Settled at Rocky Road!

We are all settled in to Rocky Road and jeez it is beautiful here! I am sleeping in a tent that is on a covered platform, but there are beds and electricity in these tents.  It is super nice.  The area around here is absolutely beautiful, like I do not know how to describe it, it is so beautiful.  I do not think I will ever get used to the wildlife here though, whenever you go to the bathroom or are walking back to your tent you have to check to make sure that there are no baboons, ya not kidding, freakin baboons.  Yesterday a few of us got up early and ran and on the way we saw baboons, cows, horses, tons of monkeys and a dog.  It was intense, those little monkeys are not nice at all!!

We visited the village of Kurland, where we will be working and it is going to be great to be there.  There is quite a bit of poverty however they are not solitary, it is a community.  It would be like my own neighborhood back home, but with different living accommodations. 

This place is so indescribably beautiful. We went on a hike today and saw the most gorgeous beaches and just surrounding area that it is amazing. 

I have so much to say and yet it’s so hard to describe it. 

Cheers,

Erin Fitz

P.S.  Good luck on your swim today little Fitz. I love you and I am sure you are going to kick butt!

Made it Safe and Sound! 

But boy is that plane ride brutal.

 

So I am safely in Johannesburg, with the rest of my group.  We all rolled in at various times yesterday.  I and quite a few others were in before 11 AM and so when we got back we hung out for a bit and then walked a few blocks to China Town, no joke! It was pretty much just like any American China Town, we had some good food and then walked back home.  At which, we tried to stay awake, which was insanely hard, but we did it.  We had a delicious dinner at the hostel which was potatoes, chicken legs, veggies, rice and gravy.  Then we all pretty much went to our room (which is a room of 8 bunk beds) and slept. 

This morning was our first full day in Johannesburg and we saw lots! We went to Nelson Mandela house, the Apartheid Museum, Hector Peterson Museum, and stopped at various other places.  We also drove through Soweto which is a town outside of Johannesburg which is very improvised.  We also stopped at the stadium for the World Cup in 2010! It was a long site seeing day but worth it. 

They drive on the opposite side of the road here.  Stop lights are called robots.  The exchange rate of Rand to Dollars is currently around 8.5 rand to the dollar.  This makes pricing very weird because something like a sandwich will cost around 30 rand so you think you are spending quite a bit of money when in reality 1000 rand is around 120 dollars.  Other than that things here are going awesome! It is nice and sunny during the day and at night it gets COLD! But currently we are a ways above sea level and when we are in Kurland we will be at sea level so it will not be quite as cold. 

Tomorrow we will go to one last museum and then we will go straight to the airport to fly to Port Elizabeth and from there we will drive a few hours to Rocky Road.  

Cheers,

Erin Fitz

And I am off!!

I have packed and repacked, my bags weigh what they are allowed to weigh and I have my passport.  I could not be more excited right now! I will fly from San Fransisco to London, where I have a 10 hour layover, and then I fly to Johannesburg.  I am lucky that both my flights are overnight, so somehow I need to sleep on them.  But keeping myself entertained for 10 hours in an airport is gonna be interesting or not.  

From Johannesburg, we are there for a few days, we then fly to Port Elizabeth and then drive to our new home at Rocky Road (http://www.rockyroadbackpackers.com). We will be there for the duration of the trip and that is where I will post my next update at!! 

Erin Fitz

Hello All, 

As some of you know, or don't, I will be heading to the lovely country of South Africa on Sunday. I am going as part of a study abroad program through Western Washington University, and while I am there I will be studying as well as helping out in the community. 

While I am there, I will have very little computer access and internet time, so I decided to make it easy on myself and just make a blog to keep everyone, who wants to be, up to speed.

Erin Fitz