CAPE TOWN ADVENTURES

Cape Town did not disappoint. Every good adjective I could think of would not be enough to describe how amazing my time in Cape Town was. It not only is a wonderful place to visit but it is the type of place that I hope to live someday. The culture, the people, the history, and the tradition of the city and country of South Africa made it all the more memorable.
We arrived to Cape Town and were very lucky to be docked right on the V&A Waterfront. This basically meant we had direct access to one of the most popular areas of Cape Town. There are hundreds of restaurants, shops, and hotels that all surround the Waterfront. Not to mention there was even live music that was always being played on the streets. The MV sat proud all week long right at the end of the Waterfront.
The first day we arrived, Amber had a FDP so I ventured off with some friends. The first mission was to find the House of Parliament in hopes of seeing the new president sworn in. However the president was sworn in the day before but we were still able to see the building from the outside. Our cab driver gave us a brief breakdown of the city and told us where to go to eat and where to stay. We took her advice for lunch and headed to the wonderful Long Street. It was one of the main streets in the city and was a center for both daytime and late night. We sat down and had a wonderful lunch. We ate on the sidewalk of the street which was the perfect opportunity to get a feel of the people of Cape Town. After, we decided to do our best to find a place to sleep for the night. It felt like a good idea instead of having to take a late night cab back to the boat. After reading in my Lonely Planet travel guide, we found the perfect hotel. The description was that it was an art gallery hotel meaning each room was designed by different local artists. The name of it was Daddy Long Legs. We ran up to the hotel and it was gorgeous but it was nice and small so it had that hostel type feel but it felt safe. We got to look through a book and pick which room we wanted, all the rooms were amazing but we ended up picking a room that was designed by a music group called Freshly Ground. The hotel was great though; it had an outside balcony, free high speed Internet, and the cutest courtyard in the middle of the hotel that was full of bird cages and such. After booking our room we had some time to kill before we could check in so my friend Sarah and I went shopping and exploring along Long Street. We even found a cupcake shop in South Africa. We went to a music store and got a CD by the group that designed our room Freshly Ground. After we checked back into our room. It was amazing! There was a CD player with all the CDs by Freshly Ground and the shower door had their lyrics written on it. The whole hotel was such a great concept. They had a small art gallery where you could buy art by local artists and proceeds were donated to local organizations so my friends and I decided to get our artwork for Cape Town from there. After a quick break at Daddy Long Legs we headed back to the boat to meet with a larger group and pack up for our night at Daddy Long Legs. That night we talked to our concierge and he got us a last minute reservation at a local restaurant called Café Royale. It was such a great dinner and there were all locals at the restaurants. After we all hung out on Long Street till the wee hours and then crashed at our hotel room.
The next day we got up pretty early and indulged in the free Internet. At about 1030 we checked out of Daddy Long Legs and headed to the wine lands of South Africa. We headed to a town called Stellenbosch. It was a quaint little “college” town; the University of Stellenbosch was located there. We went to two wineries. At the second one we had the most breathtaking view overlooking the lush, green, wine lands. It was magnificent; we all just sat and talked for hours. Then we headed to a college rugby game, lots of people from SAS were going to go because it was a big game. It was University of Cape Town vs. University of Stellenbosch. Right when we walked in the game we were attacked by Stellenbosch students who wrote “Maties,” their school mascot, on our arms. Therefore we knew who we were going to cheer for. It was fun to be back on a college campus. The game was really intense but so amazing. Afterwards we went to a local bar where lots of students went after the game, then headed back to Cape Town. It was fascinating to see how similar these college students were to college students in the US.
The next morning we had an early wake up call. We are sending pictures home to our parents from this event so once they get them we will explain exactly why we had to get up early that day. But later in the day we decided to conquer Table Mountain. This mountain is one of the main attractions of Cape Town. You can take a cable car up or down, but we wanted to hike up. The hike was intense but so rewarding. You basically hiked up this huge gorge, where at the end only one person could fit through the pathway at a time. But once you got to the top it was breathtaking. Once reaching the top, I got a little teary-eyed. It was one of my most proud accomplishments and was the best reward ever. After climbing to the top we took the cable car down because it was starting to get late. We rushed back to the boat and took a much needed shower. We then headed to Mitchells (our favorite hangout spot on the Waterfront) and then all a big group went to Quay Four which was right by the water and had a live band that played the Beatles and other great songs. All we could do while relaxing at dinner was say to ourselves that it was quite literally the perfect day.
