My first step onto the African continent...
Trip Start
Feb 07, 2007
1
21
50
Trip End
May 15, 2007
Cape Town,
South Africa
Friday, March 2, 2007
Desmond and I
. I really love African music and I wanted to buy some, but I had no idea specifically what kind of music I liked, so I decided to wait and ask before buying everything. I did crack and buy Season One of Grey's Anatomy, however. Victor also found a pop culture book written about Britney Spears, A Girl Called Britney. It was written in simple language but made fun of every aspect of her life- from the Mickey Mouse Club to her divorce. After we enjoyed a little laugh we took pictures in the square outside that displayed the statues of the four South African Nobel Peace prize winners, and I must say that Desmond's statue is much too large. He's not that big of a guy. Of course statues are not going to be life-size but we had fun pointing out to each other that we know how big he actually is because he's living with us on our ship. I love how impressed the South Africans are when we tell them he is sailing with us. Telling someone from here, it has a completely different meaning for them because they lived through apartheid and the way they now live is greatly attributed to his efforts. It's pretty cool. We caught a cab after that and headed up to Table Mountain. It only took about fifteen minutes to get there and we got to see a little bit more of the city on the way. In the major areas, it's really not very different from an American city. It's structurally similar, something of a cross between Chicago and New York with commercial areas and parks and roundabouts with statues and fountains, but the culture and the people make it quite different
Oh Africa
. It's not as fast paced as a big American city. The taxi drivers haul more than anyone else I think. The sidewalks were always full of people standing around together. Or if they are headed somewhere, no one's breaking a sweat to get there. It's relaxed while still retaining its qualities of a major city, and I like that. Victor calls Cape Town America Junior. But the views of the ocean are incredible and having the majestic Table Mountain as the backdrop for the city is simply gorgeous. After two hours I wanted to move here. It's me, and it's Africa, which is a perfect combination. Once we got through town the taxi started taking us up the winding roads of the mountain. I have to say, it was the trees on the mountain that made me feel for the first time like I was in Africa. Trees and bushes (I don't know exactly what kind, but kind of like what you'd use for landscaping or have in your backyard) line the roads so your vision is limited until a gap. You could see houses and bits of the city at some point, but coming around the bend almost to the end of the road where you board the cable car was the most beautiful open stretch of mountain I'd ever seen. When I think of Africa and the savanna, I think of wide open spaces with tall yellow grasses and slanted trees with big bushy cauliflower-like leaves. That's what I saw coming around the bend, but on the mountainside. The houses come pretty far up the mountain, but this area was untouched by man. It was as close to the savanna as I got this trip, but I'll be doing a safari in Tanzania so I'll get my chance to witness more of it
On top of the world
. But what I saw, that was the real kicker. I'm in Africa. So of course, that called for more squealing and childlike dancing and hopping around in excitement. It was a touristy area, so I wasn't making too big of a spectacle of myself. We bought our tickets and got in the car, which was really cool because the floor spun around so I got a 360 degree view of the city and the mountain as we went up. It only took about four minutes to get up, and when we reached the top I wanted to cry. That's kind of my theme for this whole trip, wanting to cry and also jumping around in ecstasy. A stone walkway zigzags up towards the gift shop and restaurant, and it just follows the curves of the mountain so you can look out over the entire city and the ocean. It's amazing how incredibly clear it was. The clouds were not too high above us, but they move so quickly that it just clears away any pollution whatsoever. I think I'll probably be sick, getting back home to all of the smog in the air. Breathing in just felt so cool and clean, almost a little bit minty because the air was just so fresh. From the top I couldn't see my stretch of savanna anymore, but the views of the city were enough to keep me more than satisfied. With the city built up at sea level but then climbing up the mountainside, it looked a little bit like milk in a bowl. Froot Loop milk because of all the different colors, I'd say, in a green bowl. Sitting on a blue placemat. We climbed up on the rocks and took tons and tons of pictures of each other with the ocean and the cliffs of the mountain and the city below us
Roommates
. After lunch I found a rock and just sat there for a good fifteen minutes, just staring. But I'll get to that. We were pretty hungry when we first got up there so we went to the self-serve restaurant and ate burgers and sampled South African beer. It's actually apple cider with alcohol in it, so it's pretty good. After lunch we bought champagne to celebrate. We took our glasses outside and stood on one of the landings of the stairs and toasted our voyage to South Africa as we looked over the ocean, the beaches, and the city beyond. All day, we just kept looking at each other in disbelief that we were finally actually in Africa. And it was definitely cause for celebration. We finished our champagne and followed the pathway around the top of the mountain. We spent over an hour climbing up on the rocks and taking pictures of each other and the views. We found one area that overlooked the clouds coming in over Devil's Peak. The five of us all found a rock and stared as the clouds came in over the top of the peak, then over the city dissipated into the air and over the ocean continued carried on as clouds. It was amazing, watching the clouds move that fast and disappear so quickly. I could have sat there all afternoon, just gazing out over the beautiful city. Being so high up and with the air so incredibly clear as it was you could see everything. I love Vegas because it's my hometown, and I love New York and always will because there is no place like it, but I think that Cape Town is now my favorite city in the world. For me, there's just nothing to dislike about it. It's got everything. It has a city, it has the countryside, it has the beach, they speak English and other languages, it has culture and history, it has opportunity. I just adore it. After a few more stops and rock climbing and