"Let's Go Surfing Now..."

Everyone told us that Mozambique was a lot different than South Africa but as Ponta d'Ouro, our final destination, was only 8 kilometers over the border I didn't really believe it could be that different.  Boy, was I wrong.  We arrived at the border on a tar road and crossed through into Mozam onto hills of sand reaching as far as you could see.  [Thankfully, our guide had a 4 wheel drive vehicle as you aren't even allowed in the country without one].  A short 8ks and 30 minutes later [yes, it takes that long due to all the bumps - picture an amusement park ride - understandably, I loved every second], we arrived at Kaya, Kirsten and my home for the next week.  Despite our "rough" accommodations, we were actually staying at the nicest place in town which had hot, running water - a luxury.  The town itself looks exactly as I would expect Africa to look - small huts, sand roads, wild dogs, but with an absolutely beautiful beach.  We walked everywhere barefoot and Kirsten laughed often at my obsessive compulsive need to brush the sand from the bottom of my feet every time I got into bed.

We quickly made friends with many of the locals, becoming known as the "two blonde Americans", and went with them to a chicken dinner in the "shackland" one night.  [Notice the little huts above, they actually go really really deep and each is a different shop, restaurant, bar, etc.]  We were in for a treat.  A group of about 15 of us sat around a large picnic table while two women prepared our meal - very very fresh chicken (killed just before they cooked it), pap (sort of a mix between rice and grits), chips (french fries), and tomatoes with onions.  We were laughed at for trying to use utensils and quickly switched to our hands.  Definitely not the dinner we're used to in Cape Town but thoroughly enjoyable (both for us, and the locals laughing at us).

[Our view of the kitchen from our table - note the chicken cooking right on that pot.]

Despite a bit chilly weather, we spent the majority of our days in the water, learning to surf, or buried in our books.  Surfing is HARD.  I think we both expected some sort of technical teaching (i.e. stand up on the board when the wave reaches X angle) but instead, we got a much more laid back approach - "just stand up when you feel the power".. awesome.  Regardless, we both managed to stand up on day 1 and by the end of the week, we were paddling onto our own baby waves and standing up like pros (kinda - at least we looked the part).

[At least I'm still laughing, right?]

[End of the week, Kirsten's up!]

[Pretty sure my arms aren't supposed to go that way but hey, I'm standing!]

We also made friends with (and named) many of the wild dogs - the poor guys are so hungry they always followed us home from the beach, hoping to get fed.

["Bert" and "Lucy" behind him, snuggling up next to us as we laid on the beach.]

All in all, we had a great trip and it is definitely an experience we'll both remember.  We're back in Cape Town now and only have three more days here before we head back to the States.  I can't believe how quickly the summer went - already looking forward to planning my return trip to Africa.

Air Jaws.

Finally, after months of anticipation, the day of our shark dive was upon us.  Kirsten, Holly, and I left at 6AM on Sunday morning to drive down to False Bay in Simonstown (about 45 minutes from Cape Town) to start our great white shark adventure.  We boarded the small boat with 9 other people, thoughts filling our heads of whether or not the boat was actually sturdy enough to withstand the weight of a great white.  [We were assured it would, although, after seeing these massive animals, I have my doubts.]

Luckily, the weather remained beautiful, consistent with the past two weeks, and the sunrise over the water was gorgeous.  We drove around a huggeee school of dolphins (over 100) all jumping out of the water eating sardines - sadly, the lighting wasn't great and none of my attempts at pictures came out but, you get the idea.

False Bay is the only location on the globe where you can see sharks breaching, a hunting technique used while preying on seals in which a shark jumps completely out of the water.  June, July, and August are the prime viewing time as baby seals are finally old enough to join the older seals to hunt for food rather than relying on their mothers.  Unfortunately, these babies tend to have trouble keeping up with the pack which make them perfect targets for the great whites.  While breaching, sharks swim on the bottom of the bay and then shoot up, at speeds reaching 40mph, to grab a seal, launching themselves up to 10ft in the air!  

