The Garden Route

Hello friends and fam.  It's been a while since my last post and a lot has happened here! I just finished my first week of classes and it's been reassuring to finally have a schedule. Before I get into this week though, I need to jot down a few stories from my fabulous road trip on the Garden Route.

On Sunday,  10th of Feb, five of my friends (Rachie, Seth, Bart, Evan, Matt) and I took off in our very stylish mini-van.  (For those of you who knew Sheila the Honda, I have to say our rental was a bit sexier.) Unfortunately, it cost a lot of money to have more than one driver on the insurance, so after a bit of debate, I let Matt take the wheel. In retrospect, that was probably a wise decision.  Me driving + left side of the road + stick shift = DANGER.

After taking a few pit stops, we arrived in Stormsriver around 6:00 at the Tube 'N Axe Backpackers Lodge.  Unfortunately, we were too late to get in on their braai and ended up having a feast of apples, mangoes, peanut butter, and banana on the floor of our cabin.  We then hung out at the bar and when the electricity went out, we played pictionary by candlelight.

Monday was a packed day.  The Tube 'N Axe offered us a "bitch breakfast" (two cups of coffee and a cigarette) but we opted for eggs instead.  We then took off for zip-lining in Tsitsikamma Park.  There, we met the McNamaras (pictured in the last entry) and had a blast swinging through the forest.  Later that day, we went on an incredible hike by the ocean - part trails, part rock scaling.  About halfway through the hike, it began to pour which of course made the hike that much better.  We came across an enormous cave at one point but no one had a flashlight so we only explored so far.  The hike ended at a gorgeous waterfall and after weighing the possibility of parasites, Bart and I decided to take our chances and go for a swim.  As far as I can tell, no parasites yet.

That night, we drove to Knysna where we checked in at the Island Vibe.  We had an amazing meal in town (really the first meal we had on the trip) at a restaurant called Oude De Frauk. (Actually, I'm really not sure what it was called, but it was something Afrikaans like that.)  I had crocodile stew and kudu - so delicious.  Towards the end of the meal, a British couple approached our table to tell us that they were absolutely fascinated by our conversation and "group dynamics."  Like many people we have encountered, this couple was dying to know why we were studying in South Africa of all places.  The idea of somewhat undirected study abroad is clearly not very popular here.  After chatting and basically being quizzed by the couple for twenty minutes or so, we finished up our dinner and headed back to the Island Vibe.

Tuesday was the animal day.  We saw elephants in the morning and monkeys in the afternoon.  Although the elephants were cool (we even got to feed them) I have to say that the monkeys were far more entertaining.  Seth took lots of great pics of both which I'll upload later.  Other highlights of Tuesday included watching the boys eat avocado, bacon, and banana sandwiches (so disgusting), chasing a peacock in a parking lot, and eating a huge dinner at a beautiful beachside restaurant.

Wednesday was a bit of a bust.  We had planned on going skydiving, but after waiting for the wind to go down for a couple of hours, we were told that we might be seriously injured if we tried.  So we drove to Mossel Bay, our last stop on the Garden Route, where we checked into the Santos Express, an old train on the Indian Ocean.  As Katie pointed out, the whole experience made me very nostalgic for The Boxcar Children, my first chapter book series. After dinner, we dragged a bunch of tree branches to the beach and attempted to make a fire for a couple hours.  After breaking two lighters, we finally settled on just hanging and treating ourselves to some J.C. Le Roux, champagne from my Stellenbosch tour a couple weeks ago.  All in all though, it was a very fun trip and I can't wait until spring break when we can get back on the road again.

The Past Couple Weeks - Pics

Registration Madness

The past week has been a bit more relaxed and I'm beginning to feel more at home in Cape Town.  For the past few days, I've spent a lot of time being lost on campus and trying to figure out the hilarious disorganized registration process (all paper - no computers allowed).  During pre-registration, all undergrads have to run around to various departments to get course approval.  In my most successful venture, I managed not only to speak to an actual professor but also to learn when the class would be meeting! What a productive morning.

Yesterday, I successfully completed the actual registration process.  I am really pumped about my classes, and it looks like I will have most of my afternoons free to volunteer, run, or whatever else.  For now, I am signed up for Natural Resource Economics, South African Politics, Statistics, and African Instruments.

A couple of days ago, I went into town to The Book lounge to hear Martin Meredith speak about his new book, Diamonds, Gold, and War: The Making of South Africa.  (I was thinking of taking a course at UCT called South African History until 1900, but after hearing this lecture I think I'll just ready his book.)  He was a very smart and engaging speaker and really impressively managed to answer a few unintelligent audience questions in an interesting way. I was psyched to get to talk to him afterwards.  The bookshop also served delicious wine and hors d'oeuvres - overall, a very satisfying evening.

