The Coasts and Mountains of St. Lucia

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St. Lucia was our Thanksgiving tropical paradise trip with Jason’s family. It’s a Caribbean island known for its mountainous beauty, and we were not disappointed.

We tried to actually relax on this trip (instead of our normal trend of running around trying to do everything). Most of our time, outside of lounging and eating, was spent out with the beautiful plants and birds, so the majority of this post will be about them. And, of course, the amazing views.

St. Lucia, the only country in the world named after a human woman, passed back and forth between French and British rule (14 times!) between 1600 and when it gained independence in 1979. While the economy of the island was previously based on bananas and other agriculture, the government started focusing primarily on tourism about 30 years ago. It takes less than 2 hours to drive the windy roads from one end of the island to the other, and about 180,000 people live in its hilly towns. Driving is an experience - they drive on the left, and many of the steep mountain roads are about one and a half lanes wide. Jason was a great driver, but there was also some squealing in the car at many points.

The kids flew in a day before Jason’s parents, Marc and Anne, and we went to hike at Pigeon Island. The British built Fort Rodney on the island in the late 1700s, and it served as a key vantage point in wars against the French. The island is now more of a peninsula, with the Sandals resort sitting on a new strip of land that’s been filled in.

The island and the red roof of Sandals (photo/Jason Rafal)

The hike up Signal Peak (photo/Jason Rafal)

Signal Peak from Fort Rodney (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the many friendly little cats we met (photo/Jason Rafal)

We spent the next day relaxing at the pool and the beach. On the third day of the trip, we left our rented house in Rodney Bay and drove to our next place down south. On the way, we stopped in the town of Castries to do some shopping and have lunch. If you’re in Castries, definitely stop at the Coal Pot to eat - it had amazing food, wonderful service, and a lovely view of the harbor.

The giant tree at Derek Walcott square (photo/Jason Rafal)

Shopping at Castries Market (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our last stop before we arrived at our new house was the Diamond Falls Botanical Gardens, where we spent an hour walking around in the dense, incredibly diverse forest and marveling at the plants.

Looking up through giant leaves (photo/Jason Rafal)

Beautiful draping False Bird of Paradise (photo/Jason Rafal)

Allamanda flower (photo/Jason Rafal)

A little Anolis lizard (photo/Jason Rafal)

Cocoa pods (photo/Jason Rafal)

I was surprised by the amount of red and pink leaves (photo/Jason Rafal)

Sunset Bell (photo/Jason Rafal)

At around 4 pm, we began what was supposed to be a 10-minute drive from the garden to the house where we were staying, and then things got exciting. Keep in mind that we were 6 people, and our luggage, in an underpowered front-wheel drive SUV. The hill up to our place was a steep road with a combination of gravel and broken pavement, and there was a water leak so it was wet on one side. We tried to go up, promptly got stuck because it would have been impossible to get up, and then spent the next hour working with the incredibly kind locals to get out of the way and transport some of our people and stuff up the hill. Just after we got stuck someone with the same model SUV got stuck in nearly the exact place. Luckily half the town was already stopped and kept them from getting too stuck. Apparently it happens frequently and even their garbage truck gets stuck fairly often.

The rather problematic road to and from our villa (photo/Jason Rafal)

The villa was an indoor-outdoor experience, with a large open-air living space stacked on top of semi-open bedrooms. The view, which took over the whole experience instantly, was incredible. We spent most of our time there just staring at the water and the pitons in the distance.

The incredible sunset view from our villa (photo/Jason Rafal)

A tiny frog at our villa (photo/Jason Rafal)

Aside from having an incredible view, our villa had glorious gardens and a lot of bird feeders, both with nectar and seeds. Jason had a wonderful time taking pictures of all the birds.

A cute little grackle (photo/Jason Rafal)

The giant fruit of the calabash tree (photo/Jason Rafal)

Dramatic pink leaves (photo/Jason Rafal)

More pretty pink leaves (photo/Jason Rafal)

A very cute carib (photo/Jason Rafal)

The hummingbirds went crazy for this feeder and drained it completely in a single day (photo/Jason Rafal)

Another curious hummingbird (photo/Jason Rafal)

A little bullfinch (photo/Jason Rafal)

A skeptical bird (photo/Jason Rafal)

More hummingbirds in action (photo/Jason Rafal)

Another little guy (photo/Jason Rafal)

They did a lot of fighting over the hummingbird feeder (photo/Jason Rafal)

A bananaquit (photo/Jason Rafal)

And you thought you were done with hummingbird pictures (photo/Jason Rafal)

One more (photo/Jason Rafal)

Another little cutie (photo/Jason Rafal)

St. Vincent faintly visible through the sunset (photo/Jason Rafal)

The last rays of the sun (photo/Jason Rafal)

The pitons at night (photo/Jason Rafal)

Emilie, Ally, Jason and I did a hike to soak in the views of the Gros and Petit Pitons, St. Lucia’s most distinctive mountains. It was nice to see them up close after our view from the villa. The Petit Piton is taller, but also narrower and rockier.

Looking out towards the Petit Piton (photo/Jason Rafal)

A boat skimming the edge of the piton (photo/Jason Rafal)

Photographing the Gros Piton (photo/Nicole Harrison)

Looking out over Soufriere from an overlook on the way home (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also took a boat trip with Shashamane tours, which was a great experience. Our guides, Denver and Chad, took us to two snorkeling spots and to Marigot Bay for lunch. The snorkeling was lovely, with a great variety of fish, though we didn’t get much good footage.

The view from the boat (photo/Jason Rafal)

The town of Canaries from the water (photo/Jason Rafal)

Some of the ships, some floating better than others, in Marigot Bay (photo/Jason Rafal)

For lunch, we sat on the beach and ate island food, which was standardly meat or fish, beans, rice, and ground provisions (a broad category including sweet potato, cassava, yams, and other tubular root vegetables in addition to plantains). For the entire trip, I basically alternated between this traditional meal and curry, and I never got tired of either.

Looking up from our lunch spot on the beach (photo/Jason Rafal)

Beach portrait (photo/Chad)

On the way back, Chad expertly cracked open coconuts for each of us and added some local coconut rum, and we got to sip amazing cocktails while riding in the boat. It was amazingly relaxing.

A lovely drink on the water (photo/Nicole Harrison)

One last sunset from our villa (photo/Jason Rafal)

We would highly recommend St. Lucia - it’s beautiful, the food is great, and the locals were all kind and excited to show us around their island. There’s a lot to do, but it was also very relaxing and easy to unwind. It was a lovely way to spend a Thanksgiving, and I’m grateful that we were able to celebrate on island time.

Photo/Jason Rafal

Belize, Finally

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This was the third time that Jason and I had tried to go to Belize (we can blame the events of 2020). In fact, if this third time didn’t work, we had agreed that we had to give it several years before trying again, since the trip was clearly cursed. When we decided on Belize with some of our friends, we were hopeful that the addition of several people would be enough of a change that the trip would actually happen - and it worked. Our timing, which took advantage of Labor Day, was both great and problematic - there were almost no other tourists, but it was also the most hot and sweaty that we had ever been. It was a great trip though, and I’m so glad we finally got to experience the country with some of our close friends.

None of us knew a lot about Belize, and it was fun to learn about the country as we went. First, it’s very sparsely populated - there are only 400,000 people in the country, and almost a quarter of those are in Belize City, which we didn’t visit. Most of the time we were driving, we saw only very small towns, and even the larger towns where we stayed felt pretty empty. When tourist season is in full swing, the country must feel like it’s bursting at the seams of the limited city infrastructure.

The roads are mostly in good shape, but the most memorable part of driving was the varied use of speed bumps - they were everywhere, sometimes seemed to be placed at random, and were all different sizes, so you never quite knew how significant they would be to get over. This resulted in the best speed control I’ve ever seen - everyone slowed way down for every speed bump. Sometimes there was one large one, sometimes a set of smaller ones, and sometimes just slightly elevated rumble strips, but predicting which it would be in any upcoming location was pretty impossible. We were also driving in a Kia Carnival, and the people in the back were especially subjected to any lack of care on the bumps.

We started our trip in San Ignacio, a town near the border of Guatemala. It’s the classic kicking off point to take a day trip into Guatemala to visit the ruins of Tikal, which is exactly what we did on our first full day of the trip.