Our expectations of actually seeing this natural predation occur were not high, understandably, but we were blown away.  We saw four "natural" predations - the shark only managed to catch seals two of those times (think lots of blood and seal guts) but the launch out of the water was quite impressive.  Next, the operators tied a black wetsuit to a rope and pulled it along behind our boat as a decoy.  Twice a shark tried to attack the decoy - shooting up SO close to our boat.  It was incredible. 

 
[I, sadly, did not take these pictures - the boat operator, African Shark Eco Tours, did - my poor little camera was always just a little too late so I ended up with many pictures of huge splashes.]

Finally, it was time for the cage which was connected to the side of the boat.  Kirsten and I pulled on wetsuits, complete with booties and hats, tied weight belts around our stomachs to hold us down, and jumped in.  The cage had a bar on the bottom to stand on and one inside to grip; air was provided through a scuba tank to allow divers to stay under water for optimal viewing.  [The water was freezing and actually took my breath away when I first jumped in but we both got used to it quickly.]  The operators threw out two decoys - one wetsuit type fish and a big dead half of a fish with blood to attract sharks.  The water was actually pretty murky so we seemed to be staring out at nothing and then all of a sudden a HUGE shark was right in front of our face.  I really can't put this experience into words and pictures don't seem to do it justice but we both grabbed each others hand, held on tightly to the cage, and screamed into our scuba mouthpieces (or in my case, laughed hysterically).  We were only in the water for 10 minutes or so (we figured that was plenttttyy of time), but at one point, the decoy was right in front of the cage and the shark lunged, open mouthed, at the decoy... needless to say, we got a very up close and personal view of the inside of that great white's mouth.  My heart starts beating faster just thinking about it.

[The cage, before it was lowered into the water and moved to the side of the boat.]

[Kirsten and I are in the cage, the yellow ball is attached to the decoy, and, obviously, the shark is super close.  We didn't take a camera in the water with us and initially regretted it, but in hindsight, I'm not sure how well the pictures would have turned out due to the murkiness of the water plus we likely would have been too terrified to even consider taking pictures.]

The experience is definitely at the top of my "coolest things to do in life" list and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves a good adrenaline rush.

Tricked.. again.

We have had absolutely fantastic weather the past few days (75 and sunny) which is the perfect weather for all the outdoor activities in Cape Town and we are definitely taking advantage of it (all keep commenting on how lucky we are to have this weather in CT's winter).

Thursday evening we decided to hit the town.  We met some friends from the UK, Australia, Belgium, and Germany on our vacation last week and made plans to head out with them (as it was their only night in Cape Town before flying home) as well as a group of students from the US we had met previously.  After drinks at our apartment, we hit Long Street for an night filled with dancing and drinks.  Needless to say, work was pretty unproductive on Friday.

 
Friday evening we went to yet another fantastic restaurant, La Colombe, in Cape Town - although this one topped all of our lists.  It was located on a winery a bit north of Cape Town and we paid about $50 a head for a 6 course meal.  Of course, dessert was my favorite part - tiered chocolate and peanut butter torte, dark chocolate sorbet, with dried apricots and cranberries on top - yum.

After a quick trip to the gym on Saturday morning (to work off that meal), we headed back to the Biscuit Mill - our favorite Saturday morning market - for ostrich breakfast burgers, eggs benedict, pastries, champagne, and beers.  Then took advantage of the beautiful weather and spent the rest of the day lounging at the beach - nice and lazy Saturday - before dropping Arden at the airport for her trip back to the states.

Sunday.. we were in for quite the treat.  Janine, Drew and Holly's boss, told us she would take us "walking".  Based on our previous experience at Lions Head, we should have been skeptical when she said walking but, like true Americans, expected a leisurely walk.  4.25 HOURS and 9 miles later, we finished our "walk"... tricked again.  Although, as usual, the views were fantastic and the weather remained perfect. 

[As an aside, I met a girl at our gym who plays on a soccer team here and asked if I wanted to play.  Unfortunately, I agreed to a two-hour practice/scrimmage on Sunday which I went to after our hike.  Monday, my muscles were so sore, I had trouble walking.]

