AFRICA BEGINS!!!

July 4 2011

I woke up after an incredible nights sleep at 5:30 in the morning! 

I was able to take my time, shower, get organized and meet everyone for an incredible breakfast.  There were so much fruits and juices and breads on the buffet. I was in heaven!  I was even able to order scrambled eggs and bacon.

It was incredible.  After breakfast, I went to take a few photos of the grounds. And as you can see, they are amazing!

I went back to my room packed up, geared up, and am now in the lobby of the hotel waiting for the crew to join up for a quick meeting before we head out for our first day of Safari!  I can’t even stand it!!

Although I wish I could figure out how the damn adapter and inverter work so that I can recharge my laptop.  Thank God that I have this Mac air.  It is so portable and awesome!  The porter asked my about my vibrams and wanted to know if I wanted to sell them to him when we got back to the hotel in a few days.  I politely told him No. 

ON THE ROAD!!

Well we packed up the 3 jeeps and started our travel day to the next hotel!

We stopped SEVERAL times to look at birds along the way. Birds in trees, birds on Electricity polls, Birds nests, and so on.  We might as well have had a bumper sticker on that said I STOP FOR FEATHERS!!  Cause,  Uhm…. WE DID!!  It seems that this group is REALLY REALLY into Birds!

My jeeps mates were, Dad, Rob, Lois and Jim. These folks in the Jeep were the PERFECT group to start the adventure!  THey were fun, open, smart and laid back!   We had a great time with Driver Eman. He was very cool, and liked the treats of the tootsie pop and Biscotti that I gave him and all the drivers!!

Midway through the drive, I ended up switching to the Front seat and proceeded to get out the ipod and speakers!  Luckily, the crew in my car was into the music, so we took it up a notch Matty Style! 

I even asked Eman what type of women were more popular, thin women (which he referred to as number 1’s) NOT because they are the hot girls in the country, but rather because they look like the Number 1.  Having NO CURVES!  The Africans like curvy women.  He asked me what type of women I liked, and I was able to change the subject.  I just couldn’t tell him that I really like my women with, well… a wiener!   I figured. The less said the better!  I asked him what type of music he liked, and he told me Hip Hop and Christian music.  Sadly, I told him I had neither of those genres on my ipod!  But he really enjoyed the tunes I played!


We made a few stops along the way to the next hotel. 

 DONT EVEN ASK!!  I CANT EVEN IMAGINE HOW ONE SHITS ON THIS!!
Do I even have to say it? .......... NJA! 

                                                           This is a Termite mound!

Who is that sassy explorer?

Dad taking photos of, well, A fence!

                                                     SASSY!!

        
                                                
                               Dad and I drinking my new favorite beer, KILIMANJARO BEER!!

                                          This woman was begging for money, so I secretly gave her a $1

                                           Seisal Trees

We finally arrived at the Elephant Hotel, Which, I have to say, is really NOT my cup of tea.  Compared to the palace we stayed at, I would say this one, kind of a dump!  We are here 2 nights, and I am rooming with Dad for both of them.  Apparently, they run the generator from 6-10 pm, after that, we are on our own I guess? 

So my new rating system goes as follows:

Is it Jeannie approved JA! (As in, Mom be happy)

Or NOT Jeannie approved, NJA! (Mom be LIVID)

So far,

 Elephant Hotel is NJA!

Just saw a FUCKING MONKEY outside of the room. Check out the videos on my Facebook page!!  Dad was in the shower with the window open, and the maids came by to tell us to shut the window cause the monkey was trying to get into the window!

DIRTY FUCKING MONKEY!!


Check out this filthyBeast showing Big Matty his goods!
MONKEY DICK=DISGUSTING!!

Dinner at the Elephant Hotel!

Dad and I ended up passing out for at least 2 ½ hours instead of going on Kurts nature walk.  As exciting as I am sure it was, I just really couldn’t take another bird venture!  I think I have already have had enough of the Birds!

We were woken up by all the power going off. And had to scramble to get dressed while using our Photon LED’s that I bought us. Those little fuckers have come in handy.  The generator kicks in about 15 minutes later, and we will have power until about 10pm tonight. And then LIGHTS OUT.

needless to say.......... NJA! 

Dad and I got dressed and went to dinner.  The whole group gathered at the bar , which had a TV and was broadcasting some sort of African parliament sessions.  The guides were mesmerized by whatever they were saying. 

