Yoga, Jazz, and Family

The gorgeous coast along the Garden Route

The kids who guided us to the elusive eye

The last 2 weeks of March were quite “busy” with vacation.  It started with a weekend yoga retreat.  I have luckily been able to continue my yoga practice here in Botswana, actually going a lot more than I did in the States.  I have a great local teacher and the classes are smaller so there is a lot of personal attention.  My yoga teacher’s teacher did the yoga retreat.  It was held in Groot Marico, which is a small town in South Africa about 2 hours from here.  The setting was ideal, a small retreat center in the middle of nowhere with no cell phone reception, delicious vegetarian meals and nice cottages.  Yoga was conducted in an octagon shaped building and as our faces were inches from the ground she mentioned that the floor was made of a cow dung/mud mixture!  Wish I hadn’t known that part of it, but it did not smell and was coated with some kind of oil to keep it together….The theme of the weekend was "the elements," which meant exploring the parts of us that are Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Space.  I was only around for the first 3 elements since the retreat was three days and we only attended for two.  Exploring the element of Earth meant collecting piles of dirt and staring at it for 15 mins, then spreading the dirt out and staring at it again for 15 min and then putting it back in a pile and seeing how we felt about it now that it was back in pile.  We then discussed how everyone felt about the dirt and what the earth element meant to us.  While I found the idea of the elements interesting and attempting to try to balance them in each of us is a very important and noble goal, staring at dirt, moving water, still water, candles, fire, etc took a lot of patience on my part, which was also a good exercise ;)  The yoga was great, again it was a small group so we got a lot of personal attention. We also took a trip to "The Eye" a crystal clear spring near the retreat place, it was quite an adventure to find as it is tucked into the brush along a dirt road (luckily we ran into those children above who pointed us in the right direction).  It was raining and cold, but that did not stop us from zip-lining and jumping into the nice cold water ;)

On Sunday I left the retreat by way of a packed combi (minivans used for public transport around South Africa) to travel to Johannesburg and meet my parents who had arrived a few days earlier. The following day we flew to George along the Southern coast of South Africa, rented a car and began to drive the Garden Route.  

The Garden Route is the stretch of coastline between Port Elizabeth and Cape Town.  It is a gorgeous drive filled with amazing mountain passes, beautiful beaches, and lots of good fish dinners (something I never get in Botswana)!  We spent the first two nights at an amazing B+B in Plettenberg Bay.  The owner was an amazing cook and the location was amazing.  While there we went to the Tsitsikama National Park and hiked to Storm's River Mouth and part of the way to the waterfall.  I even convinced my dad to go zip-lining! 

On the bridge at the Storms River Mouth

Along the way to the waterfall (we did not have time for the whole hike but the views were breathtaking)

We then drove on Route 62 which is the part of road that weaves in a out of the mountains on some amazing passes.  We spent one night at a lodge in the town of Oudtshoorn that was on an ostrich farm and even collected a few ostrich feathers.

Eric the Farmer

Between Oudtshoorn and Swellendam was the famous Ronnie's Sex Shop.  It is a bar/restaurant in literally the middle of nowhere that started as a joke and has now becoming a famous stop along the route. Had to get the classic photo of Dad on the disintegrating tractor in front.

A photo opportunity in one of the mountain pass

We arrived in Cape Town on Friday in time for the Cape Town International Jazz Festival which just so happened to be the weekend my parents decided to visit (what great timing).  We saw some amazing performances, among them: Hugh Masekela, Earth Wind and Fire and even my friend Matt who was playing with Citie a guitar player from Botswana (the first Botswana artist to perform at the Jazz Festival).

Hugh Masekela (sorry no matter what I do this picture won't rotate, so you will just have to turn your head ;)

Citie on guitar and Matt on sax

We spent four full days in Cape Town exploring.  From taking the cable car up Table Mountain to listening to a concert in The Botanical Gardens to eating amazing food it was an awesome time in a great city.

Dad smelling the flowers at the section of the Botanical Gardens designed for blind people (all the plants had powerful smells and signs about them were translated into Braille as well.)

The Philharmonic performed to a packed crowd of serious picnickers (these people were really hard core about the picnicking right down to the stakes which held wine glasses!)

My parents and their friends Richard and Bobbie Polton (who joined us in Cape Town) and were able to find some nice recycled art of their own with the master artists

Mom with a lion made of wire and beads at the Streetwires store (a place that has hired some the local artists who make all kinds of objects out of recycled cans, wires, beads, etc).  We purchased quite a number of recycled designs from local artists at a art fair we happened upon as you can see above.

He looks like a professional, eh?
There are tons more pictures and stories, but I wanted to get this up before the next adventure  (which starts tomorrow ;) Happy Passover and Easter to all (stories from this year's passover to follow ;)