01 December 2010

Fan-trekking-tastic Lesotho

We're back from our trip to Lesotho, and not knowing much about the trek beforehand, it was all that I'd hoped and more.  Erica and I met our sitemate Gracey and two other volunteers in Maputo, where we got a bus to Johannesburg, where we rented a car to drive to Lesotho.  We spent a night in Malealea Lodge and set out from there on a three-day pony trek through the mountains of Lesotho.  This took us through some hair-raising passes, but our patient guides and surefooted horses never let us [fall] down.  That being said, it's a good thing we only trekked for three days; by day three, my fear buffer was running low and I don't think my poor little coração could have handled too many more spikes in my blood pressure.  We spent two nights sleeping in a thatched brick hut in a small, local village and hiked one afternoon to a stunning waterfall, where I swam with frog (singular) in the chilly water.  Heading back to the lodge on the last day, we got stuck in the rain, and due to the loss of my rain jacket in my May robbery, I got more cold and wet than would be medically advisable, but my Viking stock did me well and, Look Mom, no hypothermia!  We took our time driving through delightfully developed South Africa on the way home and stopped in Clarens, a quaint touristy town, where we appreciated art and window-shopped.  Erica and I are now back home and getting ready for upcoming sub-Saharan travels with her sister and dad and my sister and mom, so from here on up, it's all downhill.