Cliffs

Friday was gorgeous. You could really get used to this weather. After a lovely breakfast we sat around the pool. Then we drove a few miles down to the waterfront in town. We shopped a little and had lunch. Investigated water options. We drove to an island and then Don found a route UP to the east heads. The Indian Ocean meets the Knysna River there. Cliffs were awesome. We went to a Friday market where vendors sold food and drinks while singers entertained. Life looks good here.

Rolling homeward

We are tired of so many nights away from home, family and friends. We are so blessed to have seen such beautiful scenery and met such wonderful people on the journey.

Wednesday night we had limited wifi when we were at the Southern tip of Africa. Certainly the farthest south that we have ever been. We did a bit more hiking along the coast on Thursday morning. I bought a sun blocking hat that I wore most everyday. The sun is intense!

We drove along the coast past George to Knysna(niz-na.) tried to fund a guest house that I had scouted, but never found. Second try was full . Third try was a lovely home on a hill. Everything was fine-inexpensive, nice hosts, food, etc. but no wifi. We stayed 3 nights. We were tired of the suitcases

Knysna, SA

I think it was Thursday when we left Cape Aguhas. The days are blurring together as we are on our last days in country. We are without wifi at our guest house so I may not post again until we reach Atlanta on Monday morning. We will see.

Atlantic meets Indian Ocean

Shipwreck at Cape Agulhas

Baboons

Wine country

Rolling around out of Cape Town

This is day 21 away from home. Thanks be to God for all his many provisions for us.

Tuesday we left our lovely guest house in Cape Town and set out to the east b/c to the west is the Atlantic Ocean. So with me and the Garmin for navigation we drove to Franschhoek. This is wine country. We arrived in this little city and began our quest for a guest house. We were successful. I think Don loves the guest house experience. He loves meeting the owners and other guests. He is not really working at it, but he has depleted his supply of business cards. Seems that everyone worldwide needs succsession planning.

We had lunch at Mont Rochelle Winery and did their tastings. We also visited a smaller one called Stoney Brook. We had no dinner reservations for Valentines night so tables were scarce. At Kalfi's a couple from Denver invited us to share their table. How nice! We ordered the African Sampler. We had lentil bobotie, mince bobotie, somoosa, springbok, kudu with mushrooms and gravy over mashed potatoes, pickled fish, vegetables and bread and butter. Quite a feast.

Today after a leisurely breakfast with new friends from England we checked out. Don obliged me with an hour of shopping in Franschhoek. I thought that was fun. Then we headed south. There are always mountains and amazingly beautiful vistas. I had one of my best meals inNapier at Pascal's. We saw a huge grain elevator system in Caldone--they make malt for alcoholic drinks. It is the largest processor in the southern hemisphere.

Now we are in Agulha--I think. Our guest house is in a small modernistic gallery across the road from the Indian Ocean. We walked the beach and , of course , Don waded in. Had a pizza at Bella Luna "where the ocean, the moon, and friends meet." We capped off the day by driving to the national park where the official sight is marked between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. There we took a couple of pictures and watched the sunset over the Atlantic. Tomorrow we may go back to tour the lighthouse and/or hike around. We were there tonight in our swimsuits and it gets chilly quickly.

Rolling in Cape Town

This is our third day here.

We arrived on the purple train Friday and checked into our guest house. After our two weeks in S. Africa it feels like we have moved back to California. Don has been in the small pool daily. Surprised?

Saturday we took the hop on-hop off bus blue route. We went to Kirstenbosch Gardens first, then toured the Constantia wine area. Both experiences were wonderful. We had lunch at the second place and bought some local wine. Then we rode the whole rest of the route by the western coastal suburbs back to city center. There we took the canal tour before completing the loop back to our stop. We had dinner at Cafe Paradiso where our server was from California.

On Sunday we had day two of the tour bus so we opted for the red tour. Our goal was Table Mointain. We purchased tickets for the cable car online and we were ready to go. There are layers of clouds that come and go over the mountain called the tablecloth. How cute. So there were clouds. We occasionally got a glimpse of blue sky, but after hot chocolate and strolling on top, we came back down. There were some lovely vistas from the cable car--it rotated as it traversed the hill.