Another highlight of this week (and really the only valuable part of UCT orientation) was the drum circle on Monday.  It was basically a giant call and response djembe lesson.  There were 300 or so rhythmically challenged Americans banging as hard as we could on miniature drums, led by five of the happiest looking African dudes you can imagine.  My friends and I had such a good time that we followed them downtown to the Zula Bar on Long Street and met some of their musician friends.

Now that registration and orientation are done, we have another week to explore before classes start.  Five friends and I are renting a car and taking off tomorrow morning on the Garden Route.  We're driving about 800k east to explore the coast of the Western Cape.  I'm especially excited about the hostiles that we've booked.  At our last stop, Mossel Bay, we're staying in a broken down train on the beach!  Also on the tentative agenda are Tarzanian tree-swinging and ostrich riding.  I can't wait!

Stellenbosch, Table Mountain, and The Black Out

Recent Highlights

- falling down Table Mountain and landing in a bush

- eating springbok while out to dinner in the black-out

- making a modest yet delicious contribution of rosemary carrots to a potluck dinner

On Tuesday, a bunch of us left for an overnight trip to Stellenbosch, one of South Africa's oldest European settlements located about a half-hour drive from Cape Town. Having explored Cape Town for the past couple of weeks, Stellenbosch seemed like a whole different country, or at least a different era.  It was a bit of an apartheid throwback.  The whole town was very segregated, old-fashioned, and quiet in an unsettling way.  Compared to the diversity of Capetownians, the people of Stellenbosch (to completely generalize) were pretty homogeneously upper-class Afrikaaners.  

Of course, we didn't visit Stellenbosch for the time travel; we went for the wine.  On Wednesday morning, we began our tour of the vineyards.  Because we are cheap (or maybe just because we would rather spend the money on wine), we decided to take the unguided hiking/wine tasting tour (not the classiest combination but definitely rewarding.)  The first winery was J.C. Le Roux which specialized in sparkling wine.  For just twenty rand (less than $3) we each got five glasses of wine, a video presentation on how to make sparkling wine, and a tour of the cellar.  What a deal!  After sipping the wine and spitting it out (apparently the proper way to wine taste) most of us decided it was much too good to waste.  My favorites were La Chanson and Le Domains, the dessert wines of course.

After returning from Stellenbosch, I had a pretty low-key day.  I did, however, go on a run with the UCT Athletics Club, aka the running team.  There were a few women, but they were all doing a track workout.  Preferring hills and trails tot he track, I stuck it out with the guys.  After our 6k warmup, we did repeats son a really, really steep hill.  The hard-core guys did 15 x 60 seconds hard up and down the hill; most of the guys did 10 and I called it a day at 6.  Dion, the crazy coach, is determined to get me, Evan, and Cam (other interstudy guys) to do a 56k before we leave South Africa. Ha.

Already aching from the hill workout, we then climbed Table Mountain on Friday.  The pictures should speak for themselves, with the one exception of my epic fall, unfortunately not captured on film.  Feeling strong and determined (in other words dehydrated and lightheaded) after our four hour hike up the mountain, I was ready for the descent.  I was chatting with Craig, one of the many South African tour-guides and we were leading the pack at a pace that seemed dangerous only when I looked down.  Everyone had a couple of slips, so when I slid on one rock I figured I could pull off some impressive twist or turn and recover.  Nope.  Instead, I actually tumbled down the rocks fora  few yards before clutching a prickly bush to stop myself from falling.  Bart and Jeremy, my two friends behind me, said that all they caught was the rustling of the bushes and then suddenly finding me turned upside down in the bush.  So, with just a few scratches and bruises, I am proud to say that I survived my fall down the mountain.

After returning from the day's hike, we were all exhausted and ready to eat.  Just as we were about to head to dinner though, Eskom decided that Friday night would be a good time to cut back on power.  Hungry and determined, we called Boogie Steve (our favorite cab driver) and headed down to Obs for dinner anyways.  That was a fun ride.  While Boogie Steve usually can take 15 or so in his van, he only had his five seater last night.  We impressively fit 10, two girls and four guys in the back seat, another guy and girl in the front, Boogie Steve, and his son Roman.  After piling out of the cab, we had a charming candlelight dinner where I tried my first springbok.  To our surprise, the electricity didn't come back until long after we came home and went to bed.