Backpacking - Monday March 17, Day 4 – Plettenberg Bay

The Baz Bus dropped us off before noon at Plettenberg Bay. The drive there was beautiful. We passed over a huge gorge which is home to the biggest bungee jump of some sort in the world (I plan on doing it before I leave). The view of P-Bay from the car was gorgeous. The beaches looked amazing and we couldn’t wait to get down there.

When we got off the Baz Bus at our hostel, Albergo, we ran into a few other Americans from Rhodes, including Tracie, the other American that lives in my res. We all quickly got ready, stopped for lunch and headed to the beach.

The beach was very touristy, but very pretty. It is an inlet surrounded by mountains. It was amazing. The water was so clear that no matter how far out Sonya and I swam we could see the bottom even if we couldn’t touch it. We swam for a long time and hung out on the beach reading and napping, as well.

On the way back from the beach we decided to have a braai so Grace, Kevin and I stopped at the grocery store to pick up meat and food for dinner, while Ryan and Sonya went back to the hostel. When we got back from the store and we were getting ready to start braaiing we found out that Sonya was really sick. She couldn’t keep anything down. Ryan and I headed back to the store to pick up stuff to make her feel better, while Kevin and Grace cleaned up. When Ryan went to pay for everything he found that he had no cash, it was all gone after leaving his wallet in the room while we were at the beach. When we got back to the hostel we found out that other people in our room were missing their money, too. It was a terrible feeling. Luckily all of our valuables like laptops, cameras and iPods were still there. To bring our spirits back up Kevin, Grace and I started braaiing. We invited a British boy, Chris, from our room to eat with us since Sonya wouldn’t be eating. It turned out that he’s on his gap year and he spent the previous two months teaching and coaching soccer in Tanzania. He had a lot of crazy stories.

Since it was St. Patrick’s Day we decided to join Chris and some other Brits and Irish people at the nearest bar. We enjoyed a few drinks and someone bought a round of shots for the bar. It was a fun night.

In the morning we found out that Kevin would be going back to the bungee jump with Chris and we’d meet up with him a day or two later. The rest of us spent the morning waiting for the Baz Bus and driving to Wilderness, our next stop.