Kirsten, Mimi, and I also recently found out that our project is due about 10 days before we are supposed to leave Cape Town (July 22nd) so we're working on planning some sort of trip for our remaining time here.  If anyone has any suggestions of cool/cheap places to visit in Africa, send 'em our way!

Lions and Elephants and Bungee, Oh My!

I honestly don't even know where to begin - our last week has been so incredible that it's hard to imagine putting it all into words (hence my procrastination) but, hopefully some pictures will do it justice. 

We left last Wednesday morning for our vacation.  It seemed a bit frivolous to take a vacation when we're already in such a gorgeous place (kind of on vacation), but I was definitely not complaining.  Our first stop was the Garden Route Game Lodge (about 4 hours from Cape Town).  The drive along the garden route is absolutely gorgeous - lush green meadows, bright blue skies, huge mountains, and fields of flowers - I felt like we were on a movie set most of the time.  We stayed in very cool little, one room, one bathroom "villas" which are pictured below.  [I must admit, I quite enjoyed having one of these to myself after being constantly surrounded by people for the last 5 weeks.]

 
Our first drive out was Wednesday afternoon.  Rule #1:  NEVER get out of the vehicle.  Turns out this rule can be broken when your vehicle gets stuck in mud.  Just as we entered the area where we are supposed to see cheetahs, we got stuck in the mud.  After many attempts by Tracy, our trusty SA guide, we all waited on the road, outside the vehicle, at dusk, in the rain, to be rescued.  Pretty entertaining start to the trip.  Luckily, the next 3 drives (each sunrise and sunset) were fantastic and we saw all kinds of animals - giraffes, cheetahs, lions, elephants, rhinos, impala, eland, springbok... even a mouse!  My favorite was Oliver, a baby rhino.

After 2 days at the game lodge, we drove 2.5 hours north, past Knysa, to bungee off the world's highest bungee bridge - 216 meters.  [Most of you know that I bungeed off the world's highest bungee building this past spring in Macau - 233 meters - but this experience was actually quite different because you hang upside down for a really long time while you're being pulled back up.  In Macau, you get off at the bottom so the whole thing is much quicker.]  Regardless, it was an awesome experience.

[Above, the view looking down from the jump platform.]

We spent the next night at the Tsala Treetop Lodge - which was, by far, the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in.  Kirsten, Arden, and I shared a treetop villa - situated among the trees and connected to other villas by elevated bridges.  Each villa has a main living room, kitchen, two bedrooms, two bathrooms - AND it's own infinity pool that looks out over the forest.  There were outdoor showers connected to each indoor shower so you could stand outside and look over the mountains/forest while you showered.  After a pretty incredible dinner, we came back to a fire in our fireplace, beds turned down, chocolates on the pillows, and hot water bottle heaters in our beds!  I could go on and on about this place, but you get the idea - we didn't want to leave... ever.

Our next (and final) stop was about 30 minutes north in Plattenberg Bay - another gorgeous beach town.  We stayed in a cute little bed and breakfast and spent the afternoon wandering along the beach and the evening in a local bar watching the rugby playoffs (Cape Town Stormers sadly lost).

We made our way back to Cape Town on Sunday but luckily, our vacation wasn't quite over.  We spent the 4th of July at a party at the Consulate General's house in Cape Town where we noshed on burgers, hot dogs, corn on the cob, pasta and potato salad, and apple pie - truly American.  There were over 50 Americans that attended and they actually brought in a group of children from the townships to join us.  We had a great time teaching them our dance moves and learning theirs...

All in all, pretty fantastic week.

Lovin' Life.

We've done a pretty good job of cramming absolutely everything we can into our weekends and this weekend did not disappoint. 

Saturday, we picked up Cindy, Mimi's good friend from the ND program, at the airport and made our way to the Old Biscuit Mill (same swanky/upscale market we'd previously visited) - ate a little, drank a little champagne, shopped a little -- definitely not roughing it here. :)

Afterward, we drove down to Cape of Good Hope, the most southwestern tip of Africa, and spent the afternoon hiking along the water through the mountains.  It was gorgeous. 

