CDS4- Trinidad de Arre to Pamplona

June 7, 2018June 12, 20181 Comment

We got up, got ready, packed and headed out for our short trek to Pamplona. We agreed we wanted a rest day and that Pamplona was a big city, perfect to do so. Since we didn’t make it yesterday all the way, we decided we would only go there today and have our rest day. Also, I ate the rest of the olives for breakfast.

It was great! Literally, Debbie would have been able to handle it last night had we gone the right way. We figured it out. It was what I thought. The fork in the road had the orange and white stripe one way and the shell and an arrow the other. But the shell and arrow were with a sign that pointed to an Albergue, which is why we followed the stripe. I’m telling you, it’s too inconsistent! There’s a lot of things to look for and keep track. With other people around, sure you can follow them or ask what they think. But on your own there’s a lot more “uhh….sure.. I think so? Don’t know?” happening.

On our walk to Pamplona today I took some photos of the variety of signs we follow. Plus some from a different day.

I kid you not! Every single one of those is part of the way of Saint James and could be the indicator we are looking for, telling us which way to go. And that’s only SOME of the types of signs we have seen. I’ll be sure to document more as we go.

We got to Pamplona before the Albergue was open. A preist actually helpded us fond it. We stopped on the street to look at a map and I could see someone walking up to us and when I looked up or was a priest who asked if we needed help and walked with us asking about Debbie’s time in Cambodia to the main street we needed and then pointed us in the right direction and went on his Merry way. It was very kind. We found a cute little cafe where we had crepes and coffee and Debbie told me more about Cambodia and the children. Also, the designs on the doors for the bathroooms made me chuckle. Definitely took me a minute. We walked back when it opened and grabbed a bunk bed with a Mom and daughter from North Carolina. This place is a giant open room with bunks, similar to our first albergue. It’s nice. We rested, did laundry, walked the town. We got pizza and ice cream and sat in the square for a while, watching families and tour groups go by. It was a lovely day. We came back, showered, relaxed and now I’m in bed at 6:15pm ready for sleep!

Day mileage: 3.9
Total mileage: 49.4
Personal mileage: 6.24

CDS3- Zubiri to Pamplona (Well, Trinidad de Arre)

June 7, 2018June 12, 20181 Comment

Man. What a trip today was. At this point, I can’t do anything but laugh. We just can’t win! The day started off well. It was looking promising that today would be a bit of a relief day from the first two. Now, don’t get me wrong, any type of backpacking is tough. The last two days have just been exceptionally tough with the terrain and the inclines and declines. Today has definitely and absolutely without a doubt been the easiest- and I mean “easiest” day we’ve had so far. Well, it was suppose to be.

It started off really nice. Debbie had trashed her old poncho, we had a nice breakfast, good sleep, coffee-it was looking to be a good day.

We set of back over the bridge and to the trail. And once again to no surprise there views were beautiful and just absolutely outstanding. We came across more horses, which are just so dang cute. Although, I think we saw a dead baby calf today. He was laying down sideways in the field near three other horses (two adults and another calf about the same age) it didn’t appear to be breathing. So sad.

We saw some beautiful views along the way. So much of it reminded me of a fantasy novel, or even a movie. Like we were walking through forrests where faries lived. Truly breath taking. Flowers, slugs, trees. Most of our path today was along the Rio Arga river, which was just outstanding. I have been CRAVING fruit and have been having a harder time coming across it than I expected. We decided to rest at a cafe along the way and I was able to finally find fruit at a reasonable price!

We saw New York here again, pressed on, although he caught up with us later. Asking Debbie if she’s okay, if she needs anything, reviewing a conversation about relationships they had earlier. Blah blah blah. I was walking ahead of Debbie listening to New York have this conversation, laughing all to myself at how much I’m sure Debbie wasn’t interested in his conversation and how naive I still found him to be! Which, maybe I was grumpy at this point again but COME ON MAN. DOESNT EVERYONE KNOW TRUST, HONESTY, AND COMMUNICATION ARE ESSENTIAL IN RELATIONSHIPS? Like, can’t we all agree that even stereotypically, those are things society lists when discussing this? And not even romantic ones. HELLO! HAVE YOU EVER HAD A FRIENDSHIP? YOU’RE 28, YOU’RE NOT NEW. You need those for friendship too! He was just talking to Debbie like this was the first time he’s ever heard these words being applied to a relationship. But, I don’t know, maybe he hasn’t. I don’t know his life. I’m just being super judgemental and now as I type this I feel like a total jerk. So hey, there’s that.

We were moving fairly quickly along and by 1:10 we were just 3.8km away from Pamplona, our goal city. We arrive to the first albergue (Trinidad de Arre- blue on the map) and I ask Debbie how she’s feeling. We discuss whether to stop or press forward and decide to keep going.

Well. At some point, we took a wrong turn. And to this very moment, I’m still not sure when but I think I have an idea. I’ll know for sure tomorrow. We keep following the trail, it’s marked either by shell markers, yellow arrows, yellow strips, or red and white stripe paired together. Yep. All of these are options to look for somewhere that fell you which way to go. I should really document all the different direction types we have seen so everyone gets an idea of what we’re working with.

We’re going up for a long while, we come back down, and Debbie calls my name. She says she’s not sure how much more she can do and asks where we are and if there’s a hotel nearby. Where we stopped was an intersection with a bench at the road to the path (all marked by the orange and white stripe) and a cobblestone road into the city. I tell Debbie sure, that I will go down the road and find out. I put my bag down, leave Debbie on a bench in the sun and take this switch back cobblestone road down into the city.

There’s no one anywhere.

I’m wandering past houses, buildings, all beautiful and made of stone- not a soul around. I pop out onto a main street where cars are flying by. I can see to my left there is a highway interchange, and to the right a city. I turn right and am looking for a sign for literally anything in the form of an albergue or a hotel or a person. Nothing. Car after car after car. All filled with people looking at me like “she looks lost” or “why is she here?” And I keep walking down. I go pretty far before I see a sign for a pharmacy down a ways. At this point, I’ve been gone for a while. I decide to head back, passing a road where down it I can see two men sitting in chairs outside of a building. It was down and around far enough off the main road that my Spidey senses was like NOPE. NOT THAT DESPERATE. I turn the corner to the road back to Debbie and I see a sign on a building that says Hurate. All I think to myself is that can’t be right. I take my map out, look at the sign, look at my map, look at the sign, look at the freeway interchange and think “what the fuck, how are we here” I see two orange and white stripes on the way now facing me (wouldn’t have seen them on my way down) which are the exact path back to Debbie. Now I’m totally confused and royally frustrated. I go back to Debbie and as I am getting to her, a woman passes by walking her dog and I ask her where we are. She does say we are in Hurate, points where and tells me the path she just came from (where we were going to go past the bench) is the road to Santiago but sort of steep. She says Pamplona is about 4km that way. I thank her, explian to Debbie and we discuss our options. We discuss getting a cab to Pamplona, keep going, rest. We knew something was also up when no other people came by. So far on the Camino people come and go in waves, you leap frog, etc. But there’s ALWAYS people, eventually. Not this time. There was a local map at this interchange I was trying to use as well but I don’t read Spanish well and I couldn’t wrap my head around how we would have ended up there. Hurate was South East of us. We were directly west of it at the Albergue. I was comparing that map, to my book, to my phone maps location and I just couldn’t see how we did it. I don’t even know how much time went by, 30? 40 minutes? Debbie says she’s just going to take her pack off, have a snack, and press on. Because she’s a beast. So we do that. We take this path FORVEVER upwards. I felt so bad and was so completely frustrated. And I don’t have answers. So this path goes really up, an little down, back up and where does it let back out? Right before we dropped down to the Albergue.
Remember that last photo above with Debbie leaning on a wall? Yep. There. Right freaking there.

