53. Cape Town: A Final Hurrah!

Friday 14 June - Saturday 15 June

Friday morning I got up and began the sad ritual of packing. I had a few hours and I put on some music and began. It was mostly easy in terms of choosing what to put in my suitcase – that always makes return packing so much easier. But still, it was sad. I rolled my clothes and everything fit with ample room for the souvenirs and items I’d picked up along the journey of the last three months. Almost fittingly, it was pouring rain as if to signify my mood; as if Stellenbosch was sad that I was leaving too.

At 11am, our shuttle bus arrived to take us to Cape Town. We got dropped off at Greenmarket Square where I’d been a few times before. Twelve of us had booked a hostel right off of Long Street, just a block away so we walked there to check in and drop off our stuff before setting out on the day’s rainy adventures. The hostel was pretty nice and only $15. And there were a couple huge rooms with ten and twelve beds that they split us up into, but we didn’t have to share the rooms with any other visitors so had tons of extra space and one of the rooms even had a balcony overlooking the bustling city street below.

View from our balcony at the hostel

Bizarre lunch place...

Then we went to eat lunch at a bizarre place on Greenmarket Square that had weird chandeliers, strange comics on the backs of the end chairs which were also giant upholstered armchairs and then on the side seating, it was just shiny silver upholstered benches. Strange candelabras with lots of candleholders stood on the table. And the menu was Italian food…. Anyway, I split a pizza and a salad with Neha. The pizza wasn’t bad but I’m pretty sure it gave me a stomachache later. C’est la vie.

Also at the bizarre lunch place...

After lunch, we shopped around Greenmarket Square and I got bullied into buying something I didn’t want at all. It makes me angry how the people there are such skilled con artists. And I know it in my head the whole time, but I when I’m alone I find it impossible to walk away from them when they harass me and follow me and refuse to leave me alone until I give them money for something I don’t even want. Ughhhhhh. I totally failed but it made me angry too. I finally ran away with R100 ($10) fewer in my purse and fuming mad at the guy who had practically grabbed the money from my hand. I felt better when I was reunited with my friends and I forbade them from leaving me behind again when somebody stopped me. Chance didn’t hesitate to yell at them, “No, sir, we don’t want your stuff today thank you. Please leave us alone!” It’s such a difficult situation. I’m glad they’re not actually mugging people (cough cough) but at the same time, what they’re doing isn’t exactly the best or most honest labor either. Are they really all handmade objects? Somehow I doubt that. So are they lying to me? Am I bad for thinking that? Markets are the worst. Is it ok to harass innocent looking tourists? I think not.

Ok, rant over.

We then walked over to the Two Oceans Aquarium which was right on the waterfront, only about a thirty minute walk away and fortunately it wasn’t raining. We walked around the aquarium and I saw lots of cool things, from spotted leopard eels, fish that looked like someone crossed a helicopter with a snail (lol), tiny seahorses the largest crustacean in the world, the giant crabs, watched one of these giant crabs (that looked more like aliens than anything else) fall backwards off a rock. The crabs were about two feet tall and stood on roughly half of their legs and stared at us, then we went to a touch pool and touched some sea anemones and starfish and seaweed, saw some sharks, penguins and frogs, read about conservation of the seas.

Giant gross eel. Actually that's parts of two eels. (Shiver.)

Helicopter/Snail fish. 

Little seahorses

Monster crab

Neha mesmerized as the giant crab starts to fall backwards off his rock perch. 

We then went to the waterfront and walked around. Neha, Chance, Soad and I went on the Ferris Wheel. I looked over at Robben Island and the pier where we caught the boat over to Robben Island that first Saturday I was in South Africa, and  it was weird. My trip was starting to come full circle. (But this time my camera wasn’t on black and white setting.) We ate dinner at a place called Wang Thai and I had sushi…it was delish. Mmmmmm.

City from the ferris wheel

Wharf from the ferris wheel

Lego Man

After dinner, we took cabs back to our hostel and paid about $5 (total) for 6 people. What??? Anyway…it was lovely! Then we hung out at the hostel for the night, made an excursion to find milkshakes and found everything closed except Ol’ Faithful Mickey D’s. So I got a McFlurry. Can’t really go wrong with that.

Saturday morning, a bunch of us went to hike Lion’s Head. It had been on my bucket list of things to do in South Africa since I got here. But I never was able to make it happen due to other program related excursions, people bailing on me, or rain. Friday was originally supposed to be the day, but alas, the rain had prevented that. So it ended up that my last day in Cape Town was the day that I hiked Lion’s Head. I can’t think of a better thing to do on my last day in Cape Town. The weather was absolutely perfect. Probably mid 60s to mid 70s depending on time of day and elevation on the mountain. The climb was quite difficult, especially towards the top where you literally have to go straight up and rock climb. Fun stuff! A bit scary in places, but we all survived. We actually summated the whole thing and were met with the most incredible view in the world. Maybe even better than Table Mountain. Actually, I can’t decide. I don’t think I could live without either. We took lots of pics, including a purple shirt coordinated human ‘NU’ and some Neharieariah explorer pics. So sorry for the overload of pictures now. But, I'm not really sorry. This was one of the highlights of my trip, and in fact, my life. 

