Astonishing beauty of a country with serious security problems, form the ones inherited from Apartheid times, to the current ones generated by xenophobia. It seems that problems will be solved only in the long term, when education will have had its effects.
If you do things with passion, you enjoy things passionately
Diving with Neil has not been what I most liked in our day trip to Umkomaas, a world renowned scuba site. Diving with Neil made me realize that applying passion to what you do, makes things a whole lot more enjoyable than if you just do them. Neil knows everything about marine life in that area, about its fauna and flora, about each corner of the diving sites, ...and makes you feel part of his experience.
If you do things with passion, you enjoy things passionately. This was the learning of the day.
By the way, we saw grey nurse shark, turtles, manta ray, moraines, ...even the very rear pineapple fish...and a snapper trying to swallow a parrot fish!!!
When one is hosted as I have been by Ryan and his family, one wants to visit them again. It has been a pleasure to be for a long weekend with the Ponquetts in Underberg, country side close to Durban, and realize that family life is as enjoyable as being on holidays with your closest friends. Hiking, talking, rowing, canopying, drinking...sharing...what a blessing! You are part of my journey, part of my life.
Ryan has been and is one of those persons that is there for you when you need it, even in the distance. His empathic capacity makes you feel close to him. This is especially important if you want to feel what friendship is all about...being there for others and enjoying it.
Miguel is one of those friends that you see every now and then yet it seems like you meet every day. My brief visit to him felt like heaven: a relaxing sportive morning, a safary in the afternoon, seeing cheettha, rynos even flying grasshopper, and a fabulous dinner at Moyo's in Joburg, wine tasting included. Miguel, my house is yours, you know it.
To Mini's question ''are we all alike or all different?'' I would say that we are differently alike rather than similarly different.
I though that my day trip to Kochis Backwaters (an endless beautiful labyrinth of rivers and lakes in the middle of a dense tropical forest) was going to be a good occasion to lean back, silence myself, meditate, fall asleep surrounded by a beautiful scenery... but nope! The beauty of the sailing trip was comparable to the unexpected joy of meeting two travelers with which I had important things in common. With Marc, from Ireland, I had a comparable family situation, same spiritual worries, need of silence to enforce communication... and with Mini, a greek beauty, I had a similar academic and work background, equal worries for future plans, shared love for my city, need to be intellectually challenged... with both of them a desire to look inside ourselves through experiencing, by traveling.
Mini, Marc, I would really like to see you soon again.
My base camp in India was Bombay, chez Shonaalii, a university classmate. From there I flew to GOA, where I stayed with her brother Vishar and family for one week. Then I went to the Sivananda ashram in TRIVANDRUM, for yoga, meditation and ayurvedic therapies. Finally, a bit of sightseeing in PERIYARD (wildlife), MUNAR (tea gardens) and KOCHI (Backwaters). I will just say one thing about these sites: they were sublime.
''Sister'' Shonaalii knows that my trip wouldn't have been the same without her.
Chatting about macrobiotics, relationships, future working plans; blogging, buying Kurtas, knowing her family and friends, even attending a wedding, made my Bombay stay memorable.
Shon treated me more as a prince than as a traveler. When you take care of someone to that level of detail, it means exactly that, that you care.
Whatever Shon does in life, she does it with care. She recently changed the course of her life, her lifestyle, her job, her relationship...major changes in life, and she is doing fine because she cares about what she does...and because she believes in herself. Nothing can beat that, no matter how big challenges are. This I learned from her, and lots of other things that she teaches others without noticing.
So long my friend!
