It is 7/11 here in Cape Town, my first Saturday here. Last night I decided to stay in because I haven’t been feeling well. I blame lack of sleep. But thankfully, I slept like a rock last night and feel amazing. Plus I just got back from a fun so you know I feel great. I’m still not used to the time around here because I didn’t think it was that late when I woke come to find out its noon. Both Jamie and I woke up around the same time and I felt bad because the boys (Joe and Adam) came over, wanting to go to an internet café. Last time we tried to go the place we wanted to go to ended up closing at fi ive. That’s one strange thing about here, everything closes early. I think its either because it’s the school holiday or because it’s winter here. It gets dark really early like around six.
But anyway, we were still getting breakfast ready, which for me was really lunch. Because of our fridge isn’t really working and I bought ground beef the other day and it needed to be cooked before it got spoiled. So I fired up the George Foreman and it turned out really well. I also had these small sweet rolls which I used for buns. I know exciting right?
I guess, I should talk about yesterday because it was a lot of fun. We went to Cape Point which is the very tip of Africa and also of course, the Cape of Good Hope. I was confused for a while about the difference between the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. Basically I think the difference is that the Cape of Good Hope is the most south-western point of Africa and Bartholomeu Diaz from Portgual gave it its name and the Cape Point is just the tip of Africa. They’re basically in the same area. So we first went to the Cape of Good Hope and climbed up these cliffs and got to see an amazing view. I also believe the Cape of Good Hope is where the Indian and the Atlantic Oceans meet. I wish I had the words to describe it. It was just absoutley breaktaking and a feeling of complete and perfect peace washed over me. It was beautiful. I felt completely calm and completely in the moment, enjoying the sight of the ocean and the mountains and trying to take it all in through my camera. I doubt my pictures will do it justice, but at least they will remind me of these great experience.
After climbing up the cliffs and walking around, taking pictures, we decided to walk the path up the lighthouse which was one the other side of the mountain range (if that’s what you want to call it). The path didn’t look to long, but it was definitely deceiving. There was also a steep set of stairs that led down to a small secluded beach. We didn’t go down, but I think we’re going to try to go there once it gets warmer. Did I mention that it’s winter here? Yesterday was also the first cloudy semi-cold day, which was no good since the rest of the time have been sunny and bright. Still their winter and our winter are vastly different. It has probably only gotten to around 40 and that’s a night. During the day, it’s around 60 so of course it’s no where need the humidity of St. Louis but it doesn’t exactly require a large winter coat, though of course, since I’m almost always cold, I wears at least two or three layers to keep warm.
Back to the cape, the path to the lighthouse definitely took a lot out of us because once we got up to where the path ended at the parking lot (it continued up to the lighthouse), we all had to take a break. At least it was exercise and of course, you can’t beat the beautiful sights. And sometimes the sun would peak its little head outside of the clouds and the effect was glorious. I got some great shots of that and the mountains, simply beautiful.
At the parking lot, you could either pay 40 rand (the South African dollar) to go to the lighthouse or you could walk. Now 40 rand is not a lot. Its about 8 rand to the dollar so that’s about five bucks, but still if you can get there for free you might as well do it and get more exercise in the process. So we make our way up the steep path to the lighthouse and lose our breaths in the process or maybe that was just me. The lighthouse was pretty cool; it was actually a lot smaller than I was expecting. But they had one of the those cool signs that tells you how far away other places in the world our like New York, Syndey, Paris, etc. Again glorious sights, for example you could see a mountain and see ocean on either side of it and behind it more mountains.
By this time though, it’s around three and we have yet to eat lunch. I know I was ready for food, which I made known. Before we went to eat, we went to a natural reserve to see African penguins. They were so cute. I love the way the walk or I guess it’s more like waddling. There were tons of them, just chilling on the beach getting their sun tan on. Well not really, but a lot of them laying out soaking in the sun that finally decided to come out and stay.
After looking at the penguins, we went back to the harbor where we stopped on the way there (forgot to mention that part). There we had the best fish I have ever had. They really didn’t have any fish that I knew about besides calamari and since I had had that a few nights before, I asked Ivan (our wonderful driver) what was good. He said the shoek was good, so I got that. It was delicious, so fresh and it was crazy cheap. It was about 25 rand for shoek and chips, which is a little more than three dollars.
That pretty much describes yesterday. I went home and since I wasn’t feeling well, I stayed in, watching Scrubs and talking to my family and Loren until I finally went to bed and enjoyed the best sleep I’ve had in a long time. Stay tuned for more soon. peace
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