Our guide walked us through the border crossing into Guatemala, and then we got in a van with a few other Americans (including a friend who happened to be in Guatemala and met us there for the tour) and drove a couple of hours to Tikal. On the way, he told us about Guatemala, which is about 60% Mayan and has more than 20 languages. The soil is not well suited to agriculture, so Guatemala raises a lot of cows (many of them Brahman cows, which are bred to handle heat well).

Lago Peten Itza (photo/Jason Rafal)

Tikal, a Mayan city, is fascinating and shockingly large. Only about 20% of the city has been uncovered, and in a few hours, we only explored about 20% of that. To prevent looting and improper handling of the site, Guatemala is doing all of the excavation themselves. It’s a very slow process - as soon as buildings are dug out, they have to be covered and supported immediately so they don’t collapse.

A LiDAR scan from a few years ago exposed the full size of the complex and clarified that hundreds of thousands of people lived there. Based on these numbers, the city may have been abandoned simply because of overpopulation and the issues that arise with it, not because of any crazy war or extinction event.

Tikal is in a rainforest, but not on a water source - the complex was built to collect rain water in reservoirs, which were then purified with volcanic rock. Another unexpected thing we learned was that several of the buildings had multiple layers - a Mayan building covering a Teotihuacan building, for example.

Taking a look at the part of Tikal we’d be exploring (photo/Jason Rafal)

Temple…5? (photo/Jason Rafal)

A couple of the temples had stairs built against them so we could climb to the top. The views were amazing - jungle as far as the eye could see, with temple tops peeking above the trees.

The jungle of Tikal (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our happy and sweaty group of friends (photo/Jason Rafal)

Temples 1, 2, and 3 peeking above the trees (photo/Jason Rafal)

The imposing Temple 1 (photo/Jason Rafal)

An incredible giant mask carving (photo/Jason Rafal)

The trees and plants at Tikal are awe-inspiring (photo/Jason Rafal)

The ruins were amazing, but the animals were the highlight for me (as usual). We saw lots of spider monkeys, two types of toucans (and some other birds as well), and white-nosed coatis, which are an adorable raccoon-anteater situation.

An adorable spider monkey (photo/Jason Rafal)

A spider monkey…hanging out (photo/Jason Rafal)

A Collared Aracari with some food in its beak (photo/Jason Rafal)

The well-known Keel-billed Toucan (photo/Jason Rafal)

A Crested Guan that looks just like a dinosaur (photo/Jason Rafal)

An impossibly well camouflaged Northern Potoo bird that might actually be a muppet (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the very chill coatis (photo/Jason Rafal)

I love the coatis (photo/Jason Rafal)

A coati strolling toward one of the temples (photo/Jason Rafal)

A butterfly (or moth?) drinking tree sap (photo Jason Rafal)

Just a little guy (photo/Jason Rafal)

We spent the day after our Tikal trip exploring the small town of San Ignacio. Belize and Guatemala both had very cute and sweet street dogs, and we met a lot of them as we strolled around town, shopped, and ate.

One of the cute roadside dogs (photo/Jason Rafal)

An equally cute and friendly street cat (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Green Iguana Conservation Project was conveniently located across the street from the house where we stayed, so it was an easy choice for an activity. Our guide, who was excellent despite initially apologizing for only being an iguana caretaker and not one of the formal guides, told us about the project’s program to incubate, hatch, and release endangered green iguanas into the wild. They also provide a sanctuary for iguanas who have injuries or other issues that prevent them from living in the wild. We got to feed and even hold a couple of the iguanas.

A majestic male iguana (photo/Jason Rafal)

Noming on a leaf (photo/Jason Rafal)

Some of the adult iguanas relaxing (photo/Jason Rafal)

A stack of young iguanas (photo/Jason Rafal)

A tiny female iguana with a genetic abnormality that gave her a beautiful blue tint (photo/Jason Rafal)

A sneaky black iguana (photo/Jason Rafal)

Apparently this is our year of seeing orb weavers (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our last activity in San Ignacio was the beautiful Belize Botanic Garden. It had wonderful plants and a lot of animals - we’d definitely recommend it (though our overloaded car had a little bit of trouble on the dirt road getting there). I would also recommend going during a cooler season if possible - 90 degrees and 90% humidity was an intense time to explore a rainforest.

Another toucan, this one with a nut in its mouth (photo/Jason Rafal)

All of the air plants (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the caretakers at the botanic garden pointed out some howler monkeys in some of the trees, which we really appreciated because we wouldn’t have seen them otherwise. We first saw a male, and then another whole family, including a young and adorable baby monkey.

A relaxing howler monkey (photo/Jason Rafal)

A mother and baby howler monkey staring at us (photo/Jason Rafal)

There were so many beautiful flowers (and butterflies) (photo/Jason Rafal)

The always-mesmerizing leaf cutter ants (photo/Jason Rafal)

Another black iguana in the botanic garden (photo/Jason Rafal)

From San Ignacio, we headed to Placencia on the Caribbean Sea. We rented a very bougie beach house on the water with a beautiful pool, and we spent a majority of our time relaxing and hanging out. Our house was about halfway down the long peninsula, and we made the 20 minute drive a couple of times for activities and meals. It’s a very cute area, with lots of bars and restaurants, and was as empty as everywhere else we’d been.

The beautiful view from our rented house (photo/Jason Rafal)

The view up the peninsula from our house (photo/Jason Rafal)

Some fun painted buses (photo/Jason Rafal)

On one of our days on the beach, we went on a snorkeling tour. We got into a little motorboat and drove for almost an hour out to sea - every time we passed an island, we thought that’s where we’d stop, but we just kept going.

We eventually stopped at Silk Caye, a tiny island in the middle of nowhere consisting entirely of sand, a couple of palm trees, a BBQ and a handful of picnic tables, and a bathroom shack. It’s a protected marine reserve in Belize’s barrier reef, and the snorkeling was amazing. We swam around the island, which was completely encompassed by beautiful corals and fish. Looking out away from the island, the light turquoise water stretched into nothingness, which made me a little nervous, but it was also awe-inspriring in its vastness and how small it made me feel.

Some of the coral and fish we saw while snorkeling (photo/Jason Rafal)

There were a lot of fish (photo/Jason Rafal)

After a BBQ lunch, we went over to one of the nearby fishing boats, where our guide said there might be Nerf sharks looking for fish pieces. Some of us were a little nervous to get in the water, but it was worth it when we did - there were close to a dozen Nerf sharks, ranging from 3-6 feet long, just swimming around under the boat, ignoring us. A surprise turtle also appeared right next to us, with a couple of little fish swimming against its belly. I’ve never swam with such large animals, and it was very cool.

One of the Nerf sharks we were swimming with (photo/Jason Rafal)

The turtle was everyone’s favorite (photo/Jason Rafal)

Swimming with the turtle (spot the shark in the back) (photo/Jason Rafal)

On our way back from snorkeling, we stopped at Ray Caye Resort, where we got to use a very fun water slide into the ocean and relax in the pool with a beer. It was delightful, and also when we started realizing how insanely sunburned we were.

A pelican matching the water (photo/Jason Rafal)

On the way back we saw dolphins, which was a great way to top off the day. I was expecting the snorkeling to be good, but I continue to be impressed by the wildlife I see in Central America, in the water or on land.

There were nightly storms while we were in Placencia, and one night we went out onto the pier to watch one for a while. A lightning storm across the water is amazing - it made me feel so small, but in such a comforting way.

An awesome picture from the storm (photo/Jason Rafal)

We had a wonderful trip to Belize, and it was so great to be able to share it with some of our closest friends. Our travels to Central America continue to be amazing, and maybe we’ll try out a whole trip in Guatemala next time.

Our beach house vibe (photo/Jason Rafal)





A Last-Minute Trip to Mexico City

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We called Mexico City our bonus trip for the year. Jason was between jobs for a few weeks, so we booked a last-minute trip to take advantage of his time off. We both had vaguely wanted to go, but we didn’t actually know much about the city, so we were excited to experience it.

Art and murals everywhere you look (photo/Jason Rafal)

A typical scene of vendors with a mural in the background (photo/Jason Rafal)

Street fruit (photo/Jason Rafal)

They went all-out on building decoration (photo/Jason Rafal)

Mexico City is in a bizarre location. The lore says that when the Aztecs were looking for the right place to build their capital city, a prophecy said that wherever they saw an eagle with a snake in its mouth land on a cactus, they should build there. They ended up seeing the sign on an island in the middle of a swampy high-mountain lake, which was kind of terrible luck, but true to the prophecy, they started building the city of Tenochtitlan, which is now Mexico City.