We’ve made a loop. And all we could do was laugh. Nothing else. We knew at the bottom of this downhill was the Albergue and agreed to go stay there. We get down, listing all the positive things about our mishap today including, we got to see a scenic route we couldn’t, we probably won’t see New York guy again, he is going to be ahead of us, it wasn’t raining, it wasn’t too sunny, we still had daylight, and we wouldnt have to stay up there through the night.

It only gets funnier. We walk up to this Albergue, that’s a huge stone building with these heavy dark narrow doors. We ring a doorbell, it buzzes and we enter into a dark room at the foot of the stairs. There’s a room to the right and at the top of the stairs a no older than 13 year old boy comes walking down with his little white dog trailing behind him and leads us into this room with a desk, a computer from the 90s, and information. This room is dark and musty like everything else appears in the whole building. This boy sits in the chair behind the table and asks for our passports and Camino passports. This room is only light by the daylight seeping in through cracks and high windows.

All I want to do is laugh.

All I could think is “WHERE ARE WE, this is so bizarre.” Outside is clearly a thriving town and in here it looks old, dark, and abandoned. He stamps my Pilgrim card, dates it. Begins the same with Debbie when finally we hear footsteps and he says “Oh, my Papa” and a man walks in, turns on the lights and greets us. This seems way more reasonable. He finishes checking us in and while he does that I am looking around this check in room where I see behind his desk on this cobblestone wall is a massive painting of Joseph. I turn and look behind us only to find a massive painting of the Virgin Mary looking at me and all I can think about is how I read somewhere online last night that one of the albergues was an old hospital turned into a church. Well, we found it. On his old computer I see a bunch of crosses and rosaries hanging off and I think “well, he’s definitely Catholic, nothing bad will happen. Well, maybe. Unless this is a horror movie and we’re totally dead”.

There is literally nothing creepy about this we except well, everything.

The man tells us his English isn’t good, explains some stuff to us, grabs Debbie’s bag and instructs us to follow him. We do, out back and around through this dark room, in through more dark doors and no lights. We enter a room and we are standing in a dark church. Again, literally everything feels so creepy. It’s stone, dark, he’s not clear where we’re going and then we are all of the sudden in this room with pews and a huge alter that’s dark. So the I wonder if he’s either going to asks us to pray or something, or if we are sleeping in the church. He then tells us how this room is a church and the whole grounds use to be a hospital. I felt so validated. He takes us down the isle, genuflects, and takes us to the left of the alter through this hallway, through to this other basement looking place to show us the exit. This is also where I thought “I’ve seen hostel. I’ve seen this movie. We also die here.” And he takes us through to light to another building where there’s finally other people and our lodging. We get to our room and I just start laughing. It’s totally fine, but oh my god the whole thing was so weird.

We shower, rest, I write. I tell Debbie about the horrors running through my mind and she says “Oh, I didn’t think it was creepy. I did not. I said, I think your mom would like it! ” Apparently while I was panicking in the church, Debbie said that she thought my mom would like it. I definitely did not hear that. We also talked about how when the guy genuflected, I wasn’t ready for it and panicked. My Catholic upbringing knows the disrespect of NOT doing it but I don’t practice and just wanted to go and Debbie said she thought about how even if she wanted to, she couldn’t have because she was too sore! She also said “you know what I thought when we walked into that church? I thought, “Do we have to walk through here every time we want to leave? Because I REALLY don’t want to do that” that’s what I thought” haha!

** I just feel the need to clarify that when we FIRST walked through all of this NONE OF THE LIGHTS WERE ON. When I went back for photos, they were. SO IT WAS WAY CREEPIER!**

We made it to the market, grabbed some dinner (salami, Gouda, cherries, and olives for me, and cous cous, olives, cherries and chips for Debbie) and headed back to eat, rest, and plan. We talked to a nice guy from Switzerland for a while, don’t know his name either. We complained about how every map we have is misleading for a while, because they are. I brought a book, Debbie printed a document she found and we have been looking at the provided local maps and none of the are consistent on how the trail looks or will feel. So that’s been awesome and frustrating. We talked about that alot, other life things, had some laughs and made a plan. I think tomorrow we are only going to walk to Pamplona (3.8km) and spend the day there. Take time to rest and give muscles time to heal. Hopefully they will have better WiFi there so I can catch you all up on these dang blogs I’m writing but can’t post! If I can’t get good WiFi in Pamplona, I’m just going to have to start posting the blogs without photos. Uploading the pictures is the hold up. We will see.

Now, bed.

Day mileage: 15.6
Total mileage: 45.5
Personal mileage: 18.05

CDS2- Roncevalles to Zubiri

June 7, 2018June 12, 2018Leave a comment

We woke up, feeling sore but good and ready to go. I overslept, not by much, but enough that I was in a panic and Debbie absolutely didn’t care and was fine. We were out the door by seven.

It started off a little confusing because everyone left before us so we were not clear as to which way to go, honestly. We figured it out and began to walk. We got to a point where we were unsure so we asked a fellow walked and continued on. We were talking so much that afternoon a while we realized we had not been fully paying attention and could no longer see indicator signs showing us we were on the right path. A lot of standing, back tracking twice and map reading we figured out where we were. We were just talking the road instead of the natural park for a little which is okay. We eventually got back on track and went. The days have been cool which had been really nice. We got lucky today because it was musty in the morning but by the end of the day it had only rained minimally on and off. Nothing compared to the first day. Overall it was still a tough day. Lots of inclines and declines but man, this terrain were are on is so inconsistent and nothing I read ahead of time indicated that and I don’t know hope that is possible. In someways I get it because we are earlier in the season or weather will be different, which changes our terrain but hope does no one mention you go from sorry to gravel to stone? I’m sure if I specifically googled the Camino terrain it would come up but I never did because everything I read made it seem like the first day was legit tough backpacking and then pretty much the rest was just a path-paved/dirt/gravel. Still hills but one defined path of the same terrain. Nothing I saw alluded to anything else so why would I have ever bothered to seek out the terrain if it didn’t seem like there was that much of a variety! But guess what! There is. And rain only makes it more dangerous.

