Away with the Fairies, Hogs Back.

 

Magical, mystical mountains, verdant forests and valleys, plunging waterfalls and towering trees, bathed in sunlight or enshrouded in white semi-translucent mist, make this a welcome break from the beaches. Good food restaurants abound but the slightly eccentric theme of fairies, elves, standing stones etc can be a little twee for some people’s taste. But get away from the main drag and be transported into a kingdom that Tolkien would be inspired by. We stayed at away with the Fairies run by an Englishman, Dan, and his South African girlfriend.

Dan picked us up at Chintsa, although he looked a little confused when we dropped first our backpacks down by the truck and said hello. No one had let him know that he was supposed to be picking us up and he had booked a weekend away in East London. We called into the shopping mall and picked up food and alcohol supplies for the hostel and ourselves then headed off to meet Dave who was driving down from Hogsback to meet us halfway and pick us and the supplies up. Now this is where Chris comes back into the story.

“I had a staff member staying in Chintsa” Dan told us
“We met him” we replied.
“I had to send him away to get his head together after he took a two day trip on magic mushrooms and lost the plot”
“Oh we thought he lived there the way he talked”
“He’s been working just over a month and he’s been tripping most of the time.
“I think he still is” I replied “we also met ????? said he was doing work for you.
“He was building patios, and we had to take them down as they were dangerous” said Dan
“Ahh I heard him talking to you on the phone. You refused to pay him”
We met up Dave and left Dan to enjoy his holiday. An hour and a half later Dave decided to divert to the township in Hogsback to check to see if a car was ready to be picked up from the garage.
“If it is” I pondered “who is going to drive it?”

Luckily it wasn’t so I wasn’t called upon to drive it up the mountain. Later when Dan returned and told us he was relieved that we’d made it as Dave could be a little unreliable at times I told him about the unscheduled stop that added another ½ hour to the journey, including my panic when I thought I’d be asked to drive one of the cars.
“That wasn’t the plan” Dan replied “What on earth was he thinking?“
And that’s what I love about travelling. People.