garden route 1

Arrived in Knysna yesterday evening and immediately went with other lodgers at the Backpacker's to the Spar to pick up meat for a braai. The braai was pretty much awesome. There were three Brits, two Canadians, one Taiwan-born, KwaZulu-Natal-raised doctoral candidate/tour guide, a Dutch guy, one German, one Irish, two Jo'burgians, and one American (me!). There was also the very lovely staff member, who kept the vibe positive to the max. After the braai the evening is a mix of the pub, the English girl wielding a stick, and the Irish girl proclaiming that she had just become a grandmother. I got into music arguments with the above mentioned staff member, but he still impressed me by singing every single word to every single hit song that came on over the speakers. Me and P, the German, mostly just laughed at all the drunk people and had further discussions on pop culture -the likes of Rhianna, Katy Perry, and Lady Gaga [we had the same opinion on Rhianna, mixed opinions on Katy Perry (me: she's terrible and that's that. him: but, she does write her own songs.) but stood united in our appreciation of Lady Gaga]. We all came back to the lodge and gathered in the lounge area. P and I continued our music discussion (it went on to hip hop and the top three overrated rock bands in his opinion) and the others mostly sang and discussed Jean's new grandchild. This brings me back to now, which is lunchtime. I've been hanging around chatting with people and I am now ready to get off of here and explore Knysna more. Cheers, Bonnie