So basically I had the most random and amazing weekend thus far. So, I randomly was handed a flyer in the Neelsie for canoe club and thought that it sounded cool. Well to begin their season they have an open social weekend that cost 150R. I have wanted to meet more local people so I hopped on aboard to see what it was all about.

I arrived at the Neelsie on Saturday morning with about 50 other people and loaded into a bus that was not made to hold that many people. We made it work though and traveled about 2 hours to the river. Once there we piled into inflatable boats and some 1-2 man racing kayaks. The inflatable boats each held about 4-5 people and a nice cooler box full of beers. Needless to say we didn't make it more than 1 K before everyone was drunk and floating in the water in the summer heat. Then we were informed by the organizers that we had 7 Ks to go before camping for the night and that the pace of 2 hours for 1 K would not work. So, we manned up and paddled a bit, but by this point it was a little ridiculous with people tipping boats, loosing entire coolers, and dragging behind boats. Mind you there were no rapids that would cause a boat to tip.

In the end we made it down the river in about 5 hours and set up tents for the evening. They fed us all a type of chicken soup and rice that was amazing after the long day in the sun. By this point I had made friend with a couple of South African girls (Rebecca and Kathy), an American girl, and a South African guy (Justin) who I paddled down the river with.We ended up deciding that we would all sleep in Justin's tent, which he was nice enough to offer up, but in the end I slept under the African stars because the tent was just too hot.

In the morning I chilled eating eggs and oats with some guys I met the night before and reminisced on the night's activities. Then we piled back into boats, but this time there was no beer and everyone was a nice shade of pink/red from the day before. Basically we all just wanted to get down the river as fast as possible and out of the sun. The ozone layer is almost completely gone here, so you could literally feel the sun burning into your skin. We all put on layers even I the heat to attempt to hide from the sun but nothing kept us safe. We made it to the end by about 1 pm and piled into the bus for the ride home exhausted and hot.

But remember that TIA (This Is Africa) causing the bus to break down just outside of Stellenbosch. We ran out of petrol apparently, but even after that was delivered the bus would not move. So, friends were called and we all hitched rides back into town (luckily we weren't too far from home).

It was an amazing weekend despite the fact that my back feels like it is on fire at all times, and that I woke up this morning with mosquitoes have a field day on every exposed body part. I met some amazing people who will be great for helping me to get to know the area, I freaking canoed and camped in Africa, and had a blast!