It seemed a sensible idea to split our drive from Chinsta to Umkomaas with a stop in Coffee Bay, all was proceeding nicely until we turned off our trusty friend the N2 onto the road to Coffee Bay. A short 70k stretch of road should have been a quite simple trip through the Transkaay, instead it took nearly 2 hours most of which was spent trying to manoeuvre around potholes that were so numerous that we had no choice but to drive straight through. This was made rather more tricky with the sheer amount of goats, cows, sheep and horses along the side of the road and crossing regularly in front of us. Add to that a significant amount of children, dogs and adults wandering aimlessly in the middle of the road, particularly on blind bends and you'll be able to imagine the kind of drive we're talking about.

Anyway, we finally rocked up at Coffee Bay, and to be honest it was a pretty grim little place, fair enough the views were impressive but was it worth it?! Our afternoon was spent lazing in the sunon the beach, the first time our bodies have seen sunlight for quite some time, it was blissful. In the evening we signed up for a Xhosa village tour and dinner. We were both rather apprehensive as these 'tours' can often feel extremely voyeuristic and faked for tourists. We were however pleasantly surprised, the group of us were treated to 'traditional beer' also known as shake shake. It was utterly foul, tasting like gone off milk complete with bits. The village children were hilarious and as ever fascinated with digital cameras; their photography skills were pretty impressive.

As the sun began to set we moved into the headman's hut and were treated to the mama's shaking their hips to the sound of the traditional drums. Their energy was astounding and we were all soon joining in, rather less elegantly than these women. Quite how they manage to move their hips like that I will never fathom. Dinner consisted of Sump and Beans followed by Mealie Pap and Cabbage, all cooked in a traditional cast iron Potjie over an open fire and helped along with a healthy dose of Beef flavoured Aromat! Mum and Dad, you wouldn't' believe the varieties of Aromat you can get over here - we're missing out!

After eating our fill we spent a little time asking the elders questions about the village and Xhosa traditions before the tables were turned on us The first question being 'are any of you married' James and I duly responded and as the only ones in our group to be married we were the focus of a barrage of questions. Namely what James had to pay for his bride? All were a little surprised when we attempted to explain that we exchanged rings as a symbol of our marriage. A little perplexing perhaps when local tradition remains to give a number of cows to the bride's family. The elder was rather concerned that there was nothing to stop me walking off! More dancing and a rather sketchy walk in the pitch black rounded off a lovely evening.