Globetrotting Around the World

Don't cry because it's over, be joyful because it happened."
- Modern Proverb

After spending quality time with in-laws, Nadine and I decided to spend our remaining time solely in Roma exploring as much as we could in 5 days, and meeting up with Monseigneur Dan from Tulsa and Brother Dominic Sassi who I met in Peru as a volunteer.

We arrived from Cinque Terre into Roma with immediate plans to attend a Papal audience and meet one of the future successors to the Pope, Monseigneur Dan.

With the help of Brother Kevin, he set us up with tickets to the Papal audience with the explicit directions to ask for Eugenio at the newstand just outside of St. Peter's Square located on the right, not the one on the left not the one inside the square. It couldn't be Oregano or Giovanni either, it had to be Eugenio. So we strode up to the very friendly Eugenio standing among his magazines as he handed us an envelope with 2 tickets to the audience. I can say that I understood 33% of what the Pope said. The part in English, French, and Spanish, I understood pretty well. Can't say I understood as well the Polish and German.

While Nadine and I studied long and hard at the University of Tulsa, Msgr Dan was chaplain at the Newman Center and was directly responsible for aiding our interest in travelling by taking us to Guatemala and Europe on service and educational trips. His current position has him in Rome working for the North American College and 171 seminarians. And this is all within a stone's throw of St. Peter's. Not too bad of a locale. Being the ever busy person he is, he still made time to meet up with us for lunch and show us around the school, and the great views from the college.

Right to Left: Nadine, Baby, Msgr Dan (future Pope), Me, and St. Peter's

Compared to any other city so far, Rome without a doubt has the most history, sites, along with the combo of culture that has you running around in circles visiting them and then teases you with another dozen within a 5 block radius yet to discover.

My first time to Rome was back in 2000, and I saw what felt like hundreds of sites, but I still missed out on major ones like the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the insides of the Pantheon and the Coliseum, Galleria Borghese, and the Piazza di Popolo. So with 5 days to explore, these were on the top of my list as well as adequately walking around some classics, St. Peter's and Castel Sant'Angelo (made popular in one of Dan Brown's book).

Pantheon Ceiling

During these 5 days, all 2 and a half of us walked all over central Roma with the nagging feeling that we had to get to as much as possible since we were at the very end of our 9 month 5 day voyage around the world. I think we can safely say that we saw as much as possible in our alloted 5 days, unless of course we hadn't slept or stopped for all of Nadine's bathroom breaks, then we could have seen a little more.

We also more religious to visit in addition to all of the Roman sites and Msgr Dan. While living and volunteering in Chimbote, Peru, I had met Brother Dominic Sassi, and he mentioned that if I was ever in Rome where he lives, to come by and see him. So we did. We also stayed with him and all of the Brothers blocks away from the Vatican. Brother Kevin, an Australian with an odd accent of someone from England, Ireland, and a bit of Aussie thrown in, took it upon himself to show us the ropes of the area. He pointed us in the right direction. That right direction was towards the gelateria.

Final International State of the Belly

Just as our time quickly ended in Rome, we were on a train to Zurich, Switzerland to catch our final flight back to the great state of Texas. But before we could call it an end to our adventures, we had to have one more light adventure. As we sat by Lake Zurich with lunch from a local supermarket, Nadine ate her sandwich and I ate olives with something other than the pit in the middle. Before I realized what I had consumed, I had downed 7 large green olives with an entire clove of garlic inside. You can only imagine the smell that began to waft from my pores. Still not as bad as a New Mexican locked in a car in the heat of summer. The full effects of the garlic cloves weren't truly "smelt" until the next morning as we waited to check in our bags. The garlic had overpowered the minty freshness of my toothpaste and required immediate attention. I ran over to the newsstand and spent my remaining euros on gum to mask my garlic breath. In duty free, I showered in Hugo Boss cologne to defer people's attention from my mouth. Fortunately my bad breath didn't prevent us from boarding the plane and passing through immigration back in Dallas.