Thats where today went bad. The end was super sketchy. It was a step decline of dirt, rock, and stone, some with a river through it. So all of the sorry was mostly deep mud from recent rains and all the steep slopes of stone we had to cross were super sketchy because of how well they were. Steep and sleek are not a good combination. It made the end tough, but we did it. We got to Zubiri and crossed the bridge into the town and stayed at the first albergue we could find. It was really nice with a great view of the river. The town was small and cute.

After checking in we decided to go look for and arm and dinner. We saw Kelly sitting by the river and went to talk to her. We first met her in the train station in Bayonne. Sorry of. We sat across from each other all day at it saying nothing to each other until she asked if we would watch her bag while she went to the restroom and we did. She sat in front of me on the bus, my throw up almost made her throw up, really-great friends now- haha! She also stated at the same first albergue and we walked quite a ways together the first day. She’s a zookeeper in Cork, which is pretty rad. She’s not doing the whole Camino, only going to Pamplona. Anyways, talked to her, asked about the atm, and decided to get food at this nearby cafe. As we get near the cafe we, before we see, we can hear New York. Now, we call this guy New York because we don’t know his name. We only know he’s from New York.

Let me tell you about New York. We came across his peppy self the very first day. I walked by as he was trying to take a selfie of him and some friends. I offered to take the photo and gleefully said yes! He then offered to take one of me and did and then I asked him to take one of Debbie and I and he did. These ones

Awww how nice. Well, New York is a very happy guy. But on day one, which was pretty miserable for everyone he was just too dang happy. He was in a better mood than most because he had paid €8 to have his bag sent ahead so while yes, he was doing this horrid trek with us in this unpleasant weather, he WASN’T carrying all of the things on his back like most. While that’s not his fault and totally his choice to do, it did put him mentally and physically in a different place than most around him. And for that, his little burst of sunshine in his sky was not floating over mine.. Or I gather most people. He is extremely kind and continuosly has checked up on Debbie, asking if he can do anything for her, give her Advil, walk with her,etc. He walked with me for a bit which is why I know he’s from New York (no accent though) and from the city. This is the first time he had been out of the country. I know that because I had to ask. They way he spoke about things and the things he said reminded me of myself when I first went to another country or anyone who is young and just learning the world is so different. So much of what he said and his views I felt were naive, maybe cause it was pouring rain and he was walking like it was nothing that my grumpy self was annoyed but to some extent it really was just lack of experience. Not that I know everything or close to anything, because I definitely do not have it all figured out by any means- I have so much more to grow and learn, I just think I understand a little more than him. This lead me to ask how old he was. He said 28. I definitely thought he was going to say like 23/24.

Sooo…that was unexpected. I think overall he probably wasn’t a fan of my less enthusiastic company and he back tracked to find his friends. Since then, we see him peruodically through out the day. He is always excited to see Debbie and even asked for a photo with her. Turns out the first night they were in the same sleeping area in parallel bunk beds. Debbie told me this story this morning while walking. He asked Debbie why she was walking (a common question here) and she said she responded and told him and out of courtesy she asked him the same to which he responded he’s looking for love and the one and how to know when you meet the one that they are it. So he asked Debbie if he could ask her some questions about her experience and her thoughts and took down notes. He told her how he talked to a couple that had been married for years who were on the trail and their advice and what Debbie feels about what this couple told him, blah blah blah. Just a lot. Very kind, well intended. But a lot. This is New York. A happy go lucky, kind hearted, emotional, loud (he just always talks so loud, completely and totally oblivious to his surroundings- and that’s coming from ME), young guy looking for love.

I feel you need to know all of this because I have a feeling we will be seeing al lot of New York in the next thirty days. Oh boy.

Annnyyywaaaays. We sit as far as we possibly can from him and Kelly ends up coming to join us to eat! I had meatballs and sangria. I reaaaaaaaally wanted salad or fruit but this place didn’t have ANY. I also figured I haven’t really had any real substantial food in a while so might as well get something. They were pretty good. I don’t usually eat meatballs but I really wasn’t feeling any of the food on the menu. Kelly mentioned she was waiting for the super market to re-open (siesta) and I asked to join in the hopes of finding fruit! We head over and there’s over priced fruit. An apple or orange was €2.80. So, I went to bed fruitless. Debbie and I stopped in the sporting goods store where she bought a new poncho because hers ripped and a new buff because she accidentally left her at the first albergue. We headed back to the room to sleep. While the sun was still up because it doesn’t set here until like 10pm it’s feels! Whattheheck! It’s crazy. I mean not that crazy. I wish we had that much daylight at home.

Day mileage: 16
Total mileage: 29.9
Personal mileage: 17.02

The Road to Santiago CDS1: Saint Jean Pied de Port to Roncevalles

June 7, 2018June 12, 20181 Comment

Oh. My. God.

Everyone says the first day is the hardest. And it was. Well, I feel like it’s going to be for many reasons. It’s the first day with your pack, first day walking and getting use to everything. On top of that, it’s about a 25.4km walk and a variety of terrain. You are on dirt, concrete, grass, rocks, mud. You name it, we were on it. It has the most elevation gain. Now add to that, the lovely weather. It rained. It hailed. It was a long day. It took me about 6 1/2 hours to complete and it was rough.

Also, literally everything I own clothing wise is wet. My shoes aren’t! Which is so nice. All I could think of was how lucky I was that my waste down was dry. Because my clothes did not dry from yesterday’s adventures, I had to wear my fleece pants with my rain pants over it and boyyyyy did that work in my favor. They’re wet from sweat, but not rain. Which could have ruined my day and I believe did for many people.

So now I’m wet and cold at the albergue waiting for Debbie. She insisted I did not wait for her walking but I am here! I paid €3.50 to get my clothes laundered. But only cause I need them dry. All I have is my sleep shirt and spare pair of socks that aren’t wet.

The views were unreal. Also creepy. Walking through the French countryside and then at some point crossed over into Spain. Lots of goats, sheep, cows, and horses! So beautiful. Take a look.

Day mileage: 13.9
Total mileage: 13.9
Personal mileage: 14.73

The road to the road to Santiago

June 3, 2018June 12, 2018Leave a comment

What it be!

If you don’t know, this summer I am starting off by walking the El Camino de Santiago. It is a 497 mile pilgrimage that starts at the border of France and Spain and ultimately ends at the statue of Saint James in Santiago de Compostela.

Basically, I’m walking alot.

Today has been a travel day. I had to meet up with Debbie in the airport in Paris after a 10 hour flight. Flight left late, which was frustrating, but otherwise, everything went smoothly. I picked the front row of a section and it paid off in leg space. I had a comfy flight filled with watching Eat, Pray, Love, Goodbye Christopher Robin, and The Big Bang Theory. Also, lots of sleep. The French countryside is so beautiful.