Now home to a staggering 21 million people, the city feels special in both climate and history. It’s at almost 7400 feet elevation, so it takes a lot more effort to move, but unlike the high mountain desert where I grew up, the city is lush and green from the swamp it’s built on and the remarkably consistent climate (there’s a rainy season and a dry season, but the highs top out between 65 and 85 degrees year round). The city is full of beautiful parks with massive trees, and beautiful architecture from many different eras. There are benches everywhere for people to just hang out and enjoy the parks, which is lovely, and they were certainly being used.

The David statue in Plaza Río de Janeiro (photo/Jason Rafal)

CDMX against a cloudy sky (photo/Jason Rafal)

The bird makes this look so otherworldly (photo/Jason Rafal)

An ambitious endeavor (photo/Jason Rafal)

A beautiful carousel in Chapultepec Park (photo/Jason Rafal)

When we were wandering around Chapultepec Park, a thunderstorm quickly rolled in, and we took shelter under the covered storage units that the street vendors used for their wares. It rained hard for about 20 minutes, but there was beautiful light peaking through the storm.

There was a mural on every storage unit door (photo/Jason Rafal)

Waiting out the rain (I’m in front of the axolotl) (photo/Jason Rafal)

Another method for hiding from the rain (photo/Jason Rafal)

The dramatic Altar a la Patria (photo/Jason Rafal)

We had heard this was the case, but the food in Mexico City is amazing. There’s everything from street food, to traditional Mexican restaurants, to fine dining creative fusion. One of our favorite restaurants we tried was Mexican-Middle Eastern-African fusion.

The amazing Panaderia Rosetta (photo/Jason Rafal)

We have no idea how they cut this…or maybe you’re forced to eat the whole thing? (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the beautiful and delicious dishes at Masala y Maiz (photo/Jason Rafal)

The city also has amazing museums. We first went to the anthropology museum, which is in a beautiful complex and has a variety of artifacts and information spanning from the beginning of humanity through the development of the area. There were a lot of outdoor exhibits, which I loved, but the highlight was probably the rather graphic and detailed dioramas.

The courtyard at the Museo Nacional de Antropología (photo/Jason Rafal)

The outdoor parts of this museum were some of my favorites (photo/Jason Rafal)

The dioramas were quite dramatic (photo/Jason Rafal)

…they were also a bit gory (photo/Jason Rafal)

I think this is Tlāloc, Aztec god of rain (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also visited the Templo Mayor, which was the main temple of the city and had been demolished when the Spanish started tearing everything down and rebuilding. It’s now an excavation site that you can walk through, and there are also indoor exhibits of items that have been found (there were lots of skulls and art pieces).

So. Many. Skulls. (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the time capsule-like exhibits (photo/Jason Rafal)

A very cool tree in the ruins (photo/Jason Rafal)

Chapultepec Castle is on a hill in the massive Chapultepec Park, and the views are wonderful. Built around 1800, the site and the castle had various uses over the years. It’s now a museum where many of the rooms are set up for viewing, and visitors can also ascend the grand staircases to walk in the beautiful gardens and decks on top of the castle.

This stained glass was crazy (photo/Jason Rafal)

The beautiful rooftop gardens at the castle (photo/Jason Rafal)

A mopey guardian lion (photo/Jason Rafal)

A rather intense ceiling painting in the castle (photo/Jason Rafal)

Self portrait with a model ship (photo/Jason Rafal)

There were at least 6 cherubs on this carriage (photo/Jason Rafal)

The view from the castle balcony over Chapultepec Park (photo/Jason Rafal)

A very different museum that we visited was the Frida Kahlo house, where the artist lived for much of her life. A fascinating woman with absolutely terrible luck, Frida did amazing work, and the blue house and garden she inherited from her parents is amazing. Definitely look her up and learn more about her life, it’s a wild ride.

A wall in Frida Kahlo’s beautiful garden (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also walked a little around the Coyoacan neighborhood where Frida’s house is. It’s a lovely neighborhood that felt older or more established than where we were staying. There were lots of restaurants, shops, and street vendors.

The 16th century Parroquia San Juan Bautista (photo/Jason Rafal)

The coyote fountain in the park in central Coyoacan (guess what the neighborhood is named for) (photo/Jason Rafal)

I love the little indicators of which neighborhood you’re in (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the nights we went to see the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico, which is performed at the beautiful Palacio de Bellas Artes. We don’t have photos of the performance, but it ended up quiet different from what we expected. There was dancing. There was singing. There were dueling harps. There were people wearing giant heads. There was a comedic devil dragon. There was a ballet featuring the death throes of a deer. There was dancing with audience members. There were four false endings. It was an experience.

The beautiful performing arts center (photo/Jason Rafal)

The equally impressive stage curtain (photo/Jason Rafal)

The scene in Zocalo, the central plaza (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also visited the artisan market, where we were some of the few tourists visiting on a weekday afternoon. Many of the pieces are made in studios at the market, which was very cool to see.

A peek up into the guitar studio (photo/Jason Rafal)

We always love seeing the animals in cities, and Mexico City was particularly fun because there were tons of dogs, and tons of dog walkers, all over the place. The dog walkers would meet up in the parks, and the dogs they worked with were all very chill and well trained. We often saw them sitting in a semi circle or walking calmly in a row.

A frequent park scene (photo/Jason Rafal)

I was amazed at how well-trained the dogs were (photo/Jason Rafal)

A particularly ridiculous and cute pup on the sidewalk (photo/Jason Rafal)

A very polite street cart dog (photo/Jason Rafal)

A cranky dog barking out the window at us (photo/Jason Rafal)

We didn’t see any cats at first, but we started seeing more as the trip went on, especially when we visited a community garden and educational center in Roma.

A dutiful shop cat (photo/Jason Rafal)

Sleepy kitties (photo/Jason Rafal)

Another sleepy kitty (photo/Jason Rafal)

A little kitten with gorgeous eyes in a pen with its siblings (photo/Jason Rafal)

It was a wonderful trip, and we have a lot of great things to say about the city. We’re happy to have a direct flight there and definitely plan to be back.

There were so many rainbows <3 (photo/Jason Rafal)

A Yoshi garbage truck (photo/Jason Rafal)

A university near the city center (photo/Jason Rafal)

Portrait of a bus (photo/Jason Rafal)

I loved this mural (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the beautiful streets in Roma Norte (photo/Jason Rafal)

On a Safari in South Africa

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After leaving Cape Town, we started our safari adventure. We flew to Johannesburg to meet Haley and David and, after spending one night there, we started driving out to Hoedspruit, where we would turn in the car and have a driver take us the last hour and a half to the safari lodge. Our drive was about six and a half hours, and we split it into two days.

The first few hours were through fields of crops and power plants, and the drive was pretty calm with the notable exception of a three-truck-accident that happened ahead of us and made for a very exciting half hour. At first, both lanes of traffic going our direction just stopped, with some drivers getting out or standing on their cars to see what had happened. Then, as the drivers started to clear one of the lanes ahead, everyone started moving. 

A bunch of cars started driving on the shoulder, and then in the grass median between us and the other direction of the highway. We were in a rental car without the best clearance, so we were worried about driving in the grass without knowing where any holes might be, but we eventually followed a truck and an SUV over to the shoulder of the OTHER side of the highway, where we drove against traffic in a line of cars until the accident, and then cut back over through the grass to the correct side of the road. David, who was driving, did a great job staying calm in six chaotic lines of traffic as we all yelled and filmed the experience. 

Luckily, that was the most exciting thing that happened to us while driving, and we were only slightly late to our lodging for the night in Graskop. Graskop is around the start of the Panorama Route, which is a beautiful, rocky area with stunning waterfalls and beautiful views. Unfortunately, the area was very smoky from nearby fires, so we didn’t see much of the views, but the waterfalls were still amazing.

Mac Mac Falls, with amazing greenery all the way down the rock walls (photo/Jason Rafal)

Lisbon Falls (photo/Jason Rafal)

The smoky but beautiful view from Lisbon Falls (photo/Jason Rafal)

Jason and Nicole reaching toward each other from an arm's length away with a waterfall in the background, and Nicole is laughing.

“Leave room for waterfalls!” (photo/Haley Carter)

We stayed in a beautiful Airbnb in Graskop that was basically made for photos. It was very simple but a great one-night stop.

The amazing view from inside our little cabin (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also got some great bunny chow at Divine Foods at the View in Graskop - it’s a dish consisting of (usually meat) curry in a bread bowl from the east coast of South Africa, and it’s amazing.

