Cape Town, South Africa!

Day 1: The on-going day

            South Africa at last! A land filled with adventure and beautiful people! & when I say beautiful I mean B-E-A-UTIFUL! I got off the ship with Brittany, the roomie Mel and Byron a kid from down the hall. We had no plans and started headed towards the waterfront. Soon enough our stomachs grew hungry and my blisters turned bloody. This called for a brunch break and finding me sandals! I honestly don't know why I can where Converse all day long at home and the second my feet touch down on foreign dirt my feet blister up like no other! Anyways, we headed deeper into town where we sat and enjoyed a tiny café near some shops where I grabbed some flip flops and gawked at the south African world. After lunch Mel and Byron split back to the boat to go to a field trip they had for some class. Brit and I wandered through some artist markets until we hoped into a mini bus to head towards the famous Table Mountain! The long twisted road up the hill ended and it was time to hope in a cable car to get to the very top! It's absolutely gorgeous! Seriously such a stunning view of Cape Town! After a few hours of chatting and hiking around the top we started thinking we should get back to the boat and get ready for Lana's birthday dinner… and that's when a spot a few people in harnesses! I was curious so I wandered over and ask what their doing, ABSEILNG! There was absolutely no way I could pass this up.. But unfortunately I was in sandals. Rats! Well, I guess this means ill have to repel down the mountain barefoot! They didn't have a problem with it but warned that id have to hike about 25 minutes back up the mountain. There was no way I could pass up this experience, so I geared up and got ready to scale the mountain! While I was waiting I found out that Abseil Africa is the highest commercial abseil in the entire world, equaling to 112 meters! The nerves really hit me when I had to lower myself over the side, I wished It could be a fast 123! Like skydiving but abseiling is a slow process to start especially when your half way dangling over the side and have a moment to realize exactly what you've just signed up for! But once I got the hang of it was the BEST feeling! The views were so much more rewarding when my body was pumping with adrenaline!

We barely got back to the boat in time to change and meet Lana for her birthday dinner! After dinner we headed towards Long street where some night life was. Eventually, the bar we were at got invested with SASers so Melissa and I decided we'd wander. Eventually we found a roof top lounge and hung out there with a few locals we met! This was our first time actually hanging out in port, I already knew I loved her but it makes it even better that we work well in country too!  To be on the same page on the boat is off honestly seems rare. I feel very blessed that I was paired with a roomie that's so compatible with me!

Day 2: Yep, still awake..

The clock kept turning and eventually it was 2 A.M and Mel reminded me that I have shark cage diving at 430 and that we should head home. But as we were walking out and I saw Daniel, who was also going on my excursion and we decided that at this point we might as well stay up! After getting back to the ship at 345 to change into a bathing suit and sweats we realized our group is actually leaving at 4! Good thing we had a nice two hour drive to sleep on our way to a town know for great white sharks called Gansbaai! ! The sharks were huge; there was one that was a whapping 13 feet long! After a long day of swimming with the sharks I went to a professional Rugby game! The South African Stormers were playing against the New Zealand Hurricanes! It was the opening game of the season, so the stadium was packed with tons of rowdy fans! It was a close game but the Stormers took the win! After the game a few of us befriended an Argentinean Rugby team and they invited us onto their tour bus! Those Argentinean get loco, im talking like dance offs on the tour bus loco!!

         Eventually their bus dropped us off in the waterfront where we were docked so went and got ready to go out with Gregg. Gregg was our guide from shark diving that said he would take us out to where locals go in camps bay! Camps bay is gorgeous and where we ended up spending most of our time from then on out. After blowing up a few dance floors we headed to the hotel to catch some sleep before I depart for my 3-day safari in Kruger!

Day 3: Ooops!

         Ring, ring, ring… Mam its 5:50 your flights in 30 minutes and the taxi is here…. SHIT! I grabbed my backpack and sprinted towards the stairs hoped in the taxi and crossed my fingers id make it on time. I have no clue what state of mind I was in to think I could actually make my flight in 30 minutes. Well, I arrived at the airport at 6:22. Unfortunately, 3 minutes is just not enough time to board a flight! I ran around the airport for the next hour like crazy women trying to figure out any and every way to get to the other side of the country. I found a few options but they resulted in me driving seven hours through Johannesburg to get to the game lodge. And it just didn't seem to be worth it, when Cape Town still had so much to offer! So I shrugged it off, went with the flow and got in another taxi and headed back to the ship in hopes of finding someone that hadn't left for a safari to hang out with. I get to my room and decide I should try to catch a few more hours of sleep. Just as I turn off my light Haley calls and tells me to get dressed for the day since she had a feeling I wouldn't make my flight. We ended up hiring a cab to take us down the coast to capes point, boulder beach and the surfer beach! Boulders beach was filled with Penguins while the surfer beach had washed up jellyfish all over shore! 

