African time

Y'oh! Had to have the patience of a saint the other day. Decided due to lack of funds that getting local transport would be the best way to get myself down the coast to Port Elizabeth. It is normal to wait a while as the minibus taxi fills up, so you kinda expect maybe up to an hour maximum... four hours later and they decide it is time to go, but then change the price and tell me it is extra for my bags. The guy orignally quoted me a price which included the bags (which was over the top anyway, just cos I look like a tourist), so by that time my temper was on the boil and I grabbed my little bag and said oi you, no, bloody had enough, give me my other bags, I shall make another plan. By which point the dude decided that he would rather give me the original price rather than lose the entire fare... the driver was actually a nice middle aged man but the guy in charge of the local taxi rank decided he wanted to intimidate me... which failed dismally. Hah! So in the back seat were me and my fella with another random in the front - pretty spacious considering. But then the driver stops for another passenger and her suitacase and we are far too cosily crammed in the back resembling sardines and the proverbial tin... oh hooray. Not.

Make it safely to Port Elizabeth and only just catch the last local minibus taxi to Jeffreys Bay - there is one seat remaining and two of us... someone gets to sit on the rucksacks - I always knew they had more purpose than just humping them around on one's back! Know that I've been around far too long as I know all the msuic they play in the van - mainly stuff that gets played at local shebeens (illegal bars). Get dropped off in the arse end of nowhere cos the driver isn't going anywhere close to the direction of the backpackers we're staying at, so on the bags go and off we go walking down poorly lit, fairly barren streets followíng the signs for the backpackers hoping that no one decides we're an easy target. Which they don't. Make it to Island Vibe Backpackers - party central of backpacking in Jeffreys Bay, although not on the night we arrive. Is a little impersonal and rather large, but we book into a cute little beach shack overlooking the waves, find the bar and chill the hell out with several large, well deserved drinks.