Subject : 

Road to Cape Town

Hi All,

  Well I'm almost there!  Almost to Cape Town that is, it's been quite a journey!  I'm in Plettenburg Bay now, enjoying the Garden Route of South Africa.  It's quite a beautiful place, lots of forests and beautiful beaches.  Since I last emailed you I've spend all of my time on the coast going through the Transkei or Wild Coast region.  It's a nice place b/c it's not developed at all yet and there are large pockets of indigenous populations.  Lots of good backpackers hostels too.  South Africa is quite an unusual place.  It's by far the most diverse country I've ever been too.  There are still large portions of the population living in mud huts w/o electricity, running water etc...  There are also lots of people living in shantytowns in some of the worst poverty in the world.  There are also the Afrikans peoples, decedents of the Dutch with their own language and distinctive culture.  The city centers have a huge immigrant population of Indians and Muslims.  Finally there are places that looks and feel like Miami!  Such an odd place.  The difference between wealth and poverty is totally racial it's quite sad.  There are very serious racial differences here that often turn violent.  It's gonna be interesting to see what happens here in the next decade or so and whether or not the Zimbabwe situation will having any effect...

  Other than that I'm having fun, learning to surf and enjoying the company of other backpackers mostly.  Oh yeah I almost forgot!  I did the highest bungee jump in the world yesterday!  216 meters off a bridge into a canyon!  It was an absolutely amazing experience!  I'd highly recommend it to anyone!

   Well the Internet cafe is about to close so I've gotta go!

cheers

Jon