South Africa

Friday September 23, 2011. The day I had been longing for since I got on the ship. At 6:00am I headed up to the 7th deck observatory to witness the sunrise as we approached Cape Town. The sun peaked over the mountains on the port side of the ship and directly ahead Table Mountain was illuminated, the Mother City below it. We had officially arrived to South Africa, the “Rainbow Nation.” How fitting that a rainbow was painted in the morning sky above us. It was a sign of the beautiful things to come. We pulled into port at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront. This was much different than the previous two ports we called home. The V & A Waterfront is a luxurious westernized shopping and entertainment complex. Anything and everything we ever wanted or needed was out our fingertips. No taxis, no traveling involved. It was a blessing and a burden. A blessing because we had internet access everywhere, we could have lunch or go grocery shopping and walk right back on the ship but a burden because I feel it took away from getting to know locals in their environment like we had done in previous ports. Either way it was a fun and beautiful place to call home and it had the most breathtaking view. The port and its emerald water surrounded the ship. Seals played just below us as we ate breakfast on the deck. The waterfront was our neighborhood and in the background Table Mountain towered over all of it. I explored the waterfront on my first day before a scheduled FDP to the South African Parliament. The first thing that became evident was there was a fever going around…Springbok fever that is! The 2011 World Cup of Rugby was going on and the South African team, the Springboks had dominated their game 89-0 (or something ridiculous like that) the night before we got there. Everyone was wearing green and gold even our tour guide at parliament later that day was wearing his Springboks jersey to work. I had just watched the movie “Invictus” the night before so it didn’t take long before I caught the fever and bought some Springboks gear for myself. Plus it filled a large void in my life…I miss NFL Football! Aaah! LoL. That afternoon I had one of the most rewarding experiences of my trip so far.  I had and FDP to the office of the Commission for Gender Equality of South African Parliament. It was a very intimate and relaxed meeting between Advocate Kamraj Anirudhra, Attorney Swasthi Anirudrah and about 10 students including myself. They talked to us about the Republic of South Africa as a constitutional democracy, the make up of their parliament, and the role of the Commission for Gender Equality in parliament. It was interesting to find that a country that had been torn apart by Apartheid a little over 17 years ago has made so much more progress in terms of equality than the U.S. has in its history. For example the Civil Unions Act, which allows for legalized same sex marriage or the Childrens Act which gives same sex partners the right to legally adopt children both of which we are still fighting for and yet to see in the U.S. They are also responsible for overseeing and defending individuals on such matters under the Domestic Violence Act, Employment Equity Act, or Sexual Offences Act just to name a few. I was brought back to reality the next day when I discussed with my guide how happy and amazed I was with the laws on equality in South Africa. He reminded me that just because the laws exist it doesn’t mean people agree with or follow the laws. Sooo true. ::frown::  However, I would have to argue that having those laws in writing is one step further in the right direction than we will ever be in the U.S.
That evening I pondered everything I learned that day over Old Wobbly beer at Mitchell’s Pub at the V & A Waterfront. Cape Town was a place of indulgence for me, for all of us. A month of ship food will drive you insane. We all fulfilled our alcohol and sushi cravings that night. I called it an early night as I had organized a bike and wine tour in the Stellenbosch wine region for the following day. Plus it was too damn cold and windy that night to want to do anything! Ali, Lauren, and I along with 12 other SAS students woke up the next morning at the butt crack of dawn for the bike and wine tour. One of our tour guides, Luke, met us on Long Street where we left from and headed to the train station. After a 40 minute train ride we arrived in beautiful Stellenbosch. Across the tracks from us we could see the mountains and the lush green surroundings of the wine lands. South Africa was just entering into its spring and not only was the perfect weather a testament to this but the plethora of flowers blooming in every which way made it even more evident. We arrived at the Bikes ‘N Wines compound where another guy set us up with our bikes and helmets for the tour. I was hoping this guy was Quintin, the guy I had been e-mailing back and forth with for a little over a month organizing the tour. I hoped it was him not only to finally put a face to the emails but because as it turns out he was very easy and entertaining on the eyes. Just saying.  