We have a confession to make: we're in love with South Africa's minibus taxis. They are probably our very favorite form of public transportation anywhere, ever. The next time we go there, it might be just to ride around in them some more.

In the months leading up to our travels in South Africa, our research was getting a little discouraging on the transport front. It seemed that everybody, absolutely everybody, was insisting that we really really needed to rent a car in South Africa.

Prior to landing, the pilot announced chilly conditions with a bit of rain. Even though we didn't have any umbrellas with us, we knew we'd still be heading out to explore the city for as long as we could during our 12-hour long layover.

We braced ourselves financially for our three-week trip to South Africa. From our research, we knew it'd be more expensive than any other country we've traveled to recently. But it turned out to be not nearly as expensive as we worried it'd be.

Rainhill Farm lies nestles at the foot of the Magaliesberg Mountains, just outside of Rustenburg, South Africa. The whitewashed, thatch-roofed farm buildings are laid out in the shadow of a precipice called Cathedral Rock, gleaming in the midday sun just as they have for nearly a century.