Port St John's: The South African Ocean Beach...

After Cintsa, Ozell and I headed to Port St. John's along the ocean.  It is a small port village encircled by flat topped mountains.  The St John's river cut out a gorge in the mountains and deposited the delta upon which the town was built.  Before arriving, we had read that Port St. John's was more of a hippie/beachbum/laidback town.   I have a couple comments...

 

It was easy to find weed.  I bought a $10 bag that I am going to be able to get at least 30 fat joints out of it.  The weed is also the best that I have had on this trip.  Still not close to the stuff I buy at home, but much better than anywhere else I have been so far.  Our bus driver also mentioned that The Transkei was a weed growing haven and that over 20% of the land area has marijuana cultivated on it.  It is too remote and the accessibility is so hard that the authorities really have limited options.  I say that is all the better and the way it should be.  Lol  I was able to get it from someone at the hostel which was convenient.  It was also only the first of many signs that the staff at this particular hostel were sort of drifting in their own world most of the time.

 

The truth is that Ozell and I did not experience too much of the town.  I went walking around once by myself.  I had an interesting experience.  For the first time in my life, I was the only white person around.  And I mean the only one.  More than being the only white person, everyone else was black.  There were no other ethnicities around.  South Africa is 85% black, but this was the first time that there were no whites around at all.  It was not weird or scary or overly enlightening, but it was very interesting.  I was a little paranoid.  It is the first time that more than the occasional stare was made.  There were a lot of prolonged stares.  Nothing menacing but enough to make me a little paranoid- the weed obviously would not help.  That experience was reinforced later that day because Ozell and I went golfing together at the Port St. John's Golf Course!  But that is for a following post...

 

The hostel was also pretty granola and alternative.  Nice facilities, great bar, and some fun people.  The staff was drugged and the cooking crew were not that friendly, but overall, it was another great hostel.

 

The pic is of the woman worker.  She was an excellent fire twirler / flagger.  She was most likely a rave girl a little bit ago.  She was the best that I have seen personally though.  The pictures don't do her justice.  I wish I had a video of her...

 

Cheers,

 

Sean