Day 22 Blyde River Canyon loop, Sept 18

Day 22 Blyde River Canyon loop, Sept 18

QOTD:

Somebody tell me what's the word?

What’s the word: Johannesburg!

Weather: Same-same and then hazy, hazy, hazy and very hazy

Same-same for breakfast and a relatively early start on the Blyde (various pronunciations, none of the sounding like Bl-eye-duh) River Canyon Loop. 

How far past the danger sign is okay?

HAZY!

Typical curio seller stands, and way too many of them

Two highlights: Potholes ($14 entrance fee, a huge unused picnic area, and lots of construction on new buildings and restroom), which are like the Antelope Canyon slot canyons except you can’t walk down among the slots; 

A few more pics:

Dung beetle

Snack from LA to E-ville to Potholes

Berlin waterfall

And second highlight: lunch in Graskop, at Canimambo (Portuguese and Mocambicano) where THB and DB share peri-peri chicken and a chorizo sausage and chips. D has pea “stew” with chorizo and M has prawns and chips, 3 ice teas and one mango juice, $42 (and we were the only people eating there).

deconstructed tower

What was left of THB's half a peri-peri chicken

Hazy View in the middle of everything

The rest of the day was looking out at long, hazy vistas. On the way out out town and up to the vistas we saw some interesting rock formations. Otherwise, it was pretty dull and THB didn’t even get out of the car at God’s Window since even god couldn’t see through this stuff. Our best guess: the locals burn trash and wood and we saw many small fire-ridden areas along the route. Johannesburg is also covered with haze and even Cape Town right on the water had some haze.

Back to Blue Cottages around 4 for a dip in the pool, then drinks and steak dinners out on the patio. Beef, potato wedges, ice cream, brewski, complementary

Book Review: Love, Nina: A Nanny Writes Home, Nina Stibbe. Hilarious, so funny THB is pretty sure it couldn’t really be the actual letters sent by Nina (who is a goofball) to her sister over a period of 5 years when Nina was 20-25 years old, and yet there are real (some very famous) people she interacted with on a regular basis, so a lot of has to be true, right?. Surely one of THB’s top five for 2014, possibly even a top three selection, maybe even number one