We are now in the United States of America. Nadine is in Omaha and I am in Odessa. We will spend Easter with our respective parents, before embarking on a grand tour of the Midwest with stops in San Angelo, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Tulsa, before heading north to Omaha. You should check to see if there are still ticket and seats available.

Within the week, we will post our best of enty with the best of everything from around the world.

This may be a short entry, but there are still a few left

Peace
JW

Even short people are allowed to be nuns in Italy

Greetings all from Bella Italia, home of the best food in the world. Our travels in the last week have carried us across three continents and the same amount of countries as we now seat here in Cinque Terre.

Our time in South Africa passed by in a flash compared to our 5 month stint in Asia, but in order to end our time, we had to leave. We thus began a lengthy 28 hour travel marathon. Instead of bussing it up to Joburg from Cape Town, we paid the money to save 26 hours of being on a bus in exchange for 2 hours on a plane. Great deal. The next flight was the nicest one we've had on the trip, an United Emirate plane to Dubai stock full of free drinks, video games, and all the music you could want, and this all includes leg room.

We touched down in Dubai as the onset of fatigue from a sleepless night playing Tetris crept up. I sleptwalk onto our next plane headed for Milan and slept a solid 2 hours on the 6 hour flight, a rarity. With one last flight, we were in Roma . . . but only long enough to catch a train on to Florence where we were set to meet up with Nadine's mom, Clare, and sister, Susie.

We walked across Florence feeling dead to the world, but still with a bounce in our step. Italy is an easy place to navigate compared to our last 6 months of travel. This is with public transportation leaving on time and clean 2,000 year old surroundings. When we found the hotel, we were amazed how nice our room was looking over the Arno River, but that was nothing compared to Nadine seeing her mom and sister and them seeing Nadine's every growing belly. From that point on, it was chat, chat, chat, chat, and chat.

How many Peppers does it take to climb Il Duomo?

Over the next couple of days, all four of us made the rounds at the major sites, the Duomo, Michelangelo's David at the Galleria dell'Accademia, the Ponte Vecchio, but it was spent among the constant happy chatter of Nadine, Clare, and Susie.

Ponte Vecchio. You can find at least 5 gelaterias here

From the fine views of Florence, we traveled onto to some even finer views in the region in Pisa with the Leaning Tower of Pisa, excellent calzone in Lucca, and the region where 5 small villages perched on rocky picteresque outcrops make a national park, Cinque Terre.

Obligatory photo by each tourist, hold up the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Doesn't seem to work that well though

Among the activities to do in Cinque Terre is the popular intercity hike. That was the activity of choice among 3 Bissonnette girls, and being outnumbered, that is what one White boy had to do. We jumped on the path and began our hike. We walked from Vernazza to the small village of Corniglia with the ocean waves crashing below us. Along the way, we stopped for an excellent lunch of meat and cheese sandwiches, then we continued to Manarola by train, because of a rock slide, and finally to Riomaggiore. It was some easy hiking with great views, definitely worth 3 Bissonnette girls dragging me along.

Great views along the way

We stayed in the town of Vernazza, and home to one of the best Italian restaurants in the world, La Sandro. After a packed house left us literally out in the cold Saturday night, we made reservations for Sunday night. We returned promptly at 7 that next day to begin a feast. We all indulged in a perfect meal of pasta, ravioli, penne, and house red wine. Every bite was followed with a healthy "mmmmm" and "can I have a bite of yours?" We left satisfied. If you ever think about going to La Sandro in the near future, let me know, I will meet you there for dinner.

Good morning Manarola

That leads us to our next topic, a very important one for that matter. In life and in all our travels, we have come across some great food. Mexican. Tex-Mex. Indian. Thai. Vietnamese. But they all come in for a distant second to Italian food. As Nadine said, "All meals are either good or great." It's amazing what Italians are able to do with a tomatoe, pasta, olive, a few spices, and tahdah, perfection. And to top off the perfect dinner, you can pick one of the 10 gelaterias on every street serving creamy Italian ice cream, gelato. Now if you love food, this is the place to come to indulge and then walk it all off. Back home, you find all types of restaurants. Here, you only find restaurants serving Italian food. What does that tell ya?

Ok, time to finish this blog entry as I slip off into food comotose.

