Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Today the plan was to get up early and do several things. I do wake up early: 5:30a. Of course, I realize it’s a bit too early so I decide to lie down for about ½ hour and then start getting ready before waking everyone else up.

At 7:45 I get a knock on my door. It’s Liza saying I should get up. Oh no! After we all get ready we head to Cape Point. Cape Point is supposedly where the Indian and Atlantic oceans meet. It’s not. That’s at another cape. Instead, this is the bottom-most part of South Africa.

While the plan is to go horseback riding on the beach, when we call they say they aren’t doing it because it’s too windy. So we forego that and head directly to Cape Point. Cape Point is located in the middle of a national park. We purchase a pass and drive in. We realize it’s also a huge tourist destination.

Since we didn’t eat breakfast, we stop to have something to eat at the restaurant there. We’re seated on a deck overlooking a beautiful view. We order light meals and drinks. There are birds everywhere. I order the salmon wrap with fries. Everyone else has fries also except for Roger.

At one point Gareth decides to feed a bird a French fry. It is the female of a couple. The male is sitting on the back of a chair behind Gareth when he does this. I look over at the female taking the fry and all of sudden there are wings flapping everywhere! The male bird swooped in and took a fry (just one) off my plate. I guess he isn’t greedy, at least. We’re all a bit shocked and when we look over at Liza’s plate half of it is covered in gobs of ketchup. She was in the middle of pouring out some ketchup when the bird snatched the fry. Since the ketchup isn’t as thick as we’re used to and she jumped, a large amount of ketchup ended up on her plate. Thankfully the rest of brunch isn’t as eventful.

From there we start the climb up the hill to the lighthouse at the top of Cape Point. We get some amazing pictures along the way. Twelve steps up the hill Gareth is already saying his calves are burning. It’s going to be a long hike!

We get to the top and it’s a pretty amazing view. The whole way up it was hot, then cold, then hot, then cold again. After taking some pictures up top, Liza, Roger and I decide to go out to another area. Gareth says he’s going to the car and will meet us there. Again, we get some great pictures. Liza’s hair flapping in the wind is one of the highlights. We didn’t take a picture of her flashing her thong inadvertently. Good thing.

We make it back down and take off with Gareth driving. Midway through the park we see some rare baboons. Cool! From there we head to Simon’s Town.

Simon’s Town is where African penguins hang out on the beach. There are several types of penguin, but the African penguin is the only one that doesn’t live in the Antarctic. It only lives in Africa. They’re pretty small, but very cute. We get more great pictures and, from a distance, see some traditional African dancing. We don’t stop because they make you pay, even if they’re street performers.

Okay, so I have to tell you what it’s like here. Because of huge unemployment in certain sectors of society here, there are a tons of made up jobs, overstaffed places and aggressive people asking for tips for every little thing. There are people known as parking guards. They tell you where to park and then supposedly watch your car so no one vandalizes it. They want money afterward. We went to frozen yogurt shop that was tiny. It had like six employees, most just sitting around. It’s very interesting.

From Simon’s Town we go to Kulk Bay and have lunch at a place called Polana. It is a tapas restaurant. I have a really nice plate of prawns and rice. I’m really tired at this point since I didn’t really sleep the night before, so after lunch we drive back home. I manage to stay awake. Liza doesn’t and we get some great lumberjack music on the way home.

Gareth is going to have dinner with family here so the three of us are left on our own. I drop him off after having a wine tasting paired with dark, milk and white chocolate. Yum. I might meet up with another friend tonight, but I’m not sure. Liza and Roger are blogging and laughing heartily—so much so that Liza is now going to do her laundry.

Tomorrow we’re going on a township tour. I’m very excited, although it will be an all-day event and during our outings now, if it’s more than 6 hours I’m dead. We still have to get up Table Mountain and possibly go out to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. Tomorrow we’re also going to dinner at Wakame, the restaurant Bons’ manages. Gareth leaves on Friday so we have the weekend to fend for ourselves. It’s 8p now and I’m signing off for the day.