I LOVE SOUTH AFRICA

10/03/09

I woke up extra early today so that I could see us sail into the harbor. Well let’s put it this way, there was no disappointment on my face at 7am this morning. It was chilly outside, the sun was shining, and there was South Africa. Table Mountain, the new soccer stadium, and the port off in the distance were all just too much to take in so early in the morning. I went and had breakfast and waited for the ship to be cleared so that I could step off the ship and explore!  Isn’t that what I’m here to do?? I was very excited to finally be here I could hardly hold it in. One of my friend’s parents had flown to South Africa to meet her for the week. They were going on a safari for a few days. After meeting her parents we began walking into the port. I don’t even know how to describe it. One word = GORGEOUS. Hotels, fancy restaurants, shops, live entertainment, people everywhere. Also, probably one of the biggest malls I have ever seen. I walked through mostly all of the souvenir shops, walked through the entire mall, and scoped out some places I plan to shop in the end of the week. I had to be back on the ship at 12pm because I had my City Orientation with SAS at 1pm. I had some quick lunch and headed to the bus. Well it seemed most of the people on the bus were part of the senior citizens club hahaha. Mostly life long learners and professors, but some students. We passed by the new stadium they are building for the world cup, its sooo awesome. I want to come back for it. Our guide was telling us that they are expecting so many people and they are even setting up big screen tv’s everywhere for people who don’t have tickets. Sounds good to me. haha We visited a castle that is shaped like a pentagon. It was really an interesting place with a beautiful view. Next, we went to this place that was a park/garden. It was full of history and monuments. We stopped at a café for coffee, tea, drinks, and light refreshments. After that we went to the museum that was located at the end of the park. We were free to roam around for about an hour. I took tons of pictures. It had everything from parasites & viruses, to the 8 tribes of Africa. I really liked the floor they dedicated to the marine life; sharks, fish, whales, sea turtles, dolphins, etc. We headed back to the ship and I got back around dinner time. A few of my friends and I decided to go out and get some dinner. We ate at a place called Spurs. It reminds me of a Fudruckers. I had a cheeseburger and French fries and it was pretty good. Well anything is better than ship food.  We decided to get Gelato for dessert and I tried milk chocolate. I really liked and glad that I got it. Then, we headed back to the ship as I have to be up early for my Cape Point and Peninsula trip tomorrow. Great first day in South Africa and I’m loving this country more every minute!

10/04/09

I woke up early and had breakfast on the 6^th deck. Then, went and boarded the bus for my SAS trip Cape Point and Peninsula. Our guide’s name was Peter and he was an older man. We did stop off a few places along the way. The first overlooked a beach, the ocean, and a rock formation. It was really a pretty site for pictures. The second stop was at a dock that had a little market type of idea going on. Also, had a nice little shop too. Then, we progressed forward to Cape Point. We got to the Cape of Good Hope around 11:30am and were given an hour to roam. I took some great videos of the view. It was just so beautiful. Don’t worry I took tons of pictures too! Then, we took the railway up to the top for an even better view. It was awesome. After boarding the bus and being “late” we almost received dock time at the next port. I argued what the time was and ignored the field office coordinator. Needless to say I do not have dock time hahaha. Next we headed to Boulder Beach. This is where we had our seafood lunch. I was dying to eat and seafood sounded delicious. Our lunch consisted of: bread, fried calamari, fried fish with sauce, buttered vegetables, rice, 2 drinks, and a bread pudding for dessert. I couldn’t even finish it all, but it was soooo tasty.  We finished our lunch and headed down to the see the PENGUINS! Yes, it’s true there are penguins on the beach in South Africa. I took tons of pictures and videos of them. They are absolutely adorable little guys!!  Then, we got back on the bus and headed back to Cape Town. I was exhausted, so I relaxed for a bit then had some dinner. I went out for a little and tried a different type of Gelato called Belgium Chocolate. It was even better than the first one I had. I came back to the ship watched a little bit of a movie and went to bed. Up even earlier tomorrow for Robben Island!!!

