Cape point and the cape if good hope

Well we rented a car about 20 minutes ago and I already almost drove into oncoming traffic. It's a weird thing to get used to at first. I have a week tiger used to it though. We had tickets to Durban but are going to drive the garden route instead. 

The cape of good hope and cape point really were quite astonishing. Very rugged and dramatic. It was fun we decided to climb of these rocks rather than take the trail and it made for an adventure. There is a light house at the end of cape point that we walked up to. Today we drop off one car and get another. First stop in Hermannus to see the whales.  

Cape of good hope on te left from cape point light house 

Table mountain and a change in plans

I thought it would have been a time for some self reflection but it hasn't quite been that trip yet. I have met incredible people and seen incredible things but I think because of some of our time constraints it's been busy with going and going and making sure we saw the things we wanted to. I wouldn't change anything. I have really started to grow a desire to see the world and to experience the world and the people in it. You meet the greatest people who really embrace these ideas.

I climbed table mountain for a third time. It was hot but it was a great experience. 

It's really where I thrive and feel at peace. It really has become a bit of a refuge for me. It's were I feel comfortable. I think it's cool to know that I can find that type of feeling no matter where I go. The hike we took is called Indian vencer and really is gorgeous route. It's steeper than some of the other routes up the mountains and has some parts that you scramble up. The views are phenomenal. Today there was a fog coming in from the camps bay side of town that spilt into the valley around lions head. It was quite the site. Pablo joined Brandt and I on the hike. He is a fun guy and am always glad when he can join us for his adventures. 

Tonight we went to Rafikkis for pizza and it was fun. We had people from Norway, Germany, holland and Spain at the table. Rafikkis is just a local restaurant and bar that has half price pizza on Mondays. 

Plans seem to be changing a little. We were supposed to fly to Durban on Wednesday but it seems may rent a car and travel the garden route instead. It's supposed to be incredible and I am really excited as we will still have a week in Durban to see the city and enjoy the beach. Kind of bummed to have spent the money on the tickets but it I think will be the way to go. 

Out hostel has a bar area up on the roof and it had a terrific view of the city. It fun to go up and play pool or just take in the view. It's been a cool place to stay. It has a really cool vibe to. We have gone out with some of the staff most evenings and they have been good at showing us around the town. 

Relaxing away the day

Today we went to the beach. It was sunny but quite windy. The beach was at camps bay which is a pretty area with the 12 apostles right in the background. 

Weird panaramic shot. It's a clear day with the twelve apostles in the background. 

Now we are watching the Classico between Real Madrid and Barcelona with a bunch of spaniards. They take their soccer serious. They are yelling and cursing in their mother tongue. 

It's Sunday now and we had another beach day. It really was a perfect day and probably the least windy day so far. We went to Clifton beach and hung out and even swam a little despite the freezing water.  Pablo came with us. He is from the north part of Spain but now lives on the Canary Islands and is a prison guard. He is really good guy and is here to learn English. He attends classes during the week and plays when he has time. The people have really made the trip so far. Pablo is definitely one of those I will not soon forget. He offered to have me stay with him anytime and I hope one day to take him up on his offer. 

Lions head

Today lions head was on the list of things to do. It's a peak right outside of town. It's a really nice pretty mellow hike. It takes less than an hour to get to the top and youGet really great views. 

The fog that rolled in

Climbing in. Came just playing around

This is lions head yesterday at sunset. 

This is the honey from the sandwiches we had. Worry not this is badger friendly honey. I wonder what qualifications you need to get this designation  

We went up with our Norwegian friends this time. It was fun they had some climbing I was able to play around on. Short post a it was a pretty laid back day. We are about to head out to dinner and then we may go out as it's the last weekend before we go. 

Catching up

Today we went to the bird park. It was lots of fun. You go through these different cages and the birds are in there with you. I touched an own and also got attacked by an owl. 

They are mean little buggers when they want to be. We also got to go into a monkey cage and they would come and crawl on you everything was just so close. It was a cool experience. Like anything the journey was as much of the adventure. We drove beautiful coastline in a mini bus then had a pretty good walk to the park just to get there.