We hopped back on and toured those beaches again, this time getting off and walking for awhile. We took a break for a couple of hours then assembled a picnic to take on the night tour to watch the sunset from Signal Hill. The marine layer kept the sunset from being spectacular, but we had the experience none the less. The bus driver was kind enough to let us off at our guest house--it is right on the route back.
To day we spent some time In the city park, called the Company Gardens and we went to the South African Museum of Art. The museum had a new exhibition featuring the works of Peter Clarke of Simon Town, SA. He is 82 years old and he explored almost every medium. I add that info b/c this is my blog and I want to remember that detail. I enjoyed both places that we visited.We continued our walk to the city center where we had lunch, went to a jewelry store, and found the Hertz car rental. After 42 (almost) years of marriage Don is still my hero as we rented a stick shift little Citroen car and headed off into the sunset on the left side of the roads. Now I served as the navigator--actually we paid extra to have an electronic Garmin to do my job. I had to tell her our destination. We headed out of town on the east side of Cape Town. We saw the penguins at Boulder Beach and went to the Cape Point. There we hiked and climbed up to the old lighthouse and again saw amazing views. We took a different route back. We drove west to be on the Atlantic side again. This included a toll road that goes by Chapman's pass. This was incredible. It is curvy, narrow, and high on the cliffs. There have been many car commercials filmed here. My hero drove it flawlessly!
Don drove up Signal Hill tonight again to watch the sunset into the clouds. That road is almost as bad as Chapman Road.
We love Cape Town and we love meeting other tourists, taking pictures, etc.

The purple train

A shanty town

View from train Friday morning

New favorites and the old train

I have to go back to Thursday and our overnight train ride. The premium lounge at the station was wonderful and we met two sisters from Cape Town. Edringa wanted our names so she could pray for us---let me spell it for you.

The train was electric, but a bit on the old and noisy side. I think their philosophy was"give them enough food and drink and they will be happy.". We had a nice compartment 3A. First there was a departure drink in the lounge car with some potatoe chips, nuts, and jerky. In two hours there was tea and cookies. In two more hours thre was a 5 course dinner. We didn't know our table assignment. We misunderstood the porter when he told us that we would eat all meals at the same table. It was the table in the lounge car where we originally had our departure drink. The train was painted purple on the exterior with aqua trim and a goldfish stripe.

Our beds were made up during dinner. We both loved the nice shower. Bathroom always smelled. The train only made 3 official stops, but for unknown reasons it seemed to always be stopping. That caused noise and jerking. We survived.

Breakfast was delicious. Tea was served at 10 followed by lunch at 12:30. Food was great and we met some nice travelers.

With all the delays we were only about 30 minutes late. We had hired a driver to meet us at the Cape Town station to deliver us to our guest house.

We have a lovely guest house on Kloofnek street. It feels very Californian to us. Nice people here,too. And wifi!

I posted a pic yesterday and will try again tonight. D & J

Guest house

Still rolling

Yesterday we left J-burg on the Premium train at 3:00 pm.

In Johannesburg we spent three days and nights. These are the highlights:

We took the ultra modern and immaculate Gautrain from the airport to Sandton on Monday eve. Where Adrianne and Nathan picked us up. We had dinner with them at an African restaurant at Nelson Mandela Square.That is one of the nicest places around.

They had secured a place for us to stay at the Baptist International Missions guest house. It was quite a large campus. We had a bedroom and bath with a small shared kitchen which A & N stocked with some breakfast foods for us.

On Tuesday they picked us up at noon. We went out for lunch and then toured the Apartheid Museum. We also experienced city traffic.

Wednesday we had lunch with a young missionary family that was staying at the guest house. And had one last meal with the Penners. What a great young couple they are.

Don spent much time effort and also money scurrying around to purchase the train tickets. We couldn't do it online. We were supposed to print their form and sign it and fax it back to them. It was impossible to do from an IPad. He ended up hiring a driver to take him to a mall to go to a branch of their bank and having to deposit cash into the train's account. Meanwhile, I had relaxing time--no tv or Internet. We could get 30 minutes at the coffee shop.

The same driver took us to the train station Thursday. There was a definite security presence. Some of the guards were armed with machine guns. Our driver parked and walked us inside where we were able to locate the designated Premium lounge. Our train departed at 3:00 pm.

So stay tuned and I will tell you what that premium train was like. I am writing from cape Town so you know that we made it.

Thursday=travel

Two weeks ago today we left home. That is 14 nights in different beds. Is that suffering? Not really. Beds are good!

Today we are traveling again. We are taking the PREMIUM train from Johannesburg to Cape Town. It is an overnight -25 hour-experience.

Hopefully, we will have wi-fi sometime soon. We can get 30 minutes at the local Mug and Bean. Think Panera's.

I will post soon about our J-burg days.

Rolling far from home

It is Tuesday and we are now in Johannesburg . Six team members flew back to the states Monday night so we rode into the airport with them. There we took the Gautrain to Sandton station. Wonderful experience! There we were met by Adrienne Towe Penner & husband Nathan. We had dinner at a lovely African restaurant at the Nelson Mandela Square

They made arrangements for us to stay at a Baptist Missionary housing. They even picked us up a few groceries so we had a good breakfast. We are meeting them later for lunch and to visit the Apartheid museum.

Just counted on my fingers. This is our 13th day on the road. Still rolling! We are at a Paneras type shop using the wi-fi.

