Day 14 - December 14, 2008

Day 14

December 14, 2008

I had woken up several times throughout the night and morning.  I actually woke up to what I believe was a foghorn.  I opened the curtains and saw that it was extremely overcast.  Our first day of gloomy weather.  I laid back down and took cat naps here and there, until Rey finally knocked on my door at 11:30.  He said it was time to get some food and find me some luggage.  I was the only one that brought one big suitcase and coming over it was busting at the seams.  After all the souvenirs and gifts, there was no way it could all fit in one bag.  So, after some quick showers, we headed down to Camps Bay and ate at Blues, which is not a restaurant on the second floor overlooking the beach.  They had a two for one drink special.  As we sipped our drinks, we noticed that there were some beach volleyball courts set up.  I felt the urge to play.  They didn't look that good and I hoped that they would let tourists play and a girl at that.  I noticed that there was one tall girl playing.  Rey reminds me of my responsibilities of buying luggage.  After I enjoyed a salad, pork chops, and four cocktails, we were off to the house.  Andrew was coming over to visit.  Roger, being the nice guy that he is, is willing to drive us to downtown Cape Town to a luggage shop that we had seen on Long Street last night.  I also bring some volleyball clothes to change into, if we get the luggage and have time to play.    So, Roger and I head off to downtown Cape Town.  I notice on Andrew's directions, his shorthand for stoplight are 4 little circles in a square formation.  The luggage shop is located on Long Street.  It looks totally different then last night.  It looks as if all the shops are closed and only restaurants and bars are open.  Just like all the shops on the block before, my luggage shop is also closed.  I decided to head to the surf shop in Camps Bay and just buy two duffel bags.  I figure I can check in one and carry on the other.  When we get to the surf shop in Camps Bay, the cashier is so sweet, she suggests to check out the other surf shop on the block because they are bigger and may have luggage.  We head up to the other surf shop, which is right next to Blues, where we had eaten earlier.  Sure enough, the have huge Dakine duffel bags.  Perfect.  I get one that has a handle and rolls.  It is pretty big, but I figure I would rather have more than enough room than not enough room at all.  Rey is still planning to mail stuff when we get to Joberg, I think if I can check in both bags, I will be good to go.  

I purchase my bag and I am slowly trying to gain the courage to ask if I can play on the volleyball court.  Roger sits on the side with my new duffel bag.  I approach the court and ask some of the girls standing by the court if anyone is able to play.  They are extremely nice and introduce themselves to me.  They are here for a salsa convention and it is their group of friends who are playing.  As soon as the game is done, the quickly tell their friends that I would like to play.  I am able to pick up Flavio as my partner.  The other team is also co-ed.  It was a pretty good game.  After I had served out, hit out, and even did my deep shot out, the other team told me that the court was short.  I was like I know, short court and they said no it is even short then that because they had ran out of string for the lines.  The court was off by 1 meter.  I lost, but I was able to hold my own for the most part.  Flavio is funny, he comments that Liza you are always sorry.  If you hit out you are sorry and if you serve an ace you are sorry.  I also would always tell him to hit deep line.  He didn't understand what I was trying to say.  I guess old habits don't change even if you are playing in another country.  It was nice to play and do something active.  When we were watching the games earlier, I would see people totally watch the ball drop on lollipop shots.  In my head, I was like I could totally get that.  Now, I was the player watching the lollipop shots.  I ran down a couple, but my body quickly reminded me that I haven't done this in over three weeks.  i would not be able to handle doing that the entire game.   After our game was done, others asked to join and our doubles became, triples, fours, and eventually fives.  The level of play quickly diminished as the number of people on the court increased.  I politely stepped out and started to think it would be a good time to feel that ocean water.  We have been told the whole trip about how cold the water is and we would not be able to stand it.  I mean I hardly go in the water in Huntington Beach because it is too cold, could it be colder than that?  Yes.  I thought it was pretty cold.  My ankles were frozen faster than HB water.  Roger didn't think it was that bad.  He was able to wade up to his knees.  I stopped at the ankles.  If you think about it, we are pretty far south and close to Antarctica.  For Pete's sake, penguins live here.

After a short rest and shower, we got ready to go to dinner.  We chose The Hassair Grill.  The motif was like a library or smoking room.  It was dim with lots of books, wine barrels and crates.  Roger and Rey were daring and had the Warthog ribs.  I stuck to a filet mignon.  We barely made a dent in our plates.  It could have been the vat of soup we each got for starters.  It was Bombay Gin and tomato soup.  Very tasty, but just so much of it.  We all looked like we were in a coma after only a couple bites of our main entrees.    After we forced ourselves to finish our glasses of wine and beer, we rolled to the car.  We have a busy day.  We are leaving here by 9:30 am.  So, I was subtly reminded by Rey that I need to pack tonight.  Thank goodness for Rey, I would probably still be in LA without him.  Actually, Roger and Rey have been great traveling companions.  They are probably tired of me, but are able to tolerate a couple more days.  Rey did mention he was going to take a sleeping pill on the way back.  With how much I have slept on this trip, I don't think I need a sleeping pill.  Well, good night.  I will try to update by blog and check emails now, pack, and hit the sack.

