strike yesterday night belated X-Mas greetings to all of you around the world. May all your wishes become true!

I had a very pleasant X-Mas eve yesterday (remember, the important day for the Germans is the 24th) as we started our day with a visit of the Old Biscuit Mill food market in Woodstock. This is a market similar to the Borough Market in London, maybe somewhat more international then there, where you get all kinds of food for very reasonable prices. I started my X-Mas eve with a dozen of oysters for EUR 10 and a glass of sparkling wine for EUR 1,50 – nice! Thereafter chilling at the beach for a couple of hours and in the evening a very memorable stay on Table Mountain until sunset. Awesome! There is a meteorogical phenomenon that the top of Table Mountain is often covered with a thin layer of clouds in the evening. It appears as if one is walking in heaven as the clouds are below. Nevertheless the regions around the mountain are still visible (e.g. the city below, the harbor, the winelands in the East and the mountain range behind). It was really, really beautiful. Make sure that if you visit Table Mountain do it in the evening (or stay until dusk).

All the best to you all!!!

First many thanks to all the friends who read my posts in this blog and also those who enjoyed watching the photos. It was always fun for me to put this together and a great joy for me when I received your comments. Many thanks for this!

Unfortunately it will be much more difficult to continue this blog as I was robbed in my last seven hours in Buenos Aires before I wanted to go to the airport. I lost my camera, my laptop, my credit cards, all my money (however, it was not that much, but when you literally have not even a penny money gets a new dimension), my passport and my drivers license as well as several personal items. Fortunately I haven’t lost my health as when it happened (the classic – squeezing some liquid on me which looks like bird poo, handing tissues, creating hectic, bla, bla, bla, then another person grabbing the backpack, then the “helpful” women running away) I was more into trying to relocate my backpack instead of grabbing one of the “helpful” women. And if I would have grabbed one, who knows, they might have had a knife or somebody else would be around to protect them. Whatever…

After seven hours with the police and numerous phone calls with the German Embassy (German tourists on the street gave me some money so that I could call the Embassy, the police did not let me) I found a hostel which let me stay without paying in advance and without showing any proof of identity. The next day (Monday) I went to the German Consulate and within 70 minutes I got hold of a new passport which enables me to continue my trip. The next plane to Johannesburg, South Africa, went two days later so beside my possessions I “only” lost three days and actually a lot of trust and self esteem.

Since my friend Claire and I wanted to travel the South of Africa together in a rental car we changed the arrangements with the rental car company so that Claire is now the only driver. We picked up the car in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the airport and are meanwhile in Botswana and want to enter Chobe Nationalpark later today. I could also meet my friends Petra and Thomas at the airport (we wanted to meet in Kruger Nationalpak three days earlier if the theft wouldn’t have happened) and they kindly lent me their Canon dslr (I might not look as the most trustworthy person at this point in time but I always carry it around with me, promised!).

Though more difficult now and less colorful I try to keep you updated.

Friday was my last working day for the next five months. It felt somewhat awkward and strangely I remembered the time when I started working a lifetime ago. Life clocked in in morning meetings, lunch breaks, and overtime hours, working weeks and weekends, financial years and annual leaves. And now, five months off. Did I say that I enjoy being lazy? A co-worker mentioned that it might be difficult to get accustomed to work upon my return but my initial thought was that this will happen quicker than I would ever hope for.

My to-do-list is shrinking and the remaining items are things which are not really under my control. Eventually I could live with those if they cannot be sorted. The move from L to BS went well, however, some cardboard boxes are still crouching in the corners of the basement and the attic and picture frames are still waiting to find their new home on the walls.

The flights are paid, the scuba diving package in Honduras is booked (yes, it appeared to me that this was done in kind of a haste whilst I still want to switch into a different, slower mode), the road traffic department made a mistake when I applied for an international drivers-license and they re-issued also my domestic one (I am now a proud owner of a 12-plus tons truck drivers-license), the backpacks will be packed either tomorrow or Tuesday (some things never change).

Today I booked my flights. Due to hesitating a couple of days we had to move the departure date by one day. It’s now August 3, 2011, still in time for the tri-expo on Friday, August 5. Maybe it’s also beneficial for the NYC tri on Sunday when I’m still on European time, i.e. six hours ahead so that it doesn’t feel like 2 o’clock in the morning when I have to get up at 4 sharp (I’m certainly not an early bird).

Andi from the travel agency is a star, it’s always great talking to him. When he chats about places in Namibia, the natives who live there, the landscape I really want to go there immediately. Since I couldn’t remember everything he said we agreed that the next time I visit him I bring my travel books to get some more advice about my route, which is still work in progress (“advice” in the best possible way). This guy loves traveling and speaks very wisely about the culture, the nature, everything.

While I was there we were also briefly discussing the outlook for travel agencies and whether the internet will eat up their markets. I told him that this is the first time that I use the service of an agency, mainly as I couldn’t figure out how to compare prices between Round-The-World-tickets and the prices of individually booked tickets (for those who are interested: it would have been more costly with the rtw-ticket-option and also would have included one v-e-r-y l-o-n-g f-l-i-g-h-t). I also told him that the service he provides is superior, really provides added-value for my needs and that I absolutely enjoy talking to him about all these great places. I reckon this is how travel agencies can succeed despite the low-cost competition. Might be a niche-market though and only the fittest survive.

What else? I added some items to the to-do-list, I removed some items from the to-do-list but as a matter of fact it is still growing.

This is the beginning of a wonderful friendship, me and my blog for my five-months trip to South America and South Africa. Since this is the first time I create a blog there might be some hickups at the beginning but I hope within a couple of weeks it will be more interesting, more colorful and with more features.

As I am german but many of my friends live abroad I write this blog in English. Every now and then it will be written not only in English but Funny English and I hope that none of the English speakers amongst you, my dear readers, feels offended.

I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing.

See you soon