The next day was one of my favorite days in Cape Town. Amber and I went on an FDP through Operation Hunger. We visited two different townships. In each one our purpose was to go and weigh the children and then after we would examine and chart if they met the required weight for their age. If they did not, Operation Hunger would then go through the townships and visit the child’s home to find why there were not getting enough nourishment. Arriving at these townships is quite difficult at times, we roll up in these huge buses and all come out with our cameras and take pictures of these people’s lives. It is a struggle to not be invasive but to still be curious. But when we arrived at this school the children were jumping up and down and yelling for us. It was the best way to lift our spirits. For the next 2 hours we got to play with the students while they were weighed. I brought stickers for the children and they loved them. By the end of the day the kid’s faces were covered in stickers of stars and basketballs and lions. One little girl sat by me the whole time, she was a bit older, but quiet and was the sweetest girl. I would give her a sheet of stickers and then she would give them to other kids or put them on my face. She was so quiet and I just kept telling her how nice she was. After we went to another township. At this one, we passed out food to the children. The person in charge of the food was gone when we got there so fortunately we all had extra food leftover from lunch so we divided it up by 45 and handed it out to the kids. Before we started passing out the food this little girl as sitting on my lap and holding my hand. After passing out the food, I turned around and saw her come around the corner with the saddest look in her face, I asked her if she got food and she said no. She was tearing up so I quickly got her some food and she just ate it in silence. The kids all ran after our bus as we left. It was a great experience to actually get to interact with the people of Africa. We left our tourism ways and just became a part of the community for a day. That night we went back to the boat to hang out with friends into the night along the Waterfront . Again all we could say that night is that we had such a perfect day.
The next day we decided to catch up on some much needed sleep. Afterwards we walked around the Waterfront and had a great lunch in the middle of the Waterfront with a local jazz band playing Frank Sinatra and such. After we walked around Long Street for a while and just enjoyed a relaxing day.
The next day we had the earliest morning yet…5:50 AM. But it was for good reason because we were going SHARK CAGE DIVING (Amber stayed behind on this day and made another trip to the wine lands with a group of friends). However, I decided I wanted to swim with the sharks, quite literally. I went with my two friends Allison and Sarah, and a big group of SASers were with us as well. We drove for 2 hours. We all slept most of the drive but whenever I opened my eyes we were in the middle of the most beautiful land. We arrived at this cute little office that was basically a house that overlooked the ocean. We had breakfast then put on huge orange jackets and headed on the boat for our day with sharks. We took the boat out for about 10 minutes. The skipper throws our bait (tuna and a piece of Styrofoam shaped like a seal) and within 30 minutes a shark was right by the boat. It was insane. Then we all got dressed in wet suits, goggles, and weights and quite literally jumped in this long rectangular cage in the freezing ocean. You can basically stand in the cage, but when the skipper yells SHARK TO THE LEFT you go under water and hold onto this bar and are face to face with a shark. When I first went under water I freaked out a little, my goggles were not working and the cold was such a shock. I thought I was going to have to escape the cage, but after a bit I got used to it and loved it. It was the biggest adrenaline rush and immediately woke us up. We were in the cage for about 10 minutes and at the very end when he yelled SHARK TO THE RIGHT, I went under water and the shark was right in front of me! It thrashed against the cage and I could see inside his mouth. After getting out for a bit, I went back in for about 15 minutes and got to see more sharks in touching distance. When we were leaving the area, all of a sudden a seal started swimming by the sharks and this shark attacked it and got it. The skipper said he had never seen that for 14 years so we all felt very special. It was such a great day! I was thrilled to say I survived shark cage diving. After a lovely drive home, we decided to enjoy our last night in Cape Town. We started the night at Mitchells then headed to a place called Hemisphere which was located on the 32nd floor of a building and had the most gorgeous view of the lights of Cape Town. After visiting this location for a while, we went back to Long Street to enjoy our last night in the wonderful city of Cape Town.
On our very last day in Cape Town there was still lots we wanted to do. We were possibly going to go to Cape Point to see penguins on the beach, but decided we were pushing our time to get back for on ship time. So instead we decided to just enjoy our last day on the Waterfront. In the morning I went to the South African National Gallery. I needed to go for one of my classes, but it was well worth it. After going there we headed to the Waterfront . We just reminisced about our wonderful Cape Town adventures, discussed how we were going to come back and where we wanted to live and where we could get jobs in Cape Town, and even shed a tear or so about leaving the wonderful city.
After every family trip we take, my family always asks me to name a High and a Low. Well my high for Cape Town would have to be a few things. First off, the “surprise” was one of the most amazing things I pushed myself to do. Table Mountain was one of my most proud and rewarding accomplishments. Sitting with the quiet girl at the township for an hour was one of my most grounding moments. And our nights out at Mitchells and Long Street were the most fun I had, more fun than I could ever imagine. Shark cage diving was probably the most surprising thing I did. All in all, all of these moments worked together to make the whole trip amazing. In the spirit of positivity, I really did not want to name a low. It would be hard to name a low though, even the early morning wake up calls were memorable and we were always excited for what the day had in store. Leaving the kids in the township may have been a low but at the same time the smiles we saw all day were enough to keep our spirits up.
Well sorry that I just wrote a novel about my adventures in Cape Town. All these words and stories are not enough to describe how perfect it was! I can’t wait to share my pictures when I return.