Wilderness...hippies

View from The Wild Farm backpackers

After Oudsthoorn, I stopped at Wilderness...awesome name for a city isn't it?! The Baz Bus doesn't drop off directly at the backpackers I was staying at (The Wild Farm), but a shuttle comes and fetches us (don't say pick up in South Africa...it doesn't mean the same thing. It means hook up, for those of you who are
interested).  The shuttle that came was an old VW bus with an canopy top and painted white and lime green. The seats consisted of a single bench in the back and white plastic lawn chairs everywhere else. This was the first sign that I was going to hippie heaven.

Hippie Shuttle

That night, they were having a going away party for a friend and decided to have a trance party....wonderful. I stayed out and talked with some people for a while and then went to be early...around 12:00am. When I got up in the morning around 7:30am, people were still up partying...and continued into the afternoon. When I got up, I sat in the common living room area and was reading my book when two guys (both of which work at The Wild Farm) walked in. Where I was sitting was apparently picturesque, according to one of the guys. He started talking about the flower behind my head and how it must be loving life. Let me tell you what he said, I apologize for some of the swear words (he was definitely high):

Hippie (everything was said very slowly): "Maann, look at that flower...dude it's totally lovin' life right now, man. I mean, s***, it's just chillin' there....soakin' in all that morning dew. It must be happy, man...don't ya think?"

Me: "Yeah...definitely."

Hippie: "And it's basking in the warm morning sun! That flower is totally just livin' life man. And it gets to look at the ocean...yeah, that flower is definitely f***in' happy, man. It even gets people like me, telling it, "Hey. Flower. You're f***in' beautiful." It's livin' the life and it's happy, don't you think?

Me: (I answer the same question) "Yeah...it must be."

......Pause. He seemed to be thinking deep and philosophically about something.......

Hippie: "People call it a weed, man! Who came up with that? It's just out there growing, minding it's own business, and it's beautiful...but people call it a weed. Who decides what is a weed and what is a flower?"

....He was clearly upset with this.....

Me: "Yeah, I don't know. It is a pretty flower though."

Hippie: "I KNOW, man...."

Then the hippie left and went about his other business. It took so much to not laugh at the conversation. I had people drive me down to the beach that day and just spent the day there which was wonderful. I read a book and took in some sun. Wonderful afternoon.

The next day, I went on a hike to a waterfall with a girl from Ireland and three guys from Germany. It hike was awesome, but I was so scared that a baboon was going to come running through the forest and rip us apart. They are viscous creatures...a lion can a good fight with one of them...and the baboons can win, believe it or not. Luckily we only saw their poop and not an actual baboon. The waterfall was small, but it was a nice place to chill for about an hour.

Wilderness is a cute town in general. I must say that although The Wild Farm is not a good fit for my personality, the views were amazing and unbeatable. I realized how much I miss my car when I was there though. It has already been bothering me, but when I was somewhere that I didn't want to be, I really wanted to escape, but had no way of doing that. I'm looking forward to having a car when I get back home!!