Got to Paris, found Debbie, got my bag, everything was going well, which we all know can never happen. And don’t worry, it didn’t stay well. Turns out the Trains and rails systems around Paris are all on strike. Today. Right now. Apparently, everyone knew but us. Apparently there’s a whole schedule online telling is which days are strike days. Apparently, this has been going on since MARCH. Well, apparently, I missed the memo.

It was so unbelievably frustrating. We saw a sign in the airport, explaining today was a strike day and there may be changes to train schedules. The stop we needed to take the train to was not an option. The only train running went to one specific train station that was closer to the city, but (as we learned later) one that has the line connections we need. We looked into options from the airport, knowing a taxi would be real expensive. I contacted our Air bnb host and she recommended Uber as a cheaper option, which was €50 for an hour and half trip. Train was €20.60 and so we decided to take that train, check out Uber when we arrive, maybe find the line we need, something. So we take this train to du Nord station in Paris. Get there, spend more time then I care to admit trying to figure out where the heck to go. We learned quickly your train ticket not only allows entrance to the station, it’s what let’s you exit. The problem was figuring out which exit to leave from and what direction to go. It was incredibly frustrating. Trying to read the French, figure out how we could take a train to the line we needed, not even sure if it was running, plus all of the other people that this station has an influx of because of the strike, and we couldn’t connect to WiFi to get other answers. Frustrating.

After me not being able to find my ticket to exit, a kind stranger letting me use his pass, us realizing we went out the wrong exit to go outside, and having a worker point us in the right direction, we finally surfaced outside of du Nord station…somewhere in Paris. Debbie insisted on a photo.

We were over it and voted on taking a taxi. We walked out and around to what looked like a main Street, turned the corner and found ourselves at the front of the station, looking at a nice long line of available taxis.

We get the first taxi we can, show him the address, and go. I was fighting sleep at this point, but what I can remember thinking after viewing this part of Paris through this taxi was that there was a lot of trash around, graffiti, and a lot of (assumingly) transient people. The taxi ride was €64.00. We should have just Ubered in the first place. Oh well, at least we made it!

Our hosts name is Stephanie and she is lovely. Showed us around her place and to our room. We asked for food recommendations and walked just down the way to Chateaux Arthur de Juliette. It felt very European, as many people were sitting at the tables and chairs on the sidewalk having drinks, playing cards, or just chatting. We had a kind waiter who helped us with the French menu and ordered dinner… And beers 🍻

This beer is 1664. The waiter’s favorite. It was light, reminded me of Heineken.

We headed back, relaxed, discussed the future day, rearranged packs, and went to sleep. It was light out pretty late into the day. I remember at 9:30pm thinking it was still to bright to sleep. It was loud, at night. The streets are so narrow and buildings so high, everything echoed upwards. Motorcycles, friends laughing, you name it, we heard it.

Next day we woke up early, intending to go back to Chateaux Arthur de Juliette for some coffee. I had mentioned to Debbie that someone told me once that in France, you can only eat at restaurants certain times of the day. That for lunch they are only open for a small window, then close, and reopen for dinner, or something like that. In researching places to get coffee the following morning, nothing opened until 12:00. Some didn’t even open until noon, on Tuesday! The only place maps said was open at 8:00 was the same Chateaux place. So we get up, get ready, and go.

Well, it was open, but they weren’t serving anyone. No one was around. Literally, anywhere.

Debbie was hellbent on getting coffee. She did not want a headache for the day. We walked in, saw fresh delicious pastries on the counter in their delivery box, and not a single soul around. In Debbie’s frustration, I offered to walk around the park across the street. We had arrived RIGHT at 8:00. Perhaps we just needed to give them some time to get it together. I told her we were being those people. We decided to cross over and stumbled into this beautiful park. Scoped it out a little, admired all those people jogging and biking through it, talked and headed back to the cafe. This time a person was there, who told us to come after 9:00 which was not going to work for us.

Heading back we were discussing options when we saw a woman with a stroller walk into a baakery that had construction all around it. We could see the workers setting up pastries through the window. We raced in delighted to find an array of pastries and coffee. I got a double espresso and a croissant. I don’t really like pastries, but hey, why not. It was pretty good. Debbie enjoyed her chocolate croissant. We enjoyed our breakfast, headed back to the air bnb and ordered an Uber to the train station. We got there with plenty of time before our train and hung out.

Trains were a bit confusing because, well, French. We got on the wrong train at first, realized it quickly, was confused, found help, and got on the right train in the wrong cart. We didn’t find that last bit out until much later when we were in someone’s seats. But, once again, someone kindly helped us and we moved to our correct train cart, which was way better. The first cart we were in, we were seated backwards and my gosh, did that make me sick. I layed across two seats until we picked up more people, switched carts, and our new seats faced forward. Waaaaaayy better. We snacked and talked about our plans for the end of this trip. We still hadn’t decided what we were doing once we reached Santiago or how we were going to get back to Paris. Now we are flying to London so Debbie can see her friend for a few days before heading back. We arrived in Bayonne for what was suppose to be an hour layover for our final train to Saint Jean Pied de Port. But once again, strikes.

The train strikes…strike again… Ha. Ha. Ha. Stick with me here, it’s been a long two days.

We talk to a worker who told us there is only one bus going to Saint Jean because of the strikes at 6:12pm. Coooooool…glad it’s 2:00pm now. So, that was fun. Sitting at a train station. Again. Waiting. Again. It’s a small little town and has begun to rain. We’ve also heard thunder. Those storms are rolling in.

The station smells of cigarette smoke as it blows in from outside. It’s not fun.

We got on our bus and it was literally the worst ever. In summary, I threw up. A lot. If you want to know the details of this super awesome story, find me when I get back and I’ll share. We got to Saint Jean Pied de Port, got our first stamps, found a lovely place to stay with the sweetest French woman who speaks no English and was absolutely fabulous. Showing us around, using lots of gesturing, she took us outside to show us the bathrooms. During this we saw the view out the back of her house and Debbie began to cry. It truly was remarkable.

Day 12- Back to Malawi

July 19, 2017March 13, 2019Leave a comment

This morning we got up and Meg, Holly and I went to go run some errands. We had breakfast at the hostel, they had hard boiled eggs! I was so excited. I haven’t been able to get hard boiled eggs here at all. This was exciting for me. We got a tuk-tuk and headed to buy bus tickets for later that day. We are getting a 12:00 bus to Mzuzu and we needed to buy our tickets. It was literally one woman sitting at a green plastic table in a parking stall of a parking lot. So bizarre. We bought our tickets, got in the tuk tuk and headed back to the Chitenje market to pick up our clothes we had made at the beginning! We went to the tailor, looked at them, and took them to Peace Corps to try them on. Holly had to get some medicine from her doctor as well, she had been feeling even more sore and worse than me. She grabbed her medicine and we all tried on all of the Chitenje for each other to figure out what we still needed to be fixed. I definitely need all my pants to be taken in in the leg, and one dress in at the waist. One of my other dresses was perfect! We love them so much. We got that all sorted out and decided that Holly was going to go back to the hostel (she really was not feeling well) and Meg and I were gonna drop the clothes back off at the tailor to get fixed while we were gone.