A delicious bunny chow meal (photo/Jason Rafal)

The next morning, we stopped for one more Panorama site at the Bourke’s Luck Potholes, where you can look down into a beautifully eroded rock canyon. We were sorry to miss the epic views part of the Panorama Route, but were still glad we were able to see the other attractions.

Looking down into the potholes (photo/Jason Rafal)

After dropping off our car at the adorable Hoedspruit airport and being driven to andBeyond Ngala Safari Lodge, our safari experience began with lunch and our first game drive.

We saw our first animals, including this giraffe, on our drive to the lodge (photo/Jason Rafal)

The lodge had a family of adorable bush babies living in one of the beams (photo/Jason Rafal)

The experience of being at a safari lodge is unlike anything I’ve ever done before. We had a 5:30 am wakeup call, headed to the breakfast area for coffee or tea and a snack, and then by 6 we were leaving for a game drive with our guide Amy and our tracker Mishack. They would have talked with the other rangers and trackers about the likely viewing options for the morning, and Amy would make a recommendation for where we could go and what we could try to see (we always followed her recommendation). For the next three and a half hours, we’d drive around the property, stopping to watch animals and changing our plans if Amy heard about a good sighting on the radio.

Around 9:30, we’d arrive back at the lodge and have breakfast, then relax for a bit before a 2 pm lunch. The next game drive started around 3:30 or 4, and we stayed out into twilight, watching animals or having drinks in the brush at sunset. Then we would head back to the lodge, have dinner around 7:30 or 8, go to bed, and then get up early to do it all over again. It was incredibly fun and fulfilling and completely exhausting.

We had a couple of special meals while we were there, including a surprise bush breakfast (Amy tricked us into thinking we might see rhinos in the area) and a boma dinner, where she joined us for our first dinner at the lodge. Both of these special meals were cooked over open fires, which is traditional in the area. 

This is a good time to talk about the food at the lodge, which, along with the whole lodge experience, was amazing. We had a butler who was with us the whole time and quickly learned what we liked (sparkling water every meal), and he made sure there were always pescatarian options for Haley and David. We had a few options for each meal, and everything we picked was always delicious. 

Our lodge rooms were also beautiful, with a large bed, private patio, and huge bathroom with both indoor and outdoor showers, as well as a large tub. When we returned to our room after dinner, we were escorted by a member of the staff, just in case there was a hyena or honey badger hanging out near our rooms (we didn’t see any, but it apparently happens somewhat frequently). The rest of the lodge included a pool, gym, spa, and eating area, all enclosed by a fence that started at four feet high and was only meant to keep out the elephants and buffalo, the most destructive animals who lived in the area. 

The view of our bathroom from the outdoor shower (photo/Nicole Harrison)

Ngala safari lodge has a unique story - it was private land that was donated to WWF, but since they weren’t equipped to run a lodge, they leased the land to andBeyond for tourism operations. The land lease helps to fund the South Africa National Parks Trust and its work across the country. Ngala was also the first private game reserve to be incorporated into Kruger National Park, and it maintains an open boundary with Kruger, so the animals can go in and out of the property as they want (it was kind of a reverse zoo, since we had to stay inside of our property lines). They’re also very conservation-minded and focus on animal comfort, with policies like only allowing two vehicles to be near animals at a time. The prey animals were a little nervous about us, but all of the predators were completely comfortable with the vehicles - they just saw us as a large animal that sometimes hung out nearby and never really did anything.

Mishack shows us where a baby rhino crossed the road (photo/Jason Rafal)

Each zebra has a unique stripe pattern, and I loved this one that was more black than white (photo/Jason Rafal)

A large male baboon climbing to the top of a rock (photo/Jason Rafal)

A beautiful lilac-breasted roller, our favorite bird of the trip (photo/Jason Rafal)

A greater kudu (photo/Jason Rafal)

An impala that was in an unfortunate fight (photo/Jason Rafal)

We were lucky to hear about a female leopard sighting on our first evening at the lodge, and we got to go see her. She had stashed her cub somewhere and laid down for a nap in the tall grass (she was almost impossible to see at first), and as dusk fell she got up and started walking off and calling to the cub. We left her alone at that point, but it was amazing to spend some time with her.

Leopards are so beautiful (photo/Jason Rafal)

Starting to wake up and look around (photo/Jason Rafal)

A little elephant, so young it didn’t have tusks yet (photo/Jason Rafal)

Such a cute “little” elephant (photo/Jason Rafal)

We usually saw impala in dense herds (spot the red-billed oxpecker on the middle one’s head, eating bugs) (photo/Jason Rafal)

The trackers spend a lot of time sitting at the front of the vehicle looking for animal tracks in the dirt of the road. Once they see a fresh track to follow, they’ll get down and track on foot, and other trackers will often be dropped off by other vehicles to help. On our second day, Mishack went into the brush looking for lions. When he radioed in later to tell us he found them and we picked him up, we tried to get him to tell us how he found them. He just followed the tracks and then a lion walked in front of him, he said. Simple.

One of the lions we saw was one of three white lions that exist in the wild; it’s a recessive gene that was thought to have died out, but has started showing up again. He has very cool pale eyes and a light coat.

The white lion yawning - he’s not actually mad (photo/Jason Rafal)

The lion’s manes grow longer as they age, so the male lions were somewhat young. That being said, they’re huge.

I liked this guy’s hair tuft (photo/Jason Rafal)

Another picture of the white lion (photo/Jason Rafal)

The lions moved into the shade as they overheated in the sun, creating some dramatic action shots (photo/Jason Rafal)

The incredibly dramatic white lion (photo/Jason Rafal)

There was a pride of female lions hanging out not far from the males - they all kept an eye out for an easy hunting opportunity but they were pretty chill overall.

Two of the female lions hanging out in the sun (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the fun things about having an open camp is that the smaller animals were able to wander in - we mostly saw birds and lizards, but when we were heading to lunch from the pool this little bushbuck was grazing in the bushes right next to the path. They have absolutely giant, Disney-style eyes.

An adorable bushbuck at the lodge (photo/Jason Rafal)

Jason and Haley were constantly looking for new birds to add to their Merlin app, and we all enjoyed finding birds in between finding the big animals. It kept it interesting and always left us with something to do. South Africa also has a lot of really cool birds.

Two yellow-billed hornbills doing some sort of dance (photo/Jason Rafal)

The dramatic southern ground hornbill, which we saw in a tree instead of on the ground (photo/Jason Rafal)

Two African fish eagles (photo/Jason Rafal)

A male impala smelling us (photo/Jason Rafal)

We learned that hyenas often hang out near wild dogs. The dogs are very frequent and efficient hunters, but the hyenas are bigger, and they are often able to chase the dogs away from a kill pretty quickly.

Look at the beat up ears on this hyena (photo/Jason Rafal)

African wild dogs were first on my list of animals I wanted to see, but I tried not to get my hopes up because they’re fairly rare. Luckily, they had been hanging out on the property, and we were able to see a pack of them on the second afternoon - lions and wild dogs in one day!

They’re absolutely beautiful with their tan, black, and white coats, round ears, and long tufted tails. It was also so fun to see how much they acted like domestic dogs as they played and interacted with each other. Apparently, they are absurdly effective and impressive hunters, unlike most of our pet dogs.

I love the ears! (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking around from the pile of dogs in the grass (photo/Jason Rafal)

They spent a lot of time grooming each other (photo/Jason Rafal)

The dogs were covered in small (and sometimes large) cuts (photo/Jason Rafal)

The pack leader, who had adorable floppy ears (photo/Jason Rafal)

They’re such beautiful animals - I love their coat patterns (photo/Jason Rafal)

In the middle of the game drives Amy tried to make sure we were able to stop for drinks and snacks (sometimes she asked if we were okay skipping it because there were animals to go see, and we always opted for that instead). When we did have time, though, we’d stop for coffee in the mornings and drinks in the afternoon, and both came with delicious local snacks, from biltong (dried, cured meat) to cookies to some sort of amazing dried corn mix that was better than Corn Nuts. Amy and Mishack also made us a variety of mixed drinks - the classic was a gin and tonic with fresh lime, but I was partial to Amarula cream liquor over ice.

