The end of the Wellness conference brought us to the major post-conference activity: The Otter Trail hike. For you outdoor fans, the Otter Trail is a widely known 5-day hike that transverses along the coast in the Tsitsikamma National Park. Although only 40K in length, it literally takes 5 days to complete. This is for two reasons: The first being that the 40K is not by any means flat, but rather a continual climb up and down 800 meter hills. At many places the hike is extremely challenging, especially when climbing rock cliffs and crevasses. For instance, the third day of the hike took us 8 hours to complete a journey of 8 miles. Of course this includes stops for swimming and the like, but still, that equates to about 1 mile and hour. The second reason for the 5-day hike is that the trail and its splendor are meant to be enjoyed, not rushed. We were privileged to see some of the most pristine land and views on earth-no need to rush through this. I can certainly say that each day was very grueling, yet beautiful to the extreme. All who went on the hike were drenched in sweat due to the physical challenge. The Otter Trail must be booked in advance, as while on the trail no one else is there. Andre booked our group a year in advance. Most say it takes up to 2 years to book the trail.

Our hiking team consisted of Kathy and I, Andre and Marina, 4 of the Americans who were present at the conference (Judd, Joe, Andy, and Jenny), a young South African wellness professional (Hannes) who also used to compete at the national level in Rugby (was actually the league's leading scorer one year), and a couple of older guys who served as guides. The trail is between PE and Knysna and starts at the Storm's River Mouth (Stormsriviermond) and ends at Nature's Valley. The view we saw as we drove down in to Storm's River Mouth was magnificent. I have never seen a more powerful (in brute force) body of water then the Indian Ocean is at this point. Hannes said it best when he stated, "This is where the world begins. It travels north from here." I totally concur. Each day on the trail was wrought with its share of danger. At one point Kathy and I were climbing a rock area and I heard a loud puff sound and a scattering into a crevasse. I later discovered that is the sound a puff adder makes before it strikes. Sort of like the rattle sound a rattlesnake makes. We later found a dead puff adder near one of the sites we camped for the night. The trail crosses a few bodies of water, of which we needed to time the tide just right so we could wade across instead of having to swim. At one river we had to carry our packs over our head in order to cross. Each river crossing brought time fro swimming, bathing, and water Replenishing. The area is so pristine that we could just fill our canteens straight from the river without fear of some parasite infection. Now, the river water itself was quite interesting. Due to the high degree of tannin from the tree leaves, the water was caramel in color, sort of like the color of a good brown English ale. At times we would need to swim up river to fetch fresh water as the tides would turn the water near the coast into a salty stream. Our campsites consisted of two identical cabins with bunks that can sleep 6. We packed all our food in with us, so ate merrily at a braai every night. Andre, Marina, and Kathy had planned a great food selection and no one went hungry. As you can probably tell, Kathy and I both had a wonderful time on this adventure and hope to someday come back and hike the trail again.

While Kathy and I were discovering nature, the kids stayed at de Jagers under the supervision of Thinus and Marta. Marta is a domestic helper who is employed by the de Jagers and lives with them in her own flat. Bekah has decided that she and Marta are close friends and loves her. Every time we come over to the de Jagers she immediately starts calling for Marta. "Marta. Marta. Where are you?" Marta is pronounced with a trilled "r", of which Bekah and the other kids have picked up while being here. While we were gone Marta would walk Bekah to school and pick her up everyday. One day she gave Bekah a ride on her back and Bekah immediately fell asleep. She thinks Marta is the cat's meow. We were worried that some of the clan might have a breakdown while we were gone, but to our surprise and joy, everyone had a relatively good time and were able to ease back into family living upon our return. Although we missed the kids terribly, this gives Kathy and I great hope for future dates together. Well, maybe I should say "outings." Kara just about gags every time Kathy and I talk about going out for a "date." "Yuck! That's sick. People your age don't 'date'. Can you PLEEEEASE use a different word so you don't ruin the whole idea of what a date should mean?!" I was thinking I was pretty cool for being able to hike a 5-day trail and still date my wife, even at age 40. Guess not. The other day she scolded me for sounding like a "hippie." "Kara, that's because I grew up with the hippies." "Ugh! That's sick. You don't want to say that or people might believe you." It's cool to be hip, which I guess I am not, but not cool to be a hippie. Little does Kara know that my next line of attack will be to start infusing the word "funky" when I'm around her. Then the disco gear. Hey, who cares about Eminem when you've got the Bee Gee's to listen to.

We returned from the Otter Trail midweek and spent the rest of the week transitioning back into society. The kids continue to do well in school and activities. Kara is on a bit of a hiatus between track and cross-country. However, she has filled her time quite efficiently with friends, parties, movies, and a…cell phone. Yes, she is now in the world of instant communication. She and her friends spend quite a bit of time using their new found communication skills, either talking or engaging in SMS-ing, which is like an email instant messenger using the key pad of your cell phone. Doesn't really matter that it costs money to send SMS messages. Hey, what's the use of having a cell phone is you can't send messages? As you can imagine, Kara quickly blew through her starter package time and now continues to think up ways to get money so she can keep feeding her cell phone. There is power in technology…and cost. Remember how exciting it was to get a couple of soup cans, poke holes in the bottom, tie a long string between them, and use them as your own "phone"? Try SMS-ing a message across that. Funky.

Katilee has been able to merge right in with the kids at school. She has such a gift for connecting with whomever and wherever. The kids love her and she is having a great time at school. But then again, she has a great time everywhere. She just knows exactly what she needs and what she needs to do in order to find the silver lining in every experience. I admire her this and continue to try and pattern myself after her in that way. Everything goes quite well until some guy cheats me in a crossing at an intersection or something like that. Jack is heavily engaged in Karate as an after school event. He has become quite good at his moves and is already testing for a yellow slash on his white belt. This is one tough kid. Like any kid, he is uncoordinated in a lot of activities but when it comes to using his strength and body for fighting skills, he is a natural. In addition to Karate, Jack and I spend time wrestling at home. I swear that he is the best 6-year old wrestler I have ever seen in my life. He has the strength of a 10-year old and the natural ability to know exactly how to use his weight, balance, and strength to defeat an opponent. I show him a wrestling move once and he implants it in his brain and it becomes a natural move for him to execute. Having been a wrestler myself, I am trying to make sure I curb my enthusiasm so as not to put the pressure on him to "do what your dad did." So far we are having fun. That's all that really matters.

Bekah continues to run the roost. She's by no means the "baby" of the family. She knows what she wants and knows how to get it, all in a loving and happy way. She loves school and has made a lot of friends, some white and some black. "Marie. She's my friend. She's kind of got a different way she talks. Makona is my friend to. She's brown. But not as brown as Wate. But he's got sort of spiky hair. He's really brown. Bridgit is white. More like pink. But she doesn't sound like Marie. She sounds like Makona. And she has straight hair." She could care less about affirmative action, apartheid, racial segregation, discrimination, or the like. She's just glad she has some friends and is able to tell them apart by how they talk or look. She's learning a lot in her preschool. The other day we went for a walk on the beach and Bekah found a shark's egg. "How do you know it's a shark's egg?" "We learned it at school. See, this squiggly part is what makes it float." I was highly impressed.

The week ended with a birthday party for Andy at our flat and a parade down by the beach that was celebrating the World Cup cricket semi final game that was to be held the next week in Port Elizabeth. The semi final game was between Australia and Sri Lanka and held on March 18, which also happens to be Jack's birthday. Guess who got to go? More about this next week…