Nelspruit

Merry (belated) Christmas!!!
I've been out in rural South Africa for the past 3 days and have not had any access to running water, a telephone line (land line that is, cellular network is everywhere in SA), and the internet.
In stead of staying in Gaborone for Christmas, i decided that it would be more memorable to spend it with some of my friends in South Africa, the ones i made at EcoLink. I SMS'd Khensani from Palapye and she agreed to have us (kieran and I) over to join her family for Christmas.
on the 23rd we set off, taking a bus from Palapye to Gaborone, the from Gabs to Pretoria via intercity Kombi. we arrived in Pretoria about 8ish and took a metered cab back home to Entabeni. We were only there for a few short hours in the evening, just enough time to have a nice hot shower (with real water pressure!!!) and get some laundry done.
The next morning, i caught a taxi to the kombi rank and caught an intercity kombi to Nelspruit. we were crammed in there like sardines, as there were 7 people, plus all their luggage!
We arrived in Nelspruit, a little stiff, but with no DVT, even though there was no leg room at all! We caught another taxi to Hazyview where Khensani met us and introduced us to her family. They took Kieran to drop off out luggage while i stayed with Khensani and her Brother-in-law, Sipo, at the gas station to wait for the return trip.
I could keep recounting the story of my time with these wonderful people, but that would take too long, so i'll just say that we had an amazing christmas. we went to church in the morning, then had a braai (BBQ) all day long, playing with the kids, drinking beers with the men and visiting with all of Khensani's 4 sisters. really felt like part of the family. It's a christmas i'll not soon forget.
i'll be posting pictures when i get back to Pretoria and back to work, but this jouney is not over yet. There are still 2 more countries to go and many adventures to be had.
It's off to Maputo, Mozambique now for a few days. then up north to get scuba certified for a week and spend new years. Then on our way back through South Africa, we are going to pop into Swaziland for a short visit.
I'll try to post at each internet point i can find, but hotmail is very finiky on slow connections and it has taken me 45mins to access my inbox! so sorry if you aren't getting regular messages from me. i might have to switch to G-mail, as Kieran doesn't seem to have any problems accessing his.
So until next time!
have a HAPPY NEW YEAR!