South Africa: 5 pictures, 5 stories

The Vuvuzela

Chachee was the undisputed king of the infamous vuvuzela. He carried his with him almost all the time, and did his best to abide by the rules set forth by his fellow travelers: no vuvuzela in the van; no vuvuzela before noon; and no vuvuzela at World Heritage sites (namely Robben Island). The vuvuzela is not just your run of the mill noise maker, however. It was also used for drinking champagne (as seen above), as a make-shift beer bong, and to smoke out of a hookah.

Braai

Braai is basically South African barbeque. Only it's way better. Pictured above is the braai we had in a township outside of Durban. This establishment featured an array of uncooked meats that in the US you could never find outside of a butcher. You pay for any and all meats that you want, which are piled on a cutting board which you take out back to a giant grill, where it's cooked for you and then brought to your table. Then you just hang out, drink, and eat meat (sorry Beth!). The platter above featured sausage, pork, lamb, and kidneys, and ran us about $20.

Wild Animals

Hopefully you at least sort of tell what's happening in the picture above. In case you can't, allow me to set the stage. We went on a sunrise safari drive (after already going on a sunset/night drive the evening before and seeing tons of animals) and didn't see a single animal for the entire first hour. Just when I was starting to give up hope, we pulled along side two other jeeps on the side of the road who clearly had something interesting going on. Lo and behold, three female lions have caught something and are having a nice little breakfast for themselves. Turns out breakfast was a baby rhinoceros (Sorry again Beth)! One lion was off to the side gnawing on big gray leg. Another was pulling entrails out of the rhino (which I'm pretty sure is basically just showing off). All in all, pretty spectacular.

Korea DPR

Better known to most Americans as North Korea, Korea DPR played Portugal in the last match we attended in South Africa. Since the Ronaldos, err, I mean, Portugal, had no shortage of people rooting for them at the World Cup three brave souls (Chachee, myself, and another traveler who wishes to remain anonymous, I guess to preserve his future in politics) decided to support the underdogs. So we bought flags, we painted our faces, and we made up cheers ("Hana, dhool, seht. We're not done yet!"). We got other people in our section rooting for the Koreans. And I have to tell you -- I may get the CIA knocking on my door, but it was a blast.

Just Because...

...this is maybe the most amazing picture ever. This was after the Spain-Switzerland match, and I have no idea what was said to get the policemen to offer up their vests. But the looks on both of their faces cannot be taken lightly.

I have grand desires for a part two to this post (5 more pictures, 5 more stories). I'm only telling you that so that I feel guilty about not posting another.

SHAME!!!!!

If this virtual shaming doesn't guilt people into posting, I don't know what will. Oh yes I do! Dun, Dun, Dun! You have two weeks, or embarrassing pictures of the following people might begin to surface on this blog....
Erin
Raman
Danielle
Jami

Things About Things

(In case you forgot what I looked like)

I don't have a ton to say, and this blog post is being written more out of guilt of not posting than out of actual, interesting news... but here it goes, a top ten list of things about things (or "potpourri", as Jeopardy would call it).

10. I am on my way to turning into my fantasy; a thick skinned, hard scrabblin', ole country boy from Texas. The person that I want to be when I grow up has invited to mentor me, and I am getting my first lesson on Saturday. He has already gifted me with a corncob pipe, and will provide sipping Wild Turkey and a garage. I need to provide a dog, and we'll sit in his garage with our dogs, and the aforementioned whiskey and tobacco. I hope I can live up to his expectations.

9. The Bay Area will be graced by the presence of a one Chachee Ramos over the weekend. Our South Africa encounters went swimmingly, so I am optimistic that this weekend will be great. I just hope that he has weaned himself from his biltong (South African beef jerky) dependency by Saturday, I really don't want to find him sleeping on a couch covered in jerky with one hand in a biltong bag and the rest of his body twitching occasionally.

8. My father got married on Saturday. It was a fun, mellow, casual affair filled with family, friends and good food. I raided the bar at the end (at the bartender's suggestion), which made the event that much better. For all of those with questions: no, I'm not going to call her mom, and; who knows, maybe we'll paint our toes and braid each others hair someday, I'm not ruling it out.

7. The UCSB crew is heading to our annual Vegas trip in a couple weeks. Madness will surely ensue. There are 17 Gauchos (or those that love Gauchos) making the trip, and to up the ante, the other Bible sister is bringing along another 20 or so friends, including 11 boys who have decided to treat this weekend as a bachelor party for one of his friends. I'm assuming that we'll find deuce deuce with them at the Crazy Horse II at 3:00 am on Sunday.

6. I've been thinking about instituting a "jello shot Friday" tradition. I think it will be something to look forward to.

5. Our book club is tonight. I chose the book Lowboy, and I'm interested in seeing how it went over. I'm afraid the bar was set too high by the author and Zach Galifianakis, who had a pretty funny interview/short video on amazon.com. I've somehow conned Zach (my Zach, not Zach the one man wolf pack) into making dinner, so our readers can look forward to oxtails and polenta. Yum.

4. I'm beginning a slow transition to a different unit over the summer. Sort of a "helping out" probationary period type of thing. I'm optimistic that it is a good move, and it should allow me to travel (although not to South America). If anyone wants to be my traveling buddy to Asia, let me know.

3. Zach and I ran the tables at darts in SB over the weekend. It was the closest thing I've felt (and will probably ever feel) to glory. And, I hit three bulls eyes during out reign of terror, which, I'm pretty sure, is a personal best. Autograph requests and personal appearances are currently being considered.

2. I recently got Mandy and Z to watch Grownups with me. This is an official warning, don't.make.the.same.mistake.I.did. On a vaguely related note, I know the guy that made the poster. He is an amazing designer who gets stuck with shitty movies. The last one I remember him telling me he made was "don't mess with the zohan," maybe he is cursed?

1. With SA under our belts, I'm beggining to feel a little restless. I think Z and I are going to plan to visit the sister (overrated) in June and do a little Italy, Slovenia, Croatia trifecta. It sounds like fun, but I'm also willing to hear other suggestions in case something better pops up! Either way, any ideas of which region of Italy to go to is highly appreciated.

0. (Bonus!) Although I am thrilled that my star-eyed wandering buddies are having the time of their lives abroad, I am really beginning to miss them pretty badly, and as I am a selfish person, I would really appreciate it if they got their wandering out of their system so they could just come home already, okay?