Our Sabbaoth

It was another beautiful day. We are 7 hours ahead of the eastern time zone. We should be watching the Super Bowl, but we will be going to bed soon. There is no tv here. If you have a tv you have to pay the government an annual tax or registration to use it. We saw a tv in the golf course restaurant. There was a soccer game and a summo wrestling show. Don't think American football is all that important.

Today we went to the Light House Church at the Del Cramer campus in the village. We helped serve the lunch. Every Sunday they feed all the children that attend and feed the adults if there is enough food. We could see the weather changing. Looked like rain in the distances and then we could see the red dust clouds. Just getting to the cars we were covered in the red gritty dust. Blew in our eyes, nose, and mouth. I will have to have the camera professionally cleaned.

We had lunch in a tree nursery--quite quaint. Then a few of us went to a large cat sanctuary. There we saw Lions and cheetahs up close, but behind a fence. Our guide was a young college graduate student from Mexico City. We learned a lot from her. We had time for a 3 mile hike to end the afternoon.

Tomorrow most of our team will depart for the states so after dinner tonight we sat around the fire circle and had a time of sharing and reflecting. It has been a very good experience for all of us.

Don and I are staying in country. Since we are here we want to see other parts of South Africa. We will ride to the Johannesburg airport with some of team. Then we are off to explore.

A quiet Saturday

Today we have taken a good hike. A few are golfing and there is a choir practice for church tomorrow. It is Jim Blessman's birthday today. That must mean a party later. We will see.

Yesterday the first load left at 7:00 am. The Capitol cityofPolokwane is over an hour away. We went to a large gift store to do some souvenir shopping. The vehicle went to the dealer for some service. After the next two groups shopped we squeezed into two vehicles and drove to Northern Academy. There we setup a vision clinic and saw 60-75 of the staff. This school has 3900 students of which half are housed there. It is a k-12 private school. We did the vision screening and were able to interact--visit and pray--with each person. We quickly learned of the hardships, crime and other issues that are part of their daily lives.

Our meal for the day was at Mall of the North in Polokwane. Just like home, sort of like home. There was a LTD store and a Sunglass Hut. We did see all the brand name merchandise. We had our meal and the stroll through some of the mall, then loaded into three vehicles and went back to the Academy. At 6 on Friday evenings a local pastor holds a youth group on the campus. It is limited to high schoolers that live on campus, but over a thousand were in attendance. They rocked the house with praise and worship. Dr. Blessman spoke and so did Mona Butters, one of Blessman's board members from Iowa. We are certainly having some wonderful experiences.

It was past 9:30 when we returned. It was too late to post so it is nice to have time today.

I still can't post pictures here. I keep trying so my pics are flying in cyber space.

Thursday --- groundhog day

Funny how when you are in a different place, you forget what is happening back home. We totally forgot about Groundhog day. It was sunny and around 80 here in mokapane, S.A. Our activity today was to go to a center for handicapped children. They are just a day center and are hosted in a church. There were two ladies and about 25 kids. It was the best run place of any that we have visited. We interacted with them for a couple of hours--building with blocks, tossing balls, the hokey pokey and observing their routines. We helped serve Meals from the heartland, too.

After our sack lunch of PB&j we toured some other locations. There was the gas station for a bathroom, an elementary school, and another feeding center.

We were back home rather early this afternoon.

Tomorrow is a long day. We will be gone from 7am to 9:30pm. There is down time for some local shopping, another vision clinic in the afternoon and a youth gathering at night in the Capitol city of Polokwane. Woo-hoo.

Don & I had a walk this afternoon. We saw the kudu deer and the monkeys. One of the rules here is that if you let a monkey in your room, you have to do the clean up. Good night. Jan

Ps still unable to get my pics here. Posted three on Facebook.

Safari continued

We took a safari this afternoon at Entabene. We saw giraffes, zebra, sable, wart hogs, wildebeest, impalas, kudus, white rhinos, black backed jackals, lions and a hippo. There was even a hot air balloon. So I have pics in my camera. I think I could put a couple on my phone or Dons iPad , but I haven't been able to get them to the blog. I have put a couple on Facebook.

We are going to visit a home tomorrow that cares for the handicapped. We will also visit another center that feeds children. Thanks for your prayers.

Wednesday we went on a safari!!

We spent most of our day at the Del Cramer Campus of Blessman Ministries. We cleaned and rePaired and painted. Don and I painted restroom stalls and an exterior wall. Now everything is painted the same color as the red soil and dust. We brought over some tools, but it seems like everyday we wish that we had brought other things--paint brushes, toys,sports equipment, books umbrellas, etc. Next time.

Today Erik Hansen from KCCI tv and photographer, Jesse, departed to Iowa. These guys were great. They think there will be reports next Wed & Thursday on the 10 o'clock news. Watch for teasers

They shot videos of all the ministry locations as well as their safari and their walk with lions. They had planned to go to the 19th golf hole at Legends via helicopter. It was too breezy todo.

We don't expect that we will appear but hope that we will get to see it. They said videos go up on their web site the following morning.