Coming to Cape Town

Mosquito nets are like princess beds only better because you don't die of malaria. 

Just dropped thabang off. It sucked saying goodbye. It was great to have him on the trip. He is a great example of a true friend. He was a godsend throughout the trip as well. 

I found a much better version of beef jerky here called biltong. It's my new go to snack. Snacks it seems is about the extent of what I have eaten for the majority of this trip rarely having a real meal. 

This trip so far has been a bit of a whirlwind. Sleep has been a luxury not readily afforded. We had to wake up at 3 am this morning to come drop off thabang then our car and then to the airport to catch a flight to Cape Town. It was still really dark when we left so there were lots of stars out. It was cool to know that they were different constellations than we see back home. I am no sure if there was a meteor shower but I saw a couple shooting stars while I was driving.

We have driven past a few of the stadiums they played World Cup matches. They are impressive but one of the stadiums seemed really out of place. It was on its way out to Kruger park and was in a really small town in the middle of nowhere. 

We saw Nelson Mandelas house in Soweto today. It was pretty cool. 

They have a ton of respect for him out here streets are named after him and he is kind of all over the place. We also saw the stadium that hosted the final match of the World Cup. It's cool to see some of the remnants of the events. 

Not a good picture at all but the stadium is in there. 

We are sitting on an airplane on the way to Cape Town and it's interesting to think that everything I need for the next the long while is in the stowaway bins above my head. It's wild to think about considering how much time I spent working to acquire stuff compared to what I really need. I am certainly not trying to make a statement by any means I am more guilty than most in this department. That's evident in my glut of climbing and snowboarding gear. It's just a different mindset that really centered on making your money stretch and minimalism.  It's a bit of a liberating feeling. It's easy enough to become a slave to your things or the things you want. 

So I am off my rant and in Cape Town now. It's hands down the most gorgeous city I have been in. Table mountain is incredible. 

These picture really aren't good at all and don't even start to do it justice. 

It seems like our plans are coming together nicely as well. It just so happens there is a rugby match on Saturday we are going to. Tomorrow we are headed to boulder beach to harass the penguins and we will stop by the stadium on our way there to get our tickets for the match. We are planning on hiking table mountain Friday. The thought right now is to hike to the top and then come down the opposite side and check out the botanical gardens on the other side. Lots of other things in the works  

So we had reservations to a hostel in an area called Woodstock. Kind of rougher area of town and as we stopped to go into the hostel a guy in the street stops us and tells us that the hostel isn't fit to stay on account of the dead bodies in the building. I am not sure about all that but we did decide to seek out other accommodations for the evening. The place we are staying is a converted rail station with train cars as the room. Needless to say the beds are not big but the overall vibe is pretty cool. 

Our room. What used to be a room of a sleeper train. 

We are close to long street which is kind of the hear of downtown and is supposed to be where the night life is. So far we have just done some walking around but I am really excited for the upcoming days.