Question of the week: Every week in the blog entry I make a joke about New Mexico, New Mexicans, or a set of twins from New Mexico, but not this week. What is your best joke about New Mexico, New Mexicans, or a set of twins from New Mexico? Best one received in the next three days will receive the last postcard from outside the U.S.

JW

Taking you back to Hogsback, South Africa. This is what happens when you set the camera for video rather than photo and everyone sits and smiles.

No ifs, ands, or BIG BUTTS about it, this is the last entry from South Africa

Greetings all, hope all are well with this last entry from South Africa. If you didn't notice or see, we've added photos, videos, and important questions for you to answer to the two previous entries, Surfing and Sliding Over Coffee and Hogs and to Life on the Sub-Sub-Continent. The internet connections haven't been participating, but we have finally found a solid one here in Cape Town. Thank you Cape Town. Since then, we have ferociously tackled our next two destinations, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town.

In addition to picking up Melissa's boyfriend in Port Elizabeth, Jesse, we were set on one thing, seeing wild Africa. Truly, that was our number one goal for Africa. You can't come to Africa and not see a bunch of large mammals running around. At the beginning of our trip, we planned on going to Kruger National Park, but with the onset of Nadine's belly expansion and malaria present in the park, we had to cut it out, and find an alternative. Initially, we thought about Pilanesburg National Park in the north, but we took the lack of movement by the tour company combined with our desire to get out of Johannesburg, as proof enough that we should find another one later in South Africa. This proved to be a great decision. We went with a combo trip to the Addo Elephant Park and Schotia Lion Reserve.

I had previously mentioned the Big White Five, a creation all my own, but there is one more well known, the Big Five. They consist of the lion, African elephant, Cape buffalo, leopard, and the rhino. Within these two parks, you could find the Big Five. Our hope was to catch a glimpse of all five this day. Count along with us in the blog.

Early in the morning, all four of us saddled up into the nicest mini-van Nadine and I had sat in during our time in South Africa. It had air-con and soft seats with only 6 of us in the spacious van, we could have lived there.

Our first stop was the Addo Elephant Park. We entered the 16,000 hectares park in our mini-van. We are trend setters. No open-air vehicle for us with unobstructed views. We soon began following roads where we were greeted with a couple dozen African elephants cooling themselves off by slinging mud with their trunks onto their backs. Pretty sweet. Check #1 from the Big Five. Don't confuse these with the Big White Five.

Somewhat difficult to find this guy, being that his head camouflages so well with the green shrubbery

From there, a large male came strolling down the road forcing us to stop and admire him passing in front of our family mini-van. The next stop brought us warthogs, just like Pumba from the Lion King, and a moon walking male elephant.

This guy was showing off by pulling out the Moon Walk

During the next hour and a half, several elephants passed us, poked their heads out from around corners, and stood in the horizon. After all, it was an elephant park. But in addition to the warthogs and elephants, we came across the massive Cape buffalo with his 50's style hairdo. Check #2. Over the 10 minutes we sat watching him, as the inactive animal he is, he turned his head twice, blinked once, farted three times, and moved his tail half a time.

Our mini-van guide Nick told us how these buffaloes are quite strategic and powerful. The buffalo can easily flip a lion with its' flipped up locks and with humans will act as if it is injured so whenever you are within distance to its' horns, he can simply jab you. Sneaky guy that buffalo. Or as if that isn't enough, he may run away from you and when you think he is long gone, he is planning his revenge by circling back and coming from where you never expected him to be, right behind you. Clever animal. But when we saw him, not as clever or eager at the moment, was just conserving energy and staying cool. Luckily, he wasn't waiting for us at the next corner with a broad grin on his face.

You have to admire the effort they take in doing their hair every morning

Completing our visit in Addo, we passed zebras, not part of the Big Five, a tall snake eating bird, thank you bird, and antelopes, no relation to the cantaloupe.

From Addo, we stopped for lunch where Nadine had one of the best sandwiches we've had in 9 months, yes, I did help her, and arrived to Schotia Lion Reserve, which would be our home for the remainder of the day. We traveled around Schotia in our own personal Land Rover. Ed was our guide. As the park was divided into two sections, simply by one with lions, and the other without lions. The first one we were to visit was the one without lions, a considerable relief for Nadine.

