May 19th, 2011, Rocklands, South Africa
What a day....reflecting as I lie here, cocooned in my tiny tent, robed in longjohns and down jacket against the frigid night sky; Driving well over the speed limit in Tristin's small Audi, blazing through the South African countryside, the golden hues blazing on the peaks of the Cedarbergs; stopping for groceries in the small rural town of Clanwilliam, the day laborers all laboriously spending their wages on drink, crowded around the front of the local SPAR Market; arriving in the dark of night, stories having been told over the blur of the traffic lines, the glare of the semi-trucks heading north to Namibia and south back to the Cape; setting up tents in the sand by headtorch, happily cocooned after an epic day in South Africa, a stranger alone in the company of strangers, now friends, a lone traveler on this far out road of life....
May 20th, Rocklands, South Africa
Just in from an evening spent around the campfire, good people, stories, laughs, the stars thundering from overhead in all their singular brilliance, this magical place perched on the edge of the world, balanced, as we all are, so perilously. Walking back into camp today after a great climbing session with some new South African friends, I was enveloped by the absolute peace of this place, the silence startled me; the best day yet in this new country...and many more to come...
