Monday September 2nd 2013
We had a very slow morning before heading out in search of
breakfast somewhere along Longstreet. We stopped at a place called Lolo’s.
De-li-CIOUS. Becca and I started bonding over our obsession with coffee. Her
cappuccino foam had a very intricate grumpy face painted into which made my
Americano look pathetic.
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| sad face cappuccino and my Americano |
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| Lolo's! |
But later I caught up with a cappuccino that said “Made with
Love” The Cappuccino artist thought our table was very amusing.
After breakfast, we shopped up and down Longstreet. There
were a bunch of pretty funky shops. Vintage, bookshops, antiques, funky
clothes. All pretty expensive, but it was fun to go window shopping in a
strange city.
We reconvened at the hostel then piled into the cars and
head for Boulder’s Beach. I’m not going to talk about how turned around I got
us. We eventually made it to Simonstown in time to go see penguins!
They were seriously everywhere! Along the boardwalk down to
the rocks. In the bushes. On the rocks. On the beach. They were so cool!!!
There were rock dassies too. Dassies are the cutest animals
I’ve seen here so far. They are basically South African groundhogs, but their
closest relative is an elephant.
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| Rock Dassie. Seriously one of the cutest things out there |
Up next on the Spring Break Agenda was Cape of Good Hope and
Cape Point. We drove a few minutes outside of Simonstown along the mountainside
to the Cape of Good Hope Reserve. We had to pay admission at the gate, but then
we were free to drive around the vast part. Warning: you can be charged R500
for leaving the park later than their posted hours. Plan accordingly
For some reason I thought of the tiny state park near my
hometown, Tyler State Park. Any idea of tiny Pennsylvania forests was wiped
away when we came across a bunch of baboons on the side of the road.
We also passed a surprise ostrich.
The Cape of Good Hope was incredible. It is the most south
western tip of Africa and we were there! We took tons of touristy pictures,
‘cause, honestly, how could you not. There were hundreds of Chinese tourists
there with us. We took turns getting pictures in front of the Cape of Good Hope
sign.
I regret how rushed I felt the whole time I was there. I
have no idea if I’ll ever return to that spot in my lifetime. I am so proud to
be able to say I was there, but it felt a lot like I went, crossed it off my
list, and then moved on. Before getting back in the car I just took a moment to
gaze at the shore and the horizon. I felt like I could cry from the beauty of
it. It still feels like I was in a dream and not actually there.
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| WAC girls representing! |
Before leaving the park we drove up to Cape Point. We
arrived in the parking lot and looked up the mountain at the small lighthouse.
We were all exhausted at this point, and some of us didn’t feel like making the
trek up to the lighthouse, nor did we want to spend money on the furnicular
(cable car) that could float you up to the top. I was determined though. I
convinced everyone to hike up with me.
Half way up, I started cursing myself mentally. It was a bit
arduous, but ask anyone, the trip is well worth it. As much as we huff and
puffed up the path, the view at the top took our breath away. From the parking
lot, it didn’t look like there was much to see. At the top, you could see
forever. Miles of winding African coastline stretched before us. I imagined
myself as an explorer seeing the land from my ship for the first time, like Bartolomeu
Dias (first European to sail around the Cape of Good Hope). I pretended I could
see Antarctica across the vast stretch of ocean. I pictured myself on an atlas,
mentally mapping just how far from home I was. I really just felt filled with
an immeasurable sense of inspiration, awe, and something existential.
A sweet couple asked me to take a picture of them. Shortly
after, a pair of Chinese women asked to take a picture with us. Somewhere in
the world, an Asian woman has a picture of 6 random American girls on her
Nikon. What?
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| but really |
The park was due to close in a bit, so we headed back down
the mountain to the car, talking all the while about Grey’s Anatomy with the
gay couple.
Back at the hostel, Party was preparing a braai for the
current guests. We hadn’t bought any meat though, so we opted to go in search
of food along Longstreet. Becca had seen a sign for Margarita Mondays up the
road, so we walked to the end of Longstreet to discover that the Italian
restaurant had actually been advertising Margherita PIZZA Mondays. The
atmosphere and the cost of the restaurant was not quite what we wanted either
so we walked back down the road to the Longstreet Café for burgers and
cocktails.
The braai back at the hostel was in full swing when we got
back. A few of us got showers and then joined the party. We met people from all
over. Becca and I practiced our French with a young man from, I believe,
Grenoble. Other people were from Denmark, Australia, and exotic New Jersey.
My friend Keegan, who was also in Cape Town for vac, joined
us at the hostel. He is such a sweetheart! By now, the other exchange students
from Boston College, had arrived in Cape Town as well. We took the party down
the street to their hostel to catch up.
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| Me, Keegs, and Gillian. Drama kids <3 |
Their hostel was much bigger and emptier than ours. They had
themed rooms and a rooftop bar. Despite the rain, we had a great time in the
sheltered part of the roof. It had felt like a long time since we’d seen them,
and it was fun to hear some stories they had acquired during our days apart. While
we had been shopping and taking pictures of penguins, they had gone bungee
jumping and ziplining!
The BC people had to get up early the next day to catch the
boat to Robben Island, so we bid them goodnight and headed back to the hostel.
Keegan and I were still wide awake so we detoured into a club on the way home.
Sadly, Longstreet was pretty dead. Resignedly, we walked back to the hostel
too, but not before getting shwarma at the Indian place next door.
Unfortunately, we acquired a very persistent street person, who aggressively
begged us for money the whole way down the street and waited for us to come out
of the club before following us again. It was really unsettling and I was
really glad to have Keegs with me.
After making sure he had enough money for a taxi, I wished
him goodnight and went home to my comfy mattress on the floor of the Longstreet
Backpackers.
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