Everyone is accounted for up to this point

On the non-lion side, we immediately met the blue and black wildebeests. You recognize the blue because of his black tail and the black because of his white tail. Or is that vice versa? We also ran into the animal my former car was named after, the impala. Unfortunately it wasn't called the 1968 Impala, or it would have really been special. Riding through the bush, we came upon some animals that were heads and tails above the rest, the giraffe. Imagine this, 7 giraffes running between trees in front of a pond. Perfect.

In the pond they were drinking from, laid two hippos submerged underwater with only nostrils to reveal that they were actually present. After the ease of seeing the amazing giraffes, we sat in the truck waiting for the hippos to pop out of the water. It never happened. The loud noise of air exiting their nostrils was the only proof that they were actually there in the tiny pond.

Nadine with running commentary on the giraffes

As our 1978 Land Rover went in search of the single rhino in the park, Jim Bob, that is the moment when we had the most dangerous moment in the park. As our Land Rover was following the path with deep ruts in it, our front tires caught the incline and caused our truck to jerk to the left into a big bush and instantaneous stop. Being in the open, exposed cab, it threw us from our seats to the right and due to the fact there wasn't a roof, it could have thrown us from the vehicle. Fortunately it didn't. Nadine and I both have small bruises our knees from the incident. That was as dangerous as it got.

Our search continued for Jim Bob, the single white rhino. As we climbed back safely into our seats, we went up the hill for the two ton animal. How could you not find or even lose a two ton animal with a chubby body, large horn, and a face only a mother rhino could love? Quickly, further up the road, there was our 37 year old rhino lumbering forward. Check #3. That was a massive creature.

Someone has forgot to count correctly?

After quick snack at the lodge, we were back in the Land Rover and passing through the gates to the other half, the half with the 5 lions. As soon as we entered this half and descended down a hill, we found 4 of the lions lazing in grass just watching trucks roll by. Check #4 for everyone counting at home. We sat there watching these guys from a safe distance as the sun slowly set. It was reminiscent of a West Texas sunset, not a New Mexican one, minus the lions. At the end of our time with the other half of the reserve, after all the other trucks had left, we pulled to within 15 feet of the lions, close enough to make Nadine scoot towards me, and me towards her so I could see better, but still hanging out with the lions.

No leopards this day, but we did see 4 out of the 5 Big Five.

King of the . . . Afro

After the excitement, and both Nadine and I agreed, this had been highlight of South Africa, we parted ways with Melissa and Jesse, and took to the road again on our 12 hour bus to our last stop, Cape Town.

With two days to play with in Cape Town, and not long enough, we made our way to the top of Table Mountain. Table Mountain is a flat mountain looming large over Cape Town. Any trip to Cape Town has a requisite cable car ride to Table Mountain, and as luck would have it, we went on a day without a single cloud in the sky, but a camera with a low battery. We hiked around, had short conversations via echoes with the help of a gorge, and took as many pictures as our dying battery would allow.

We're on top of the . . . Table Mountain

With half the day gone on Table Mountain, we spent the final half walking around the pier and running into familiar travelers for the third time, Carlos from Argentina. Good day, one left.

Next day, we boarded a train towards the Cape of Good Hope to the town of Simon's Town, a small little town closest to the cape. Our reason for visiting Simon's Town was the population of Jackass penguins there. Anytime you can see a penguin that lives in a warm climate and makes a sound like a donkey, you can't go wrong. (*Insert your own New Mexico joke here*) Something that hit home for Nadine and I was a pair of babies asking for food from their mom, and eventually the mother had had enough and let this loud jackass sound. Thus, if you happen to hear Nadine make this sound in 6 months time, you know where it came from.

Look at that Jackass Penguin

This week we have two questions, both equally challenging and both equally worth a postcard from Italy.

1) What mammal causes the most deaths every year to humans in Africa?

2) Out of the Big 5, which ones are diurnal?

