Hi there everybody, first of all sorry for the lack of updates, but the Internet has been at a bit of a premium for the last week or so, or completely non-existent (more on Swaziland later), but we've got it now so we'll do our best to catch up. Hope everyone is well! :-)

25/10/09... Mthatha

We awoke bright and early today to take advantage of the free breakfast on offer from Buccaneers (i ate about 8 boiled eggs, Nicole showed a bit more self restraint!). The Baz Bus was then on time and we where off to Mthatha. After a scary drive through some soup like fog we arrived at Shell Ultra City (service station) and where met by the friendly Angus who took us back via the Spar to Mthatha Backpackers.

First impressions were good. We had our own bathroom (luxery!) and even had a t.v with sky!!! After settling in we decided to venture iut into the rain to visit the kitchen. Unfortunately things did not go to plan.

On the way to the kitchen Nicole slipped on some extremely wet staits, suffering a nasty fall and a cut to the top of her hand courtesy of some broken glass. I was about as much use as a chocolate fire guard. Fortunately I was able to find Angus after getting Nicole over a sink and he bandaged her hand and offered us a lift to the hospital. The first place we went wanted R25000 (approx 2500 pounds) so we went to his local doctor, who was on call fortunately with another patient and agreed to see us. The doctor was a friendly Nigerian with dreams of living in England (we advised against this!) and he stitched Nicole up for 80 quid!

After returning to the hostel we decided to hole up in our room and watch some tv with me venturing out once to cremate some onions and mushrooms and add these to some pasta for a yummy tea.

26/10/09

We were up before 8am today as Angus had kindly offered us a lift into town to visit the Nelson Mandela Museum (our sole reason for visiting Mthatha). Now as if yesterday hadn't been bad enough, we unbelievably arrived at the Museum to find that it had been closed for the day for a new display to be installed!!! GUTTED!!!

After a quick phone call we were led around the side of the museum building, met by some security guards and taken into the back of the museum for "a word" with Kenny (the big boss). Kenny looked every bit the mafia don (huge build, gold teeth, gold rings and a booming voice). After our talk he agreed to give us a sneak peek at the new feature (first members of the public to see this) before promising to send a poster to our English home as a sorry (though I doubt we'll ever see that!). We were then dumped unceremoniously back onto the streets!

Angus (fast becoming a legend) then amazingly offered to take us to a place called Qunu, were Mandela lived as a child and home to another museum. After a quick drive (20miles) we arrived at the museum and shown around personally by a guide named Zimete. The Nelson Mandela Youth Heritage Centre was a fascintaing place telling the story of Apartheid and Mandela's role and also with a feature on Mandela and Rosa Parks (who started the American Civil Rights Movement by refusing to give up her seat on a bus!)

Angus then picked us up to return to the hostel for our luggage and a lift to Shell Ultra City to meet the Baz Bus at 2.30pm. Our time in Mthatha had been difficult to say the least, and just to top it off the Baz Bus was over 1hr 30mins late, arriving at 4.15pm to take us on a long journey to Durban.