Not one to skip a beat, I went to the bar, and had a Kilimanjaro beer again with dad!  We sat back under the TV and I decided it was time to debut the laser star wand on the wall.  Well, it was awesome.  You should have seen people’s faces as they looked around to see what the hell was casting the cool green stars.

Rob, another in the group, asked where the music was, and of course, I went out to the room and got the ipod and speakers and put on some sweet instrumental music to listen to while we all ate!  As you can guess, I am Loving Rob! He is TOTALLY gets it!!

The meal was simple, and I actually quite enjoyed it. However, I have to say, it would to say.......... NJA! .  I literally laugh out loud when I would think of Mom being in some of these situations.  She truly would be out of her element.

While I was up getting more fruit for dessert, I thought of how proud Kimmy and Ms Laura Greenfield would be at me, that I was eating fruit that didn’t come out of a can.  Anywhooo, as I went up for dessert, the women serving at the buffet wanted to know all about my shoes.  The Africans are REALLY REALLY digging my yellow vibrams!!

I got back into the room, and took a shower in the bather, which by the way,   NJA! , It’s a wet bath, where you can shower, shave and shit all at one time.  Although it is pretty large, there are no separations of areas. its like the put a toilet and a sink in a really big shower! 

Now I am sitting in Bed with the mosquito net, and FYI, I am sleeping ABE LINCOLN STYLE!  What does that mean?  Well, I mean I am to fucking tall for the bed, and I have to sleep at an angle! .......... NJA! 

Well, its about 9:30 here, and dad and I are in Bed, HOPING that the power goes out at 10, cause you see, as much as we’ve tried, NEITHER ONE OF US CAN FIGURE OUT WHERE THE FUCKING LIGHT SWTICH IS TO TURN OFF THE LIGHTS!!  ARGHHHHHHHH!

Looking forward to tomorrow, and hitting the national park.  Its time to see some REAL animals! You know, the kind WITHOUT feathers!!

Having a blast!!  But I am missing BEANS!!  GOOD NIGHT BEANS!!  I LOVE YOU!!!!

P.S.  I am using my Mini Fan, while I sit here in Bed!  Its hot, cant open the windows cause of the bugs, and No air, cause of the lack of power! 


I was however up to the challenge to make even this shitty bed FABULOUS!!

July 5, 2011

Woke up this morning Bright and early!!

No electricity in the room until 6:15 am. Which was a real inconvenience, but Dad and I were able to get through it with our flashlights! 

We met up for breakfast of Instant coffee

 which actually was pretty good!  I have to admit!  .......... NJA! 

We opened with fruit and were then served, and I aint joking here, Eggs, toast and a hotdog  DEFINITELY   .......... NJA! 

We went back to our room, and then packed up the suitcases, even though we were coming back tonight.   Then, had yet another run in with the famous monkeys!  

 Then we set out for the next days adventure.  Dad and I were in Vehicle Number 2.  I went around and offered some of the crew some aromatherapy for some deep inhalations.  They seemed to enjoy the scent (thanks Kimmy) .  Then I handed the drivers their treats of Biscotti and tootsie pops, and we were off on our adventure!!

We ended up heading to MOKAMAZI NATIONAL PARK

Where we saw, in this order, bird, bird, bird, bird, bird bird, ZEBRA, bird, bird, bird, bird, bird, OSTRICH, bird, bird, bird, bird, bird. Bird, GIRAFFES!

I even started a new type of African sport, I call it:

                                  Bird watcher watching!

It’s a new park, so far, we the land mammals were not as big and fabulous as I hoped they would be.  However, driving in the vehicle with the top up and standing was very very cool!!

As the day progressed, we were stopped to see where Kurt spent 4 weeks in the summer of 94!  Up in the middle of the park.  It was abandoned but a really, really cool spot to explore.  It was VERY COOL to see his old stomping grounds!!

Got a little bit of buggy out, so I pulled out the mini fan,

You know me, always prepared!

Then, we worked our way up to this old abandoned observation deck.  I pulled out the ipod and put on some soothing easy samba music, and thought it would be a nice ambiance near the car. 

.............EPIC FAIL. 
Kurt came over and told me to turn it off, as we were in Africa and people wanted to hear the sounds of nature and not music.  Yikes,  first reprimand!   never thought of it that way!  So, I turned it off,  and headed back to the jeep to blog while the other jeeps pulled up and the rest of the crew headed to the observation deck and started lunch! 

I am really cant wait to head back to the Serena Mountain lodge where I can again have Internet and post all these photos and videos and such!