Remember, if you have any favorite pics, videos, anything from this entire blog, email them to me at jwhit003@gmail.com before March 27th and I will post them on the final entry outside of the U.S.

Life is good and hard to believe that our trip is almost over. March 27th we fly back to the States, with Nadine going to Omaha and me back to Odessa. Yes, we are going to live with our parents in separate states. After Easter, we will be making a short little trip through Colorado (Nadine only), Texas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska. Did we mention New Mexico? Nope, skipping New Mexico.

Peace
JW

***Photos and videos have finally been added. Internet connection here has proven to be pitiful. I added photos to the last blog entry as well.***

Hope all are well as you read this, our second to last entry from South Africa. At the end of this entry, I have added our third installment of the State of the Belly Report. Watch as Nadine expands.

Your local lifeguard on duty

From the confines of Durban, Nadine have made a steady trip south along the southern coast of South Africa to Coffee Bay. There were not any coffee beans floating around in the surf for those of you caffeine addicts looking for a new Mecca or free coffee. Nadine, Melissa, another medical student Molly, and I took advantage of Coffee Bay to work on our budding surfing skills. From our 4 person hut, we jumped in a van lacking 4 seats for 4 sets of butt cheeks, and ran over to Long Beach. It was at this point that we realized in the van that one of the other passengers, with a seat, was from the same area as Melissa's grandmother in Minneapolis. In the end, we found out that they only live 4 houses away from each other. Who knew it would take a trip to South Africa for these two people to meet? It really is a small world. But back to Long Beach, that is what I am going to call it, since we never caught the real name, and the beach was really long with the added home comfort of steers as lifeguards looking on from sand. "Moooo, grab onto my udder. I will bring you ashore."

Who is following their own surfing lesson?

We started off with a small surfing lesson from English Sam and the warning to avoid blue bottle jellyfish, a small jellyfish that is not officially a jellyfish, but looks like a jellyfish looking for human legs to attach themselves to. Molly threw on a wet suit for safety, you can never be too safe, but that must have attracted them to her. On her first opportunity trying to hang 10 on her board, she was attacked by a blue bottle, and instead of hanging ten, only caught one. After several attempts on standing on our boards, we all rode at least one wave in.

Hanging a full 2 on this one. That is one big wave

A little later on, the next blue bottle jellyfish, still not a jellyfish despite the name, grabbed a hold of Melissa's foot. From the recent history, I then politely asked the rest of the non-jellyfish to not grab me. They peacefully complied. After another afternoon session in rough, tide riddled waters, I had my fill of surfing and salt water. Next stop, the Hawaii professional surfing circuit only if they have Texas cows lifeguarding.

A classic Nadine and Melissa pose from high school

A classic Nadine and John pose, her arm around my neck

Our surfing day offered great weather, the next two did not. We planned on hiking the coast for 3 hours to the Hole in the Wall. It's a natural hole formed at the base of a small island that water rushes through with every coming wave. Instead of a miserable hike through the rain and wind, we jumped on a truck. We did hike to the top of the small islands which made me imagine what Ireland must look like with those way too green hills dropping off at the water's edge.

That is a large hole in the wall. Need a little more than plaster

From Coffee Bay, we were on another bus to Mthatha and their bus station located at a big, clean Shell gas station stocked with delicious Magnum ice cream bars. At this point, Molly returned to her medical rotation in Durban while the three of us went to our next stop, East London. What made this 100 rand bus ride great was the fact that it was free, some glitch on their part. I rode with this guy from Argentina spending his first trip abroad in South Africa. It was the first time in a long time for me to speak Spanish and talk about Nadine and Melissa without them completely knowing what I was saying about them. I would say something to Carlos while pointing at both of the girls, and then begin laughing. I also learned a very useful expression for Argentina, tener rose. I can't reveal what it means here unless you have studied Spanish for over 2 years. Another thing, as we ate dinner at an East London restaurant, the waiter revealed that his mother was from Elma, Washington, the city right next to where Nadine lived while volunteering in Washington state. Once again, it's a small world. Next thing you know, you may have New Mexicans leaving the state and running into other green chili loving people. Ok, that's not too likely.