We dropped off Holly and got to the market. Meg and I went in, dropped it off, I bought another 2 meters to use for a cork board at school, and Holly called asking where we were. We jumped back in the tuk tuk, got two more tuk tuks and went back to Crown, the hostel. Meg and I got there, grabbed our bags, as everyone was also checking out, and we got in the tuk tuks and headed to the bus. We got the bus and there were so many people! Bec and Holly ran to the store to grab snacks (as our lunch) and the rest of us loaded the bus up and got seats. Every seat was packed and they were tiny seats. We all were sitting pretty separate from each other. I was in an aisle seat, next to some old man.

This was the longest bus ride, ever. Sitting cramped with this stiff neck/back was the absolute worst. We left at noon and did not arrive to Mzuzu until 5:30. We finally got to Mzuzu and got a taxi to Joys, the hostel we were staying at. Holly was not having life at this point and started bartering with the taxi drivers who wanted us to pay way too much, and eventually she just gave up and we got in one and went. Joys was cute and they had so many dogs! All the cute dogs to play with. We put our stuff down and walked to Umunthu, another hostel to have dinner. Everyone says it is the best dinner. And oh my god, it was. Another Peace Corps volunteer was there, uh….. Brimble I think his name was. His last name. With one of his friends, Ben, who is originally from Seattle but has currently been a journalist the last four years in Israel. We all grabbed beers, ordered food, and started playing Phase 10.

Oh my gosh. When we asked Brimble and Ben if they wanted to play Phase 10, Ben responded very strongly and was like “I hate phase 10! I tried to avoid it at all costs” and everyone was clearly thinking like…”Whoa dude…just a game” Brimble then asked about the game, finally realizing it was a card game. Turns out, Brimble and Ben thought we said FACE TIME. We all started busting up. Asking Brimble, what did he think we were going to do, FaceTime each other and turn our backs and talk??? Like what?? We were dying. Ben said he definitely heard FaceTime too- and of course we inquired as to why someone could have such strong feelings about hating FaceTime. We died. Then we taught them Phase 10 and played during food and drinks. Holly and I had the best dinner. We split a three cheese peppaew, salad, and fries. It tasted like the best thing we have eaten this entire trip. It was amazing.

We played late into the night, finally all of us walking back to Joys and Brimble and Ben heading to wherever they were staying. We got back, I blogged for a bit, and then everyone crashed.

Day 11- Zambia

July 19, 2017March 13, 2019Leave a comment

This morning we got up as planned for our morning drive. We went and had breakfast, which was even more delicious. During breakfast, a server came to us and told us our safari driver was in the back. We were confused. Then we realized it must have been Mophy. Holly. Immediately asked our server, who was lovely, to get his manager because he wants to talk to him. We finish breakfast, head out front, only to find the manager out there with a man we don’t recognize. Apparently, Mophy had hired a driver to come pick us up. The manager of Croc Valley was not having it. He told the driver to call Mophy, which he did, and the driver gave the manager the phone. He told Mophy that we were not getting into the car with his driver, but getting into their car and that we would be back and 10 and that Mophy can meet us then. They hung up.

Apparently Mophy has done this many times before, dropped people off late at night and then picked them up very early and not paid. The manager told us he got us a private car and we got in. Our drivers name was Akim and he too, was just as fabulous as Simon. We headed out, with Bec and Mitch singing some Lion King tunes to keep us awake. The Lion Sleeps Tonight to be exact. It was too early for any of us to be awake, so we found this very entertaining.

Guess what we saw first? Elephants! More beautiful elephants. Only one of them was missing a tusk. Akim believes this is probably a result of just fighting to break food off and eat it, the tusk got worn down and broke. We saw loads more of impalas. It was amazing to watch Akim and his tracking skills. Things I know but did not think about. He was watching where vultures were circling in the sky, watching the way impalas were moving and jumping, and following prints on the ground. We were driving and all of the sudden Akim jeers to the right and speeds up. He says that there must be a leopard on the other side of the flatland. When we asked how he could tell (as the impala were standing still-it appeared) and he said that though the impala were not moving, the impalas that who were essentially the scouts (so only a few of them) were jumping up and down. This is how the impala alert the others that there is a predator near. We raced over and low and behold- we found a leopard! It was so incredibly fun. We followed her around. He told us that this particular leopard was a daughter of Alice- one of the parks oldest leopards, who had passed away. We followed her around for a bit, seeing if we could watch where she goes. We drove around for a bit, saw more of the variety of birds the park is home to, and drove by some of the whitest of white people on a safari. I too a photo of them because it made me laugh. THEN came across the most RANCID stench of all time.

The hippo carcass!

The very one we saw the night before. We could smell it this morning and it was AWFUL. We pull up to so many cars and finally get a look. There are about 10 lions around and eating this hippo carcass. It was insane! Two male lions and probably about 6-8 female lions. Eating, laying around sleeping, just in and around this hippo. It was gross and amazing all at the same time. We stayed there for a while, watching all of this go down. I had my binoculars out so we could all get an even closer view.

We left the lions to see another elephant, more impalas, and lots of zebras and hippos. We had a blast with Akim. We asked him loads of questions about his job, his time in Zambia, and animals. He was insanely knowledgeable about the wildlife present in the park. He told us his family was part of the tribes that were indigenous to the lands that now cover the national park. Back in the 30’s I think he said, there was a bad case of leprosy throughout the area so people began to leave. Eventually, they cleared everyone out and decided to declare the area a national park to preserve the animal life. He has spent his whole life around the animals and has been a guide for the park since the 90’s. He loves his job. We stopped to have tea and biscuits again, this time with just a view of the river and some elephant bones, which is where he shared all of this.

We left the park and on our way back turning onto the road to our hostel, a truck with POLICE written on it turned in front of us. We knew this had to do with Mophy. We arrived back to see the manager and Mophy sitting at a table. We see the police walk up and now there are alike 6 people from the police department, Mophy, and the manager. We walked up hesitant, to say the least. The manager told us to wait and he would be with us. Meg went to the bathroom, Holly and Bec went to go put things down, Mitch and I decided to play pool on the tiniest pool table of all time. Of all time, because it looks like instead of making a standard size pool table, they made one suitable for kids, but are using it for adults. We had to hunch over far, which was not fun with my stiff neck I have had for two days now. Poor Mitch was leaning all the way over. I lost, hard. The billiard balls were awful and the table was off balance! Lol! When Holly and Bec walked away, we all saw across the pool where they were headed, Axon! They stopped to talk to him for a while. Mitch and I also ran back to the rooms only to find giraffes near our site in the distance!

