Macho, Macho Man

Macho, macho man - I've got to be, a macho man - Macho, macho man - I've got to be a macho!  Thank you Village People, for that lovely song.  It describes perfectly how I felt on Sunday night when I watched the end of the Ironman. 

The Ironman is a well known triathlon that began as a challenge between a group of Navy Seals.  Today, the Ironman holds their triathlon all around the world.  Every year, they travel to the sandy beaches of Port Elizabeth.  The best part is, it takes place right on Beach Road, where I live!  We literally walked outside our front door and sat down on the curb to cheer the runners on.

The Ironman begins at 7 am with a 2.4 mile swim in the Indian Ocean.  The 112-mile bike ride is next.  The day ends with a 26.2 mile run.  Yikes.  So intense.  A total of 1,745 athletes participated in it.  No wonder Port Elizabeth had been preparing for weeks on end.  There were posters everywhere, the viewing area and vendors had been set up.  This was going to be huge!

1,745 athletes running into the water.

Unfortunately, I was not able to watch the swimming or biking because some of us were at Chintsa.  But, I took pictures from some of the girls that did stay back.  It looked pretty awesome.  Cheering for the runners was really fun.  We brought down an I-pod with some speakers and played some motivational music.  Their racing numbers had their names on them, so we could cheer for them by their name.  We had mini-vuvuzelas and did the wave a couple of times.  A lot of them joked around with us, making poses and what not.  This guy was directing our cheering. 

Jan (pronounced Yawn) from Germany directing our cheers.

The fastest people usually finish the race in 9 hours, so from 7 am to 4 pm.  When we went outside to watch, it was around 6 pm.  People were still going after 9 pm too!  After a set time, they cut you off.  It’s crazy to think these people were being physically active for the long of a time!  One really cool story came out of the South African Ironman.  Chrissie Wellington of Great Britain competed and set the record for the fastest ever women’s Ironman race.  She finished in 8:33:56 – that’s so incredible!  Back in 2007, that would have been the overall Ironman record.  Wellington also broke the woman’s biking and running record, and had the fastest run time overall for the day.      

Chrissie Wellington

I was astonished by the range of people that participated in the Ironman - women, men, young, old, even guys with beer bellies.  Also, the people came from all over the world.  It was really inspiring.  The oldest man who took part in the race was 79-years-old!  These people were really inspiring.  It shows that you can do anything you set your mind to.  We are so much more capable of things then we think we are.  Attitude is what it’s all about.  I want to be a macho man. 

I Love Chintsa!

Chintsa.  Spelled Chintsa, or Cintsa, pronounced Sin-suh.  Although it took us all weekend to figure that out, it definitely did not take that long to begin having fun.  Friday morning, 9 am, 14 of us packed into three rental cars.  We were headed east approximately four hours to Chintsa, part of what they call the wild coast. 

Along the way, we stopped to have lunch at the Hemingways Mall in East London.  It was huge and reminded me a lot of the Mall of America.  Instead of going straight to lunch, we ended up in a store called Canterbury, which makes the South Africa Springbok Rugby Team jerseys.  If you have not heard of the Springboks, watch the movie Invictus starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon.  We all ended up getting a jersey – I got a white one that was on sale!  Then I bought a giant South African flag for just R37 ($5.28).  It was a successful stop. 

Just one more hour and we would head off road to get to our backpackers for the weekend, supposedly one of the best backpackers in South Africa.  It was called Buccaneer’s Backpackers.  To get there, we headed down a really long dirt road, just big enough to fit a car going one way.  I began thinking this place was in the middle of nowhere.  Boy, was I sure wrong.  We rolled up and got out.  Immediately the view was spectacular.  And it was something different than we have seen before.  Buccaneer’s was basically on the side of a huge hill and each dorm or place to stay was hidden amongst the trees.  We looked out and saw a freshwater lake that streamed into the saltwater ocean.  It was absolutely beautiful. 

View from our dorm.  Freshwater in forefront, streaming into ocean towards the back.

