To find this feeling, and here it is.

So here it is. The moment of truth. And I look over the side and all I want to do is hurl my guts out to the world. You can see it on my face. And I'm disappointed in myself because I really wanted to be so contained, so centered, so there in the moment that nothing in the world could distract me from this thing I was about to do. Jump off a bridge and fall to the Earth. 216 meters. Crazy shit, man.

And if you could only look at my face in the moments before I jumped, all I could think about was that one word -- that one indellible word that has seared my mind so vividly and pushed me to see things so differently. It's that word that is a reflection of the landscape that I see here. Damn-- I should've taken that picture. Of the divide between the mountains just opposite the bridge. With the blue ocean beating hard against the brown sandy beaches with the green hills just above. Right there. Right in front of us. And I was looking at it from this bridge that I was about to jump off.

It's that one word that beats with my head and pulses through my heart. The same word that pumped through me as my friends screamed beside me like the mofos they are and nearly knocked me over the edge.

Love, baby.

It's all about love.

Love. Love. Love.

It's all love.

This. Everything. Me. You.

So jump, baby, jump. It's all about love.

And so I jumped...

And I flew. And I descended with the air rushing through me. So good, this feeling. And when I finally stopped flying, I just hung there with my arms reaching out to God and the river below and it just felt so good. Love, baby, love.

And so this is it. What I came here for. To Africa. To find this feeling, and here it is.

There is so much work to be done. So many problems I see in the world. That we all see. And we know this, and it is so exciting because we are so capable of righting these wrongs. But it's frustrating. So very frustrating because the people who have been here longer, the people with the very means to make great things happen, though they have so much more experience in so many ways, they just can't grasp what we see, and so they do not help us.

But I'm not worried anymore. I don't see it like that any longer. Love, baby, love. It's all about love.

Love, Love, Love.

I think I'll jump off a bridge today...

Welcome to Bloukrans Bridge, the highest bungy jump... in the world.

216 meters. That's 709 feet. A 70 story building. Yeah... it's pretty damn high up!

Here's a closer look at the center of the bridge where I'll soon be throwing my life to the whims of gravity and depending on those itty bitty strands of elastic that will hopefully keep me alive a bit longer...

Let's do this shizzzzz....

Okay, I'm dancin, my friends are dancin behind me... let's roll...

Oh shit... I actually have to jump this thing!!??

The Long Road Home...

It's now time to make our way back and we have at least fifteen hours of road in front of us. We'll split it in half and have decided to head to Jeffrey's Bay for some surfing the next day, but for now, we're spending our time with our heads peering out the windows, looking at all we have to leave behind. The Transkei of South Africa is a really different place. It's funny how you can find yourself so connected when the place around you is so disconnected.

There was something strange as we headed out of Coffee Bay. Children would run up to the cars and yell, "Sweets! Give me sweets!" We didn't have any sweets to give. But they'd run up to us in hoards and stick out their hands and yell, "Sweets!"

It's a weird thing, actually. This place, where children will run up to you and ask for money because that's what they seem to have been taught to do. And you think, fuck man, I don't have any money. And you do. But I mean, what're you going to do? Give a sweet to this kid? And how about the next? What do you do?

It just really occurs to you that you are in a much different place when you see these small children working while you're driving your ass home on a road trip...


We saw a pineapple stand on the side of the road. They looked good so we stopped. They were delicious.
Need another quick fix...

Very High in Coffee Bay

Very high on life. Look at the place. This is Coffee Bay, and it is quite easily one of the most beautiful places I have been to in my life. Certainly the most beautiful beach I have seen in South Africa. We went up to the top of this bluff with a group of people to have a few beers and watch the sun set with the surf crashing just below. There was a nice wind and you could see the treacherous rocks below with the water beating right into them, just as they always have. Three days here is not enough.

We spent most our time on the beach as we had planned. We would also walk up to the villages that are just beyond the hills and talk to people as we'd go, but really, it was hard to leave the beach. We rented surf boards and let the water move us around the bay from wave to wave. Some kids came up to us and wanted to surf as well and we all had a good time. Some of em were pretty good as well.

But the days would end and the sun would come down and we would have to leave the beach when the only light out was that of the moon. We'd go back to the backpacker and dance and drink with the locals and have us some fun.

That's the hill I walked to the top of and sat there all alone in the world and figured, "well isn't this all nice?"

On Our Way To Coffee Bay

We're not in Stellenbosch anymore.

We're on our way to Coffee Bay in the Transkei of South Africa. Long gone are the Dutch-styled homes and the Afrikaaner culture that mark the Western Cape. These long roads wind through the valleys and we can see the happy faces that greet us as we make our way to the Indian Ocean. The homes we see now are large, brightly coloured huts that sit upon large spits of land that etch from hill to hill.

It's such a beautiful day to be driving in our packed car as we look out at the overwhelming scenery. And the people. The people run up and wave to us to say hello. At first we didn't know what to do. Say hello back, of course! So we'd wave when they'd wave, and we'd continue on our way. Cows everywhere. Cows in the middle of the dirt paved roads and we'd have to dodge them every now and then. Just honk, they'll move! But they don't move, so we drive around them slowly.
More friendly people as we make our way to Coffee Bay. We feel so relaxed, just the five of us on our way. The clouds look ominous now and I hope it'll rain. I can't wait to get to the beach. To the Indian Ocean where it's warm. We're staying at a Backpacker that we hear should be pretty cool. Good people, good food, good surf. Real Africa, they say. So I sit back and I think some more about the things goin on, and everyone is happy because the sites are just so different. It's a good day and we're on our way to Coffee Bay.

