11 November 2016: South Africa- Coffee Bay

                On the way out of Oribi Gorge, first of all I stopped at this place called the Waffle House (no, not the diner you go to in the middle of the night on road trips) and got my good-food-deprived soul a super fancy macadamia nut, lentil, and salad waffle. It was both delicious and gorgeous.

                My drive to Coffee Bay was filled with potholes and fog, and waiting at traffic stops for my turn to go down a street that let cars go one way for about half an hour, then switched and let the other side go. There were so many people trying to hitch on the side of the road, and I wanted to pick them up, but I also didn’t want to kill them with it being day 3 for me in a manual car, plus I was enjoying the solitude on the road I did stall a few times today, but it was nothing unrecoverable, and I’d consider it a success given the amount of stop and go traffic I had to go through. After what seemed like an endless drive through potholes and puddles in the fog and the rain, I finally arrived at Coffee Bay and went to my hostel called the Coffee Shack. This place was awesome- easily one of the best hostels I stayed at in South Africa. They even have a bunch of friendly hostel dogs that will run around on the beach and go with you wherever. There are also pigs and goats wandering around, but I don’t think they’re officially part of the hostel. I had intended to camp (R90), but it being super rainy and all, I managed to snatch up the last dorm bed (R150, 5^th night free). This hostel was packed with a lot of cool people, and so many Germans. I don’t know what it is about Germans coming to South Africa, but it seems to be very popular with them.

                Being right on the beach, I decided to take advantage of the sand to do some running. Having packed super light, I only brought a single pair of shoes, my trusty Chacos, and didn’t bring any tennis shoes, so sand is a great opportunity to run barefoot. I also wandered around these green hills that surround the beaches and the bays.

                It was pretty rainy most of the days I was there (and, as you’ll see, rain is a common theme through my entire vacation), so a lot of time was spent talking to other travelers, watching things like cricket on tv (which I still don’t really understand), and playing cards and board games.

                They have a restaurant on site, and Sundays are free dinner nights, so we all had heaping plates of beef stew over rice and Xhosa bread, which was awesome.

                One day I decided to rent a surf board (only R50 for a half day!) and went out to the beach. There was a guy giving a group lesson out there, and he gave me some pointers on paddling and how to stand up easier. After a few hours and many improved catchings of waves, I was rocking it.

                The next day, I hiked with an English couple about 10km to a place called Hole in the Wall where there’s a huge rock in the bay with a hole/cave in it. The hike was so beautiful. It wasn’t super easy, as we had to go up and down lots of steep hills, but we passed lots of cool aloes, a waterfall, saw some enormous grasshoppers and lizards, and even a pod of dolphins swimming off shore. With the help of my five phrases of isiXhosa, we avoided getting too lost. We got to the hole in the wall finally and we were so wiped out. Luckily, on our way back, we eventually found a hitch that took us back to Coffee Bay.

                This was also the time of the election, so on the day the votes were counted, everyone was basically in shock that Trump could actually be elected president. There are a few other Americans here, and it’s making us all very embarrassed, actually. Having to try to explain for my country is gonna be so bad now. That night, everyone was sitting around a big table watching the news and watching speeches, absolutely confounded about how this could have happened. 
               But luckily, the lamenting didn't last for long, and we could quickly get back to enjoying the beauty of Coffee Bay. It was one of the best hostels I stayed at, and the area is so gorgeous. Definitely recommended.