Ah yes.. the well-deserved break. 'Tis upon us. Yesterday and today have provided us with the opportunities to explore, discover and freakin' relax.
The visit to Table Mountain exceeded our expectations and our minds were blown. I was mega proud of those in our group that conquered their fears and made it all the way in the cable car up Table Mountain. Once there, it was pure amazement. Oh sure, we've all been high enough that we see some scenery. But not this, man, not this.. This is life-pondering, enlightenment type stuff. You can see Cape Town from every side. Every side.. It's hard to describe in words. And come on, the pictures are merely pictures. This is a beauty that must be experienced firsthand. Few places in the world can compare to this.
The other half of our day was spent at the V&A Waterfront. Tourist delights abound. I bought some South African music, which was cool. Then I went in the mall and overspent, not so cool. Sidenote: I didn't feel like an outsider. No one was staring at me. The only time I was singled out was when I was making a purchase, the clerk saw my Wells Fargo debit card, and asked where I was from. Then my feeling of inclusion made sense... I was surrounded by a mall full of affluent white people.
We checked out the Two Oceans Aquarium, with ocean life from the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. There's stuff there that could never be seen in the states. A couple faves: the jellyfish, the penguins, and the ROCK LOBSTERS! (shout out B-52s) I totally appreciate the aquariums emphasis on animal rehabilitation, and not making this just another crappy zoo. They even featured art and photos on the effects of human waste (plastic, glass, etc). Eye-opening stuff.
Today was a complete and total day off. So about 12 of us decided to head downtown to Greenmarket Square to hang out without agenda. The Market has tons of vendors who will barter with you till you find the right price. Sure the products quickly start to repeat themselves, but you have to remember, this stuff can only be found here. The real adventure was traveling by mini-bus to and from downtown. On the way there, part of our group was squished into an already packed mini-bus. It didn't make the little, old lady to my left very happy. Which she expressed in a series of expletives before turning to me and apologizing for her crassness. I told her it was cool and to go right ahead. I mean, really, Angela was sitting on my lap for god's sake!! On the way back, all 12 of us were able to take one van. Thing is, two people who were already in the van waiting to leave were instructed by the driver to switch to another van to make room for our group. This pissed me off. And it clearly pissed off those two passengers. Perhaps the people here roll with that kind of rudeness better than we would in America. But honestly, you just don't do that! We're all paying the same amount of money!
Nonetheless, we made it back. We're chilling now. Tonight? Who knows.. I think I'll take it easy and do some laundry.
What? You expected me to have some deep, meaningful entry today? Nah, nah.. gotta have a day without worry, concern or thought every now and then :)
Tomorrow, Cape Peninsula Tour and Cape of Good Hope. Oh, and the potential to SWIM WITH PENGUINS. Yeah you heard me!
