More from South Africa

Here we are in South Africa. There is my lovely wife Shannon. Not bad for a stinking pirate, eh?

This is the view from an overlook into a bay near Cape Town. It was so beautiful that we all took pictures from here. They were gorgeaous. Look at the color of the water and the sheer clifs. it was like looking into paradise.

Here are some of the ladies of the trip. Don't they just look smashing sports fans?

I loved being at the coast and around all that water. I guess the pirate in me loves the waer and needs to have his fun.

South Africa

I will put in a few blogs about South Africa because it was such an amazing place. I loved every minute of it. We were blessed to be able to stay with Monte Christo ministries at their farm. This picture shows the valley that we looked across. This is taken about a quarter of the way up the gorge behind the farm. The farm is 600 hectares. It is located in the town of Porterville. It is a small farming town with good ol country folk. My kind of place.

In the town of Porterville was this great little restaurant. We ate there several times. We were well received. It was run by a guy named Booty. O.K. so he had a more Africanse name but everyone called him booty. He was a trip. The food was great and the staff was really neat. The gal you see waiting this table was studying to be a teacher. The South Africans grill out like we do and they take extreme pride in their abilities. However, they call it a braai. They start a fire on the ground and use a metal rack you can close over both sides of your meat and then they flip the rack when it is time. They laugh at our primitive methods of using a grill. I told them the night before I was to leave that if I were staying a little longer that I would challenge them to a braai/grill cookoff. They were all over it. The owner said he would shut down the restaurant any time we wanted and he would bring in tasters from all over the county to see who is the best. O for another day in South Africa.

So South Africa does not do Thanksgiving. So we decided we would do it for them right. We got several turkies and hams and everything. We had six pies brought in. And Daniel who is a most excellent chief helped us out. This is one of his creations. We had about forty people at the farm for Thanksgiving Dinner. We told our traditions and then had a talent show afterwards. They never looked at us quite the same.






One of the great things about South Africa is how cheap the food is. This was a wonderful dinner at a place called Beltazhazzer. it was right on the waterfront. We were outside and this was a sampler plater someone ordered for one. It probably could have fed three. The food was soooo good. It was a four star dinning experience and we ate for about thirty US dollars for the two of us. We just hung around and ate and talked for about three hours. The idea of eating out here and in Congo is very European. If you eat in under an hour it is considered fast food. We got to watch the sunset and then eat in the dark. We had some sweet deserts. I love this place.

Wacky Tacky Day

Here we have the lovely fashion of wacky tacky day African style. Our ladies worked on their outfits for hours and I heard them say they could not be happier. I loved the PJ outlandish act I had to get in on it myself.








Is anyone out there scared yet? Don't be this Spartan is harmless. He really knows how to put on the spirit.





You just have to love the dedication of the "Dirt Bag Army."

Cookie Monsters

All you pirates out there vote for your favorite cookie monster!!

Contestant number one comes all the way from Wisconsin. Heres Nora Triller! She is sporting the single handed stuffing manuver, always, a classic. She is sure to be a crowd pleaser.
Next up we have Morgan Taylor all the way from China via Savannah Georgia. Morgan says she prefers the double handed stuff when plowing through Christmas cookies. Those eyes are sure to win hearts and convert enemies.
Our third finalist hails from Kentucky. He is the one and only Aidan. He says the only way for a man to stuff em down is with the one handed slam-a-jam-a!!! He has the other hand free for additional balance in case one of the other competitors trys to knock him over in their jealousy. He is the only male to find his way into the final round. He is a real crowd pleaser. This is not his first performance and he is a pro.
"If we all work together, than messy we'll be"

Be sure and vote!!!!

cave

This was the village we went to to do the caving and meet the chief. Sorry no pictures of the Chief as I did not get his permission.
this is the jungle woods we were bsuhwhacking into to see the cave.

Caving in Congo

I Your fearless leader decided to go caving in Congo. It was a classic, baby!! We took a four hour ride to a town called Kimpesi. Then we went on a two hour four-wheel drive road to the village to meet a chief and go to the caves with three of his men.

This is were we finally decided to put it in four wheel drive.

This is one of the little ponds we had to drive through!!!Give a pirate yell!

Welcome to pirate treause in the cave. Nothing like cave booty to bring out the camera lover in you.

Uncle John pausing for some P.R.

This was the view out of one of the three entrances. Across the valley all those hills are covered with Limestone and I think with a couple of weeks to poke around and push leads we could connect some of these bad boys. We left two leads unpushed as we ran out of time. It was a cute little cave ... or so it seems. This entrance was half way up the hill so we are looking over the valley.

transport

I tought you would love to see some of the public transport options here in Congo. I love this ride!
Here is a more lofty approach to the taxi situation. You can ride for about six hours to the port if you would like.

Trip to Kimpesi

Hey everyone. Long time no see. Sorry. I have got a new internet connection and it works much better. I just got back from a trip into Congo to a town called Kimpesi. It is beautiful there and we went caving. The sunsets were amazing and the moon was bright and full. We went caving and saw some of the most amazing rock formations I have ever seen.

This is what we saw coming up the road to the village. This was a two hour four wheel drive road from Kimpesi.










O what a beautiful moon rise. O what a beautiful town.