Amy and Mishack set up tasty drinks and snacks for us during the drives (photo/Jason Rafal)

Being out for sunrise and sunset every day is tiring but amazing (photo/Jason Rafal)

Mishack is amazing at spotting things we would never have seen from the front of a moving car, especially at night. He shone a flashlight in long sweeps across the road in front of us, turning it off for us to drive by if we saw diurnal prey animals (their night vision takes a while to come back, which makes them vulnerable until it’s restored). On the second night when we were driving back, he had Amy stop for a moment, and then said what he had found was too hard to see and he’d find another one. A minute or two later he had Amy stop again and pointed out a chameleon on a tree branch, which blended in almost exactly with the leaves. When we asked how he possibly could have seen it, he said he just looks for half a lemon in the trees. We watched it change colors to react to the light for a minute, then left it alone.

A little chameleon in a tree (photo/Jason Rafal)

The next thing we were all able to see - a spider had created almost a full web across the road. We felt bad to have to destroy all its hard work, but the vehicles only went offroad for specific animal sightings, and we needed to take back the road.

A surprise spiderweb (photo/Jason Rafal)

We saw a ton of elephants, and it never got old (photo/Jason Rafal)

You can tell how old an elephant is by its tusk length - this one was pretty young (photo/Jason Rafal)

Some fun trunk contortions (photo/Jason Rafal)

Flapping its ears to cool itself down (photo/Jason Rafal)

Two tawny eagles in a tree (photo/Jason Rafal)

The blue wildebeest and impala were often together for protection (photo/Jason Rafal)

Two mating hippos (photo/Jason Rafal)

A lilac-breasted roller in flight (photo/Jason Rafal)

A warthog with a red-billed oxpecker hanging out on its back (photo/Jason Rafal)

An elephant walks down the road in the distance (photo/Jason Rafal)

The animal Jason was most excited to see was a cheetah, and they’re not always on the property. We got very lucky, though, and heard from another group that there was a mother and her half-grown cub on the reserve. The baby was still learning what to expect from the vehicles, and got into a tree to watch us more clearly.

The mother cheetah watching us (photo/Jason Rafal)

The young cheetah got into a tree to see further and chew on some bark (photo/Jason Rafal)

He watched us for a few minutes (photo/Jason Rafal)

We only watched the cheetahs for a few minutes before heading out to give them some breathing room, but it was so cool just to watch them move - they’re so lanky and elegant.

A large and terrifying spider (we think a golden silk orb-weaver) at our lodge (photo/Jason Rafal)

This baby zebra was adorable and I was so happy to see her (photo/Jason Rafal)

The baby zebra hadn’t yet learned that oxpeckers are friends and shook this one off (photo/Jason Rafal)

Another zebra, this one with wider black stripes (photo/Jason Rafal)

This one had a bit of ear missing (photo/Jason Rafal)

A bush duiker considering whether it should run away (photo/Jason Rafal)

A grumpy-looking white-browed coucal (photo/Jason Rafal)

Two young elephants (photo/Jason Rafal)

Several yellow-billed oxpeckers were hanging out on this wildebeest (photo/Jason Rafal)

We were constantly amazed by how quickly we saw a blanket of stars after sunset - by the time we got back to the lodge around 7:30 pm, we could see the Milky Way. On our last night at the lodge, we asked one of the room escorts to take us out to the pool for a few minutes so Jason could take a couple of pictures. I don’t think it was a common request, as he was surprised but excited to see the pictures. If you look closely you can see the little round bird nests in the tree!

The incredible night sky (the tree was lit up from the pool below) (photo/Jason Rafal)

We spent the last morning before leaving the lodge hanging out with the cheetahs again, and we were the only car there, which was really nice. They were more comfortable with us than the day before, and the baby even started nursing, with the mother occasionally growling to let him know that this wouldn’t happen for very much longer.

Double cheetah (photo/Jason Rafal)

The mother cheetah checking out some sounds (photo/Jason Rafal)

The baby cheetah looking up from nursing (photo/Jason Rafal)

Mishack and Tonight, another tracker, heading off to look for animals (photo/Jason Rafal)

We spent some time at a watering hole with some hippos, a crocodile slinking around, and some playful impalas (photo/Jason Rafal)

A cute dwarf mongoose next to the road (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our safari was incredible, from seeing all the animals, to Amy and Mishack hanging out with us for 8 hours a day and answering all our questions, to the amazing lodge and food. All four of us want to start planning our next safari adventure - Botswana is looking like the next one.

One more bonus picture - we had a great time watching all the animals yawn (photo/Jason Rafal)

At the Cape of Storms

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Cape Town

Our South Africa trip was based around a safari that our friends Haley and David had found and invited us to book with them. Jason and I decided to add on some time in Cape Town before going to the lodge as well, and we ended up spending a day and a half in Johannesburg too. Overall, we took almost two weeks for the trip, which is the minimum I think I’d book to justify the 30+ hour travel days to get all the way across the world (South Africa is close to the antipode of Washington state). 

I had always heard great things about Cape Town, and we were excited to spend some time there. The city has endless things to do, from outdoor activities to museums, and I was frustrated trying to prioritize what we wanted to do in our four days there.

Our first activity after arriving in Cape Town was to go on a free walking tour, which is always a good way to get some context from a local. Our walking tour was historical, and our guide took us through some of the important points of the city center. We took the tour about an hour after arriving in the city and are very glad we challenged ourselves to explore a bit before jet lag set in.

The area was originally inhabited by a few tribes, including the Khoikoi, San, and Xhosa people. The first western “discovery” of Cape Town was by the Portuguese, who sailed by in the late 1400s but never established a long-term presence in the area. The first colonization began in the mid 1600s, when the Dutch decided to establish a settlement to support ships traveling to the Dutch East Indies. Unable to find enough labor locally, they began to import slaves from other areas of Africa, as well as Indonesia, which began the cultural melting pot of the city, as well as the introduction of the “Cape Colored” racial group. The British eventually also saw the value of the Cape and, through various complicated war efforts, fought for control of the city throughout the 1800s; they eventually unified South Africa in the early 1900s.

In 1948, the National Party won on a platform of institutionalized racial segregation, or apartheid. Previously racially integrated, Cape Town, as well as the other cities in South Africa, subjected Black citizens to forced relocation to townships. While apartheid was finally repealed in 1991, racism and government corruption are still everywhere. South Africa has an unemployment rate of 40%, and there are hundreds of thousands living without electricity, clean water, and proper sanitation. As a tourist, there are large areas of the cities that we were advised not to visit based on high crime rates. The wealthy areas of the city are very white, even though white people make up only 16% of the population, and the inequality is still painfully evident. The history in this area is winding, not always well reported, and generally hard to wrap one’s head around; we had difficulty finding more detailed information to link to, but this article does as well as anything we saw online (we do want to note that the article stops at 1948 and the history most certainly does not). The history of this city, region, and country is complex and learning to understand it a bit more by visiting was rewarding though also often painful.

Okay, stepping away from the history. Cape Town is incredible. It’s gorgeous, with mountains to the south and ocean to the west. Dramatic clouds often pour over Table Mountain like a blanket, inspiring a legend of the devil having a smoking contest with a pirate. The city has incredible food, with influences from Indian, Malaysian, and African cuisine, and there’s also a lot of great coffee. Nearly everyone we met was kind and happy to talk to us about what we were enjoying on our trip, and they’re obviously all so proud of the beautiful city they call home.

The Cape Town City Hall (photo/Jason Rafal)

Carved faces representing the nine original tribes of South Africa - the Zulu, Xhosa, Bapedi, Batswana, South Ndebele, Basotho, Venda, Tsonga, and Swazi people (photo/Jason Rafal)

The view from our hotel (photo/Jason Rafal)

Painted houses near the waterfront (photo/Jason Rafal)

There were so many amazing murals in Cape Town (photo/Jason Rafal)

A flower stand at the Oranjezicht City Farm Market (photo/Jason Rafal)

A sunning sea lion (photo/Jason Rafal)

One night in Cape Town we had reservations at a speakeasy, which has truly become a major American export. They were serious - we didn’t find out the location until last minute and had to provide a code to a skeptical doorman - but once we were inside we were greeted by a warm, friendly set of employees and a three-piece band singing covers of pop and rock songs. It was really fun, and the decor was pretty great as well.