         Haley and I spent another evening watching the sunset over camps bay! Eating at the beachfront cafes enjoying our amazing lives. Eventually we meet up with Gregg and Michael (shark tour friends) and went to see Greggs house that is at the top of one of the hills that has a gorgeous view of the city blending together with the sandy beaches!

Day 4: Cheetah's & Cricket, Oh My!

         I had absolutely nothing planned for day four so a friend Daniel and I decided to go to Speir where we went to a cheetah outreach reserve. Where we learned about how cheetahs are going extinct and what this organization does to stop extinction. One of the main reasons Cheetahs are going extinct is because farmers are killing them to protect their herds. The organization gives farmers a trained shepherd guard dog and provides veterinary support, husbandry and monitoring for working dogs. The dogs are trained to protect the herds of animals and fight off prey. Cheetahs are known for fleeing before coming in contact with animals that could possibly hurt them. We were lucky enough to get to pet 8-month-old cheetahs! I had no idea what to expect, they were so lazy and cozy, and when you stroked their back you could feel the vibrations of their purrs! After playing with the cheetahs we went to a winery that's right next door to the reserve and had a tasting! This part of South Africa is famous for the wine, and for a good reason!

         On our drive back towards the boat we begged our cabbie to make a detour. Eventually he gave in and took us towards the townships. He had been hesitant because townships are a very dangerous part of South Africa, even for locals. The thing most people don't realize about South Africa is that is a very diverse country, filled with very wealthy people and very poor people. Kyalicha Is a township that has over 1.5 million living in shacks made of tin sheets. Our driver explained that it was even too dangerous in the area we were in for him to get out, let alone us. The townships are split into two sections; black and colored. From what I observed, a lot of the white south Africans seem to ignore the poverty going on around them, just like a majority of Americans.

         After driving threw Kyalicha, we went into a cute colorful town to walk around. This is when we accidently stumbled upon a gang of locals playing a street game of Cricket! We spent the next hour striking out and bonding with some new friends! This night Haley and I kept it mellow and got some shwarma's in the waterfront for dinner and hung out with one of the lifelong learners, Holly that ive really grown to like. I think of Holly as a big sister, she's got stories for days and will listen to our craziness grinning and laughing but will also keep us in line and out of trouble (or at least she tries)! I seriously forget that she isn't a student!

Day 5:

         By this point in the week I had been going going going nonstop and needed a day to actually catch up on some sleep and spend sometime by myself. After finally getting enough hours of sleep for a night, I headed out around the waterfront to explore some more! I attempted to go shopping but my ATM card had been blocked the day before, making it impossible to get any cash! I was left with only 40 rand cash... for the next two days. Luckily I was able to buy myself food with my credit card and just saved my rand for things like cabs that don't accept cards! This day wasn't that eventful just a lot of wondering and alone time to reflect on everything.

         And as you can predict I ended up in Camps bay to watch another lovely sunset! I ran into Haley and some other friends on my way back to the ship just as they were getting back from their tour and hopped into a cab with them! It was perfect timing, the sun was just setting and clouds were sinking over Table Mountain! With beautiful views all around us we headed back to our favorite bar, Caprice where we befriended some guys celebrating a bachelors last night of freedom! They invited us to join them for some dinner so we hopped into their limos and off we went! With no clue where we were headed but just trusting the good vibes and our sense of, well I would call it adventure but some might call its stupidity! We ended up at a place called Van Hunks on Kloof street about twenty minutes from where we were. Where we indulged in delicious food and good conversation! The bachelors ranged from all ages and seemed to be mostly from South Africa with some exceptions! As the night went on we eventually decided we needed to head back to somewhere more familiar and meet up with Gregg like we were apparently suppose to! By the time we got back to camps bay, the Sasholes had finally found out about our secret hole in the wall and invaded. After about forty minutes of mingling we decided to turn in early and head back towards the ship where we indulged in a some ice cream on the waterfront!

Day 5: A little bit of hard work!

         Although my week was filled with much adventure and excitement, the most rewarding experience I had in South Africa was volunteering to build houses for Habitat for Humanity. The organization and the government are working together to give under privileged people better living conditions by having volunteers help build them new houses from the ground up. I woke up on my last day in cape town with no plans but an idea that I wanted to try to get a ticket to join the Habitat of humanity service trip and headed to breakfast where I sat with table of life long learners for breakfast, I must really have good luck because John, one of the life long learners that I just introduced myself to had an extra ticket for the service trip! Unfortunately his wife had gotten sick and couldn't attend leaving him the extra one! So spent my last day in Cape Town shoveling sand to lay the foundations for a few houses. We would walk through the townships until we came across an empty lot that basically looked like a sand box with huge heaps of sand that needed to be shoveled and evenly distributed. Despite the fact that I am blistered and sunburn from the hot African sun, building those houses really made me feel like I was doing something selfless, and for the greater good. The 6 houses I worked on should be ready in the next week or two for their new lucky owners to move into! It's amazing how that one-day of hard work is going to change someone's life forever!