Sickness in Stellenbosch....

So, we left Cape Town on the commuter train for Stellenbosch - the second oldest city in South Africa and home to the many wine estates South Africa is famous for. We have been here over a week now and I've been pretty ill the whole time. I got ill in Ghana and it seems like the tablets they gave me there did more damage than good...Anyway I saw a doctor yesterday and am taking anti-biotics for a kidney infection and E-Coli - nice... Its annoying because I really want to drink the wine here but I'm not allowed....



So, we are staying in the Stumble Inn - a backpacker place where I've met loads of interesting people....as I've been ill I've been there most of the time so know everyone its great! After a few days (before I got really bad) we hired bikes and cycled in the boiling hot heat around the wine estates looking for jobs....it was really spectacular and we saw ostriches which was exciting and also met some nice people at the wine farms...




So, Nick is now working at the Irish pub in town whilst I get better....my job is to find us a flat and I think I found one today- its a young couple who have quite a large house and a little mini flat (i think it might have originally been a garage) ....its really small but has everything we need and a swimming pool!!?! So, hopefully moving in there tomorrow and we have a meeting with a guy at The Devon Valley Hotel for work in the restaurant - its on a wine estate and and views are amazing...So, fingers crossed it's all coming together for us if I can only get well soon so I can drink the gorgeous wine!

C'est La Vie...

So, we stayed in Cape Town for over a week. Loved it there, its beautiful. It's boiling hot, the sea is clear blue and the sand is white....the city is really cosmopolitan - bit like London in parts but boiling hot and much cheaper! We have been staying at the Cat and Moose backpackers lodge - really cool place very stylish - our room was gorgeous.

When we first arrived we spent a few days looking for jobs and ended up working in a restaurant/bar by the sea...it was really frustrating because they made us work as 'runners' for four consecutive shifts for literally no pay - we were clearly making the waitrons (as they like to call them here - very politically correct) loads of tips as the majority of them were useless and couldn't speak good English....so annoying...so by the 3rd shift I was really knackered and lost it with the manager - lets call him Basil Fawlty as he really was like Basil Fawlty completely neurotic and shouting at everyone constantly...SO, he starting having a go and I thought 'what am i doing? I'm not that desperate for money....yet...' so we both walked out totally leaving him in the lurch as there was a party of 50 coming in that night - HA!?

So, after that, we decided to have fun doing touristy things in Cape Town...Went to the slave museum and learned about the origins of the Afrikaans and the people that make up South Africa - very interesting as there are so many influences here - Malay, Indian, Dutch, English, African, etc stemming from the slave trade a couple of hundred years ago...

We also climbed Table Mountain - which was a hard climb but pretty spectacular when we got to the top...got really burnt though again - its so hot here! This is Nick looking out at the top where we stopped for our lunch...


The night before we left Cape Town, we looked up my Grandad's friend whom he fought in the Second World War with in Java. We walked for miles looking for his flat but it was really worthwhile as he was really pleased to see us. Last time he had seen my grandad was 1963! We were really well received, he cracked open the Chardonnay and I showed him photos of my Grandad and Grandma as they are today - it was lovely...His daughter, Tessa then came and very kindly took us out for dinner...Was a really great evening..

We left Cape Town on 1st Feb for Stellenbosch....

having a fufu time...

After almost 3 weeks now in Ghana I'm really enjoying getting back to the simple life - being woken up by the cockerel, or sometimes singing from the church or the banging of Highlife music coming from huge speakers (people here get up really early). It's really satisfying washing my own clothes by hand - hunting for new and interesting food and washing with cold water from a bucket....when we were in Busua (by the sea) we were showering in the open air - was very liberating!

People in Ghana are very friendly. They always help each other out - there's a real community feel going on. A couple of times when we have been on the move waiting for a tro tro (clapped out minibuses which are the main form of public transport here) I have asked someone where the toilet is and they have actually taken me in person on a ten minute walk to find the toilet! One time a man took me to his own toilet at his house which was literally a concrete room with no door and a tiny hole running right into the open drain on the street....it was really embarrassing cos all his family could see me!

Women do most of the work around here - they carry everything on their heads - and normally have a baby strapped to their backs at the same time - no maternity leave or creches here!!?! - This photo of a women carrying a pan of fish on her head was taken in Cape Coast.

Everywhere we go, people (kids mainly) shout 'Abruni' at us ('white person') not in a bad way but obviously they don't see many white people so its always a bit of a shock! Especially for the really young kids - we met a really nice women in a bar in Keta (by the sea) and her son was in shock as it was the first time he'd ever seen a white person - couldn't stop staring and eventually he smiled and shook our hands... Here I am hacking open a coconut with a masshete!

People here are really into their music - its a bit like the music you hear at Notting Hill Carnival but the lyrics are often replaced with a religious theme as Christianity is huge here... people can REALLY dance here - I mean so much so that I wouldn't even attempt to try as ill just be the sad white person who cant move!!? New Years Eve was mad - we were at a street carnival in Accra and it was like watching a sea of Michael Jackson's (in his black Jackson 5 days) dancing - amazing!

Not surprisingly I’ve tried most of the local cuisine (!?) although I just haven’t been able to stomach the dried up fish that everyone eats here – its like a load of mini fish left out for days drying in the sun with flies crawling all over it in the shit-smelling streets – nice! Also haven’t tried the Grasscutter Rat – a local delicacy in southern Ghana (Nick has tried both) – so minging….and one place we visited ‘Ho’, the local dish was Cat!!!?!

The staple food is Kenkey – a fermented maize steamed ball wrapped in a leaf, served with chilli – really tasty. And, of course there is Banku and FuFu – Still not quite sure what Banku is, but you eat it with a bit of meat or fish and a stew or hot sauce – and FuFu is pounded Yam served in a soup – (like an Africa version of stew and dumplings!!?!). When we were staying at Peter’s Place in Busua, we woke up each morning to the sound of what I thought was drumming but turned out to be 3 women pounding the FuFu in a rhythmic way….out ofAccra there is a lot of pounding of FuFu or Banku going on – we had a go in Kumasi – here’s a picture of me entertaining the locals as I try to knead the FuFu without getting my fingers caught….

My favourite place was a little village called Liate Wote in the Volta region – we ended up staying a couple of nights in a really nice place with a couple of German guys – Nickolas and Kieron who were good fun– we climbed Mount Afadjato on the Togo border with them…I very nearly passed out on the way up which was really embarrassing because everyone else seemed to be almost running up the hill…I blamed it on being the only girl… This is us reaching the summit and looking across to Togo…

We went exploring with our guide, Justice through a forest to a waterfall – on the way we saw plantain trees, cocoa pods, and coffee beans… this is Nick swinging on trees tarzan style

Well we're leaving Accra tonight - flying to Johannesburg in South Africa!! Im really exciting about heading to Cape Town and getting settled for a while