We were between the bird sanctuary and the game and had a chance to go sit on the roof with toto and Pablo of Spain and enjoy some croissants. It was really cool to get different perspectives on things. I had a chance to talk with Akhim from Libya yesterday and that was really interesting as well. It was interesting to get a his perspective on the US and some the challenges that he sees in his country. Especially with the government change it was really interesting to hear how the change has gone. The trip is honestly been as much about the people as the places. The people you meet and the conversations you have are always varied and interesting. It is amazing to see others perspective. Everyone I talk to seems to be pretty well versed on world affairs and all have their viewpoint on what is going on. 

At the soccer match and the stadium is incredible. The attendance is less than stellar. Ajax is up one zero. Go Cape Town. My ticket was free. Someone just gave us a ticket. The other guys paid ten rand but that's one dollar US.

we had a late night last night and an early morning this morning. Me and Toto headed out to stelinbosch to see a compost farm. It really is quite interesting. They take the cities green wasted and the run it through a chipper the. Put them in these huge rows and add clay and other microbes and the then turn them multiple times a day. Once it's been properly composted they sell it to farmers. They also get carbon credits they can then turn around and well to companies to meet EU clean air requirements. 

We then went to a winery that had some excellent food and even better cheese. I have never been much for cheese but it really was great. The food was excellent. Really fancy and reasonable for price at least by US standards. 

It was a cool experience going out to this place and a really interesting business plan. It was also interesting how it came about. The owner of a vineyard decided that they wanted to make an organic wine and started doing their own compost and it grew from there. It's cool to see companies being Eco friendly. Toto is very much involved with some different green energy causes and it definitely gets you thinking about our responsibilities  

Table take 2 and Robben island

So last night we went out to dinner with rafikkis and met up with some people for pizza. There were 9 of us in total. A couple locals including the bar keeper from the hostel and some of his friends and a couple people from the hostel. After dinner we decided to go to a bar so they could drink and dance. So we piled 9 people in a tiny car that would sit no more than four comfortable and maybe five legally. Santiago was in the boot with his face crammed against the rear window. It was pretty funny and a good time.

I called it a night around eleven but Toto and Santi stayed up til 3 and apparently had a pretty crazy night. I woke up Thinking that there was no way they were going to want to hike up table mountain. They surprised me and went anyway. We took a supposedly more difficult route up the table. It was gorgeous.

My phone died so this te one shot I got with my phone. I have been to lazy to download pics off my camera so far so one day I will have to post a bunch of those. 

 It was really fun to get to know Toto and Santi better as well. Santi goes home tomorrow so it was his last chance to climb the table. toto told me last time he went up table mountain Alex Honnold was there climbing. He's a professional climber from the US. The cliffs there really are incredible though.

We got home and immediately had to set out for Robben island. It was not the most exciting tour but cool history. 

It was where Mandela served most of his sentence as a political prisoner. It had quite the history hosting prisons for the Dutch and English a mental asylum and a leper colony. There are also penguins and I saw a tortoise which was cool. We saw the cell Mandela was kept in and was given a tour by ex political prisoners who were jailed there. 

Mandelas cell

It was the highlight for sure. There were also some incredible views of Cape Town. It was a hectic day topped off by some awesome Indian food and ice cream. Now to head out to a pool hall to shoot pool. 

Match day

Today is the rugby match but we thought we would get an early start and head down to the beach. We stopped in fish hoek a beach town near Simons town we went and waked along the beach and there were a ton of dead jelly fish washed up. They were really cool looking. Some were a dark red and others a bright blue. 

It was a nice morning for a walk on the beach.

We grabbed a hot dog type of thing at a stand and went to the train station to catch the train back to newlands where the match is taking place. 

Well the match just finished and the home side won. It was fun to watch. I am not going to lie I wasn't always positive what was going on but I got the jest of the game for the most part. 

Rugby is a tough sport. It's always fun to have firsts and that was my first rugby match. I believe it was a semi final match so the teams were two of the better teams in the country. I can't say I bleed blue for western province quite yet but I can say they are now my favorite South African rugby team without any hesitation. We now have about an hour wait for the train back to Cape Town. It was a cool experience. 

People are still cheering their team on and we are back at the train station. There are passionate fans for just about everything.