Hellllllllo blog readers
How is everyone?! I am doing great just got home from my Easter Break week in Cape Town, Knysna, Stellenbosh, and Oudtshoorn. It was amazing! I had so much fun. We left Friday morning the 2nd and got home April 11th, Sunday.
Okay…Im gonna start at the beginning sooo we hired a car (hire means rent, that’s what they say here) so the car we rented ended up being the same exact car we took to J-Bay, Yup the one that broke down on us…ughhh we were not looking forward to tha car and of course just our luck we got the same one. So we were set to leave Friday morning at 630 am and we started off down the road but not before pilling the WHOLE entire car with our stuff. So we were driving down the road and then all of a sudden this misty/smoke stuff started filling the whole car…hahaha its funny now, at the time we freaked out a bit and were pissed because this always happens to us!!! So we pulled over in a neighborhood 2 blocks away from our flat and tried to figure it out, we got some help from a good Samaritan and called the rental car guy, found out it was the water in the car that was low or something? So after a long time of talking to the rental car guy and him telling us over and over that it was normal that there was steam flowing everywhere in the car? I kno right? We met with a mechanic and he fixed it? something with the heater and I don’t know really…but it put us like 3 hours back and we didn’t end up leaving PE til after 9..we drove to Knysna which is a really cute quaint town. Much different than the stereotypical Africa. Really pretty with a small town feel, kinda like Mill Valley or something along the lines. We got to the hostel and it was super cool, we actually had really good luck with backpackers all week. Since Ive been in Africa I haven’t stayed at a bad backpackers! We settled and started talking to one of the guys that works there about what we should do and we ended up going with him to the forest and then he took us to the heads which is what knysna is most famous for. the forest was really pretty, we had to drive thru a town ship to get there and it was kind of hilly, but it was such a different scene than I have been around. South Africa has everything, forest, mountains, beach, flat land, everything! We went and saw this ‘big tree’ that was over 650 years old, it was huge! Then we went to the Heads. Its really famous for Knysna and it is two pieces of land coming together but there is an opening and there is a lagoon in the opening. The houses up on the hills were AMAZING and huge. The guy from the backpacker pointed out one of the houses that was 48 million rand, that is 336 million US dollars!!!!! Yikes! After we left there, we went to the water front and there was a lot of touristy shops there. I haven’t seen any since I’ve been in SA, so it was a nice change of scenery. It was pretty touristy, but the waterfront was really nice.
-side note of my day-
When I was in Knysna I was kind of home sick for my mama! Traveling makes me rather homesick for her because Im so used to traveling and going everywhere with her. Im so used to doing everything with my mom, and it is difficult doing things with a group of people, so I was a little melancholy. The town reminded me of a place I’d go with her, and it was hard to travel and go places without her because she is my usual travel partner. I love you mama, you’re my best travel partner : )
Anyways the rest of the day we hung out at the hostel for a while, played pool hung out in this really cool room with cushions everywhere that I was obsessed with. We met a guy from Australia and he was hanging out with us, and he went out with us. We went to this cool club, it was a lot of fun, the usual creepers, but we have all gotten used to it. we called it a night and went home, the next morning we got ready to leave not before having car trouble again…good lord… and finally were on our way to CT. We made it Cape Town by 3:30 and driving in I absolutely fell in love with the city. It has the beauty of Yosemite but the vibe of San Francisco. Absolutely beautiful and amazing. Our hostel was so cool and it was right on Long Street, where all the bars and clubs are. Our backpacker was SO cool, it was called penthouse. We stayed in a 20 person dorm, yea I know so many ppl! But it was actually better than I thought it was going to be. Ear plugs are a life saver and so necessary for travel. But our room was actually chill and not much partying going on in it, our group was for sure the loudest out of everybody and there were some French ppl in there that didn’t like us. We made friends with a girl from Germany who knew French and she told us all week when they would talk about us in French hahah ridiculous! Anyways, the palce was really cool and had a bar on the roof and each room was decorated a different theme, so one room was like animal print and our room was forest theme, and there was a heart room and ect ect, really cute. After settling in we met Nathan and his sister that night for dinner, locals of Cape Town. The SSU girls and I had to take an African Focus class and our professor Ben put us in touch with his friend Nathan. Nathan and Stacy gave us the low down of CT and told us places to go and places not to go, we had ‘mexican food’ for dinner, the quotations because it is SA’s version of Mexican not the States…it wasn’t bad but its wasn’t authentic. My burrito was more like a huge taco, it wasn’t rolled just like folded over, I would describe it as tex-mex… so Nathan walked around with us, and I was really overwhelmed, ppl begging for money and talking to you and everything, from what everyone said about CT and everything I was nervous..i mean it is safe, but it is a big city, and it is Africa, and we were there on a holiday week, and we obviously look like foreigners. Even if I don’t open my mouth and Im just walking ppl always say America! Oh your from America! Haha Im always like how do you know that!! But Im not going to lie I was a little sketched out for my safety and stuff while there, but we were always cautious and aware of our surroundings. I didn’t walk with my camera out, I didn’t take it out at night, I didn’t have a purse at night, since being in SA my bra is the best wallet I could possibly hope for. We were smart and the trip was fine, nothing bad happened to any of us. We went out that night, we went out every night while on our trip except one night bc we were all hung over hahah, so I wont really go into details