Anyway, back to the story. I walked over and introduced myself and indeed it was him. We were all getting ready to head out when he asks the group…”does anyone here not know how to ride a bike?” I thought it was a joke, I mean who would sign up for a BIKE and wine tour if they didn’t know how to ride a bike? Much to my surprise my Panamanian friend Sofia raised her hand. “Wait, what? Really?” Yup, true story. After a short tutorial from Quintin, Sofia learned how to ride a bike that day…on trails…across the wine lands...tipsy on wine and brandy. I’m still astonished by this. If I wasn’t there to witness this myself I would call “bull shit.” Sofia is my hero! We made our way to the Spier winery for our first wine tasting. I was ecstatic. When else other than tailgating at a Dolphin’s game would drinking alcohol at 9:30am be totally socially acceptable? Spier was by far my favorite of the tastings we went to. They had a cozy little outdoors porch covered by plants and vines above. We started off with my favorite the Methode Cap Classique (a South African sparkling wine made by the traditional Champagne method.) It was light and crisp and the perfect way to cool down from the early morning sun. We continued on with a couple more whites (all delicious by the way) before switching to reds. We started with a Pinotage which is exclusive to South Africa. Can’t say I met a wine I didn’t like while I was at Spier. I definitely plan on buying some from Total Wines when I get back to the U.S.! We are not allowed to bring alcohol on the ship and shipping it back home would have cost me about $250 U.S. dollars. Bummer. I will have to hold my cravings until December. I couldn’t have been more excited than for our next part of the tour…the cheetah sanctuary!!! I got to hang out, pet, and take pictures with  “Pedro” the cheetah. Ali, Lauren, and I were brought into his pen, but I was the only one who got to hang out with him because he decided to get up and roam around which meant we had to leave the area ASAP. We exited his pen and Ali and Lauren ended up hanging out with Pedro’s brother Phoenix who was a little less active. After the cheetah sanctuary we made our way to the Van Ryn Brandy distillery. It was quite the ride with beautiful scenery of mountains, rivers, and vineyards all along the way. Brandy is not my adult beverage of choice.  So I struggled a bit. However I did down the DELICIOUS fruit juice infused welcome cocktail like it was my job! We had 2 different vintages of brandy a 10 year and a 15 year. I will say I enjoyed them a lot more when I learned the proper way to drink them. But it still didn’t stop the burning on the way down. At this point I was starting to get a buzz. We had not eaten lunch yet and we had been biking and drinking all morning.  It was then that Quintin suggested we all head out to the next place for lunch. Buuut, I wasn’t allowed to leave without at least finishing one of the goblets of brandy because it was “unacceptable.” “Oh man, how am I going to do this?” I thought to myself. “I don’t know if I can do that” I said to everyone at our table. Well I tried and I did it, I gulped down the 15 year brandy. I could feel it burning the whole way down as I grew chest hairs and my voice deepened about 18 octaves. Wooo! I’m sure the look on my face said it all and the grin and evil look on Quintin’s face said the rest. I was tricked. Quintin, you are an evil man. Haha. I was definitely guilty of “biking under the influence” after that. We biked our way over to the final winery, Vredenheim.  Seeing Zebras and Ostriches on a farm on the way. Before the tasting we had lunch at their restaurant  “ Barrique Restaurant and Brewery.” Brewery being the key word here…so of course I had to try their beer! It was awesome and so was the pizza I had there. I could’ve gone for traditional South African food or Malay food but of course after a few drinks who doesn’t want pizza? It honestly was one of the best I had in a while. They did however take forever to bring mine out and they compensated me by sending over a glass of champagne! Trouble. Because my pizza took forever we were running short on time. We had to be gone in a few minutes to catch the last train back to Cape Town. So our last wine tasting turned into taking shots of wine. I was just taking a sip of the first wine when the next wine was already there ready for me. Good times. Lets just say I was a lot of fun on the train back home. Our bike and wine tour was by far one of the highlights of our trip to SA. Later that night the group met back up at Mitchell’s for dinner and more “tastings.” This time it was of “Springbok” shots and “African Toilets.” Later my friend joined us and introduced me to Savanna Dry, my new favorite apple cider. Sorry Strongbow! You just don’t compare anymore. It was a solid day/night but the one thing I will never forget was driving up to Table Mountain in the middle of the night with my friend. He turned off the car, the lights and introduced me to a whole new side of Cape Town. I could see hundreds of thousand of twinkling lights as the city lay silent beneath me. I still get goose bumps thinking about how awesome that was. A few hours later though I would be seeing the entire Western Cape from a whole new point; 9,000 ft in the air jumping out of a perfectly good plane. Yes I went sky diving in South Africa. The view from the plane was A-mazing. You could see Robben Island, hundreds of miles of white sand beaches, clear blue water and of course Table Mountain. I was the lucky chosen one (insert sarcasm