Ride That... Ostrich!

I've ridden a horse before... and been thrown off a horse before.
I've ridden a camel before... and been thrown off a camel before.

And now I can say...

I've ridden an ostrich before... and been thrown off an ostrich before.

First of all, this was not my first experience with ostriches in South Africa. I eat them all the time at our braais [South African barbeque]. Ha! But actually, I don't really like ostrich meat because it's too tough and gamey. I like other types of meat, like Wildebeast or Kudu or Springbok. Those ones are okay.

Anyway, we arrived at this really nice ostrich farm where whole gangs of ostriches are being raised. Did you know that once a male ostrich chooses its mate, it will stay with her for the rest of its life? And did you know that once an ostrich has started mating, it will continue mating for the rest of its life!? Crazy.

The ostriches are being taken really good care of, and the whole riding thing is a little touristy thing they do on the side. Not everyone got to ride, but I got to give it a go. Basically, you hoist yourself up, lean back, and the guys let you off. I'm not sure if I liked it actually. All of us who got to ride were really enthusiastic about it at first, but later agreed that it wasn't exactly the best thing for the animals and seemed really strenuous. Next time, I'll just watch. But here's a nice video of it anyway :)

And of course, a very typical photo of me being a jackass...

The Beauty of Oyster Bay

We arrived at Oyster Bay at night, so we were completely unaware of what beauty we had stumbled upon. But when the guise of darkness had lifted and the sun peered through the clouds, it was hard not to be taken aback. I walked over this hill that took me to the sea, and a light wind pushed small streams of sand into my face. It also had this neat effect upon the water as it receded back into the waves, making the beams of light shine at me in this really glowing sort of way. I took a few pictures and sighed because our time there had been cut so short. But I knew that there were other things in store for us as we continued on our road trip...

Just a broken buoy washed ashore that caught my eye.

As well as this sailboat that had been cast off to the side of a nearby lake.

Video of the Ellies

Here's a quick video from the Elephant Park:

The Knysna Ellies

Our two-week road trip along the Garden Route took us to many different beautiful places that South Africa has to offer. One of my favourite places that we visted was the Knysna Elephant Park, a conservation reserve that is now home to many African elephants.

I've seen many elephants before, but never in such an open, free environment. I really enjoyed the experience-- especially getting to feed a few of these guys :) But more importantly, it seemed especially meaningful to be around these impressive giants that have been consistently under attack.

These elephants-- they just know something we don't know. Something about how the world works or something. They move slowly. Gracefully. And they stand their ground. Did you know that elephants mourn together? The idea that these elephants actually grieve the loss of one of their own seems so... alive. I've been thinking lately. What is consciousness, anyway?

Hmm...

Here are a few of the pictures I liked.

Road Trip: South Africa

I just got back from a two week road trip with friends across South Africa. We left Stellenbosch and ended up on the other side of the coast at Coffee Bay, which lies on the Indian Ocean.

So many thoughts have raced through my head in the past couple weeks. Sober thoughts. Sobering thoughts. Things about where I see myself going, but more importantly, where I see the world going. So much to say. Like Coffee Bay for instance. I've never been to a place that I found so difficult to write about. The entire time I was there, I never wanted to write. I just wanted to feel it out, a little more and a little more. The whole road trip was like that in a way. I was always feeling things out, but I never wanted to take the time to think about it. Just feel it out a little more...

So as I begin to think about the trip, here is a picture from within three hours into our journey . One of my friends was driving stick for the first time and shifted from 5th to 2nd. Ooops! The car started to smoke up, and basically, he destroyed the clutch. But it was all good and we got another car within a few hours. A few really nice South African dudes stopped by to assist us. We kept mentioning to each other how something like that would never happen in the States. Funny.


So here's the damage... It looks like the poor car is bleeding :(

Surf Weekend

We took a trip out to Stillbai, which is about four hours from Stellenbosch. Beautiful weather. Surf was nice. Camped on the beach under the stars. A good time all around.


Met some new people. Found some new things.

Now I Know Why the Birds Sing...

I was looking forward to a quiet birthday this year, especially since nobody here knew when it was, but that didn't seem to be in the cards afterall. Friends and I made a trip to the city to have some fun. We stayed in a hostel right on the Long Street strip and enjoyed the Cape Town nightlife -- which is outta control -- and then woke up the next day to go...

Skydiving.

The idea seems absolutely insane. Falling out of a plane like a human projectile, plummeting toward the surface of the Earth at 120 mph with your life at the whim of that little piece of tarp for a parachute. But you know, I actually found it to be very calming. The whole ride up with the scenic view right below. Table Mountain off to the side, the ocean not too far off, and the African landscape stretching out beyond my periphery.

And we jumped.

We opened the plane door, the rush of wind nearly blew out my eardrums, and we lunged out, and we fell. And we fell and we fell and I yelled at the top of my lungs. Just because it felt so good.

So it was a very nice 21st birthday with good friends. I stayed an extra night to catch the surf but the weather turned. No bother. Surf trip this weekend.

By the way, let's grab a drink when I'm back in town :)