From East London to Port Elizabeth -

I don't want you to think that all we did was see animals as we drove through South Africa.  If you look at the map, you can easily see that we drove almost completely across the southern tip of the African continent.  As we left East London early in the afternoon, I tried to catch a few pictures of sights along the way.  We didn't drive through a downtown area, but this little piece of the city gives a picture of what most people who live in East London might see as they shop.  They do have some great malls though, so don't think this is all they have.  It reminds me of Pocatello in the fifties!  No, not my fifties----I mean the 1950s!

This was an interesting selection of dresses shown here---I have not seen display like this anywhere else in South Africa.  I love how they get shorter and shorter and then turn into shirts and pants.  Of course, Vic wouldn't stop so I could shop!  Mr. Wizer Wholesaler sounds like a garage sale in action to me!

I did get him to drive over by the ocean because I wasn't sure we would get another chance and I still hadn't stepped in the Indian Ocean.  I walked out on these rocks to get that opportunity.  I was excited because I had heard that the water in East London is easily 10 degrees warmer than the water in Cape Town.  It really was!  I couldn't stay long because we had lots to see and had to get going!  If it hadn't been so rocky, I would have probably stayed much longer!

The drive out to the ocean featured a little kinda theme park or something and we noticed these lines as we were driving in, and realized we were driving on a Daytona 500 type track or something.  So we took one run around with tires squealing! Now don't spread that around because Elder Herbert is the "Car Czar" and we don't want young Elders getting any ideas. 

Oh, pardon me, it was the East London Grand Prix Circuit and you drove about 3/4 of the way around and then they detoured you over to the beach and a small water park that was behind the stands.  I'm not kidding!  I barely got Vic to slow down long enough to snap this picture of the grand stand.  Actually he was lining up on the lines and waiting for me to say Go!

The water park was cute!  Can you see the little splotches of blue up by the cream colored fence?  It had a few slides that were maybe 15 feet high and I could hear the people screaming and screaming as they went down. This makes sense because many of the people here are very, very afraid of water. We have a little trouble with many of them getting into the water for baptism. They are sure they are going to die! It is really quite a sacrifice and demonstration of their faith for them to get into the baptismal font!  This isn't a great picture because I was so far away, but you can tell the slides weren't very high.

 

Here you can see Vic back at the car and how far I had to walk to get to the water.  I suppose this is covered by water at high tide.  Many of the beaches we saw were pretty rocky.

Fishing is a popular thing to do down here.  Not many people have a pick-up truck to drive to the fishing hole.  Somehow these long poles really struck us as funny but when you think about it, probably many of the people who fish are getting fish for their table or to sell for a living.

We had heard about the termite hills from other senior couples, so we weren't totally surprised by these.  We were a little shocked at how many there were and that there were no houses nearby.  The termites must feed on the soils or plants in the area.  Maybe they are relatives of the dung beetle! None of those are rocks---they are all large termite hills probably at least two feet high.  We saw a few with the sides broken out, so there must be some animals that prey on them.  There were many of them along the highway but not all as numerous as seen in this picture.

As we were driving I saw a giraffe over on the crest of the hill.  We stopped to take a picture and really didn't realize that there were four of them there until we got the pictures home and watched a slide show of them!  There must be an animal park over there.

 These are some of the sights we saw as we drove along.  There were lots of bridges over rivers that were flowing into the ocean.

 And even beautiful sights on the other side of the road-----the river as it flows to the ocean.

We couldn't decide why this bridge ended like this, but it seemed to come in handy for the families that were playing under it.  We decided it might just be a walking bridge or maybe the government just ran out of money.

Here we are in Port Alfred---a little retirement community about half way between East London and Port Elizabeth.  Here's the sign on the way into Elder and Sister O'Dell's apartment complex.  The bottom language is Xhosa--it is the click language.  No clicks here though---it is pronounced about exactly as it looks.  You have to have a G, C, or X to make a click.  The th is just the t sound. The ph is just the sound of p.  Other than that, it is easy as pie!  How would you like to teach this in first grade? 

 We drove down by the beach after church on Sunday----we were going to see where the apartment was that the O'Dells didn't like.  It is right across the street from this.  They don't really like the beach, and there were all kinds of people around here on weekends partying.  I can kinda see it---I guess.  They also said the sound of the ocean seemed to keep them awake at night.  So they moved across from the golf course and got a much nicer apartment for less money because of the location. 

Here's a pic of Sister O'Dell and I.  She is the tiniest little thing--I look like a giant next to her!  The wind was blowing like crazy and we could barely stand up!

On the way home they took us past the pineapple farm and we saw the largest pineapple in the world.  Cute isn't it!  It looks like we are about to break that fence! 

We were able to snap a quick picture of the O'Dells here.  They are such a cute couple---newlyweds really as this is a second marriage for both of them. They are funny, fun and always ready to help and do their part.

That night Sister O'Dell showed me fun things she has found in South Africa.  This is a little curly scrap of fake hair attached to a head band.  I'm sure it is meant for people who have brown hair, but how fun  it was!  I know I look pretty dorky, but it was hilarious!

This close-up is actually pretty frightening, but who cares---I look like my hair is brown!  I'm laughing so much my face is about to crack!  Funny--Vic didn't like it!!  

On Monday morning we got up early and went to Fish River Sun Country Club for buffet breakfast.This is the entry way to the clubhouse.  Those nests are built by weaver birds and they enter them through the bottom.  The males build the nests and then the female goes in and decides if it will meet her high expectations.  If it doesn't, then they just leave it and he starts all over.  They like to build the nests over water, so you see these nests often over backyard swimming pools and fountains. 

It is called the Wahoo Restaurant and we were supposed to look like we were saying "Wahoo!"  Did not do a great job, did we.  They serve one of those buffet breakfasts to die for.  Every thing you could ever want---yes they make your omelet after you put your fillings in a bowl.  All kinds of fruits and fruit smoothies and breads and rice and you name it.  I am going to have to work so hard when I get home to get all this weight off!

The golf course is just on the left and this is the pool and I guess there are apartments or hotel rooms there on the right.  Can you see the ocean there in the background?  This place was amazing. 

Before we left I wanted to take a picture of some the animals on the golf course across from O'Dells.  I had to climb across some high grass and I was looking down as I approached the fence.  There are several herds of springbok, hartebeest and some tortoises.  I don't really know what else is there.  As I stepped up to the fence, I had the camera up by my face and I looked in and saw this.  I think they heard my scream back in East London!  I was okay once I realized it was just a tiny lizard on the fence---it looked like he might be ten inches long when I first saw him on the camera which was already zoomed as far as it could go. I took this picture after the scream.  He was holding on for dear life!  I'm sure he thought he was about to be eaten by a gigantiac screaming beast!

Don't know if you can see them, but there are the springbok on the golf course.  It is a small course and much cheaper than the country club, and Elder O'Dell can go over and play 9 holes once in a while without interfering with his missionary work.  He serves as the Branch President in Port Alfred and they both spend quite a bit of time working with branch members and the missionaries.  Sister O'Dell is the favorite of the missionaries because she always manages to feed them often and well.

I think I will stop for today and start a new blog tomorrow - you probably need some time off from reading this to get back to your life!!  It's so hard because I just don't want to leave anything out!!  Good night all!