Monday, May 05, 2008

Swaziland, Part I

So, Swazi...

I plan on doing a post that will do the extended holiday weekend justice, however I am exhausted and my hands are covered in blisters. Instead, I will share some pictures and a few choice bits of the trip.

Swaziland included:

- a custom-made road trip cd with a selection of hits from 1990-1994 (Prince, George Michael, Boyz II Men, Ace of Base, and even a little Paula Abdul);
- a massive rainstorm that thwarted our attempt to mountain bike;
- dancing with a Swazi man at the cultural village;
- spotting a giant monitor lizard on the riverbank as we paddled through the rapids;
- a high-speed ride in a Kombi;
- the world's most painful, brutal, torturous but well-intentioned massage;
- sitting half-naked with a dozen fully-naked Swazi women;
- the slightly belated discovery that I hate quad-biking;
- geeking out at the geology of Phophonyane natural park;
- sleeping in a beehive (not the honeycomb type, a hut made with reeds and bamboo);
- too much American-style coffee;
- nearly getting lost trying to find the road back to Mozambique without a reliable map;
- incessant humming of the Indiana Jones theme song;
- lots and lots of mountains;
- and thankfully, no snakes!

More stories to come as soon as I am reasonably recovered.















5 comments:

Bart Treuren said...

lovely photos and an impressive summary of what you've been up to :-)) (looking forward to more ;-) )

the "beehive" looks like an amazing place to be able to stay...

keep well...

Anonymous said...

I love the photos!!!!!!!!
that looked like a lot of fun...

Anonymous said...

The pictures are amazing...thanks for sharing them.

Ali Ambrosio said...

~Bart - It was a great trip. The beehive is incredible - I have photos of the craftsmanship up close, and I am still in awe of what is possible with branches, reeds and bamboo (no hardware whatsoever).

~Stacie - Thanks, we did have fun and lots of silly times, as I imagine you can tell from some of the photos.

~Southern Goddess - Unfortunately I'm still not doing my camera - or Swaziland, for that matter - any justice! I need to read the manual of my Nikon...

Anonymous said...

Glad you had a good time. The pictures look great.