T.I.A This is Africa!!!

When you are in Cape Town you don’t feel as though you are in Africa. It feels as though we are back in the United States. It is so much more modernized than I had ever expected.

My friends and I planned on hiking Table Mountain once we got there (my friend Marcus loves hiking and has been talking about hiking since we got on the ship so we agreed to go with him) so once we got off the ship we grabbed a taxi and were on our way. We got to the base of the mountain and began our hike. I hadn’t been feeling very well that morning for some reason and once we began the trek I began to feel sick again, so I decided to take the Cable Way up to the top of the mountain. Amy didn’t want me to be alone so she came with me. I felt bad because I knew that she wanted to hike but she was being a good friend and came with me to the top. I was upset with myself that I didn’t make the hike, but I knew that I wouldn’t have enjoyed it and got the whole experience. We made our way to the top and were stunned with the view. It was breath-taking. Looking out, you get a panoramic view of all of Cape Town and the surrounding oceans. On one side you are looking out at the city and all of the attractions, and on the other side you are seeing the Cape of Good Hope/Cape Point (where the Atlantic/Indian Oceans meet. At the top of the mountain, we were literally on the tip of Africa. It was incredible.

The next morning, Amy and I had a River Rafting trip planned. We got on the bus and after about an hour we pulled over to this truck stop…it’s not as sketchy as it sounds. We found out that there was something wrong with the bus and it was overheating or something like that. We needed to wait for another bus to show up. We were told that it would only be about 20-30 minutes, but we soon realized that T.I.A (this is Africa) and 20-30 minutes really means about an hour or so. That was the common theme throughout South Africa. When someone says “soon” or “right now”, it really means you are going to wait about 20 minutes to an hour. Anyways, the new bus arrived and we were on our way.

We stopped at a winery where we learned about the production of wine and then we got to taste some. I’m not really a wine drinker, but some of this wine was delicious. We tried about eight different kinds of wines and I’m not gonna lie, I was a little buzzed after that. We tried all of this wine in the matter of about 30 minutes—we were going so fast that most of us were buzzed by the end. They brought out the price list and all of these wines were going for about 19-21Rands, which translates to about $3 a bottle. It was so cheap, but so good. Some of us bought bottles to have at the camp site and around the camp fire.

After the wine tasting, we made our way to our campsite. It was so much nicer than I was expecting.  We get there and there are these cabin-like set ups which were a cross between a cabin and a tent. They were wooden frame, but had a screen door. There were sets of bunk beds with mattresses and sleeping bags. We all grabbed a cabin tent (about 4-6 people in a tent) and then all sat around the camp fire. Our tour guides made us this amazing dinner, cooked over an open flame. It was chicken, lamb, vegetables, rice, and bread. It was amazing!! I’ve actually been getting better about being a picky eater. I’ve been trying mostly everything, even though some of the stuff I don’t know what it is. My family should be so proud J !!

I loved our trip because even though the maximum number of people that were allowed to go on this trip was 40, there were only 14 of us and it was so nice. It was so relaxed and not chaotic at all. We all became such good friends and got to know each other. And our tour guides were 21-23 years old so they were hanging out with us and we were all having a good time.  It just made it so much better.

In the morning, we got up and there was breakfast cooking. They were making us sausage, bacon, eggs, and toast all over the flame. It was one of the best breakfasts I ever had, and I don’t really even eat breakfast.

We all ready and made our way to the van and drove about 10-15 minutes to the river. Each raft held two people so we paired up and began paddling down the river. Within about 10 minutes we were all soaked, because we all decided that it would be a good idea to splash everyone with our paddles. It was so much fun and absolutely hilarious at the same time.

When I first signed up for this trip, I thought it was like a White Water Rafting trip, but this river was probably the calmed river there is. It was a Class 1 river, with only small rapids along the way. It was fine because along the way we would just decide to jump out of the raft and go swimming. It was probably one of the best trips I have gone on so far. It was just so laid back that you didn’t feel stressed out about seeing everything and taking a lot of pictures. You could just relax and have fun with everyone. It was awesome!!

Amy and I made our way to Robben Island the next morning. This is the island in which Nelson Mandela was held in prison for 27 years. We took a ferry to the island and then were taken on a tour of the island and prison grounds. It was a lot of information all at once. That was the only thing I didn’t like. I was expecting to just take the ferry and then we would be able to just roam around and see what we wanted to see. I didn’t know until the night before that it was a guided tour. It wasn’t bad, just a lot of information to retain all at once. I did get to see Mandela’s actual cell which was awesome and I got a shirt with 466/64 on it which I love. 466 is the cell number where he was held and 64 is the year in which he was sent to prison. I wanted to see some penguins, but I only saw them while they were in the water. But I bought a stuffed animal penguin which I sleep with every night. I’m such a child at heart...and I don’t even care. Haha

After Robben Island, we made our way back to the ship. We wanted to grab our computers to find some internet to talk to our family and friends back home. We were able to find some internet, even though the connection was not the best. I was able to call some of you back home and even though I didn’t reach everyone it was nice to just leave messages and let all of you know how much I love and miss you.

Amy and I went out to dinner at this steakhouse called Spurs. It was soooo good!!! We got there and it was just so warm and inviting. Then we opened the menus and when I first looked I freaked because one of the items was a rack of ribs for 89.95 and I almost had a heart attack but then I remembered that I needed to convert it from Rand to Dollars. So that was only about $9-10. I felt better after that. We got this cheesy garlic bread which was probably the best garlic bread I’ve ever had. The meals were so good as well and we treated ourselves to a brownie sundae. We were able to get drinks, the appetizer, meals (steaks) and dessert for only $33. It was so good and so inexpensive. We ended up going there for dinner the next night…and breakfast the following morning. Don’t laugh at us. It was well worth it.

I went to the Aquarium the next morning, which was awesome!! I love aquariums. I got to see my penguins which I have wanted to see the entire time we were in South Africa. They were so cute. I wanted to take one home, or at least be able to touch them or something, but that was definitely not allowed. I saw them being fed which was cool. Oh and Amy and I were walking through the different exhibits, and in one of the tanks there were lobsters and I’m not going to lie, I got chills and almost screamed. Thank you Daddy so much for that. I am still terrified of live lobsters. And for all of you who don’t know why I would be scared of them, that is another story for another day. I’m sure my dad is laughing his butt off right now.

On our last night in South Africa, we all went to Mitchell’s, the local bar by the waterfront. It was just a fun night to celebrate being South Africa. It was a lot of fun to hang out with everyone on our last night.

The last day, I went on an FDP, which is a trip that is for a class. I have to write a paper about the experience and all that I learned. The trip was to two wineries to learn about the production and marketing of the wine. Yes, another winery. There was more wine tasting and a lot of information to remember. It was one of the best field trips ever though. I got school credit for going to a winery and drinking wine all day. It doesn’t get much better than that.

I absolutely loved South Africa and was sad to leave. I would love to go back there someday. There was so much more that I wanted to do, but just didn’t have time.

Up next is Mauritius and I couldn’t be more excited…