The manager called us over and asked us to say what we needed to Mophy. Holly went off. She gave this great first speech that I wanted applaud afterwards. She basically just told Mophy about how he was screwing us over, taking our money, taking advantage of this place, these people, us, etc. Mophy at first tried to talk and started with “No, no, you see” and Holly was like “Don’t tell me no! You can’t tell me I don’t feel how I feel” and went off again. Mophy was quiet. The manager and all the police deceives sitting around were quiet and just looking around, away, anywhere but at Mophy and Holly. Ultimately, Holly told him she did not feel comfortable driving in a car with him and did not want to see him anymore. She explained we wound find our own transport back to Malawi. Bec went off on him asking about our park entrance fees that he stole and did not actually pay for. It was intense. Overall, Holly told Mophy to go away, literally, and that she did not want to see him ever again.

From there we began trying to figure out our own transport and cost. Ultimately, we actually ended up asking Axon if HE would drive us all the way to Lilongwe, but not with Mophy. We agreed on a price, that was cheaper than a car, and got in. Axon drove us all the way. The only time we were nervous was getting back into Malawi. Apparently sometimes the health inspector checks for the Yellow Fever vaccine, which I did not have. When I looked online it said “If you are coming from a country that has yellow fever, you will need proof of a vaccine. This excludes residents from the United States” so I did not think I would need it. That would have been accurate, if I was entering Malawi from the U.S. this time. I was entering it from Zambia, which means technically, I would have needed that vaccine. Whoops. But it was fine, there was no health inspector there that day, and we moved along. More car rides! It was not actually as far. Maybe four hours total.

We got to Lilongwe, checked into our hostel, and decided to get some Chinese food. Holly realized that one of her Peace Corps friends was staying in the same hostel (actually a few doors down). We all called Bonaface again, squeezed into the car and went to the restaurant. Next to this restaurant was a karaoke spot where you can pay to rent a room. If you have ever done karaoke in Koreatown, it’s kind of like that. We rented this room AND had our food brought to it. It was a total flipping blast. We sang all kinds of random music. The worker even told us that he has one song he likes to sing and sang it for us. He sang “London Bridge is Falling Down” which cracked me up. It was honestly the LAST song I ever expected this guy to sing. I wasn’t even sure I knew all the words to this song and was impressed that he did. We ate, sang, and laughed. Cleaned up and walked back to the hostel. We even saw a prostitute. To bed we all went.

Day 10- South Luangwa, Zambia (Start of Safari!)

July 10, 2017March 13, 2019Leave a comment

We woke up at 4:30-5:00 this morning. Breakfast was at 5:30am and our safari truck was leaving at 6:00. We were so excited! Bec came up to our door and jumped making a loud sound which scared the crap out of us. Mitch and Bec we’re staying in a different chalet because they only sleep three. That part was a bummer. But the chalet’s are super cool and spacious, so everyone was perfectly okay with the split.

Anyways, we go to breakfast, eat cereal and toast, and walk out to the car park where we will meet our guide. A Land Rover with tiered seating pulls up and we climb in with our guide, Simon. Two others are with us, Sara and Julian. It was freezing cold and we were all pretty much bundled up. Before we even got into the park, we saw an elephant! We get to the National Park entrance, provide our names and head in. Immediately over a bridge we see an elephant that is eating its breakfast! It was pretty far away, but still awesome!

The drive was four hours and SO FREAKING COOL! Our guide was AMAZING! Simon would do his best to show us everything and get as close as we could while being safe. He even spotted a leopard in a tree, which was cool. I wish the photo was clear enough for you all to see. We saw hippos, TONS of impala, birds, and heaps of elephants! The coolest part of this morning drive was when Simon stopped and pointed out in the distance two lions. They were not with the rest of the pride. Simon explained that these two lions were separating themselves for mating purposes. Apparently, when mating, lions separate themselves from the pride, and mate 3-4 times an hour, every hour, for 24 hours, for a week.

That was a fun fact.

We asked if we could get closer and he took us! It was unbelievable how freaking close to these lions we were. I could not believe it! Most of what we get about lions and wild animals is from movies and television shows, so naturally, in my head, this lion wants to eat me. Definitely not the case. We hung out with the two of them for a bit while they napped and eventually moved on.

After that we saw some Zebras and then took a break for tea. We drove and stopped under a tree, surrounded by tons of Impalas and had biscuits, tea, and coffee. Afterwards, we continued on the drive to see more Zebra and hippos. At 10 our morning drive ended and everyone was pretty stoked on the lions we saw.

We headed back to the hostel, Croc Valley, and relaxed for a bit in the hammocks. Everyone had lunch, read, napped, showered, and just took it easy. We ended up by the bar, having some beers and playing Phase 10 with Sarah and Julian. At 3:50 a waiter came and told us we had tea, biscuits, and coffee waiting for us AGAIN in the dining area. We had no idea and our night game ride was leaving at 4:00. Holly and I raced over, grabbed tea for ourselves and biscuits for everyone else, and booked it back to the car park to catch our next ride.

All of us got in the car and headed back to the park, still with Simon! When we got to the park to go in, the guards stopped us stating that the five of us did not pay our park entrance fees. We told them we gave our fees to Mophy, who was suppose to have paid them, so we did not have to stop. The guards already knew who Mophy was. They said they received word that Mophy would bring the park fees at 11:00, but he never did. The guards said they had been trying to call him all day and was not answering. OF COURSE. We were so annoyed but too excited about our drive. We paid the fees and headed in.

Immediately Simon pointed to tree and spotted the same leopard in the same tree, only this time he was eating a baboon! We watched that for a bit. It was intense, listening to the bones break and everything. We drove around for a bit, waiting for the animals to come out and do something. We came across an entire open field of giraffes! It was so beautiful. I cannot even begin to tell you. Giraffes are so timid, so it was hard to get close to any of them without them moving out of the way. It was here we paused for a break and had some juice and popcorn. Yup! I ate popcorn with giraffes! It was unbelievable. The sun was really beginning to set at this point and we jumped back in the cruiser and ended up really close to one particular giraffe! Simon explained that this one male giraffe (you can tell by how dark their spots are) was looking for a female. But this particular female was already is a group with another male. This male giraffe was following them, but avoiding getting too close, for fear of having to fight the other male. The other male was protective of the female and did not want her to get stolen away, so was guarding her and her baby a lot. Because this giraffe did not want to get too close to them, it ended up standing right next to the road we drove on to get to the rest of the park. It was amazing to be that close!