Multi-talented bartenders (photo/Jason Rafal)

We took one day to drive out to the Cape of Good Hope, seeing some sights along the way. We first visited Muizenberg, which is a classic surfing town with iconic brightly colored changing shacks on False Bay. It’s very cute, and fun to watch the surfers. From there, we drove south along the water, stopping for lunch in Simon’s Town, where we ate fish and chips with a lovely view of the water. Our next stop, and one of our most anticipated, was Boulders Beach, where we got to see the penguin colony there. These are African Chinstrap penguins, and they only live in South Africa. They’re really adorable, and there were even some fluffy chicks. In addition, Boulders is an absolutely beautiful beach, and we also saw some dassies, which I loved. It was lovely all around.

Boulders Beach, aside being a great place to see penguins, is really beautiful (photo/Jason Rafal)

At part of the beach, the penguins can come visit the humans (photo/Jason Rafal)

Penguins surfing (photo/Jason Rafal)

A baby penguin draped over its parent (photo/Jason Rafal)

They’re kind of ridiculous and I love it (photo/Jason Rafal)

Some adolescent penguins hanging out (photo/Jason Rafal)

This one looked slightly possessed (photo/Jason Rafal)

This one was way too cool for the others (photo/Jason Rafal)

Dassies are delightfully awkward (photo/Jason Rafal)

Just look at these things (photo/Jason Rafal)

From Boulders Beach we drove all the way south to the Cape of Good Hope. Along the way, we saw a lot of signs telling us to beware the baboons, which was a bit alarming since we hadn’t realized they lived in the area. We didn’t see any, but there were lots of signs telling us not to feed them.

The cape is a national park, and on our way in we were surprised to see ostriches roaming around - we had both thought they were native to Australia for some reason, but they’re actually from South Africa. It was cool to suddenly see them in the wild. We drove to the most southwest place in Africa and climbed to the top of the hill, where there were great views across False Bay and into the water below.

Skeptical ostriches - don’t worry, this was taken with a telephoto lens and we didn’t actually get close (photo/Jason Rafal)

A beautiful southern rock agama (photo/Jason Rafal)

The lighthouse at Cape Point, with views across False Bay (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also went to the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden, which is absolutely amazing. It’s a huge piece of donated property that reaches up the backside of Table Mountain (you can technically hike to the top of Table Mountain from the garden), and it’s been really well cultivated and taken care of. We spent a couple of hours strolling through the gardens and eating lunch at the on-site restaurant, which was surprisingly good. It’s one of our favorite botanical gardens, and we’ve been to a lot.

Some of the very large trees at the botanical garden (photo/Jason Rafal)

The tree canopy walkway, which has great views of the mountains (photo/Jason Rafal)

These pathways are amazing (photo/Jason Rafal)

You can see Cape Town in the distance to the top left (photo/Jason Rafal)

The bizarre Welwitschia, which has two long, thin leaves that grow for its entire life - which can be over 1,000 years! (photo/Jason Rafal)

We heard from a lot of people that going up Table Mountain while we were in town was a must. You can hike up, which takes a few hours, or there’s a cable car that only takes a few minutes. A lot of people hike up and take the cable car down, but as I was still having trouble sleeping and generally struggling a bit, we decided to just take the cable car both ways.

Aside from the spectacular views in every direction, Table Mountain is special because it’s a biodiversity hotspot for flora, with hundreds of endemic species. The top, which is a large flat area with lots of hiking trails, is rocky and covered in small plants, shrubs, and short trees. It’s beautiful in a very stark way, like many of the more extreme climates we’ve visited. 

We had no idea that the Cape has its own World Floral Kingdom - and that we’ve now been to 5 of 6 (photo/Jason Rafal)

The view up the cables (photo/Jason Rafal)

The cable car is very cool - the bottom spins slowly as it moves, so no matter what side of the car you’re on, you can see the views from every direction during the ride. We’ve never seen that before, but it’s a great idea. As we arrived at the top, the operator welcomed us to the “ice box” and told us the last ride time down.

Generally, all the locals we met in South Africa were very sensitive to the cold, but the real thing that made the top of Table Mountain cold was the intense wind. I wore a sweatshirt plus a windbreaker, with the hood up, for most of the time - it ended up being the perfect layering for the weather.

We took the cable car up in the late afternoon, which was a choice we felt very good about because there was almost no one else up there. When we started hiking around the top, we were often totally alone. As the sun dropped lower in the sky, we also got beautiful glowing views of the city and beaches below us.

Looking down at the city, Lion’s Head, and Robben Island (photo/Jason Rafal)

A frequent view at the top of Table Mountain - people wearing all the clothes they brought and taking pictures (photo/Jason Rafal)

Two reservoirs near the top of the mountain (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking out toward Cape Point (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking down at Camps Bay (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the weird and beautiful plants at the top (photo/Jason Rafal)

On our last day in the area we took a day trip to the wine areas outside of the city - Stellenbosch, Paarl, and Franschhoek.

For the entire trip, we marveled at the absence of other American tourists, and our day tours were no exception. On this one, there were two other people from the United States, but there was also a couple from Finland, another from Switzerland, two sisters from Botswana, and one person from Nigeria. It was interesting to talk to everyone and hear what questions everyone had for each other - we got into a long conversation about the crisis of American healthcare with the Finns.

We also went to three beautiful old wineries - La Bri, where we had a chocolate and wine pairing; Boschendal, where we tried to make everyone tell us what they call the game cornhole in their country (no one else had a local name for it); and Fairview, where we had a wine pairing with cow and goat cheese.

Our beautiful chocolate pairing at La Bri (photo/Jason Rafal)

A skeptical owl outside of the La Bri tasting room (photo/Jason Rafal)

The beautiful Boschendal tasting area (photo/Jason Rafal)

Fall colors on the vines (photo/Jason Rafal)

Barrels in the cellar (photo/Jason Rafal)

A curious bird in a rosebush (photo/Jason Rafal)

All three of these wineries were really beautiful properties (photo/Jason Rafal)

I was thrilled to find the goats at Fairview (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our guide, Nelson, was a Cape Town local who taught us a lot about the history of the area. On our way back to the city, he talked about the townships and pointed out where he had grown up. It was a very sobering and important end to a very bougie day of fancy wine and food.

The last light of sunset over Table Mountain. Can you see the shape of a man laying down? (photo/Jason Rafal)

Cape Town was absolutely wonderful, and we loved our time there. I want to go back for a week and do all the things we didn’t get a chance to do - climbing Lion’s Head, visiting more of the peaks and beaches, and going to the museums that we didn’t have time to visit. There were also so many more restaurants I wanted to try. We were sad to leave but excited for the rest of our trip.

Trees along the ridge of Signal Hill (photo/Jason Rafal)

Johannesburg

This blog is a little different because it’s not chronological - I wanted to pair our the first part of our trip in Cape Town with the last part in Johannesburg so that the safari would get its own blog. So, please time travel with me as I tell you more about the city we visited at the end of our trip. We flew into Joburg before heading out to the safari, and then after the safari we flew back to the city for a day before heading back to Seattle.

Johannesburg was difficult for me. It’s massive, with more than 5 million people in the city and 10 million in the metro area, and so much of that population lives in abject poverty. We stayed in one of the fancy tourist areas, which was essentially a completely walled-in outdoor mall with three Marriott hotels, lots of restaurants and high-end shops, a supercar dealership, and an armored car dealership. Access was strictly controlled, especially at night, so that we could feel safe walking between the buildings. It did feel safe, but also incredibly isolated from the rest of the city.

Throughout our time in South Africa we learned about load shedding, which impacts the entire country. Essentially, the power system has collapsed, and there are rotating power outages every day, with the government designating a phase that dictates how many hours a day the power is out. While we were there, the country was in phase 8, which means that the power was turned off for 4 hours in the morning, 4 in the afternoon, and an additional couple of hours overnight. The rest of the time, everyone uses generators or other alternate power if they can afford it, but a lot of people just don’t have power. There’s been a high impact on small businesses, many of which had to shut down, and there are constantly stoplights out all over the city, causing increased traffic. Even our nice hotel in Johannesburg, which was set up on the compound’s generator power, had trouble switching to generator the last night we were there, and we woke up without power or water for a couple of hours. The problem is constantly top of mind for residents, and an enormous percentage of the advertising we saw either referenced, joked about, or promised solutions to the pain of living with load shedding. Unfortunately, with a government-funded power system that sees constant embezzlement of allocated funds, there is no faith of or hope in improvement any time soon.

We were planning both a bike tour in Soweto and a visit to the Apartheid museum on our last day, but because our flight got moved up a couple of hours, we only had time for the bike tour. Despite the amazing things we’ve heard about the museum, we both thought the bike tour was the right option for us. We learned a lot about the history of this important township and I felt a lot more connected to the city after talking to locals.

