THIS IS AFRICA. THIS IS LIFE.

“YOU HAVE TO TAKE RISKS.  WE WILL ONLY UNDERSTAND THE MIRACLE OF LIFE WHEN WE ALLOW THE UNEXPECTED TO HAPPEN.” – By the River Piedra I Sat and Wept, Paolo Coelho

It didn’t seem logical to make the journey to my friend’s wedding in South Africa.  I didn’t have a plus one, I didn’t really have the extra funds, and I didn’t really want to leave my routine in London after having just settled back in, a month and half ago.  Not to mention, if truth be told, I hated weddings.  Yes ok, a decade ago, the experience of my own marriage being called off just two weeks before the big day, had left a bad taste in my mouth; but I wasn’t one to let the stain of past pain stop me.  Maybe too, part of my resistance was that I had no “special person” in my life and celebrating marriage would put me face to face with the truth that I had no idea where my life was going or if I would even meet a beloved.  But those were just silly fears, and the truth was, my heart lit up at the thought of celebrating my dear friends’ special uniting with all their loved ones near.  And so, I took the risk….  My gorgeous, adventurous babe from Florida signed on with flying colors, bought her flight to come, and in two weeks we were both landing in Cape Town. 

TIA…This is Africa.  If you haven’t heard the acronym and saying, then you’re hearing it now, and let me tell you, it’s the perfect supposition for the experiences potentiated there.  The scale is broad and of course encompasses many westerners’ experiences when hit with the culture shock of African life.  The customs, the dress, the diversity.  The sounds, the smells, the sights.  TIA is what you say after that unexpected situation occurs.  Like that one night on my very first trip, a massive hippo was unexpectedly grunting around just outside my tent, and I was scared for my life.  Or that sunrise the monkeys with bright blue balls, hung out on the deck of our Airbnb.  TIA… 

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it is not the same river and he is not the same man.”  – Heraclitis 

Thanks to my years in yachting, I had encountered many a “Saffa” and made life-friends I was privileged to go visit from time to time. However, even though this was my fifth time befalling this stunning country, I was stepping into it a completely different person.  Its wild beauty still consistent, unparalleled and grand to my senses, I entered this time as a person between worlds– the present, practically perpetual state I found myself in over the past three years.  I wrestled internally with the destabilization I felt. The only roots I had garnered were those I had planted within my own being, that I carried with me wherever I found myself.  Not an easy state to be subsisting at by most standards.  After a structured six weeks of completing my novelette in London, the truth was, I indeed was ready to bust out and have some fun.  Soak in the sights and feel the fullness of aliveness that travel often imposes.  My vivacious girlfriend was the perfect accomplice.  Her first-time setting foot on this land, we certainly had to make it special, cramming amazingness into 6 days, when especially when arriving there is no easy task.  A fifteen-hour journey from Florida and an eleven-hour jaunt from London, says it all. 

First on the list was Table Mountain, one of the world’s 7 natural wonders.  The sight of this 1,000-meter high, expansive, flat-topped mountain is truly awe-inspiring.  Hike it or cable-car it, the views from the top, high above in the clouds, are equally breathtaking.  

Next was the V&A Waterfront, a great place for strolling, checking out the shops, and enjoying fresh seafood and local wine and spirits.  You might even spot swimming seals if you’re lucky.  Sunset is best spent south from there along the beaches, so we drove to Camp’s Bay and dined with stunning sights and a palm tree lined beach of giant boulders.  

The next morning, we drove an hour east to the winelands, palates ready.  The drive alone lights the eyes, full of stunning mountains to which I can hardly spell or pronounce their Afrikaans names.  We hopped aboard the antique, Franchoek Wine Tram, and off we were to the first wine farm.  Wind in our hair, there was no better way to be transported between farms.  We tasted every grape varietal, from the white chenin blancs, to the rosé granache, bold pinotage reds, and sparkling Cap Classiques.  More stunning sights, more tastings, plenty of giggles….  Needless to say, my memory is a bit hazy what happened after that.

Another must of this extraordinary country is driving the famed, Garden Route, along the southern rim of Africa.  Southernmost tip of Africa!  Put that into your mind’s perspective for a moment….  This particular adventure could preferably be enjoyed over the course of an entire week, but, since we were on the express version and had a wedding to get to, we sped along east, savoring and stealing to memory the beautiful and ever-changing topographies, until arriving at Plettenberg Bay.  Another gem of gems, this place has unrivaled views.  Do yourself a favor and wake up for a sunrise view and a walk through the steamy sea fog.  This video says it all.  

