Cape Town has been wonderful. We are staying at this house that caters to foreign volunteers through an organization called Aviva. We have made some awesome friends that I am going to be sad about leaving. One group of friends that have been positively amazing in their South African hospitality are Monique (the wonderful ring leader and personal guide) her
husband Steff and Aaron and Shelly (with baby Griffin). We actually met them in Cape St. Francis while they were all there on holiday. The whole two weeks has just been packed full of good experiences. One was the Whacky Wine Festival 
centered on a town that is surrounded by vineyards. Monique and Steff picked Claire and I up the first Saturday we were here and drove out about an hour and half where we bought wine “passports” for 70R which is just shy of $10 and then proceeded to drive all around to all these wonderful vineyards where this passport got us free wine tastings of all the wines the vineyards had to offer. Monique and Steff have some local wine knowledge so we hit the best wine-makers and had some amazing wines. I ended up bringing home 5 bottles of really great wine for dirt cheap. Along with wine they also grow olives here and the girls enjoyed trying and I tried some awesome olive oils, ending up bringing home this
great lemon olive oil. It is great on just bread but we have also been using it for cooking. Yum! At the end of the day we went back to their favorite vineyard which we watched the sunset on the mountains over good conversation.
That night Monique took us out to dinner at café ERTE named after the famous designer and then she showed us all the fun places to go in downtown cape town. It was our first night out in the city and we had so much fun. And we danced. Oh how I love dancing! So cool to vibe and groove in a different city.
We have also made many other fabulous friends. It is kind of hard not too living in a house with over 20 people!
We also got to work for two weeks at SANCCOB (South African National Conservation ) with their vet Dr. Nola Parsons, as well as the other veterinary student from Canada Liz. I really liked both of them and the work that we did there. We got to do some vet stuff like bleeding the 66 Gannets that came in our first week there, collecting guano samples, doing necropsies on all animals that died or had to euthanized, as well as getting a lot of experience handling all different kinds of sea birds. Totally cool.
We also got to have several amazing adventures while in Cape Town. One that I got to do with Judy and Jenny (two new great friends from AVIVA house) was paragliding. We wanted to jump off of Lion’s Head Mountain (the smaller mountain right next to Table Mountain, right by the bay) but the officials closed off all air space around Cape Town for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. So instead we head out just outside of town and jump off a large hill Merendal’s Valley. So our flights consisted of a gorgeous view of Cape Town, the bay, Table Moutnian, and beautiful vineyards. It was so gorgeous up there and increadibly peaceful, though probably not for the 
guy who took us up as he had to put up with my squeals of delight both trips. We actually lucked out by getting two flights. We first tried with just the paraglider but the wind wasn’t being so cooperative so all our flights were kind f short. So they were sweet and strapped a motor on their back (which we kept calling a fan much to their chagrin) and they took us up again for a second longer view of this beautiful country we are in. Sigh.
A couple of times we ventured out to Long Street, which is where Cape Town’s night life thrives. Long street reminds me so much of the French Quarter in New Orleans with the clubs having balconies facing the street and so many people partying and having a great time. One night in particular it was resembling a little of Mardi Gra when the crowds shut down traffic in long street celebrating the opening games of the World Cup. So even though I am not big into sports, I went to the waterfront with Zach, Jenny, and Judy to watch the first match between SA and Mexico at a sports bar. Thankfully we got a table outside so that Judy and I didn’t have to be in the chaos and Zach and Jenny could still see the game in the screen. The energy in Cape Town that day was crazy and you knew exactly when the game started as the air practically crackled with the spike in energy. It was so much fun to experience that and people watch. The South Africans where just so stoked and happy and supportive of their team, it was really cool to experience. After that game we ventured down to Long Street to find a place to watch the next game that was hosted in Cape Town, after that game Long Street was crazy. People were all dressed up in crazy South African flag inspired outfits, singing, dancing, drinking and walking up and down the middle of Long Street turning it into a huge city party. So many vuvuzelas (sp?) were blown creating a constant noise the whole night. To be honest it was kind of annoying but by the end of the night I even got into it as my friends bought one. Turns out I can play it pretty well. But I am still annoyed at them being played first thing in the morning and it should be illegal for kids to own one. J
Well we had many other adventures in cape town including hiking Table Mountain (but I am going to let Claire talk about that) and going to a Braai at our friends Shelly and Erin’s house where Monique gave me a fabulous hair cut for my birthday. It’s lekker (Afrikans for sweet)! Don’t’ worry it is still long, it just looks amazing. It is nice to have new friends that are hair and makeup artists in the film industry. Also even gave the girls at Aviva house a belly dance lesson which they loved and continued to practice with me in the clubs. I love it when people have such enthusiasm for learning something new. Makes me fall in love with teaching all over again.
Okay that is all from me right now. Bright Blessings from the Mother City. - Michaelle
No comments:
Post a Comment