From East London, not anything like the actual big London over in England, but we jumped on a shuttle up to the mountain town of Hogsback. It gets its' name from the three hogback mountains towering over the area. I can also say with authority that Hogsback has the absolute best reading spot. From this point you can read, watch parrots fly by, listen to monkeys rustling in the trees, and sit right on the edge of a cliff. I called it first.

Best spot in the world that we've found to read

Hogsback was made for hiking, and that is just what the three of us did. It had been raining heavily two days earlier and it made the first part of our hike tough. We descended down a few paths that had a stream flowing down the middle, so we simply had to straddle the trail with each step. Our first stop was at the "Big Tree." It was big and old, 800 years old. We continued on to a point in the trail that you had to cross a simple little creek, but this creek had metamorphized into a stronger, wider creek with the help of a heavy downpour. I attempted crossing it and just as soon as placed my foot down on the opposite, slippery rock, I was down in the water, with the water up to my butt cheeks. Any normal New Mexican twin would have had water up to his big nose and snorting.

Third Official State of the Belly Report

The rapids caused us to change our original route. Further on, we came to another point that we had to cross the river, less dangerous, but still intimidating. We crossed successfully, but with no path on the other side. The entire time we had been going with an 18 year old English teenager, and he had become the unofficial guide. He also stated a few times that he got lost the last time he went hiking. Not an enthusiastic endorsement. On the other side as we began bushwacking in search of the trail, it was at this exact moment that I felt the fatherness come out in me. Immediately I stopped our group, and said we had to get back to the path and stay on it. It was interesting for me to note the father-to-be in me come out. Good sign. Nadine and Melissa noticed it as well. So I would like to tell everyone right now, "Don't run with scissors in your hands! And, brush your teeth tonight! I mean it. I will pull this car over!

The rest of our hiking was enjoyable and safe. We ran up to the Swallow Tail and the Madonna and Child Waterfalls. Both were great and left us mildly wet.

Madonna and Child Waterfalls

One of the things anyone coming to Africa or South Africa usually have at the top of their list is a trip on safari to see the Big Five. The Big Five consist of the black rhino, Cape buffalo, elephant, leopard, and lion. Since we have yet to go on a safari game trip, we have created our own Big White Five. These are animals that we've seen and have commonly seen across South Africa and they are ferocious. Don't allow your children to read these as they may have nightmares. The Big White Five are the horse, cow, sheep, goat, and donkey. We have found them in abundance crossing roads without heed to cars roaring towards them, sitting in groups under trees, and just lazing in the sun. So when you return home or are at a party after a weekend in the Texas countryside, you can tell that special someone that you saw the Big White Five, and then hike up your pants. They will look at you with envy.

From this interactive map, you can follow our entire trip by simply clicking the arrows

Life is good and our threesome is about to become a foursome as Melissa's boyfriend Jesse arrives into South Africa to travel with us for two days on a visit to two game parks. Then we head directly to Cape Town.

This week's question is a little different. Since we only have a maximum of 20 days left on our trip before we head back to the U.S., we would like to get all of those faithful readers favorites from this entire trip. So simply send me an email with your vote to jwhit003@gmail.com

What has been your favorite or most interesting picture?

Video?

Location?

Story?

Blog entry?

Comment?

Favorite traveler between Nadine and I? We already know who is going to win this one?

Favorite anything else.

Enjoy your week and let your friend know how much you like them by suggesting that they read this blog as their weekend activity. They might buy you a beer.

JW

*** Internet connections here in South Africa have proven to be a pain. I finally got a couple on this entry.***

Just don't look over the edge

Greetings all in the 30 something installment of Globetrotting Around the World. We are back in South Africa after our brief week excursion into Lesotho.

First of all, congrats to Jill on unknowingly answering correctly the question from last week's entry. Give yourself a nice pat on the back Mrs. Hall! No relation to Arsenio.

