Well, as sad
as I am to say it, my third trip to South Africa is almost over. I’ve checked
into my first flight, most of my stuff is packed up, and tomorrow after one
final trip out on the boat, I’ll be boarding the White Shark Projects’ van to
the Cape Town airport. As I’ve said before, both the beginning and end of my
adventures always bring about a range of emotions, both happy and sad, and
tonight is no exception. But first, let me go over what I’ve been up to over my
last couple of days here.
Tuesday
evening we had one final braai as a send off for the vols. Lizzy, Beth, Cake
and I were four of a total of thirteen new vols that arrived on June first, and
all of us were staying for either two, three, or four weeks, so all my fellow
vols that didn’t leave a week or two ago are leaving either today, tomorrow, or
the next day. One thing that I’ve learned through my experiences traveling is
that you can get to know people remarkably well in just a matter or weeks, and
it’s amazing how quickly these people have gone from being strangers to good
friends. Also, even more importantly, traveling the way I do has taught me that
transient relationships can be so important. With the obvious exception of
Lizzy, Beth and Cake, I’ve only known these fellow vols for a few weeks, and
although I may see a few of them some time in the future, chances are when I
say bye to them tomorrow, I’m saying bye to most of them for good. Of course
I’ll be back here- that goes without saying at this point- and of course I’ll
see Lizzy, Beth, Cake, Jerome, Tom, Mandla, Benz, Grant, and the other crew
members again. But as far as the others go, chances are slim that our paths
will cross again. Either way, I think we’ve definitely made each other’s time
here in Gansbaai a little better.
Tuesday
evening after the braai Jerome drove us into town to go to the weekly trivia
night at Oppidek. I was on a team with fellow volunteers Mike, Erik, Rhiannon
and Ruth. Mike, Rhiannon and Ruth are British, and Erik’s from France. The
topic of trivia this week, appropriately, was the World Cup. We didn’t expect
to do well since most of us didn’t know much about football (aka soccer), but
we were lucky enough to have Erik on our team, who’s an absolute whiz on the
topic and amazingly enough we won! We didn’t stay out late since we were headed
to Cape Agulhas the next morning, but it was still a fun night.
Yesterday at
about 9 am six vols jumped into the van, with Jerome at the wheel, and headed
down to Cape Agulhas for one last day out before everyone had to leave. I can
now officially say that I’ve visited the southernmost tip of Africa five times
in my life; wonder how many people can say that. We spent most of the day out
and about exploring the cape, visiting the lighthouse, and having lunch before
heading back to Kleinbaai. Since Wednesday is karaoke night at Jimmy Rocket’s,
another pub in town, we all went out for one last night on the town. Some of
them, including Cake, were leaving for Cape Town bright and early this morning,
heading to either hostels or the airport, so we had to say some goodbyes last
night. It was a little bit sad to hug Cake one more time, but at least with him
I know there will be a next time.
Today has
been a quiet last full day here in Kleinbaai; some of the other vols were
driven in to Cape Town, but Loryn and I stayed around here. We did one last
long beach clean- we’ve collected a lot of trash from the beach in the month
that we’ve been here, and it feels really nice to know that we’ve helped even a
little bit. Tomorrow morning we’ve got a 6 am start in the garage, followed by
a 7:30 launch for one last trip out on the boat before leaving. Hopefully we
can see a few more sharks. After the trip we’re putting our bags in the bus and
heading back into Cape Town with the clients from the trip, and will be dropped
off at the airport. My flight isn’t until four, so I’m sure I’ll have some time
to chill there before my short flight up to Johannesburg, then the long 17 hour
flight back to Atlanta. That flight is always rough, but I’ve survived it four
times before.
So tonight
is my last night in my bed here at the lower vol house in Kleinbaai. Tomorrow
night I’ll be on a plane, and the following one I’ll be back home in San
Antonio. I know that saying goodbye to the crew tomorrow will be hard. Even though
I know I’ll see them again, leaving is hard. This place really does feel like
home to me, and the people here feel like family. So until next time, Gansbaai.
Thanks for another month of wonderful memories. This post’s food for thought: “We
leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place, we stay there, even
though we go away. And there are things in us that we can find again only by
going back there.”- Pascal Mercier
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