Day 05 Spring Break

“Send Me On My Way” – Rusted Root
Wednesday September 4^th 2013

Our last day in Cape Town L I was really sad to have to leave. We had grown so comfortable our little strip of the city. I’d grown familiar with some of the street names and shops. There were so many restaurants we’d passed but not tried. I guess I’ll just have to come back some day then. It’s weird not having any idea when I might return to this part of the world. So often we assume we’ll get another chance to go someplace, which often is true. Growing up in a suburb of Philadelphia, chances are good I’ll get to visit pretty often. 4 days out of 5 months in a distant country… I’ll consider myself extremely fortunate to return someday.

What’s more, is our hostel started feeling like home. True there were tons of random internationals and creepy drunk guys also living in our home, but I felt like more than a guest. It’s strange that I’ve never stayed in a hostel before coming to South Africa. I quite enjoy them, actually. It’s kind of a half step between dorm and apartment living.

On the morning of our last day in Cape Town, we decided to make use of the hostel’s kitchen and make some eggs for breakfast – further proof of our comfort with the place (and our awareness of our dwindling funds). We made a hearty breakfast of eggs and toast and packed some PB&Js for later with the remainder of our bread.

Sadly, the day before, Mary’s card was eaten by an ATM machine. Nora and Mary spent a good portion of the morning trying to sort out the situation. Consequently, it was afternoon by the time we finally checked out of the hostel. It was an unforeseen misfortune that Mary handled much more gracefully than I would have ever expected myself to. We stopped by “Yours Truly” again so Mary and Nora could get some food. Becca and I gave into our coffee cravings again, as well.

Our final moments in Cape Town were spent atop its most defining feature, Table Mountain. We took the cable car up (AGAIN: Tickets are cheaper online. Save them as a PDF to your computer then print out as you please) to a gorgeous viewing area where we took ALL OF THE PICTURES! We pretty much had a photo shoot. It was so much fun! I don’t know what it is, but I absolutely love gallivanting across rocks and boulders. I’ve always been that way. I just love the adventurous feeling of it, and Table Mountain was no exception. I thought back to all the family trips I’ve taken to Ringing Rocks Boulder Field and Hawk Mountain. Pretty sure I smiled like a dork the entire time. By golly I was giddy.

the gang on the cable car

view from the top. A bit cloudy but still stunning

to prove I was actually there

alpine beauty

photo shoot!

I'm a model. whatever

I could have spent all day on Table Mountain, but we needed to head on to Stellenbosch (wine country). After an obligatory stop at the gift shop and café we took the cable car back down, doled out PB &J sandwiches and headed on our way.

We hit a bit of traffic along the way (Mary followed like a champ) so we arrived in the picturesque wine land town even later that I would have hoped. Along the way though we passed some beautiful vineyards as well as (I believe it was called) Cape Film Studios. It was early evening and the sun was going down as we arrived at our second hostel of the vac, The Stumble Inn. The owner had no record of our reservation, which was panic inducing, but fortunately for us, no one else was staying at the hostel. We had the entire place to ourselves! We basically had a wing off the kitchen. The owner was a bit gruff, but I wish we could have stayed longer.

For some reason I was really hyper when we first arrived. Everyone else was ready for a nap,

 but I was not about to let my only day in Stellenbosch slip past me. I ran around checking out the hostel’s facilities and got a town map from the owner. I met the hostel cat, who looked suspiciously a lot like Happy Cat from Longstreet Backpackers. This cat was more adventurous though, and liked to spend his time hanging from trees outside the lounge area. I thusly dubbed him Jungle Cat. After I’d seen everything in the hostel, I convinced everyone to walk down the street to get groceries for dinner and just take a peek at the town while there was still sunlight left.

welcome to wine country

I really regret how little time we had in Stellenbosch, but our night at the Stumble Inn was probably one of my favorite nights of the trip. We were limited by the fact that Caitie, Gillian and I had to be gone by 7 the next morning in order to get to Shark Diving, but we had an amazing girl’s night in. I built a fire in the fire pit out in the yard, talking with Nora, while the others prepared dinner in the kitchen. 

Our feast! I'm so proud

After an emergency crash course of how not to blow up the hostel when using a gas stove, we made a glorious feast of spaghetti, French bread, and salad. We sampled some Stellenbosch wines (we bought a bottle of white and red that featured names of vineyards we had passed on the way into town. The red was really spicy.) We spent forever just laughing and talking around the table at our perfect family dinner. Behind me on the windowsill was a giant book of MadLibs, that we thoroughly enjoyed, cracking ourselves up late into the night. Six girls with an entire hostel to themselves, and we play Madlibs all night long? You bet we do! And it was AWESOME. Be jealous.