DouceLifeAt50.com

Travel journal or something a little different. 

On March 21st, in the late afternoon, I stepped on an airplane in Seattle for the first leg of my first trip that would bring me to visit my brother and his family in South Africa.  14 hours later, on March 22nd, I was in Dubai for a four hour layover while I waited for my connection to Johannesburg.  8 and 1/2 hours later I arrived in Johannesburg, on March 23rd, for another layover until it was time to board the plane to Port Elizabeth, the end of my journey, 30 hours later counting the flying time and the layovers.  I cleared customs in Johannesburg and rechecked my luggage for the short flight to PLZ.  My first question to the gate agent was: “what day is it?”  When you go through several time zones and travel for that many hours, it is hard to keep track of the days or hours.  I walked around the airport for a long time as my knees were stiff and my ankles looked just like when I was pregnant, puffy and huge.  Once I felt I could sit again I decided to celebrate my arrival to South Africa with a large cappuccino and a fresh and flaky looking croissant at Gelato Dolce, Coffee & Cream, they were both delicious.

My brother and his wife built a beautiful lodge between Port Elizabeth and Jeffrey’s Bay. I had of course seen pictures of the lodge and the zebras that roam around the property but seeing it all in person is a treat.  I love the thatch roofs, the open ceilings with the beams.  I enjoyed being shown around the different rooms to look at all the details that make a guest feel special.   Each room is lovingly designed and decorated, it is inviting and beautiful.  The zebras that come and go around the buildings, they seem to enjoy hanging around to be seen.  After a few days I am becoming familiar with the two different groups which rotate with the time of day.  They like the shade and rub against the corners of the establishment and the window frames.  They are not pets, they shy away from people.  As I am writing this a female is on the other side of window allowing me to admire her stripes.   Behind her the Indian Ocean sparkles in the sunlight.   Fall has started but it is still very warm during the day and cooler at night.

At night I fall asleep listening to the chirping of crickets and wake up to the songs of birds and the sound of hoofs walking on the bricks outside my sliding glass door.

Other animals that I have had a chance to see on the property are impalas,  males have beautifully grooved horns, females are small and slender.  They are shy animals, slight, fast, light brown.  Looking forward to seeing more birds.  There are large grasshoppers hopping around under the trees, a well fed lizard lives in the wood pile under the barbecue.

This area of South Africa is very green as it rains frequently.  Two years ago it was devastated by wildfires, the lodge burned to the ground, my brother and his family had to evacuate with very little as the wind pushed the fire toward the lodge.  The lodge was destroyed but they rebuilt it with improvements.  The new lodge was reopened last year in early May.

I love the hills covered with small bushes and trees, the mountains are behind me and on the side thus they do not block the view of the ocean.  There are bush covered dunes in the distance, to the right I glimpse Jeffrey’s Bay and its beautiful gold sand colored beaches.  We are heading there tomorrow, looking forward to dipping my feet in the ocean even though I was told the water is cold.

So far I have enjoyed eating some amazing Calamari or Squid, hake, tuna sashimi and as it is a farming community of course beef.  Barbecue is called braai.  Looking forward to visiting Addo elephant park next week and discovering the Garden Route as we head towards Cape Town later that week.