Last Days in South Africa part 4 (Pics included)

June 28th, Day 17:

We spent most of the day resting our bodies, relaxing in the hotel room, and accessing the internet. It was a pretty lazy day, but one that we needed to make the push into Botswana the next day. Later that night, we found a local pub and watched the Fifa Confederation Championship between the USA and Brazil. The first half went great for the US as they scored twice and defended the Brazilians perfectly by clogging up the middle and not allowing any good chances. The bar we were at conveniently kicked everyone out at halftime so we had to find a different place to watch the rest of the game. We had met a few locals at the bar and they suggested we go to this other bar called "Graceland", which was awesome because they had a projection system set up with the game showing.

Unfortunately, the momentum dramatically changed in the second half as the Brazilians score quickly and never let up, scoring three goals and leaving me devastated. It was quite depressing considering how great the US had played in the first half, but hopefully they will be able to learn from their mistakes in time for when it really matters in 2010 at the World Cup in South Africa. On a side note, if anyone has tickets or contacts for the World Cup, feel free to send us an email.

We went to sleep pretty early, as we had a lot to get done in the morning before we headed off to the border crossing. This would be our last night in South Africa and we both had bittersweet feelings, yet we were excited for the next part of our journey.

We really enjoyed our time in South Africa, it is a great country and the people are very friendly and hospitable. Many people had warned us about South Africa's crime, but not once did we feel threatened by a single person throughout the 18 days we spent bicycling through the country and interacting with people from all walks of life. In fact, I think the only time we felt somewhat nervous was when someone kept begging us to give him our last banana, which we could not do and we cycled away. Both Aaron and I would like to thank everyone who helped make our journey through South Africa a memorable and unforgettable experience we will cherish forever. To list all the people that helped us along the way would take a very long time, so I just want say thanks on behalf of myself and Aaron. You know who you are and how thankful we are to you for your support and we will not forget you.

-Eric