We saw a few eland (antelope-esque animals) and baboons (!!).  Baboons are really mean animals and there are signs everywhere to prevent people from feeding them.  They actually tell you not to bring any food with you to the Cape because if you do, and they are around when you open your doors, they'll jump in the car to find the food.  Despite these warnings, a couple threw a banana at one of the baboons and he happily at the whole thing, peel and all.

[Drew later bought a shot glass from the store that he had in a bag and when the baboon saw his bag, he jumped up ON Drew to make sure it wasn't food - thankfully, he quickly realized it wasn't and backed down.  I wish I had gotten a picture of that!]

After a leisurely meal at Lemoncello, a small restaurant close to our apartments, we called it an early night.

Sunday morning we picked up Arden, Kirsten's friend who is vising from LA, and discovered a new brunch place which was pretty fantastic.  We had been told that Lion's Head was a nice, easy hike (pretty sure it was described to us as a 'leisurely stroll') so figured it was a perfect afternoon activity for the crew as Arden had just flown for 30+ hours.  We quickly realized, our definition of leisurely and South Africa's definition are two very different things.  [I am slowly understanding where Americans get the "lazy" stereotype.]  Steep, rock climbing, ladders, chains to help pull yourself up... you get the idea.  Views from the top, as expected, were fantastic and as you probably expect, it was my favorite climb thus far.

First World vs. Third World

We decided to take some time off of work on Wednesday to accompany Drew and Holly to one of their township meetings - for Orphaned and Vulnerable Children.  [The previous president of South Africa, Mbeki, in the late 1990s denied that HIV/AIDS was caused by a viral infection that could be fought with medicine.  He believed, rather, that it was caused by poverty, poor nourishment, and general ill-health - the solution was not expensive western medicine, but the alleviation of poverty in Africa.  He rejected all free medicine and grants to help prevent the disease.  As a result, it is said that more than 330,000 people died unnecessarily in South Africa while he was in office and many children lost their parents to the virus - now known as the "lost generation".  Ikamva - the organization Drew and Holly work for - aim to help these children and the senior citizens that now must raise them.]
 
The meeting took place in Khayelitsha, a township we hadn't yet visited, the fastest growing in all of South Africa.  It currently houses over 400,000 people, so as you can imagine, it is extremely crowded, and very few have access to running water.  Most homes are shacks with flat metal roofs and mangy dogs run rampant amid the laundry hung out to dry.  [I feel uncomfortable taking pictures of the surroundings but the picture below pretty much captures what we drove through - although it was pulled off Google.]

We arrived at the meeting a bit early and after our drive in, I was not expecting the people who greeted us - a room filled with over 100 people (mostly women) and everyone was standing up, singing, dancing, and so joyful.  It was really uplifting to see such happy faces despite the world they live in every day.  The meeting was two hours long and conducted in xhosa, so we understood none of it.  We left after about an hour but not before they brought all of us to the front of the room for an introduction.  Everyone stood up again, and started singing in xhosa and dancing.  We clapped along as best we could until a women got up and started yelling "shake your boooddyy" - we tried.  I'm sure everyone got a good laugh out of us up there awkwardly dancing and clapping off beat but it was entertaining nonetheless.

[I expected poverty.  And shacks.  And cute little children without parents.  But what I definitely was not prepared for was the HUGE discrepancy between the rich and the poor.  Cape Town is definitely a first world country with gorgeous houses, fantastic restaurants, shopping, and scenery but just a ten minute drive out of town sits Khayelitsha, by definition third world.  Many of those working in Cape Town live in one of the townships - including many of our colleagues - and it's hard to imagine, leaving your home without running water and traveling to a warm, well-equipped office building for the majority of the week.  I don't think I'd want to leave work.]

After the meeting we drove into Gugulethu to visit a 'deli' we'd heard about called Mzolis.  We parked onto the street, walked into the small shop and were greeted by a big glass case filled with all sorts of meats.  We pointed to those we wanted to try, paid, and then brought our big meat-filled bowl back to the fire to cook.  Two men manned the fire and cooked our meat for us, adding some sort of great bbq sauce, and then provided one knife, two forks, and one napkin for the five of us to share.  As you can imagine, most of the meat was eaten with our hands and we were quite messy by the end of the meal but the meat was delicious.