here) to jump out first. My instructor sat me next to the door. So the entire ride up in this sardine can of a plane I was leaning against a clear rolling door. I don’t know how I kept my cool the entire time, but I did. That was until we reached 9,000 feet and they rolled up the door. My heart sank into the pit of my stomach. I got strapped in and almost immediately my instructor gave me the command to hang my feet out of the airplane. I was telling my body to do one thing and my brain was telling it another. I couldn’t move. My roommate Ali says the fear on my face scared her…lol. Eventually my body listened to me and my feet made it over the side of the plane. I was numb at that point. I was afraid if I sat too far forward I would fall out of the plane before my guy was ready. My purple and neon green sneakers hung out side the plane like kites in the wind. Then I heard the words…”are you ready?” and within seconds, Rob, the instructor pulled my head back and jumped. It took about half a second for me to realize what was happening. And then THAT feeling hit me. It was the worst and best feeling I have ever felt all at the same time. If you’re lucky maybe someday you will watch the DVD of my jump and you can make fun of me like everyone else on the ship has done for giving a play-by-play commentary on the jump.  Anyway, once the parachute opened it was a smooth ride down. Rob let me steer and we did some spirals on the way down. Ali, Sara and I all had perfect landings. Sunday was all about pushing myself to the limits. Immediately after jumping we returned to the ship where Ali and I changed and headed out to hike Table Mountain. I knew the hike up the Platteklip Gorge Trail wasn’t going to be easy but I never imagined it would be as physically taxing as it was. It is honestly one of the most physically challenging things I’ve done in a long time, if not maybe ever. About 30 minutes in I thought I was about to have a heat stroke even though I had taken every precaution to protect myself. It was the hottest day we had on our 6-day stay. Not a cloud in the sky and as dry as could be. The afternoon sun was punishing. But Ali and I pushed on. About an hour into the vertical climb I hit and passed my wall. I was golden after that! We took a few breaks in between but I’m proud to say Ali and I made it to the top of Table Mountain in 2 hours and 5 minutes and just in time for sunset. The panoramic views from the top were worth every bit of pain I endured on the hike up. On one side the sun was setting and clouds were below us covering the beach town of Camps Bay. On the other side we had a clear view of the entire city of Cape Town and the coastline. We could make out the M/V Explorer as a dot somewhere in the waterfront area. That night Ali, Sara and I treated ourselves to a fancy dinner at Karibu at the V & A Waterfront. I had the most A-mazing Ostrich filet. Tastes like steak. I also tried a piece of Springbok shank. Not my fave but not terribly bad. The next day we had a girl’s getaway to Cape Point. It’s where the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean meet. It was far from the ship so we hired a taxi driver for the day and split between Sara, Ali, Nikki, Lauren and I. Our cab driver was Waldeen, the coolest dude ever! I’m positive we changed his life. He will never be able to hear Katy Perry or Bruno Mars without thinking of us singing at the top of our lungs windows down and changing the lyrics to include his name in every song. What a lucky guy! Haha. He made our journey to Cape Point memorable. We stopped for pictures in Hout Bay and he even took us the Scarborough route to the park because I mentioned my friend Jason who I met back in the states owns a house there. On our way up to Scarborough Sara somehow spotted a whale breaching in the ocean next to us. Waldeen stopped and allowed us to whale watch for a while. We were like 2 yrs old seeing a puppy for the first time. Eventually we made it to Cape Point. Its one of the most picturesque places I’ve been to. The two oceans separated by mountains which were blooming with flowers in some places and a quaint light house in the middle. On the way back we stopped at Boulder’s Beach or as some like to call it “the penguin beach.” Yes, that’s right. We got to see Penguins up close and personal in their natural habitat. They are sooooo cute! Ok, enough of that. On the way back to the ship we of course serenaded Waldeen with his all time favorites, “Grenade” by Bruno Mars and “Firework “ by Katy Perry.  Unfortunately the following day was our last in the place we had all began to feel at home at. We saved the best meal for last. The best burgers ever at Royale Eatery (I think that was the full name of the place) on Long Street. My friend Andrew spent some time in South Africa last year during the world cup and suggested I go there while I was in town. He wasn’t joking. Best burgers, best shakes. We all still talk about that meal until this day. Thank you Andrew Eppes. You have changed our lives forever. Nothing will ever compare to my “Miss Piggy” ostrich burger. To make the meal even more memorable, guess who “randomly” showed up at the end of the meal to pick us up? That’s right, Waldeen!  We had one last Katy Perry session before saying our final goodbyes to Waldeen and to beautiful, amazing, exhilarating Cape Town.