Happiness Can Be Found in Unlikely Places

Happiness can be Found in Unlikely Circumstances

About a year ago, myself and a couple friends took a semester off school, went to South Africa for a vacation and for a chance to see a different part of the world. We set out for four months; three of those months we spent traveling up and down the garden route and the east coast and midway through our trip, we stopped at a hostel called, “Coffee Shack.” It was very laid back and relaxing hostel; there were many people there every night and the ocean was so close to the tepee we were living in, we were practically swimming. Every morning we would wake up to the sound of the waves crashing on the shore and the enormous African sun that hovered over our heads. One morning, we decided to go out with some of the guests from the hostel for a hike along the hills by the seashore. These hills were covered in thick blades of grass but had rock faces that were pointed out towards the water. If you looked to your left you’d see these hills go for miles; mound after mound, circular shaped huts with cone shaped roofs sitting on top. African trees as well, looking as if the wind was blowing all the branches to one side of the trunk but they stood absolutely still; frozen in time. To your right you’d see the ocean go out for as far as you can see, while standing on a cliff with an almost vertical drop. From looking at the cliffs from the sides, it showed the many trails descending down the cliffs made by mountain goats and every once and a while you could see one half way down; climbing up. Although our surroundings were incredible, the heat was as well. We went through several bottles of water through-out the hike. Our leader, an African local, lead us down one of the more climbable hills to the ocean floor where it was covered in rock. With the sun beating down on us we felt trapped because we couldn’t swim in the water, the waves were too strong we’d be thrown up against the rocks. We carried on through this