After the giraffes, that is when things started happening and getting intense. It was dark now and we came down a road only to hear and ultimately see, hyenas! There were tons of them in the road and on the side. When the guide used the spotlight to see, we saw that there was a dead hippo. Nothing killed the hippo, it just knew it was going to die and separated itself on its own accord to die. The hyenas found it first. We were watching this when all of the sudden out of nowhere, TWO female lions come out of the bush to scare the hyenas off. Everyone was ecstatic! We were SO close! We were watching the hyenas run off, the female lions fight to take over the hippo. Next thing we know, out in front of us, a hyena bolts across the road followed by this lioness right after him! Right in front of our car! It happened so fast. Everyone then watched the second female claim the hippo.

At this point, I was nervous. We just watched a lion run across the road in front of us, into the shrubs on the left, and EVERYONE in the car was turned to the right looking at the second lion guarding the hippo. I was convinced the first female lion was going to jump out and attack all of us while our backs were turned. She didn’t. But eventually she joined up with the other female and the two of them just laid in the road, in front of where the hippo was. Guarding it, and each other. It was amazing to watch. Again, could not believe how freaking close we were to these lions.

As if the lions and hyenas fighting over a hippo carcass wasn’t cool enough, we then came upon a hyena and a leopard fighting over a warthog carcass. First we saw the hyena, just ripping apart this poor warthog, having dinner. The hyena was very alert and when trying to figure out why, that is when we saw the leopard. Simon explained that was probably happened was the leopard was probably the one to kill the warthog, only to have it stolen by the hyena. Leopards do not travel in any sort of pack or group, so when it comes to fighting for food, they tend to flee rather than fight. This is because if the leopard gets hurt, it’s on its own and has no defenses. That is why it was so easy for the hyena to steal her kill. She wast going to give up though. We followed and watched both of them. We watched the leopard try to sneak back around, only to be chased off again. We watched her sneak back again, only to lay down nearby and watch the hyena eat. As the hyena was done, he took a big portion with him and walked away. When he got about 1,000 feet, the leopard got up and walked over to grab some more of the warthog carcass. Next thing you know, this hyena comes sprinting back towards the leopard and the leopard bolts, holding her share of the warthog. This time the leopard makes it, she gets her bit and gets up in a tree before the hyena can get to her. This made all of us happy. We wanted the leopard to win- it was her kill!

We were SO pumped after this drive. It was truly a once in a life time experience and so fantastic to see in real life! We got back to Croc Valley and had dinner. We ran into the receptionist who had to deal with us and the whole Mophy thing the previous night. We told her what happened and she told us that she talked to Herbert (the guy Mophy said he booked it with) and Herbert said Mophy never booked our stay. AND Mophy had not paid them. AND apparently owes this place a lot of money.

Awesome. We all slightly panicked a bit. Mophy had our money and this place we were staying at was all inclusive. We knew it was going to be expensive if we had to pay. The woman wanted us to talk to her manager to explain what happened. Holly sat down with this guy, who has got to be one of the kindest, most understanding humans in the world. Him and Holly talked for a while and he knew that none of this was our fault. That Mophy had done this to them many a time. He asked what time Mophy was coming to pick us up the next morning. We told him we had no idea (as we hadn’t heard from Mophy). The manager told us to just wake up, have breakfast, and do another morning game drive, on them. For free. He was going to let us have another game drive. All we had to do was pay the park entrance fee. He told Holly he was going to have the police be there in the morning for when Mophy arrived so everyone could talk. This was getting insane. But I cannot begin to explain how hospitable and amazing the employees at Croc Valley were. If you ever find yourself in Zambia, it truly is the place to stay. With a plan for the morning, we all headed to bed. As we walked to our rooms hippos were right outside of our room! Crossing the road between our chalet and Bec and Mitch’s. SO FREAKING COOL.

Day 8/9- Zambia

July 10, 2017March 13, 2019Leave a comment

The past two days have been pretty much just driving. We are making our way to South Lulongwa to start a safari. Our safari will consist of three game drives through the national park. To get there though involved a lot of driving. We needed to go from Livingstone (which is where we were last night) to Lusaka (to overnight) then arrive to South Luangwa.

We left Livingstone and headed to Lusaka. Nothing all to exciting here. More sleep, more dirt roads, more goat, more cards. We actually arrived to Lusaka at a reasonable time, for once, and everyone was really excited about it. Holly knew Lusaka had shopping malls and a movie theatre and she REALLY wanted to go to the movies and see Wonder Woman. We decided we would get dinner and see a movie at the mall. Meg wasn’t feeling well, so she stayed behind. Before we left, Holly and I also paid to have some laundry done- woot woot! Clean clothes.

We go to the mall and eat dinner at this place called Mugg and Bean. We ordered so much food and it was SO good! Before we left, we saw in the dessert display case that there was cheesecake. Bec had been talking about cheesecake all week. How bad she was craving it and wanted some. It sounded great to everyone, so now we have all built up this desire to have some cheesecake. After seeing it in this display case, we all decided to get a piece and save it to eat while watching the movie. After we ate, we had some time to kill, so we walked around the mall a bit. Went into a Pick N’ Pay which was like a Walmart, the grocery store, and window shopped. Eventually it was time for the movie and we go to head in. Everyone is excited for the cheesecake and movie. The movie starts, there is practically no one else in the theatre, and we all take out our slices of cake. I am the first on to take a bite.

I almost gagged right there.

I spit it up immediately, as it was the worst tasting cheesecake I had ever eaten in my entire life. I spit it up, make a face, and Bec (sitting to my right) says “No, no, no, no, it can’t be true!” Holly and Bec both take bites. Both met by the same disgusted face. We start laughing out of disappointment. Mitch got chocolate cake, his tasted great, so I let him try mine. He also, made a face and spit it up.

It was AWFUL! It tasted like something was rotten or sour. Bec was so disappointed! It was so sad. Everyone was so sad. But the movie had started! We all put it away, so heartbroken, and watched the film.

Well, actually, I slept through most of it. Not on purpose, it’s a great movie! I just was SO tired I kept fighting to stay awake and lost. The nice part is that the ticket only costed $4. Four dollars! Four dollars to see a blockbuster hit. The movie ended, we headed back and went to bed.

We got up early the next day, ready to go, only to find that Mophy’s car wouldn’t start. Axon was frustrated. He finally started venting saying how disorganized Mophy is and how he was trying not to say anything in front of us, but finally had enough. We all felt so validated. After a long start of errands (breakfast/bank) we headed out.

Same thing, boring car ride, more sleep, more cards. We did play Phase 10- which I had never played before and loved! We stopped in Chapata to get dinner and finally made it to South Luangwa at like 10pm.

Guess who also wasn’t expecting us?

They accommodated, giving us a chalet, and it was SO cool!! It has a huge bathroom, kitchen, and three beds.

This place is in the middle of the Forrest and there are signs everywhere telling you to be careful. Driving in we saw Hippo! Just on the side of the road, 20 feet from the car, and an elephant! It was rad.

