I can’t believe we are already flying out of Cape Town today! This trip is flying by! Cape Town has been a really interesting place. It’s pretty much Euro-San Francisco, with slums everywhere right outside the city. It seems there’s no middle class, just the extremely wealthy and the extremely poor (at least in the areas we’ve seen). Unemployment is almost 25%!
The first day here we took the cable car to the top of Table Mountain. We ended up hiking all around the top and then hiking down the mountain instead of taking the cable car. We figure we did about 6-7 miles, and we still look like old people while going up and down stairs because our calves are so sore (and it was three days ago!).
The next day we went down to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. It was a little difficult hiking around because we were so sore, but the views were amazing. We also saw some ostriches, penguins, and baboons, so that was fun. After that we drove up to wine country which was gorgeous! Unfortunately, the light was awful, so the pictures will never do it justice. We had a nice dinner at a little restaurant and then came back to Cape Town.
Yesterday we took a boat out to Robben Island and took a tour. Nic and I both agree that we need to read more about Nelson Mandela. Our tour guide was actually a prisoner there because he and some others set fire to a building (in an attempt to destroy some files having to to with apartheid…he didn’t give specifics) when they were 18. The court called it sabotage, and he was sentenced to 7 years (he served 5 1/2). It was really cool to hear about it from someone who was actually there, even though he missed Mandela by about four years.
Well, I guess that’s our Cape Town update! We are flying to Johannesburg today, and then heading to Kruger National Park tomorrow. We don’t really think we’ll have access to Internet, so it could be about a week before I am able to write again. I hope everyone is doing well!
Cassi and Nick,
Sounds like you’re having a fabulous time! I hope you continue to have fun!
Glad to hear you are doing well and having fun! It sounds like an incredible trip so far! It’s so awesome you were able to hear from a prisoner of Robben Island. We miss you and love you!
What a fun adventure you are having! You’ll definitely have amazing memories from this trip! Take care.
I get so excited whenever I see a new post from you guys! I’m glad you’ve been able to do and see so much outdoorsy stuff – were the penguins you saw the ones with orange on their heads? Macaroni penguins are my favorite so I hope that’s what you saw. I’m with you; I need to read more about Nelson Mandela. Maybe we should pick different books and then exchange them. Can’t wait to hear more from you guys!