That did not last long before we had to put our stuff away and get ready for the night.  We arrived at 3 pm and our first activity began at 4 – a “booze cruise.”  When I think “booze cruise,” I imagine a giant boat out on the ocean speeding by…what high expectations I had.  We got out to the boat and laughed, laughed very hard.  It was a dinky little flat boat.  It looked like a raft that they nailed benches too.  The motor was 5 horsepower – yikes.  But we all kept an open mind and hopped in.  It was quite amusing.  We went extremely slow and got stuck on some shallow rocks a few times.  And it was naturally on the freshwater lake, so it almost felt like I was back in Minnesota.  However, the free wine made it a lot better, and the company of my fellow backpackers was nice as well.  We actually had a great time, lots of laughs on that “boat.”

"Booze Cruise" boat on the right.

Beach volleyball was next.  I played for a little bit but just wanted to chill so I swung in the hammock instead.  There was also a swimming pool at Buccaneer’s.  I had not been in a swimming pool since coming to South Africa.  It was definitely calling my name.  The great thing about pools is a) no salt water b) no waves knocking me over.  I have total control.  It was so nice just swimming around, even though the water was a cold, but I just got used to it.

Dinner at Bucc’s was delicious.  I sat next to some other people travelling – two couples from the UK, a guy from California.  Also, we met some of the workers.  Jenny was from Ireland and our favorite host for the weekend was from Boston.  She never told us her real name so we just called her Boston.  After dinner we just hung around the bar area getting to know them.

Saturday morning was to be jam-packed.  That is, if you wanted to go on one of Bucc’s activities.  Some of the group went mountain biking – I knew that would have been a dangerous choice for me.  More went surfing, but some of us just chose to enjoy the beautiful weather and hang out on the beach all day.  After breakfast, we put on our sunscreen and headed out.  It was actually quite a long walk.  First we had to go all the way down the Bucc’s hill and pass the other dorms.  Then we came to the freshwater lake where our boat was.  We crossed over a bridge and walked alongside the lake.  It soon turned into the sandy beach area.  The ocean was just up ahead.  The sand was so cool in between the two bodies of water.  It was two-toned, swirly and looked like marble. 

Marble sand

Tide pools and sand dunes.

Finally go to the beach and set up camp.  This beach was much nicer than Port Elizabeth’s, because there was less wind and the sand was not blowing all over the place.  I got a nice tan in and did some reading.  Hannah and I took a walk down the beach towards the sand dunes.  It was a beautiful day, perfect for a nice relaxing beach walk. 

Just lounging around by the pool (I'm towards the left).

By lunch time we were getting hungry and decided to go back in.  Right next to the pool is a café, so I ordered a small pizza, brick-oven style – ham, pineapple, onions and sun dried tomatoes – yum.  We all took naps, tanned, did some more homework.  I played ping pong for a little while with Steen (Christine).  There was more beach volleyball as well.  

Eventually we got ready for dinner and hung out in our room for awhile.  Part of the reason why the weekend was so fun was just actually hanging out with our group.  It was nice to get away from the same old Langerry setting.  All 14 of us were crammed in one dorm room, called the Red Dorm, in bunks and such.  It was a great time though!  Played some card games, had a massage train.  I was happy to be getting so close to my new South African Bennies and Johnnies family.

Red Dorm room set up.

That night we had a real traditional Xhosa dinner – 3 courses even!  The first was squash soup – amazing.  Then the meal was huge, I could barely fit it on my plate.  We had kudu stew, samp and beans, cabbage, cauliflower, sweet potato, beans and two different types of squash.  The flavors and textures were all so unique, I loved it.  However, the dessert was my favorite part – lemon cheesecake and vanilla ice cream.  The cheesecake was different that back at home, it was much softer, but I liked it.  So much food, not enough stomach space – we were stuffed.  Half of us took a little nap in hopes of getting rid of the food coma feeling.

Since there is really no town to go into, we just hung around Buccaneer’s for the night again.  It was cool getting to know the locals and other backpackers –hearing their stories.  On Sunday morning we had free breakfast – came with coffee!  Packed and had to leave by 10 am.  Stopped at Hemingways again on the way back but did not find anything.  The ride home seemed much longer than the ride there.  Probably since the excitement had worn off and we were exhausted.

It was a really fun weekend – good food, good fun, good laughs, good people.  The combination can’t get any better than that.  I am so glad we went to the wild coast – I <3 Chintsa.