The woman checking us in told us that there are night guards to walk us to and from our rooms and to always be careful and walk with a torch. Animals come everywhere here.

And they did. Last night after we all got settled, we could hear loud shuffling and rumbling. Something was eating plants. We look out our door to see THREE elephants! Just outside, walking past. We followed them through the windows into the kitchen and watched them just outside. Eating leaves off of a tree. It was SO cool. Finally we went to bed, listening to the sounds of the animals. It’s an early day tomorrow for our first game drive!

Day 7- Zimbabwe back to Zambia

July 9, 2017March 13, 2019Leave a comment

Happy 4th of July everyone! I woke up early this morning, again. Saw some guinea fowls walking around. I have not been sleeping much this trip and I don’t know why. I went to bed after midnight and woke up at a quarter to six. It’s been really cold here at night and I am just freezing. Last night I slept in my leggings, sweatpants, socks, long sleeve and my Patagonia fleece jacket and still could not get warm enough to be fully comfortable. My face was freezing and the blankets provided were thin. Sleeping next to a window doesn’t help either.

I decided to get up and start blogging. I took my stuff out to the kitchen area to find Joe, packing up and getting ready to head to the falls. I made myself a cup of coffee began typing and chatting with him. Everyone slowly woke up and trickled out, ordering breakfast, getting ready and packing up. We got our stuff together, got a cab and headed towards Shearwater, the company we booked rafting through and also bungee jumping.

Yup! Today we are bungee jumping off of the Victoria Falls bridge! Well, some of us. We had packed up all our stuff and brought it with us because after the jump, we are crossing back into Zambia and officially leaving Zimbabwe.

The shuttle provided by the company would only provide transport for those jumping, which meant not Bec and Mitch. The two of them decided to walk with their bags across the border to the bridge and meet us. Meg, Holly, and I jumped in the shuttle and were off. We crossed the bridge, got our exit stamp, and went up to registration. In our shuttle, and staying at our hostel were Mary and Zoey. Two best friends from NYC who also happened to have been in the other raft that ratted with us yesterday! It was fun to have more familiar faces. The five of us got registered, weighed and numbers written on our arms for the jump masters to read. We agreed that Mary would go first, I would go second. Holly, Meg, and Zoey just wanted to see someone else jump first and be okay before they went.

Well, turns out, it didn’t work out that way.

I jumped first.

That was unplanned, but so fun! I was definitely not as nervous or worried as some of the others, but I did not anticipate going first.

The guide setting me up and strapping me in was awesome. Explaining to me about my backup harness, how it is 100% safe and I will be fine. I really wasn’t worried, but it was nice to hear. They called my name to go first, I went under a gate onto the main platform where another gentleman wrapped blankets around my legs and began to secure them together for the jump. A guy was filming this the whole time. They strapped a GoPro to my arm, helped waddle me out to the edge of the platform (can’t walk much with legs bound together) told me to keep my arms stretched out strong and wide to avoid spinning and to make sure I jump our head first. So I did. They counted down and I jumped.

What a thrill. What an absolute thrill! Just free falling, then bouncing like a rag doll (which doesn’t hurt nearly as much as you would think) and coming straight back up to bounce again. It was a TOTAL blast.

And then I spun. And spun. And spun. And spun. I feel like I was doing a whole lot of spinning. Which, the motion sickness in me did NOT appreciate. I could feel all the blood rushing to my head. I mean it was a great time, but I could definitely feel it. A man was lowered on a separate line to come get me. He hooked me up to a line, sat me up and I was raised back up to the platform. There I walked along the bottom the bridge, to the end, climbed back up and walked back over in time to watch Holly jump!

I was so proud of her. This is something she was terrified to do, completely out of her comfort zone, and she did it. Which was really cool.

After Holly, we watched Meg jump. And then we all went to watch our videos and see our photos. Well all purchased them. I was definitely still feeling wheezy. Mophy, Axon, and Itay had met us back at the bridge before we even jumped. So all of us walked to Mophy’s car got in and Mophy told us we were going to a walking lion tour. This was news to us. We drove to the place. We were all iffy about the situation because we were unsure if they were actually a conservation and rescue site OR just another company capturing, sedating, and taking advantage of these wild animals. If it was the latter, we did not want to give them our money. It was unclear so I chose not to go. Holly and Mitch went and Bec, Meg, and I waited in the lobby reading and just hanging out.

After this, we headed to the national park for a walking rhino tour! We drove into the park and followed a dirt road. Along it we saw a lot of gazelle and monkeys. Across the lake I saw another elephant! We drove for a while, I still wasn’t feeling well from the jump. Eventually we stopped and got out.

After waiting a bit, park rangers with ak47’s appeared. They gave us a safety briefing explaining that the national park is here as a conservation to protect the animals. They were going to guide us single file to where the rhinos were currently at. Apparently there is a person whose sole job is to hide in trees and follow and move with the rhinos so they know where they are at all times. The guide made a big point to let us know that the rhinos are not tame and wild beasts and to listen to their instructions. Their guns are only there to shoot in the air to scare away animals if needed. They are not allowed to shoot them.

We walked down the path and there they were! Rhinos! Just grazing in the grass, doing their thing. There was even a baby one! It was adorable. We took photos of them, a group photo, and as fast as we were there, we were gone.

On our way out, we drove around hoping to see more animals. This park did not have any predators so we would not see any sort of leopards or lions. Someone had told us they had seen a giraffe and we were hoping to spot one. We ended up seeing a dazzle of zebras, one wildebeest, and some water buffalo. It was neat, but I know it will be better on the safari.

After we got back to the car, we headed to our hostel. Surprise surprise, this hostel like pretty much the rest of them, wasn’t expecting us. Mophy. Again. They made up a room for us, we put all our stuff down to get situated and headed out to the lobby/bar area. We tried to use their wifi, but it sucked. It was late and everyone was tired so we chose to order food for delivery. That was delivered, we played some Rummikub, and one of Bec’s friends she had met in Sri Lanka came to visit. She is Danish and currently living in Zambia. She saw Bec was here and came to the hostel. Itay was also at this hostel with us, so we had a nice little group.

Eventually, Itay built a fire in the fire pit and people started shifting that direction. Holly and I sat over there for a while with Itay, a young guy (also from Denmark) and others. By the end of the night, all of us were around this bonfire talking, swapping stories, sharing what we’ve seen. The guy from Denmark, Sebastian, had a crazy story about how he met some photographer on Lonely Planet who was looking for a companion through the rural parts of Namibia. They talked, he joined his journey, and saw amazing things. He had a great story about how their car broke down and they had to go to a local village to ask for help. People took photos of the two of them because they were white, a police officer was arguing with a man who refused to sell him a goat, and women were topless. It was a really cool experience that not many would ever get. It got late and everyone went to bed.