After soaking in the stunning morning, it was time to get going again.  It was time for the meet-and-greet pre-wedding festivities in Port Alfred.  Oh, and we did a quick detour to Bloukrans, so Morgan could bungee off the world’s highest bridge jump.  From there on, things were already starting to look less developed and more like land dedicated to reserves.  By chance, I even spotted a few giraffe heads poking up above tree lines as we were driving.  And a distant zebra, and kudus.  

After chatting it up with the wedding party we set off for our Airbnb, a spot my friend had “splurged” on, a spot buried in “the bush” right in front of a tremendous beach lined by huge desert-like dunes.  (On a sidenote, traveling this country is ridiculously affordable.  The rand to the dollar is 18-1, and it’s 24-1 for the pound.  In locales like the Bahamas and the Caribbean where I was used to working, a similar place on the beach like what we had would have been thousands per night.  We paid $150 a night, had housekeeping, a sauna, spectacular views, and more space than we knew what to do with.  And monkeys).  Even all that being said, had I been in charge of the booking, I probably would have blindly settled on the most cost effective, closest to the wedding and not looked at other options.  But thanks to Morgan’s inspiration we had an exotic private beach to ourselves for three days, and in the end, this cost was the most “soul effective.”

Most of us who live in cityscapes don’t have the pleasure of hearing bird songs throughout the day, with limited access to nature.  That, or we can’t even hear bird noises over all the other frequencies blasting at us, or the earbuds clogging our senses.  Even if you do have the luxury of a backyard, or property, most of us have practically been numbed to listening to birds’ tweeps and chatters.  Our giant cabin was pure tranquility, wild with birds of all sizes and vocal ranges.  Surrounded by thick tree foliage, the ocean down below, I was gradually tuning in more and more to the constant song surrounding us.  It’s only when you can escape the distractive energies bombarding most cities and slip into nature that you remember true quiet.  The stillness of your being.  Be still and know . . .

It was in that quiet that I was indeed knowing something.  But whatever it was, it was still burbling below the surface of my consciousness.  Still recovering after eating a bad oyster, I was propelled inward and into what I can only call, a spiritual healing crisis.  With too many days of nausea, hardly able to eat, energy drained, and my gut off kilter, I was forced to admit that something deeper was going on.  What was I not “digesting?”  One colonic later and days of fetal posture in bed, I was charting the waters through a total system reset, detoxing my body and shedding.  A full-on Spring cleanse– body and soul.  It was in that purging that I was letting go of old energy patterns left as waste in my field.  Old thought-forms, patterns, past pains…my being was ready to let it all go.  Empty….  Empty so that new pathways could be formed.  When all was said and done, I came out purified.  A new poise and a new grasp of how my daily life would be steered to.  My compass had been dialed to the direction of PEACE.  From then on, the moment I sensed my vessel steering off track, I had the awareness to choose how to guide it back to peace. 

It never even occurred to me that we would be attending an Afrikaans wedding.  Although, I should have been privier with a last name like Bezuidenhout.  Although English is widely spoken in the country, so is Afrikaans!  This language is basically a creole form of Dutch, blended with local indigenous languages like Bantu.  Most the ceremony was even in this language!  What a blessing to witness the love between this couple, and to then celebrate into the night through music and dance.

Just like TIA, the phrase of accepting and embracing the learning and growth opportunities presented in Africa, I was faced with TIL:  This is Life, accept and embrace.  This is life, which winds and bends, throws curve balls, and acclimates you to the sides of yourself requiring cleansing and renewal.  Death and rebirth.  The portal each and every one of us endures in our lifetimes.  This beautiful life… Les petites morts happen again and again.  We must only be ready.  How we walk through life’s challenges and unveilings is up to us.  We have the capability of being reborn, again and again.  The only thing we get to choose is how we walk through it all.  Will it be graceful?  Will it be compassionately?  Nurturing?  Or will we resist, or ignore?

Life has been showing me lately, that it’s not about the money risk or the most practical decision.  Sometimes it’s about spending sweet time and making cherished memories with the ones you love, and that these things are worth every penny of the cost.  Too, inspiration is a real thing.  There’s something that beauty does for your senses.  What is it about an exquisite landscape, crisp blue skies and green verdure that enlivens our impulse for wonder?  These things had done wonders for me, and I returned to London, inspired and fresh and clean…soaked in soul-sister magic.  You see, sometimes the risky decisions turn out being the best ones.  The ones that make us feel most alive.