about us going out, if you want to know all the details ask and I will tell, but most of the nights consisted of dancing drinking and having fun, I was good I promise! The 5 of us were watching out for eachother, and we were all safe. We just took advantage of going out in CT because we have all gotten tired of going out and the places in PE. So I won’t bore you with all the stories of nightlife in CT, except for the fact that I drunk dialed my mama every night, and night life is great : ) So if you ever go to CT some places to go: Dublinner, La Med, Zula, Chrome, Baghdad, and lots of other places, I forgot all the other names. On Sunday we went with the guy that worked at our front desk to a township, I forgot the name, but every week there is a huge braii (BBQ) there. It was really nice of him to take us, he was working the night shift at our hostel and didn’t get off til 8am..he worked all night, and he just went home and showered then came back to take us to the hostel. He didn’t want money or anything, he was genuinely such a nice guy and just wanted to show us part of the township life. It was so much fun, there was ppl everywhere and we bought meat there and we just ate with our fingers and danced a little and talked to Timberland (that’s what he told us to call him) he was so nice, and helpful and it was so much fun. I love talking to locals, seriously everyone (Ive come across) always has something to say, ppl always have an opinion, wheter they are talking about politics, oppression, the world cup, anything, they always have something to say. I love it. A nice unexpected thing to do while in CT, to go and hang out in a township.
Monday we were scheduled to go to Robben Island, after getting lost and thinking we were gonna miss the boat, we find out that it is cancelled for the day because of the weather. I guess this happens a lot, its too windy so they cancel it…you would think they would prepare for this since, they have to have the boat for the their business or they would find another boat, or something, but TIA… (TIA means ‘this is africa’ for those who don’t know) So we rescheduled for Wednesday morning and changed our plans for the day. We decided to drive to the cape of good hope. This by far was my favorite day. The drive there was a little over an hour I think. We stopped along the way in this really cute town called Simon’s Town. It was really quant, we walked around for a while and went into shops. Going to Cape town is really the first time I have seen touristy shops, I mean there is the Boarkwalk in PE but that’s about it. and its only touristy to a certain extent. So we all got some stuff there, I found post cards for 3Rand! That’s 40cents a post card! So some of you are luckly enough to have a post card in the mail right now : ) we found an ice cream shop, because the girls are obsessed with ice cream haha. It was really good, the closet tasting ice cream to the states..yup ice cream tastes different here…its more like..um..more sweet. Kinda like frosting tasting. I dunno hard to describe. We sat for awhile at the dock then walked back to our car. Boulder Beach is on the outskirt of Simon’s Town, that’s where the penguins are! They were so cute, a lot smaller than I thought. The penguins used to be named Jackass Penguins because they make nosies like donkeys…and oh do they..but they were renamed African penguins, no fun! They were everywhere tho. Small little guys right on the beach. I heard they are mean so don’t get close to them. But there was like a boardwalk so you can walk out on it to see them. Way cute tho! We were there for awhile then left to head to cape point/cape of good hope. It was 75R/person to get in…so weird in Africa they charge by person rather than like 75R/car. A lot of hotels do that too, charge per person and not by room. So if you were renting a hotel room it would be 1000R/person rather than 1000R/per room, just an example. Anyways…I was really excited to go to cape point. Driving in the national park we definitely saw ostridges and baboons. Both animals are really creepy..at this time in the trip I was slightly obsessed with the ostridges…you will learn later when I write about Oudtsroon that this obsession disappeared really quickly…hah. The baboons though are crazy..they are like little humans. You are supposed to close your car windows if they are around and not pursue them and if you have food…forget it, drop it because they will attack you for it. Ive heard a story of a baboon going up to a car and opening the door and getting inside and eating all the food that was in the car…then opening the door again and walking out..hahah so crazy. So anyway we finally got to cape point. And cape point and cape of good hope…it is debated among many which is which, but one of them is the most south western part of Africa, and the other one is where the two oceans, Atlantic and Indian ocean meet. Cape point had a lot of walking to get up it, very touristy..all cement, and there was a light house up there. It was cool, but I mean not the best thing I have ever been too. we took a few pictures and decided to leave thankfully we decided to drive over to cape of good hope, they are right next to eachother but you have to drive down to get to cape of good hope. I am so glad we did, amazing. We went at the perfect time, so there was practically no one there we hiked up it and sat for awhile. It was breathtaking. I loved it up there. By the time we left our car was the only one in the parking lot, and it was close to sunset. I feel like when I write about things I did, it just doesn’t do it justice to how great it really was, I mean I can only say so many times, “It was amazing!” and you think it was amazing, but it really was beyond amazing, seriously beautiful. So after that we started on our jounery home. The area around cape town is like a pensulia so you we drove one way and drove back up the other way..like making a loop. It was too bad we drove back in the night I would have loved to see the view during the day. We drove thru Chapman’s Peak and over looked Hout Bay (yee Samma!) and it was so pretty to see the lights. We made it back to the hostel a little after 7pm, it was such a great day, and since it was really one of the first days in cape town all the girls and I were pumped about our trip and we were all getting along great which was a plus, (we always get along but we were all just in a especially good mood this day). If you go to cape town tho, go to cape of good hope!