In our travels around the world in the last 8 1/2 months, we have been pretty good at not losing things until recently, and now all-losing chaos has struck. It started it when I lost a homemade bookmark made by my good friend Rene in Peru. It is now floating somewhere in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. Then, I lost my French Bible from Hermano Domingo, also from Peru. I don't believe I have any other items with me from Peru. Then in China, I lost my sunglasses after playing basketball in Yangshuo. Wait a minute, I had those with me in Peru 5 years ago. Uh oh, I'm beginning to see a pattern. Somewhere along the way I lost a Nalgene water bottle. Not an easy item to misplace and it was the only one with duct tape around the midsection. No more using the multipurpose duct tape now. Not sure if I had that in Peru. After returning from Macau, Nadine mistakenly left her knife on board with some food provisions. Pretty sure neither had been in Peru, but if had been, that food would be pretty difficult to chew. Better door stop than digestive value. Finally, this has never been in Peru unless it was made there, a towel. Not sure what it is, but I am beginning to lose things. If I come back to the U.S. without Nadine, it's because she has been to Peru three times and mistakenly misplaced her somewhere in one of our hostel rooms. Keep your fingers crossed.

Hanging out again

Now imagine this scenario, two little girls go to kindergarden together for a year and a half. They become best friends and go to birthday parties arm in arm. Then one of these two girls moves off to a far away land. Sad, I know, pull out the hankerchief if you need it, but the short story must go on.

9 years later sitting at a high school lunch table in a new city, two young adolescent girls look at each other and ask, "did you go to Annunciation Elementary School back in Minneapolis?" The other responds, "yeah, what's it to ya?" (adds a little extra drama) And they both realize they were best friends back in Minnesota where mosquitoes are bigger than the average New Mexican graduating class. And from this point on, these two girls have been friends. Who are these two girls? It's Nadine, my wife, and Melissa, not my wife. We do have a history. We travelled together back in the summer of 2001 around Europe with mixed results, but we are back at in again here in South Africa running around the coast.

Back when we first started planning this trip, we originally planned on going to India after Asia, but due to the fact that Melissa was going to be in Durban completeing a medical rotation, we changed our route for South Africa. A very interesting fact about Durban is that it houses the largest Indian population in the world outside of India. Great to know if you have a hankering for some Indian curry. Don't eat too much of it though, your belly bloats like a jellyfish stuck on the seashore.

We met up with Melissa at Ushaka, a combo of Sea World and a water park. Melissa and Nadine had a moviesque, running across concrete steps, imagine a wheat field though, into a big fat hug. From that point, you would have thought I was a mute, far from it in reality, but as a passerby you might have thought so, as they walked and chat, chat, chatting about everything possible. I faithfully walked along side them just listening and observing.

Ushaka itself was a great place to visit, even better if you get there early enough to get a free ticket. First half of the day we spent running around the acquarium watching penguins wobble around so that they could be fed a whole sardine. The highlight was circling a tank with large, eat-you-in-one-bite circling sharks. There was also a really ugly fish that looks just like a grumpy old man with the typical extra large nose and droppy lips. Didn't notice if there were large hairs sticking out of its' ears.

The second half of the day, and defintely the most fun, less educational part of the day, was at the water park. Unlike the water parks back home, the lines on every single slide were much shorter with a shorter wait time, 12 seconds on average. This giving you plenty of time to ride each ride several hundred times if you had the stamina. I tried my best to ride each slide a dozen times, while the girls had a different strategy, talk and talk and talk floating in the lazy river.

We did take a chance to see another part of South Africa as we ran over to Port Shepstone for 24 hours. From Port Shepstone, we trucked it over to the Oribi Gorge. This gorge holds an extremely large and deep rope swing down 300 feet into the space below. We roamed around the edge of the gorge posing for dangerous looking pics that would make any mother cringe which you can now enjoy on this blog. Try to stifle your ooohhh's and aaahhh's.

After a day in Port Shepstone, we were back in Durban lazing at our hostel working on my surfing skills within the realm of a swimming pool. We decided to spend the rest of the week relaxing waiting for Melissa to finish the last day of her medical rotation.

This week's question with an estimated value of a South African postcard - Where is the world's longest bungee jump and how long is it? More importantly, can you do it for free?

Life is good and we hope all are well.

JW