jeffery's baai!

so i'm in jay bay. one of the best surf spots in the entire world. life doesn't get any better than this. so where did i leave off, capetown? and my packages! they were amazing, thank you to all of you who sent me food and letters, i have been enjoying my snacks from home soooooo much. lets see, after cape town we went to a town along the coast called Hermanus, and it's one of the best places in the world to see southern right whales. the future marine biologist, lets just say, was very pleased indeed. we sat around on a hill for a bit watching for signs of whales, and saw a few breaching although they were a distance away. then here's the ironic part, the group of students who flew with us out of Dulles airport on september 2nd was also there! i specifically remember asking them to do the hokey pokey on our scavenger hunt thinking "oh we're never going to see them again, why not?" goes to show me, the world is a very very very small place :) that night was our last night next to the atlantic, and it was the first day genneieve was traveling with our group. although we all miss whit, gen will be a great addition to the group. that night i went to sleep with the sound of the ocean, and i couldn't have been happier. Then we drove to Tsitsikamma National park to begin our backpacking trip. The campsite was right near the ocean and i sat out on the rocks for a bit before bed listening to the crashing of waves and waiting as the tide crept closer and closer. the sea churned gray, and the clouds rolled mimicking the violent ocea. waves crashed against the rocks, trying to return them to the watery depths and the water slowly coroded the rocks. the next morning for breakfast a mother and calf humpback whale swam by us as we ate breakfast. and right before our eyes one of them breached. truely amazing. my first whale breach in the wild. in africa. with TTS. nope, doesn't get any better than that. we hiked in to the park with our big packs, very hard but totally worth it when i saw the green roof of our cabin over the rise of the hill. a small pool of water was at the bottom, and we sat resting our aching feet in the cool water. the water tumbled over rocks and painted them orange because of the minerals in the water. hiking over the next few days we had our day packs ( our big packs got transported to the next cabin) but the hiking was still long days out in the african sun. tsitsikamma national park could be straight out of The Sound of Music, the mountains are green, and flowers dot the landscape. in other places it's similar to a rainforest next to a shallow stream. our days were filled with snacks, sterilized water, trail games,blistered feet,sunscreen and the best smores i think i've ever tasted :). now i'm in Jay Bay, and i think tomorrow is surfing day? lets see how that goes. the parents meet up with us soon in Eshowe, so on that note all bozemanites can drop off letters and what not to the condo by this weekend and i'll recieve them soon!

live in the moment. life is short and sweet

~allegra