Cape Town in the early morning. From the foot of Lion's Head. 

Note the dog in the corner? He's a SAPS (police service) dog and he was standing next to a bunch of officers. This was me trying to sneakily take a picture of the gorgeous dog. :)

Table Mountain

Don't misplace your foot!

Admiring one of the new seven wonders of the world: Table Mountain. 

Last day together in South Africa. So sad. But such a beautiful way to spend it!

Hello Cape Town!

So I realized I throw my hands up in the air a lot of the times when I'm  posing for pictures.
And people follow suit. 

Not sure if that mountain in the background is an erupting volcano? 

REPRESENT. Coordinating a GO U - NU! shot with the kids in Northwestern tees. 

I met Soad in September 2010 when she lived a few doors down from me.
Almost three years later, we reminisced on that moment on the top of Lion's Head Mountain. 

My feet sticking out over the top of Lion's Head.

Neharieariah Explorers. 

We walked down towards Camps Bay when we climbed down Lion’s Head, but realized that it would be a multi-hours walk because we had missed the short cut. Consequently, we decided to cab it the rest of the way so we did and ate lunch at a seafood place right on the water. Watching the waves crash against the shore while eating more sushi, I was quite at peace with the world.

After lunch, Soad, Mariah and I cabbed it over to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens for one more enjoyable relaxing, peaceful session to absorb the gardens, take in the beauty, breathe the sweet clean air, lie on the grass in the sun rays as they dropped down behind the mountain, take some pics and end my time in Cape Town in my favorite spot. I love the botanical gardens because they’re not posh and pretentious and they’re not racist and they’re not dirty and they don’t smell bad. South Africa is a land of extremes, most notably, extreme wealth and extreme poverty coexisting. I’m sure the botanical gardens utilize quite a bit of money to garden them and make them look as perfect as they do. And they aren’t free. But they don’t really fall exclusively into the world of the rich or the world of the poor. Stellenbosch campus and downtown fall exclusively into the world of the rich. Kayamandi falls exclusively into the world of the poor. There is minimal crossing over. These botanical gardens are natural beauty. The mountains make the perfect backdrop as they have stood there for millennia. The first humans, likely to have lived in this part of the world, probably gazed at these mountains and wondered at them as I wondered at them on this crisp, sunny afternoon. I wondered which of the stately ancient trees had stood over these ancient people, which ones prehistoric eight year olds had climbed. 

Guinea fowl in the gardens. 

Mariah and I with our favorite plant: Olifantskos (literally "elephants' food").
It's soft like a pillow. 

It’s definitely a romanticized place in my mind and in my heart, but it’s so gorgeous and so incredibly peaceful. It’s quiet and calm and beautiful. And I wanted to lie in the grass there forever. But alas, the next adventure lay ahead, I was being called back to rural Limpopo to shadow a wildlife veterinarian. I was being called to the next phase(s) of my life. Study Abroad was rapidly drawing to a close. The sun was setting behind the mountains just as the sun was setting on my study abroad experience. I wanted to reverse time, I wanted to rush home. I wanted to be in Kruger. I wanted to stay in Cape Town forever. So many conflicting emotions. I guess that’s because I am truly blessed in the most amazing ways possible. I had a marvelous study abroad experience. I love my home and family and friends and country. I am so excited about veterinary medicine and wildlife and conservation and animal science. I guess that’s why I was eager to be home, be on my research internship, and stay in Cape Town all at the same time. I guess all good things must come to an end however, so I walked out of Kirstenbosch, returned to Stellenbosch in a cab, finished packing and tying up loose odds and ends, and then walked to Cal Cacchio’s for dinner with almost everyone in my group plus some of our South African friends. That is coincidentally the restaurant where I’d eaten my first dinner in South Africa. Thurstan had taken those of us who had arrived on the first day to dinner there to get pizzas. And there I was again, my final night in Stellenbosch, sitting there eating pizza surrounded by people who were strangers the last time I ate there, who are now dear friends, with whom I have shared some of the most remarkable experiences of my life. After dinner, we went to the gelato shop and got ice cream.

In the evening, we all hung out in someone’s room at Concordia and talked until the night was late. We went out for a little bit since it was someone’s birthday, but I had to come back at a “reasonable” hour (aka 12:15am) so I could take a nap before my ride to the airport at 5am. Good night, Stellenbosch. Good bye study abroad. Farewell, Thurstan and Dillon and other friends I’ve made in Stellenbosch/Kayamandi/Cape Town and the rest of South Africa.

Tot siens, Cape Town. I’ll see you someday.