The Next Chapter: Day 536

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Day 536 - Caledon

Posted by Jill Marie

Today we actually got up a little earlier. I won't elaborate exactly how much earlier, but we managed to get out & get something accomplished.

I did 30 minutes of yoga first thing & Jaco went to get his passport photos taken. By the time he came back, I was nearly ready. I would've been ready a little sooner had I not had complications operating the stick blender Petro gave me for my birthday. Operator error. :o) Whoops. In any case, we were off to Caledon.

Jaco needs a new passport & the office we needed to apply at was in Caledon, about 30 minutes from Hermanus. We took the wrong turn & ended up on a dirt road for 1/2 the drive. It was actually a very pretty drive. We drove past many vineyards, olive groves, sheep farms & gorgeous eucalyptus & cypress trees. It was a wide valley & today was a cloudy day, so the clouds were wrapping & twisting around the mountains as we drove along.

The passport will take one month & unfortunately we were planning on applying for 2 visas. One for Europe & one for New Zealand. We only have 6 weeks. I don't think that we'll be able to make it fly. Boo. We'll see. We'll try our very best!

When we came back to Hermanus, we stopped in a little section of shops & found some trays to grow sprouts in. I also picked up a pill organizer & then we went to the grocery shop. I'm finding that you need to visit all three or four grocery stores in order to find what you need. One shop has this, the other that, this one cheaper, that one cheaper... It's a bit of a mission to get all that you need!

After our grocery stop(s), we drove down the road to a turn off called 'Kwaaiwater' - crazy water - kw-i-vah-tur. We passed several stunning houses. I picked out a few! We parked by the water & I got out & took some photos. It was a very eery sight. The waves were quite aggressive & the shoreline was very rocky. I watched a lone seagull now & then swoop down along the water, barely missing the waves underneath him. As I walked along the beach, mussel shells crunched under my feet. The mist was heavy & I couldn't see too far out to sea. In fact, the horizon line disappeared not too far in the distance.

Soon the light had waned & I couldn't take a steady shot, so I returned to the car to find Jaco in agony. He had just downed 1L of juice in the few moments I had been gone & was feeling slightly uncomfortable. Sigh. I'm trying to understand his dietary habits. Give me strength.

We drove back to the house & had dinner. Marisa called & we're going to make plans to get together sometime next week. I can't wait to see her, as she's engaged now & I'm very excited for her. Petro helped me suss out the stick blender - it's actually quite powerful! We blended the almond milk & her & Jaco gave it a taste test. Tomorrow we'll have protein shakes! Hooray!

xxxxMaria