Kirsten, Mimi, and I ended the day with a trip to the spa - a 30 minute hot stone massage, manicure, and pedicure for only $22!  Back to the first world again.  I think we should take Wednesdays off every week.

Settling In

Thursday was Youth Day in South Africa and we had the day off of work.  Sadly, I knew very little about South African history before living here but am slowly picking up bits and pieces.  Youth Day commemorates the beginning of the Soweto riots of 1976 - a series of student-led protests in response to the government edict that Afrikaans be used as a method of instruction in schools (split 50/50 with English).  As Afrikaans was strongly associated with apartheid, most black South Africans preferred English, and as such, the edict sparked riots.  It is said that over 20,000 students participated and 176 were killed.

Ironically, we did not do anything 'youth' related on Youth Day.  Rather, Kirsten, Mimi and I spent part of the day wandering around Hout Bay, a costal suburb in Cape Town.  Unfortunately, it was kind of rainy and gross but we snapped a few pics before the real rain started.

We spent the early afternoon in the Cape Town aquarium which was pretty much like any other aquarium I've ever seen although the sharks did get us excited/terrified for shark diving.  (We did learn, however, that sharks only killed 4 people last year and defective toasters killed 476 - or something along those lines - so hopefully that puts Mom at ease.)

We had an appointment at 3:30 for high tea at the Mount Nelson hotel - described as "one of the best high tea experiences in the world".  I haven't had many "high tea experiences" but this one certainly topped my list.  We were shown to a corner of the room with couches that sank as soon as you sat in them while the piano man played song after song.  The menu was filled with all sorts of teas and you could try as many as you wanted - vanilla was my favorite but we tried at least 6.  That wasn't the best part, though.  There was a large table in the middle of the room that was filled with little sandwiches, quiches, cakes, cookies, brownies, etc - exactly what I'd expect out of a tea party.  We spent two hours eating and drinking tea and believe we could have easily stayed another two (perhaps with a nap as well) - unfortunately, the tea room closes at 5:30 but it was the perfect activity for a rainy afternoon.

Friday we went for another run along the promenade, made dinner as a group, and then ventured down to a bar close to our apartments and ended up singing "American Pie" with the rest of the bar while a guy played guitar for us on stage.

Saturday morning started very early.  We made it to the base of Table Mountain at 8AM and Daniel (one of our buddies from work), Kirsten, and I spent the morning hiking the mountain.  We chose the most direct route as it was the quickest way up and had the best views.  However, most direct also means steepest - we spent the entire 1.5 hours walking up rock steps that are carved into the side of the mountain (think stairmaster for 1.5 hours on a hard level).  Luckily, the weather was absolutely perfect and the views were fantastic.  Totally worth it.

 
[I had read before our hike that during apartheid, Table Mountain was deemed a "whites only" area and as such, many still view the mountain as solely for whites or tourists.  I didn't really believe that could still be the case but during our trip up the mountain, it was definitely true.  Pretty eye opening to realize that the first democratic elections in South Africa - with people of all races being able to vote - was only in 1994.  I was already nine years old.]

Spent the afternoon over a leisurely lunch with Daniel and our boss, Martin (it was Daniel's birthday) and the evening watching a movie we rented from the video store in the mall.

Sunday, however, was not our best day.  It started off quite well - slept in late and had a late brunch in a cute little area in CT.  We had heard (and read) about this great market on Sunday by the stadium so spent a good chunk of time driving around looking for it - only to finally hear it had been shut down.  Afterwards, we made our way to the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens (very Longwood Gardens-esque) which was beautiful.  We planned to spend a few hours wandering around the grounds before dining in the restaurant on the property where there was a live concert scheduled.  However, it started to pour within 45 minutes of our arrival and after speaking to a few of the employees, learned that the concert had been cancelled and the restaurant would not be opening (we can only assume due to the weather).  As such, we headed back to our apartments, made dinner, and went to bed early.