Cape Town, Part 1!

Anybody have a thesaurus handy? I really need some new words for amazing, awesome, and incredible. I feel like that’s all I have to say about things lately. This morning we woke up around 5:45 to watch us come into port. The wind was freezing, and everyone was exhausted, but the views of the sun rising over table mountain were well worth it. There were sea lions swimming around by our ship as we approached, and since we docked, I’ve seen tons of them. They’re so cute! As we came into port, the view of Cape Town with Table mountain in the background was simply stunning. The picture above is of me and my ship parents as we were coming towards Africa. Then it was time for breakfast and a nap while we cleared customs. When we were finally able to get off the ship about 4 hours later, Kendall and I walked with our new friends Emily and PT (they’re also from CSU) to a tourism office. We booked a wine tasting tour for Thursday. We get to visit 5 wine estates in the Stellenboch area, which should be really fun. Then Kendall and I bought tickets to go to Robben Island on Wednesday. We’re hoping we’ll also have time to take the cable car to the top of Table Mountain that day. We had a quick lunch at a pizza place in the mall, which served pizza with “chips” AKA French Fries. A homeless man asked if he could have the left overs before I through them out, and I wanted to buy him his own slice, but he was perfectly happy to take what we didn’t want. It was a really humbling experience. After that we went with a SAS group to the District 6 museum which memorializes all of the black people who were forced out of their homes during apartheid. Then we went to a few townships which are the poorer parts of Cape Town. They seemed really sad at first, but we saw some things that made it seem like things were starting to turn in a positive direction. We went to a community center that trains people in the arts, and then sells their artwork to help run the show. Then they provide support for the people as they start their own businesses. Here are some cute kids from the township.

We also drove by some major places of conflict during apartheid (such as where Amy Biehl was killed) and the hospital where the first heart transplant was done. Then we went to dinner and I had ostrich filet and springbok. I really liked the ostrich a lot. Now it’s bedtime because I have to leave in about 8 hours for my SAFARI!!! It’s only been one day and I’m already in love with Cape Town!