10/05/09

Today I woke up and was at breakfast by 615am. I had two chocolate croissants some water and met my group at the bottom of the gangway. We walked over to the Robben Island ferry and got on at about 730am. We were taking the crew ferry over because our tour was special. It had a spiritual and religious component and we were spending the day reflecting. I didn’t know about this until we arrived, but I was ready to enjoy the day.  Our ferry ride was about 40 minutes and I was absolutely FREEZING. My eyeballs felt like they were frozen when we arrived at the island. We had readings and reflections at each portion of our tour. We made about 6 or 7 stops along the way. We saw more penguins today too!!  We learned about Robben Island and what it was used for. How the country of South Africa dealt with people who didn’t fit in or rebelled. We had lunch inside a church and listened to our tour guides fight as a peace activist. After lunch we had a tour of the Robben Island prison. The most interesting part of it was that the tour guides are actually ex-political prisoners. Our guide was in prison for 5 years on Robben Island for apparently a laundry list of things. He explained about the different sections of the prison how it goes from A-F. The closer to A the better chances at privileges you are able to get. He spoke about a typical day and how they were locked up for majority of it. We were able to see Nelson Mandela’s actual prison cell which was really moving. After being shown around the entire prison compound we were released and told to do whatever we want for a few hours. We had tickets for the 4pm shuttle and the 2pm was full. So, I listened to some music and reflected on the day. We got back around 5pm and I ate some dinner on the ship tonight. I’m exhausted and I have to be up at 530am tomorrow for my SAFARI! I was able to buy a ticket off of another student so now I get to go! I’m really excited. I’m watching Mrs. Doubtfire and heading off to bed.

10/06/09

I woke up this morning and felt like I had been hit by an 18 wheeler. I was extremely exhausted and just wanted to go back to bed. I got to the bus and hoped for a long ride. Who would ever think that I’d want that? Well, it was a 2 and a half hour ride. I’d say I slept 2 hrs and 15 minutes of it. Haha. Upon arrival we were told there was a breakfast buffet. I decided to check it out and have a little bit. There was sooo much food. It was all cooked on these little black stoves in front of you. I had a good amount of food to eat. We waited a little while and headed over to the Rescued Animal Section. We saw some lions, and crocodiles. I got some good pictures and videos of each. After that we went back to the reception area and waited for our Land Rovers to arrive for our Safari. We were told there were 9-16-30 passenger vehicles. I hoped for a smaller one. I was lucky enough to get into a 10 person one, and an outside seat. So, I knew that I was going to be able to see everything pretty well. As soon as we pulled out, one guy started making sounds from the Indiana Jones theme song. Shortly after that a bunch of girls started singing all the Lion King songs with sound effects and all. It was not a quiet ride at all, and I enjoyed it that way. The animals we did see consisted of: zebras, ostriches, rhinos, elephants, water buffalo,  hippos, lions, and others. The zebras were absolutely gorgeous and were like 5 feet away. The ostriches were really cool because they had little babies with them. They looked like little ducklings. The Rhinos did not like us at all. A guy in my Land Rover was doing monkey noises and clearly pissed off the Rhinos while taking their nap. They stood up and looked like they wanted to charge at us. Our guide quickly put it in reverse and moved away. However, there were 2 other vehicles there too and were using us as a shield.  Eventually we drove away and moved to the water buffalo. They just looked angry to begin with, but were really fun to watch. The hippos didn’t move at all they looked like lumps in the middle of the water. Lions were sleepy, but did move around a little bit. The land was beautiful and the mountains and hills were gorgeous. It was just so unreal that I was able to experience it. When we were finished with our tour of the reserve we headed back to the reception area. We had another buffet lunch that was pretty good. I enjoyed dessert the most, obviously. I was still full from breakfast so I didn’t eat that much either. We got back on the bus and I went back to sleep haha. We arrived back in Cape Town at 5pm. I had dinner with my friends and we went out for a little while. I’m just so exhausted from these past few days. Finally, I have a free day tomorrow so I plan on sleeping in a little bit. I have some plans to do my shopping tomorrow, so I am pretty excited. I also am hoping to go to the bars and stuff tomorrow night! I have Operation Hunger on Thursday and then we leave. I cannot believe how fast it’s gone already. I am loving every second of this country though and I am so happy that I am here!