Three day road trip in the mountains

I felt like I could use a change of scene and earlier Tuuli had mentioned she could join me for a trip to Hogsback if I was keen on going there. She showed me some pictures of the place where she had already been with her mom and one other time before that and I was down. We rented a car with attitude rather than with air condition (actually it was the only one left at the rental place) but it suited us perfectly! Even though both of the driving days were hot we were alright. I was taking pictures on the passenger seat while Tuuli drove (bless her). My other phone for local numbers (here and in India) was our GPS and it worked well. It's funny how you buy data or air time here, for example if I want data they give me three prices and I choose which one I want. Usually I take R149 (about 10€) which is 1Gb (after about one hour of Youtube it's done so don't use it for that, but GPS, Soundcloud, Uber, etc won't use it so fast). So then you get this receipt and there's a PIN code. You dial *100*01*PIN# and call and then you have what you bought. Never had a prepaid in Finland but I think it works in some other way there heh.

About 1cm to the right from Balfour - that's where Hogsback is, 3.5 hour drive

The one with the flag is waving it so that people would slow down, don't know what the others do 

There's not much between cities, some towns or lonely houses at times, but mostly mountains, fields and trees

Keep your eyes in the skies I hear the angels love making art for us of the clouds 

I see the cows are not only an Indian thing

The trees never seize to amaze me

Getting closer to the mountains 

So we got to Hogsback safe and sound. We had booked two beds from a dorm room in Terra-Khaya and the place was AMAZING. The vibe was so chill that we really could just slow everything down. There was no wifi (or if there was we didn't know for we didn't ask), lots of interesting books (I read for example about sacred mayan symbols), art some done by guests, places to be creative..  There were outside showers with hot water, composting toilets, LOADS of dogs of which 8 were puppies I fell in love with. Never knew that momma dog could be pregnant for three different dads at the same time... Cats and tinytiny kittens, horses (we went for a 1.5 hour ride in the woods with Shane - the owner - and it was beautiful, the trees there...<3), the house was built (if I remember correctly) halfly of cow shit haha no I'm not sure the girls who where volunteering there explained something but I was too stoked to get anything in, anyway it was built with natural and local style and it is 100% off the grid. The tap water came from the well. Shane told us it took a little over a year to build it, but before that there had been smaller buildings for the backpackers (they still were there, only now (since 14 months) there has been the main building as well.

The main building 

What you doing mate

Oh okay

M-mm that's mine

The dorm where we slept

Beds for 8, the second night we shared the room with 6 others 

Toilet

And on the way back we saw this

Huh it took sooo long to get these pictures uploaded. It's Monday now (haha not that long tho) and I'm in Muizenberg Cape Town at African Soul Surfer backpackers for 5 nights. Got here by a night bus and a taxi and now I'm waiting for the dorm to be cleaned so I can take some rest. This is the place to surf if I want to go in the cold sea (haven't yet swam here). Surfers wear wet suits here, might as well take a surf lesson, if I feel like it. Today there will be a game night here. Pool table next to me so at least I get to play pool! Shower, sleep and food pleeease.

Last days in PE yet to come. Laters. Cecca