Soweto - originally South Western Townships - was an area where Black residents of Johannesburg were moved in the 1930s and 40s. It quickly became the largest Black city in South Africa, with a current population of more than 1 million. It was home to Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and Trevor Noah (the South Africans would like Trevor Noah back, but say America can keep Elon Musk). It’s also the home of the 1976 student uprising, where students of all ages protested a ruling that Afrikaans, a language developed by the Dutch settlers of the area, should be the language used in schools in Soweto, destroying the educational opportunities of the residents. The protests were violently suppressed, with more than 1,000 killed or injured, but civil unrest grew until the repeal of apartheid in the 1990s. We heard a lot of exasperation with the current government, but there’s a general sense that one of the more successful government efforts of the past 30 years has been free, accessible education for all South Africans. To learn a bit more about the history of Soweto you can read this page or the Wikipedia article - there seems to be a dearth of well written information about Soweto on the internet which is a shame. Please let us know if you find anything else!

Our guide Tebogo, a Soweto local, led us on our bike tour through the West Orlando suburb (We can’t recommend One Day Africa enough - look them up if you’re in Cape Town or Johannesburg). We visited Nelson Mandela’s house and museum, then biked to the decommissioned Orlando Towers, which were previously part of a coal power plant and now home to a complex that features food, beer, and activities like in-tower bungie jumping and paintball. On the way back, we biked next to an improvised “shanty” town, where we saw how some of the township’s poorest residents lived (and waved back to a lot of kids).

Ten dancers in motion, with six clapping and four dancing in front.

Botswanan dancers (when the arbitrary line was drawn between South Africa and Botswana, they happened to be on the South African side) (photo/Jason Rafal)

Seven people on bicycles at a stop sign, with houses behind brick fencing on the left and a green field on the right.

Our group of bikers (photo/Jason Rafal)

A herd of goats eating from a pile of trash at the side of a road, with buildings and power lines in the background.

Some goats eating on the side of the road (photo/Jason Rafal)

View between two brightly painted towers.

The Orlando Towers (photo/Jason Rafal)

A hollowed out half loaf of bread with fries and sauce poking out and a fried egg on top.

A kota sandwich, a local street food designed to be easily portable and carb-heavy (it’s delicious) (photo/Jason Rafal)

Something that struck us throughout our time in the cities was the sense of hope - despite the significant social and governmental issues faced by the South Africans, there’s a general feeling that things can and will get better. I’ll be thrilled to see it. We’d highly recommend visiting South Africa, and please book some tours with Black-owned tour companies while you’re there.

Next, we get to show you some safari animals.

2022 in Review

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We did a lot in 2022, from traveling to attending weddings to seeing friends. These photos from the year aren’t from one of our large trips, but they encompass more of what made the year special overall.

One of the best views of Seattle is from the Bainbridge ferry (photo/Jason Rafal)

We spent most of the spring in the Seattle area, where we hiked and enjoyed the views as the days got longer.

In March, we got together with Jason’s family for the GOES-T launch in Cocoa Beach. Between the launch, visiting the Kennedy Space Center, and spending time at the beach, we all enjoyed ourselves. Jason rented a big lens just for the occasion.

Since we were on the East Coast anyway, we flew up to Virginia to spend some time with Jason’s family and visit a whole lot of baby animals. I always love an excuse to cuddle with baby goats.

In August, we went to a wedding at Lake Tahoe. I had never been and was really excited, and it didn’t disappoint. There were parts of the area that felt surprisingly similar to Colorado, but the giant, beautiful lake is really one of a kind. We’d love to go back.

Jason took lots of beautiful pictures of plants and flowers over the year.

Jason also took a lot of photos of animals, from pets to wild birds (he’s getting increasingly into birding).

We spent some time in the summer camping, hiking, and exploring. It was nice to see friends and get the Jeep dirty.

We also got a little drone, and we took some pretty shots from above our house.

Our house is near the Seattle Zoo, so we got memberships to add it to our walking options around our place. Jason enjoyed practicing his wildlife photography, particularly once the birds were let out again after the avian flu quarantine.

As always, Seattle is beautiful and we feel lucky to live here. We’ll see where 2023 takes us.

Sailors at sunset from Golden Gardens park (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Sparkling Lights of Madrid

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The day after Christmas, we took the train from Barcelona to Madrid for the remainder of our trip. High speed trains are wonderful - it was about 2.5 hours between the cities, and it was nice to be able to alternate between reading and looking out at the farmland around us. I’m always sad about our lack of trains when I’m in Europe or Asia.

We had seen something about a forest in the Madrid train station, so I dragged us over to it before we went to our hotel. The internal hallways between the trees were blocked off, but the forest itself was amazing - it gave a sense of calm to the area, and it was nice to see so much lush green right next to the hectic terminal.

I want a forest in every train station now (photo/Jason Rafal)

When we arrived in Madrid, we were struck by two things: there were beautiful lights everywhere, and the city was FULL of people. Apparently everyone has family in Madrid, and they seem to visit them over Christmas.

The holiday lights in Madrid are extensive, and I’m sure part of the reason that the city is so crowded over the holiday. There seemed to be a big strolling culture, and people spent the afternoon and evening walking through the central streets, shopping, and taking pictures.

Completely lit up trees across the Great Pond of El Retiro (photo/Jason Rafal)

Walking toward the tree at Puerta del Sol (photo/Jason Rafal)

Carlos III rides into a giant Christmas tree (photo/Jason Rafal)

The most impressive part of the light display, IMO (photo/Jason Rafal)

Giant ribbon loops of light over tons of people (photo/Jason Rafal)

More tree, more lights, more foot and car traffic (photo/Jason Rafal)

On our first full day in Madrid, we did a free walking tour. I’d highly recommend looking one up in a new city if you have time - we’ve always had great experiences and learned a lot of good information. Note that while the tours are free, you should definitely tip your guide (it’s a pay what you want system). If you’d like some overall Spanish history, Jason enjoyed these videos: The Animated History of Spain and Why 70% of Spain is Empty. We’re both fascinated by the fact that in the 1970s, after democracy was re-established at the end of the Franco regime, Spain actually reinstituted a constitutional monarchy.

Our actor-and-tour-guide, Paul, walked us through the different kings and quirks of Madrid’s history, which all revolved around his claim that the Spanish are superstitious and like things simple. The city was originally built by the resident Muslim forces to defend Toledo, the original location of the Royal Court, until the Royal Court moved to Madrid in the mid 1500s. The history that Paul walked us through was over the Habsburg reign of one Carlos, and then three Felipes, and then another Carlos (he illustrated this with a hamburger analogy, which was entertaining).

We spent some time in Plaza Mayor, the square in the center of the old city, was built and re-built from wood three times before they decided to rebuild using stone so it would stop burning down.

A historical scene depicted on one of the benches surrounding a lamppost at Plaza Mayor (photo/Jason Rafal)

We learned that the first time the statue of Felipe III and his horse was erected in Plaza Mayor, the horses’s mouth was open wide enough that birds kept getting in and dying, and the constant noises made people think the statue was haunted. They redid it to fix the issue.

Whoever was carving Felipe III’s horse’s head was struggling (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the archways leading out of Plaza Mayor (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also learned about a weird quirk of the city’s clocks, where the number 4 is represented by IIII instead of the more widely accepted Roman numeral IV. Upon some research, it looks like this was fairly common in old clocks and watch faces, and there are some theories as to why. The one Paul told us was that there’s a greater visual balance to using IIII across from VIII on the clock, so it was originally preferred and lasted into modern times.

A figurine of a watch maker with a clock representing 4 as IIII (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looping back to superstition, Paul told us about the traditions that people had in order to maximize their chances of winning the lottery. There is one shop that sells lottery tickets that is vastly more popular than all the rest because it’s sold to multiple winners. He also took us to a statue of a man, called “The Curious Neighbor,” who has a shiny gold butt from all the people trying to replicate the luck of a man who touched the statue shortly before winning the jackpot. Most of our group touched the butt.

The Curious Neighbor (photo/Jason Rafal)

Paul ended our walk with a quiz, which was surprisingly fun. We did much better than expected.

Paul asks us something about the superstitious number three in our quiz (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of Jason’s friends recommended the naval museum, which was pretty cool even as someone who is not super interested in the navy (Jason is much more into it). There were tons of boat models, and many of them were cut in half to see the inside of the boat.