On Tuesday…I was a little melancholically, because Luis was leaving for Basic, and it would be the last time I would talk to him for awhile….sooo considering the circumstances it was a good day. The girls dragged me shopping, and very really supportive of me all day. I didn’t buy anything but los of window shopping, some of the stores were so cute! We shopped pretty much all day then headed back to the hostel to get dressed to hike Lion’s Head, which we wanted to be up there for sunset. After getting lost driving there and asking for directions and having a guy stop traffic in both directions for us to turn around we finally made it there. Im just gonna say right now that Lion’s Head was one of the best part’s of the trip..if you or anyone you know if ever going to CT, I highly recommend Lion’s Head over Table Mnt. If you only have time for one. The hike was nice and not too difficult, I was defiantly sore after but I wasn’t dying. There were two paths at one point, one that was easier but longer and one path that was climbing up chains/mnt climbing to get up haha. It was fun, we ended up meeting some of the other international guys that were staying in our hostel too. We got up to the top right before sunset. It was BEAUTIFUL, overlooked the whole city. One side overlooked the beach and camps bay. And the one side overlooked robben island, and the other over looked the whole city. It was so nice up there. It was the perfect time to go because there was barely anyone up there but us. We all took our fair share of pictures and sat and watched the sun go down. BEAUTFUL! We started down the mnt right and by the time we were half way down it was pretty dark..haha fun hiking down a mnt in the dark. Kelleigh and I walked down together and had a really good talk, which made the trip so much better.
Wednesday was..haha interesting. We all had A LOT to drink Tuesday night and only had 2 hours of sleep…we were for sure still drunk when we woke up for our early morning Robben Island trip…we ended up getting lost on the way there, even tho we had been there two days earlier..haha. anyways…being drunk in the car and trying to get somewhere b/c were 10 minutes from being late = no bueno. SO kelleigh and I got out of the car so they could find a parking spot and we run, literally run to the Robben Island place….only to find out, it is cancelled….again…! ugh! The boat broke or something… so unfortunately I didn’t get to do to Robben Island while in CT : ( so Wednesday we just satyed at the V&A waterfront and shopped…I got like 2 souvenirs. But the mall was AMAZING. Lots of stores from the states and lots more, it was huge…and seemed like it kept going and going. Kelleigh and I ate lunch and got over shopping so we walked around outside and stuff..we were there for most of the day..all hungover by the time our buzzes wore off : )
Thursday we hiked table mnt…lets just say being sore from Lions Head two days before then hiking up another huge mountain..no good. I thought I was going to die. The hike was basically just zig zag steps all the way the 2 and half hour hike. I leterally thought my legs were going to break off…haha Loretta kept me company in the back..hah. She is such a good Mama <3 but by the time we got up there I was stoked! But it was much different than I thought it would be…it was SO touristy. There was a restaurant, and a souvenir shop, and the whole cable car thing, that you can take up there…it was nice, and so beautiful, but not what I expected, once again..Lion’s Head SO much better. We walked around up there for awhile, and went in the shop, and took our pictures in between all the tourists in their flip flops and dresses. Hahah lets just say most ppl don’t hike up the mnt…but we started down and it was nice to see ppl walking up and being able to tell them a little bit more!!! Keep going, because I knew how they felt..Also some people didn’t think Table Mnt was much of a hike??? Haha There were numerous ppl wearing flip flops, and flats, and purses…I was confused how they were making it up there, but more power to them for hiking it. It took us pretty much all day..we started at like 8am and got down around 2 I think? After we drove back to long street and shopped around there..there was this huge open market area with so much stuff..pretty overwhelming.. they always try and sell you stuff and they always kno your American.. before I even open my mouth they call me an America. After we met with Nathan again to give him back a book he let us borrow and catch up with him. We were all sooo tired so after we went home and ate and showered..then went out for our last night in CT.
