Cape Town

We left on Thursday night at midnight. The 7 of us hopped in Marshall’s van and we drove all thru the night to Cape Town, about a 9 hour drive. We slept the entire way and arrived as the sun was rising behind the mountains and over the ocean. I am thoroughly convinced that Cape Town is the most beautiful city on earth; between the towering mountains surrounding the ocean and vineyards, everything seems so big and never ending it’s hard to even believe. Unlike coasts in the U.S. where the coast line is polluted by buildings, sky scrapers, and land pollution there isn’t much of that at all, which makes everything look so much brighter and so much more natural. We dropped our things off at the Saasveld Lodge and then rushed off to our tour of Robben Island. We barely made the farry but as they literally held the ferry for the 7 of us to jump on at the last minute, we made it. The tour guide was an ex-political prisoner who showed us the prison and told us about life during the Apartheid and what it was like to live on Robben Island during such a dramatic time and what it meant to be a political prisoner during the Apartheid. We went all around the island and learned about the Dutch colonizers using it for prisoners and how it was used as a leper island for those with leprosy and other serious illnesses. Then it was converted into a prison for black and colored male political prisoners who were serving 5 year to life sentences. All the prison guards were white, so all the prisoners faced torture and cruelty. The prisoners spent a lot of their time educating one another and helping those who were illiterate learn to read and write. Other leaders like Nelson Mandela spent time talking about their dreams for hope and change within the country with one another. Robben Island is said to be the birth place of the ideas and foundations for the current democracy and where Nelson Mandela gave birth to so many of the changes in the Post-Apartheid government. It was a beautiful island but you could almost feel the pain and struggle that had been a part of that island for so many years. From Robben Island we went straight to Table Mountain, the highest point in South Africa. It’s this huge mountain that towers over the city and wraps around Cape Town like big arms encompassing all buildings and land. We rode the cable car up to the mountain and walked around looking at the most spectacular view! My hands were sweating the whole time thinking that there wasn't much to catch me if I was to fall straight down the cliff. That night we went out on Long Street, the main street that was right off our hotel. We ate at a well recommended restaurant, Mama Africa and I had the most wonderful Ostrige dinner! After, we went to a pub and night club with some local people that we met, it was such a fun night in Cape Town. We woke up early on Saturday and Marshall took us on a drive all around Cape Town and we drove all along the country side on a scenic tour to Cape Point. The Cape of Good Hope is the point at which the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet. The Cape is known as a menacing point for sailors because of the strong winds and quickly changing weather. We climbed forever till we reached the lighthouse at the top of the point. I took out my camera and asked Tasha to take a picture of me in front of a sign, as she was taking the picture one of the many wild baboons jumped up and grabbed the camera out of her hand and threw it to the ground. Thank goodness the camera's just a little scratched up and not Tasha. We hurried along and drove to Boulder Beach to see the wild penguins! All along our drive we drove thru small Dutch and English villages are scattered through the countryside. Along the road, people have their treasures out for sale so we stopped a few times to barter for souvenirs. That night we ate sushi and walked around Long Street. One of the many things I love about the places we’ve been is that in being coastal towns, I’ve had great seafood and sushi almost every meal. We were so excited to go bungee jumping on the drive back to PE, but as Marshall picked us up the next morning and we began driving we soon realized that bungee jumping would not be an option. Marshall had eaten a porcupine the night before and was not feeling well…at all…the entire way back. As I had a difficult time trying to figure out how to drive the car on the opposite side of the road, Boone from Washington State could also drive stick and drove 11 hours back to Port Elizabeth (it took so much longer due to the fact that we stopped every 10 minutes on the side of the road for Marshall). We arrived Sunday evening and had a delicious meal and stretched our legs after the excruciating car ride. Even though we were disappointed about having to re-schedule bungee jumping for the next week, we had an excellent time in Cape Town!