and back again

ok im sorry to all that are following and were not keeping up. sam's fault, i swear. we've been doing great. really great. since we last updated, we've finally made it to the coast! its great. beautiful beaches and almost no tourists... which makes great, greater. our first day at the coast we went for a run to the beach and it was amazing. miles and miles of beach. and hotter than hell,a nd that evening we has some freaking sweet fried fish, from a place called 'fishy petes'! i know how could we not eat there? the bar tender was a great guy that had a high freaking voice that we couldnt understand but found as long as we laughed when he laughed, we got along great. the second day we walked to the beach again and went to find for hipos. and find them we did. apparently they're pretty aggressive, or so i found out. sam was all "be careful! they're mean!" and i was all like " hon, they're fat and in the water". famous last word. i walked closer, and closer getting pictures, and one (a particularly big one, around the size of sams truck) got up real slow. stretched, yawned (well actually we was bearing teeth at me), slowly got out of the water, and faced me "sweet i thought" then he took a step forward, and i one back. then we started charging at me. lets just say i was the photo op for the tourists on the hill behind, skinny white boy funning down the beach away from a monster. sam informed me later that was the alpha male protecting the pond. needless to say we needed to end the evening with beers at fishy petes.

well before i get ahead of my self we went to swaziland before the beach and had a great time there. we met up with a lady we met in in jo that runs a hostel shop and we wne there to hang out and and mingle with some volunteers. it was a great time. tonnes of food and drinks and went for an amazing hike the next day. had a really great time there. the place is called lidwala in the esaweeny valley just west of manini. if your ever in the area.

ok so after st lucia (the first stop of the coast) we slowly made our way down to durban, where we are now. durban is the third biggest city in south africa. its huge. tonnes and tonnes of poverty. you drive through miles of shanty villages to get to the center. when i say shanty i mean a house made of scraps, like corragated metal and old doors about the size of a car and houses whole families.

durban had been really good. relaxing in coffee shops and such, walking through market after market. we came upon an india exhibit, the first day and went in (were really psyched for india), and came across a table of some of the nicest people we've met in south africa. they're a charity group thats run out of an ashram south of the city, apperantly they fed alot of people. so we decided to head on down the next day to see what it was all about. holy cow, what a group of people. this is a place with no government funding all small donations, and has been around for ten years, and feeds on average about 3000 mouths a day, ninty percent children. they cook around 150 kg of rice A DAY, and use 150 loaves of bread a day. they makes sandwiches and deliver them to schools and then make buckets and buckets of briani and serves people there at the ashram and also drives around town to feed people all over durban. it was very humbling seeeing what these volunteers do everyday. the ashram is run by a hindu monk simply called guru by all the kids. hes big guy but seems to giggle at everything and always has a huge smile on his face. he lives at the ashram and eats what the people he serves eats. he lives with quite a few people there, including adopted kids (one of which doesnt seem to take 5 steps with out a cart wheel in between) and one of the sweetest people ive met martha-gi, who can make a fantastic cup of chai and seems to control the crazy house hold with little effort. i hope to see them all again some time as they made us all welcome and fed us till we were about to burst. we came back for the dewaly festival and all i can say to that whole day is wow. thousands of people came through and we served them breakfast and lunch with a prayer session in between, with dancing and singing. i was a one in a million day.

anywim running out of time but try to see our pics on flickr.com try this.

http://flickr.com/photos/31168733@N02/

hope your all well

hey guys how is everyone? were doing great. in swaziland. its pretty good to be here. had a bit of an epic to find the border buts all is good. picture the two of us driving along this little mountain road that, due to sever flooding, is more like a goat trail. heavy fog. periods of rain. trying to make room for other cars to pass, AND with a gas tank so low its gone from gas light being on, to flashing. but its ok. we arrived up scathed. oh and some how we were talked into picking up some hitch hiking locals (apparently they had been working on the road all day but we saw no sign of any work been done.) but its good to be here, its beautiful, and cool. a nice break from the searing heat from the last couple days.

so over the last few days we've done quite a bit. we bouldered of some sweet granite in the crazy man made forest. it was crazy, they have the largest man made forest in the world up there. it almost felt japanese, it was so ordered perfectly with absolutly no under growth. super cool. then we drove and looked at Gods Window (absolutly worth a google image search) and some huge water falls. the next day we boogeyed to the kruger national reserve and saw some wicked animals. elephants, herds of grraffes 7 feet away, a rhino, a crocodile, boars, and some many freaking gazeles that we began gunning for them of the road. in the end we were driving for 13 hours straight. very killer. but sam learned to drive stick (right side at that) and did great.

anyways i gotta go im hogging the internet. hope you guys are great. well try to get some pics up when the internet gets a little quicker.

howzit from jo

well hellooo again everybody. luke... again. sam'll write soon she's just a little busy with her hair at the moment, like anything else is new.

we are in jo burg, south africa, obviously. all's well so far. had a nice couple days here in the burg. were staying at a hostel called brown sugar. its situated in jo burgs equilivant to tuscany. in the safest community around, on a hill, only here they have a 20 foot wall and barbed wire all around it, whereas sams parents house does not. but its good, as apparently there have a been a few muggings lately. so were nice and safely tucked away waiting for monday so we can visit the indian embassy for a visa. there isnt really alot to do here, as tourists usually get the hell out of dodge ASAP. so were walking during the day and avoiding being out at night. getting excited to get away to the coast and away from the city. were thiking that tuesday we'll leave (hopefully) and boogey east. then we want to beach hop till we get to cape town and we can find a crash pad to head to the rocklands. were both getting pretty ansy in the pancey to start climbing.

GOOD NEWS! the coffee situation has improved!! they make great coffee here. only to our great suprise when you say drip coffee with cream, they take that as whipping cream on top of your coffee. image our suprise! wasnt sweetened cream though so it was actually really really good! solid.

heres sam ... oh my goodness I almost stepped on a dead cat in my flipflops!!! I thought it was fox (but I didn't want to tell Luke ... such a city girl) - - my hair is too frizzy for my travel straightener and I can't find the right plug in for my hair dryer - - show me the way to the Marriott ... much love ... Sam

das frankenweitzen!!

well this is luke signing on. we got in to frank last night after a good length flight. sam made an good effort to sleep and i watched indiana jones. while waiting for the flight in calgarz, we were called to the front and were bumped up to first class, solid! frank´s good. found the greatest pub in the world. we both agreed. got free shots and over tipped. the coffee is shit and we miss beano. i guess theres a reason germany isnt known for they´re coffee. sam got word that her beano chalk bag is done so that will be brought to us via josh air. solid times 2!

ok i dont have alot to say yet. went buildering last night on a big suspension bridge. didnt die so no worries, although sam scratched her tummy on the stone foundation. and im done for now. we have a 19 hour trip ahead of us, broken up by a 2 hr lay over in doa, where ever that is. thinking the middle east. hope everyone is well. one love.

heres a test or the new blog.