South Africa – Mossel Bay 南非摩梭湾 12/2018 Stop 28 站

25-26/12/2018. From Cape Town, I plotted my last fling with Africa. I wanted to drive from here to Johannesburg, from one end of the country to the other. At the car rental company, the service person looked at my driver’s license, unamused, and said, “It expired two years ago.” Left with no choice, I next moved on to Mossel Bay by bus at 6 a.m., arriving at 12 noon.

The caravan army was in town, with locals and foreigners joining the holiday merrymakers. It was a southern-hemisphere summer, a time for Christmas and New Year’s, all wanting a piece of the beach. Accommodation was harder to come by, the caravan parks filled, the roads more congested, and shops barely open. And I had to be extra vigilant to avoid being picked on and my pocket picked. Not a good time, but I did have a good time—beach, rocks, Africa with a strong European flavor, people who were genetically friendly, like much of Africa.

I began the well-known Garden Route here at Mossel Bay. So cheery and relaxing. It felt like a walk in the park. A stroll on the beach is one of the simplest forms of pleasure, even if no one holds your hand. I started at a beach that looks like a half-moon, then welcomed by an open barbecue seafood restaurant at the edge of the sea, where diners were enjoying a summer get-together of the sea and seafood, of beer and the season of good cheer. I then walked across the front lawn of some big houses, privileged and deserved, looking out to the vast sea that extends to Antarctica, the sea stopped by a wall of rocks that have been chiseled by nature and perhaps even humans, to make it an outdoor diving platform. Further along, beaches were filled with holidaymakers there to unwind after a year stressed out by money-making and everyone else.

After the long walk, unexpectedly, I came to a most unusual swim area. Rocks protruded out of the water, or submerged below the surface, tells of this as a most unlikely place to swim, often tossing swimmers between a rock and a hard place. The tides and waves crashed into the walls and rocks to shatter into foams that filled the top of the pool. Behaving like sea urchins, big and small, they dived into the tidal pool, being carried hither and thither, thrusted around; they were roughed up, but undeterred. They dared the waves, taunted the rocks, emerging above the foams bursting mirth and laughter. I climbed up the hill to have a bird-eye view, it looked like an ideal place for shipwrecks. This is a climax of a most unexpected kind.

25-26/12/2018从开普敦我又开始转移目标，本打算再来一次独驾游，从这里到约翰内斯堡，西到东横跨这国.可是出租车公司人员瞄一眼我驾照后,一板正经的说“你驾照两年前已过期”。垂头丧气，我只能六点早搭上大巴到摩梭湾，六小时后抵达。又是圣诞又是年终， 又是夏日盛开，南非人和非南人都挤到海滩占一席，于是住宿一床难求，道路拥挤，扒手又开始毛手毛脚，特别是金光闪闪的华人抢眼也枪手。

这时候到这里玩是时候也不是时候。这里有美丽的海滩，壮观的山，欧洲风味，异常友善的南非人。我选择摩梭湾开始南非著名的花园路线 （Garden Route）。身处乐园，忘记了非洲的苦，尽享眼前欢乐。