sitting adventures, we made our way into the gift shop to browse. Lauren and I bought matching bracelets in the style of old African trading bracelets, which turns my arm green because of the copper but I don't really mind. We then stopped in the bathroom, which was quite an experience. First of all, lines are called queues, which is the coolest thing ever. Also, the actual toilet is situated on a platform. You have to step up to get to it. I felt like I was on stage in the stall. It was crazy. A bathroom attendant was on duty directing us to open stalls and sinks, and after I washed my hands I went to dry them with the air dryer. I waited until they were completely dry because I was wearing khakis and rubbing them on my shorts would have shown up, and I hate having moist hands. I think this must have been a rude thing to do because the attendant pointed at my hands and then the machine, then towards the sink. She didn't speak any English, but she just kept pointing. I know I looked confused by what she meant because she laughed, and then I forced a chuckle before I turned around and left. I didn't see any towels anywhere, so I'm not sure what else I should have dried my hands with. Or maybe she wanted me to wash my hands a second time for some reason. I'm just not sure. I met the group and we went back to the bar to have Sex on a Mountain cocktails. We had to, since we were, after all, on a mountain. (And have the drink, I mean.) It was really tasty, actually, with rum and vodka, orange juice and grenadine. Lauren and I split one because we were still full from earlier, but we all really liked them. I think the bartender got a kick out of us because we'd already been to the bar to buy champagne earlier, but we weren't being stupid about it or obnoxious, so we weren't causing any problems. We finished our drinks and headed back down the mountain for our forty-five minute cab ride back to the ship. It had only taken ten minutes to get to the mountain, but we hit rush hour. Lauren and I were in the very back of the cab van, sitting on seats facing each other and we amused ourselves by watching the boys in the car behind us check out girls as they drove by with their windows down. After awhile we lost them, so we both snoozed for a few minutes before getting back so we'd be able to stay awake for the rest of the night. We changed once we got back to the ship and met up with Becca and Matt for dinner. Victor had to go on his safari, and after a couple of beers at dinner she started gushing about him. He's Lauren's favorite guy that she's ever dated, and she really likes him, so I'm excited to see where things go with them. We had dinner at a restaurant called Stake not exactly in the main downtown area, but we liked that because we didn't run into any Semester at Sea kids. We were clearly tourists, though, because we walked in and out of the four main restaurants on the couple of blocks in the area. We'd look at menus, walk in, decide to go see what else was around, walked up to another restaurant and were about to go in when we saw the sign that said under 23 not allowed. Lauren and I, as the two newly-21 year-olds, were a little bit miffed because we didn't know that we had age restrictions anymore! But then we realized it was a cigar bar, not just a regular bar, so we didn't want to go there anyway. We went back to Stake after our third lap on the block, and a couple of groups chuckled about our finally making a decision. The restaurant was empty, but we couldn't understand why because of how trendy it was. The dining area was downstairs, but they showed us the bar area upstairs, with the lounges with couches and the couches and tables on the balcony outside. We were prepared to eat our dinner on tables pulled up to the couches that night. Katie, Lauren and I sat down first, so Matt and Becca were in regular chairs, and they asked if they could move the other couch up to the table. Bless the waiter's heart, he tried to do it but the couch wouldn't budge. I felt really bad, him trying to rearrange everything for us, and the others did too so we moved the table back and just sat in the chairs. We ordered wine and lobster and steak and fish and two appetizers, a real feast, and it only turned out to be under $25 a person. It was a steal and the food was amazing. We were stuffed but ready to go out after the meal, and we walked down the street trying to find the Buddha Bar that Becca had read about, but when we got there we found out it had been converted to a different bar, and that we were not at all wanted there. We sat down and a waitress came to take our orders, but as she took our orders she kept making funny faces over my head until a man came over and asked us how old we were. The drinking age is 18, but he said that their bar was 25 and older only. I think it was because we walked in made ourselves obvious. When everyone else was clearly over the age of 35, we came in and scoped out the place so everyone knew we were younger. And they just didn't want us there. We went back to Stake then and found a place on one of the couches by the bar, and the bartender told us that that place was more of an after-work kind of bar, where all of the same people hung out and wasn't known for welcoming anyone than businesspeople like them, and especially not foreigners. Which was fine with us, because we had a great time hanging out at Stake and talking to the bartender. Even at this place out of the way in Cape Town, most had heard of the kids who come in twice a year from the boat. It's fun in some ways, everyone knowing in general who you are when you visit, but at the same time in some places you have a stigma attached to you, as a young college kid. In a lot of ways I'm not like the normal college kids, and it surprises people a lot of times. When we were getting ready to leave for the night, I took all of our glasses back up to the bar because we'd been lounging on a couch. The bartender gave me a funny look and said that not even South Africans were that considerate. Don't make assumptions. People can surprise you. I understand that I'll always have assumptions made about me, but it's nice to throw them off a little bit by doing something nice that they wouldn't expect me to do. It's a good way to get people talking to you. Just because I'd brought the bottles back I had a ten-minute conversation with the bartender and another man standing nearby, who I'd passed at various other times throughout the night and barely made eye contact with. I liked that. It pays to be different. We finally left around one and headed back to the ship to crash. It was an incredible start to the week of South Africa. All I needed was a few hours to know I was going to just love it. 