Friday sadly was raining!! It was our wine tasting day..so we packed our car agin.. haha I haven’t even gone into that..but our car was pretty much over flowing with stuff.. we headed to Stellenbosch the wine country of SA and it was beautiful even in the rain… made me homesick for SSU. We checked in to our hostel after getting lost..of course. .the hostel was so cool. It was like a modern house..bimmy ended up staying with her friend that went to SSU freshman year that was going to school in Stellenbosch so, the 4 of us got our own room. We ate, and got freshened up and talked to the front desk about where to go and set out to go wine tasting. Kelleigh was our DD of the day and put up with us all : ) The first place we went was really nice..it was 15R and it was small and we were the only people in the tasting room. We had 5 wines…and he taught us how to do it properly. We didn’t spit it out tho, we wanted the buzz for our money! Bim did the tasting too and she doesn’t really drink so her friend and I drank most of hers. Haha by the time we left there I was feeling my wine. The second place we went was really nice, it was classy and trendy. It was more expensive and it was a sit down place. It wasn’t as intimate as the first place. We got chocolate with the wine and each was specific to the wine. It was really nice, and this place we had a dessert wine, it was really sweet. Something I’ve never had before. I really liked this place..it had a huge fireplace and two huge adorable dogs that I was sitting on the floor petting hahah. We left there and we drove around to find another one..got lost..then found it. it closed 5 mintues before we got there! Ugh! So unfortunately we only got to go to two places. Stellenbosch is really pretty though, and very much a Afrikanner town..it was not like a typical ‘Africa’ town. It was a huge college town, it reminded me a lot of Chico. It was really interesting to be around that environment because I haven’t since in Africa, and I haven’t been around a population that is majority white…so it was interesting. Amada (Bim’s friend) took us out and it was fun…but different from what I have gotten used too. It was like going to a college party..like the exclusiveness of it, something I definitely don’t miss from SSU. I do have to say though I felt uncomfortable out there tho, and it’s weird because everyone was white, but I felt out of place. Hands down I have felt more comfortable going out at places where the environment is mainly black..you know me sociology girl, I was thinking and analyzing the whole night, why I was thinking this way. I mean usually when we go out at places that typically have a black crowd the ppl are so nice, and if were ever in the bathroom with people they always talk to us and make conversation. I have many options of why I felt like this…but this isn’t my journal so I won’t bore you all with my obsession with sociology. But I sure do wish I could talk to Prof Leeder : )
Saturday we headed to Oudtshoorn long drive but we made it there. Once again the backpackers was SO cool. It was huge! We talked to the front desk and got directions to the Ostridge farm. We watched a video and had a tour by a guy whose jokes weren’t funny…and this is about when my obsession with ostridges ended…They are huge, and scary and look funny, and creepy. Seriously they creeped me out… Then we got to sit on them and the other girls rode them…not for me! Im surprised I even sat on it..haha you see the pics on my FB you can tell Im less than thrilled. I didn’t like how the ppl that worked there handled the ostridges…seriously animal cruelty, another reason I decided not to ride them…It was cool to see them…but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see them again, or really recommend it to anyone…We didn’t do much the rest of the day..went to dinner with people from the bantry that ended up staying at the same hostel as us. Sunday we got up early…packed the car again and headed to the Cango Caves. These huge caves that are thousands and thousands of years old. We got a tour and there was only 3 other ppl there so that was nice. We went on the ‘Adventure Tour’ so basically we crawled thru openings ohhh a few feet big…anxiety much? I was fine overall but it was a little scary. And plus with the caves there is only one opening and the farther you go back the less oxygen there is making it harder to breath and the little openings getting to my head…BUT I did it and it was cool to climb thru and see the beautiful caves. Sooooo after this we started on our journey home. We made it home safely and just in time to use the car to go grocery shopping, let me tell you how not easy it is not having a car…haha but we have all gotten used to it tho.
So Cape Town was amazing and the trip was great, I had so much fun, and I cannot wait to go back!