Model ships in glass boxes in the naval museum (photo/Jason Rafal)

A collection of items found in the sunken San Diego in 1992 (photo/Jason Rafal)

A colorful view near Plaza Mayor (photo/Jason Rafal)

On one of the clearer days, we walked over to the Temple of Debod for sunset. Aside from having nice angles for photography, it’s also on a hill that has a nice view overlooking the city. The temple itself is a bit controversial; it was relocated from Egypt in the 1960s so it wouldn’t get flooded by a dam, but it was reassembled in a different order than the original setup, and it remains uncovered and exposed to the elements. It sounds like there’s a plan to cover it soon.

The Temple of Debod (photo/Jason Rafal)

The view from the temple (photo/Jason Rafal)

Sunset on a building (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of many peafowl in the garden outside of the royal palace (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our hotel was near the giant and lovely Parque de El Retiro, which features beautiful buildings, museums, and miles of walking trails. In such a dense city area, it was great to have this giant piece of nature so close.

People strolling in front of the Palacio de Cristal (photo/Jason Rafal)

A nice lumpy fountain in the park (photo/Jason Rafal)

This empty path at dusk felt starkly different from the rest of the city (photo/Jason Rafal)

We happened across a feral cat colony getting fed (photo/Jason Rafal)

Dusk reflections from the park (photo/Jason Rafal)

I was sick for part of the time we were in Madrid, so we didn’t do as much sightseeing as we’d like, but when we could get away from some of the crowds, the city was lovely. We’d like to go back and visit some of the museums we weren’t able to get into, and also take a day trip out to Toledo. We had a great time in Spain and are excited to do some more exploring in the future.

One of the adorable book kiosks near El Retiro (photo/Jason Rafal)

A cup from one of our favorite coffee shops (photo/Jason Rafal)

Christmas in Catalonia

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First, Barcelona is a great winter holiday destination. The weather was 60s and sunny, only a couple of attractions were crowded, and we were able to get into almost all the restaurants and bars we were interested in. We immediately loved the city for its walkability, great food, and highly available specialty coffee.

Barcelona is in Catalonia, a region of Spain that identifies as having a unique language, history, and culture. There have been off-and-on movements to separate from the rest of Spain. If you’d like to learn more about that, Jason found some videos that explained some of the history: Catalonia’s Independence Movement, Explained and The History of Catalonia.

Our customary jetlagged-in-a-tiny-European-elevator picture (photo/Jason Rafal)

The view from our hotel room (photo/Jason Rafal)

A colorful corner in Barcelona (photo/Jason Rafal)

A butchery in a market (photo/Jason Rafal)

In our explorations of the city, we went up to Montjuïc, where we had lunch overlooking the city and then went up to the castle. I wouldn’t consider the castle a must-do, but there’s a beautiful walking trail around the outside of it, and the views from the top of the hill are lovely. We took the gondola back down into the city. 

The park at Mirador de Miramar (photo/Jason Rafal)

I’m too tall for this (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Montjuïc castle (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also spent some time at Christmas markets, where we struggled to understand some of the local jokes.

We kept seeing this figurine everywhere, in various sizes (photo/Jason Rafal)

The market (photo/Jason Rafal)

A nighttime view of the Arc de Triomf (photo/Jason Rafal)

I don’t usually go out of my way to recommend bars and restaurants, but we had a really wonderful experience at Two Schmucks, which is a top 10 cocktail bar in the world. It was pretty empty so we were able to chat with the very friendly bartenders, and the drinks were unusual and incredibly good. The decor was also very fun, and they sent us home with stickers and restaurant recommendations. 

The decor at Two Schmucks (photo/Jason Rafal)

A delicious drink with the longest ice cube we’d ever seen (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also had absolutely wonderful coffee, and we didn’t even make it to all of the places that looked good. The coffee shops were often adorable as well.

The adorable and infrequently open Skye Coffee (photo/Jason Rafal)

The equally adorable Xiloteca Coffee + Botiga (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also paid the entrance fee to go into la Palau de la Musica, which is just a very beautiful concert hall. The ceiling has a massive dewdrop of glass, and the entire thing is colorful and impressive. 

The staircase going up to the auditorium (photo/Jason Rafal)

Beautiful balcony columns (photo/Jason Rafal)

The inside of the auditorium at la Palau de la Musica (photo/Jason Rafal)

Another shot of the amazing ceiling (photo/Jason Rafal)

On Christmas Eve we took a day trip out to Montserrat, which is wonderfully accessible by train and has great hiking around the monastery. The landscape is vast, dry, and full of giant lumpy rocks. It vaguely reminded me of the American southwest. There were many well-established paths (though the map was not as helpful as I hoped) and we took the Sant Joan funicular and climbed up to a viewpoint to see all the way to the Mediterranean Sea and watch the climbers on one of the giant rocks near us. It was a nice way to get some fresh air and see more of the area.

Our lunch spot at Montserrat (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the more challenging parts of the trail (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking down the steep trail toward the Sant Joan Chapel (photo/Jason Rafal)

Climbers on one of the big rocks (photo/Jason Rafal)

The Ermita de Sant Miquel (photo/Jason Rafal)

Taking the gondola back down the mountain (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the surprises of the trip was how much we fell in love with Gaudí’s creations. We first went to Casa Batlló, where we were struck by the beauty, livability, and natural elements of the apartment. He prompts a sense of wonder and surprise that is missing from most (all?) other architecture, and it was so fun to walk through the rooms and see how everything was done.

The facade next to Casa Batllo (photo/Jason Rafal)

Skylights in Casa Batllo (photo/Jason Rafal)

The spiral ceiling and chandelier in the living room (photo/Jason Rafal)

Some of the ventilation in the apartment (photo/Jason Rafal)

Beautiful doors and walls in the central staircase (photo/Jason Rafal)

The under-the-sea feel of the apartment (photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the doorknobs that Jason fell in love with (photo/Jason Rafal)

Some of the tiled work on the roof of the apartment (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also went to la Sagrada Familia. I’m not at all religious, and I regard most cathedrals as very pretty (I loved stained glass) but vaguely uncomfortable. It’s usually a 5-minute in-and-out experience. From the outside, the building is very weird but not very appealing to me - it’s a bit brown and lumpy, and there are lots of religious carvings.

The current state of the outside of la Sagrada Familia (photo/Jason Rafal)

Some of the weird spires (photo/Jason Rafal)

A pigeon rests on the baby Jesus’s head (photo/Jason Rafal)

When we walked into la Sagrada Familia, however, my jaw literally dropped. It’s one of the most incredible human feats I’ve ever seen. First, the scale is insane. Both of our necks hurt from looking up by the time we left. The columns, which I could only reach halfway around, reach impossibly high before branching like trees against the intricate ceiling. The stained glass, instead of clearly depicting scenes, is made up of abstract shapes, enforcing the feeling of being in a gigantic indoor forest. One side of the cathedral has cool shades of stained glass, mostly blues and greens, while the other has warm yellows, oranges, and reds. All of the stained glass brings in light that reflects off the columns and ceiling in a beautiful rainbow of light. Sainte-Chapelle in Paris has an impossible amount of stained glass, but the beauty and intentionality of la Sagrada Familia’s stained glass is like nothing I’ve ever seen. 

The remarkable ceiling of la Sagrada Familia (photo/Jason Rafal)

The cooler-toned side of the cathedral (photo/Jason Rafal)

A slightly ominous figure (photo/Jason Rafal)

The incredible warm wall of the cathedral (photo/Jason Rafal)

I loved the rainbow reflections on this column (photo/Jason Rafal)

Some of the organ pipes in the church (photo/Jason Rafal)

Our third Gaudí exploration was Park Güell, outside of the city center. It’s a beautiful park, but it was quite crowded on Christmas, especially in the tiled areas. There are times in the morning and evening when it’s only open to locals, which sounds like a wonderful experience. It has a great view of the city, and more fun architecture throughout.

Looking out toward the sea from Park Güell (photo/Jason Rafal)

Hanging out in the park (photo/Jason Rafal)

Another view from the park (photo/Jason Rafal)

The beautiful tiles under the observation deck in the park (photo/Jason Rafal)

The famous lizard at the front of the park (photo/Jason Rafal)

The lovely Cascada del Parc de la Ciutadella (photo/Jason Rafal)

Walking through the structure above the pond (photo/Jason Rafal)

An interesting statue in the Parc de la Ciutadella (photo/Jason Rafal)

An excellent vehicle (photo/Jason Rafal)