Dario and Alva Sodero
Calgary - Canada
11 February 2008
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I met Dario and Alva at the George airport and it was like meeting old friends as we had been is such wonderful email correspondence before their African adventure. We travelled to Cape Vaccas where on arrival Katrien and Pieter had organised a wonderful home cooked fish dinner for us. We had a great evening just sitting around the dinner table in the Cape Vasccas cottage talking and enjoying Katrien,s great cuisine.
Day 2
Cape Vaccas - Travel to Knysna
On an early morning beach walk with the Cape Vaccas cottage in the background
Building an inukshuk on Cape Vaccas
Cape Vaccas, South Africa meets Calgary, Canada. JJ
The final proud Canadian product.
With Pieter, Katrien and Chadwin before leaving Cape Vaccas
Dario and Alva enjoying the Wilderness beaches
At the Map of Africa outside of the Wilderness
At the Scarab "elephant dung to paper" factory
Having fun under the Scarab Beetle outside of Sedgefield
Outside of Firefly where we had a fabulous curry dinner with Dell and her staff
Day 3
Aljes; Treetops; Bloukrans; The Heads; Zest
At Plettenberg Bay
Enjoying lunch at Alje's
Boela takes as serious interest in the food on the table JJ
With Alje outside of his forest home
Getting ready to go Canopy Treetop flying
Flying through the trees
At the Bloukrans Bridge
Having fun at the Heads in Knysna
Enjoying Don Pedros at Zest restaurant
Day 4
Travel to Cathbert
Breakfast at Overmeer
Thinking about bungi jumping from the Gouritz River Bridge. JJ
Alva enjoying Bobotie at Le Belle Alliance in Swellendam
Alva checks on the birds spotted list at Le Belle Alliance in Swellendam
The Soderos contemplate Swellendam property prices.
We arrive at Cathbert Country Inn at 17h00 after a wonderful scenic 6 hour drive, settled in and met for dinner in the Cathbert lounge at 19h30
Celebrating Valentines day at Cathbert Country House
Day 5
Winelands and Kayamandi
We started our day with a visit to the Afrikaans Language Monument
Dario admiring some king proteas at the Afrikaans Language Monument
Enjoying a wine tasting at Seidelberg winefarm
Having fun on Seidelberg wine farm
We stopped in at the Lucky Store where we had fishcakes for lunch.
After lunch at the Lucky Store we moved on to the township of Kayamandi
Dario having fun with some of the kids in Kayamandi
Enjoying the ballroom dancers performance at the Ikamva Lethu Centre
Walking with Lily through Kayamandi
Listening to Lily's life story in her Kayamandi home
Dario and some of the kids of Kayamandi
Having dinner at Les Bon Vivant in Franschhoek
Day 6
Travel to Cape Town
We drove from Cathbert to Cape Town where once Dario and Alva had settled in to the next place of stay viz. Davids I took them to the Cape Town waterfront where they left to visit Robben Island. In the evening Dario and Alva had dinner at Marios restaurant in Green Point.
Day 7
Cape Peninsula
We started out our day with an ascent of Table Mountain where the next photos were taken
We stopped in to visit Just Nuisance in Simonstown
Buying local craft in the Simonstown
Next stop was a rather windy penguin colony at Boulders Beach
We arrived at Cape Point to find that the funicular was not working so Dario and Alva ascended the point by foot
At the Cape of Good Hope
We stopped in at "The Statues" near Scarborough
Dario and Alva above Noordhoek beach
Dario enjoying Chapmans Peak
Alva meditates on Chapmans Peak JJ
Dario says "goodbye cruel world" on Chapmans Peak JJ
Dario conquers Chapmans peak JJ
We travelled on to the Atlantic Sea board and made our way to Gold Restaurant in the city centre
Alva being face painted by Henriette at the Gold restaurant
Alva all painted up. JJ
Please click on the above picture to see the dancing that took
place at Gold Restaurant
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Please click on the above picture to hear Dario and Alva's
opinion about their garden Route/Cape Town journey
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Travelling with Dario and Alva was a true blessing. They were such a wonderful and happy couple to have with me in my vehicle. Much information was shared by us all and the meaning of rocks to me has now changed forever after having been in Dario's company. What an amazing experience this was for me. The three of us had so many wonderful experiences together that this really wIll be a most memorable tour which will be quite difficult to duplicate.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH
DARIO AND ALVA
A huge thank you for your generous for the education of a child in Kayamandi