King of the Jungle

In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight!  Thank god the lions weren’t sleeping last Saturday, because we were going to go visit them.  While most of the group went to Jeffrey’s Bay for the day, eight of us hopped into two taxis and headed over to the Seaview Lion Park just 25 minutes outside of Port Elizabeth.

Top L to R - Sami, Carolyn, Emily & Me.  Bottom L to R - Christine, Bri & Anne.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After entering the park, we drove on a dirt road and saw giraffes and some springbok.  At the first stop, we saw huge lions and some tigers, but they were sleeping.  One more quick drive up a hill and we were finally there.  The view was amazing – now I get why they call it Seaview Lion Park.  It was time to meet Simba, Nala & Mufasa.  Most of the group went to play with the lion cubs, but Bri, Carolyn and I decided to try out the bigger lions. 

Me, Bri, Carolyn & a female lion.

We went to see four 11 month old lions.  They looked pretty full grown to me though.  There were two males and two females – all siblings!  They were all laying on a big wooden platform.  Bri was the first one to try and pet them.  The workers said that you have to pat the lions very firmly, otherwise if it’s too soft it feels like a fly and they will try to swat you.  

However, Bri got the first swat anyway.  The lion pawed her in the face!  But she was ok and the workers said she was just trying to play.  After that I was a little nervous, but tried next anyway.  As we were taking a picture, the lion turned to look at me and I jumped back.  My heart starting racing I was so anxious, but it was so cool!  

We each took turns petting different lions and taking pictures.  They were so cute and their eyes big and beautiful.  One of the lions got down and kissed me on the knee – her tongue was so soft!  Then she started playing with the Velcro on my shoe.  Later we all tried to go up on the platform with them, but all of the sudden they all starting standing up and we got scared so jumped off quickly.  

As strange as it sounds, the lions are pretty harmless because they all grew up around people; no one has ever been attacked at Seaview Lion Park.  The calmer we were, the calmer they were.  We also found out they eat a half a horse or cow every three days.  

The whole experience was really surreal.  Even though I was so nervous, I loved every minute of it.  I still can’t believe I was playing with real live lions.  That is one thing I never imagined myself doing in life, but I’m so glad I did it.

The Big 2-1!

March 24, 2011 – My 21^st Birthday!  The big day was finally here.  A big shout out to Joleen, our politics professor, who assigned us a 15-page paper that was to be due my birthday.  Thank you Joleen…I started that paper on Sunday and worked on it whenever I had the chance to.  Wednesday night was pretty crazy in itself.  Everyone was busy at work right after dinner.  At midnight we all took a break and everyone came to sing me “Happy Birthday” which was a nice surprise.  

Set up camp in my bedroom for writing our papers.

At 5:30 in the morning I decided to go to bed and get a couple hours of sleep in.  Woke up at 8:30 am, finished at noon.  Had to go to school to turn it in.  The one good part about the paper was that we didn’t have class because of it – woo hoo!

Came home and was on cloud nine.  Not only was it my birthday, but it was our first weekend to stay back in Port Elizabeth.  We had 3 ½ full days of absolutely no responsibilities and nothing to do.  It was going to be an amazing weekend.  I started off my birthday day with a nap and tanning session on the roof.  The weather was perfect.  My roommates surprised me with flowers and a chocolate mousse birthday cake – yum.  

The beautiful set up that CoCo de Mer did for me on my birthday!

Then we started getting ready for dinner.  I made reservations at a new restaurant called CoCo de Mer.  It was the first time that all 29 of us all went out to eat together and everyone got super dressed up – we were looking good!  CoCo de Mer was so much fun.  My waiter Fran was a riot, he picked out the perfect drink for me – a Red Bull Long Island Iced Tea.  It was so good.  I had chicken le cordon bleu for dinner.  Another good choice.  

Got my new birthday dress in South Africa and thanks to Britney for cutting my bangs! :)

After dinner we got ready to go out to the dance club called Balizza that we go to every Thursday night.  It was a fun night with good music, good dancing and good friends.  I am so thankful to have spent my 21^st birthday in South Africa with our group.  These people mean so much to me and I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday.

Me and my roommates - Hannah, Steph, Bri & Christne.  Flat 8!