Day 13 - December 13, 2008

Day 13

December 13, 2008

We decided to sleep in and take another easy day.   We all sleep in and plan on our agenda.  We are to shop for more souvenirs and the plan is to ship some of our treasures home.  Unfortunately, we are unable to find a UPS Store or something similar.  We are told of PostNet, but we are unable to find it.  So, we head down to the strip of Camps Bay.  We end up buying the more souvenirs and grab lunch.  We eat at Parangas.  We have a nice table on the patio.  I again order the seafood platter.  Rey ordered an ostrich filet and Roger ordered sushi.  Unfortunately for us and fortunate for Parangas, they have shooters menu.  Shooter are only 20 rand, in other words cheap.  We start at the top of the list of the shooters menu and work our way down.  Don't worry, there were only, I think 8 listed.  They were delicious.  Some of the names were "The Banana Blow Job", "The Real Blow Job", and Lemon Drop, to name a few.  As we were taking our shots and enjoying our lunch, a family sat next to us.  It was a mother with her two kids and a friend.  Before you knew it, we were all doing shots together.  The kids were 16 and 18.  There were here in Camps Bay for a holiday.  The daughter is a model and is out here doing some modeling jobs.  There friend is a photographer, who went with the daughter on a casting call and got signed up for his first commercial as a model.  The mother's name is Gillian and she is my cook sister.  Remember on the safari I called it a cookie sister.  Well, I have been informed by Gillian and that we can't say cookie because over here a cookie is a vajayjay : >  YIKES!!! I hope I haven't been asking for cookies lately!  Anyways, we ended up talking and shooting the afternoon away.  It turns out that the mom is on Facebook and we swapped information to be friends on Facebook.  Oh! The reason Gillian is my cook sister is because we are alike.  We have the same humor and she had great energy.  She also is a single mom and she told me I had the making to be an awesome mom (who cares if she was on her 3rd shot!).  After we paid the bill, bid our farewells , and took a picture with Surge, our waiter, we were off back to our house.  We had time to take a quick nap before Rey's friend, Andrew was coming over and joining us for dinner.  

Andrew had set up reservations at a restaurant called Bizerca Bistro, which is in downtown Cape Town.   The restaurant was decorated in whites and blacks.  It had a nouveau look to it.  The specials were hand written on chalkboards that each table had their own to look at.  I ordered a tomato and olive tapenade for a starter, beef fillet for the main course, and creme brule, with chocolate and sorbet for dessert.  Everything was good.  I believe Roger and Rey had the salmon, which wasn't orangish-pink.  It turns out that the salmon was organic and did not have any added color.  Trippy.  After the wonderful meal, Andrew drove us around and gave us a tour of downtown Cape Town.  He took us down Long Street, which had many bars and seemed like the happening place to be.  He also drove us down Auderlee Street, which was decorated with Christmas lights.  We saw Green Market Square, which was deserted, but I guess during the day is similar to a farmer's market.  I think the toll of the shots from earlier and dinner hit all of us, where we all decided to go home and sleep.  ( actually, you know I was ready to rumble, but I was the only willing one ~ funny thing is that when I got home and sat on my bed, I really got sleepy, must be losing my touch)  

Day 11 - December 11, 2008

Day 11

December 11, 2008

Today is an exciting day.  Well, everyday has been exciting, but today Rey has booked a tour for us to see a township.  A township is pretty much the barios of South Africa.  The scene is broken down shacks with corrugated iron roofs, trash scattered, and dirt roads.  I really don't know what to expect.  All I know is what I have seen, I am a bit nervous and scared.  Yet, after the scorpion, I am bit more brave.  The tour guide, Lisa, comes to pick us up.  As we wait outside, the wind is really pounding hard on us.  All three of us end up putting on our jackets, that we had just in case packed for later.  The wind also reassures us that today would not have been a good day to climb Table Mountain.  Lisa is a cute and bubbly tour guide.  As she drives us to the District 6 Museum, she gives us bits and pieces of historical facts about Cape Town and South Africa.  Also, on our way to the museum, she drives us through Cape Malays, which is very colorful neighborhood.  The houses are in vibrant colors and each a different color.  By the time we get to the District 6 Museum, she has given us enough background knowledge to understand what we are about to see in the museum.  The museum has posters and many actual photographs.  These photographs show the painful times of having to have identification for the ethnic group you were part of, the evacuation, and the demolition.  We spend an hour walking around looking and reading the captions off of black and white photographs.  It definitely makes you think.

The next stop on our tour was the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden.  It is beautiful.  Rey, Roger and I walked around admiring the amazing flowers, trees, and mountain views.  Roger, our professional photographer, went to town and was taking some amazing shots.  He went beyond the beautiful flowers and landscapes.  He could see beauty within the shadows, sunlight, and all different colors.  I won't explain anymore, you can see for yourself.  ( i know, i know, add the pictures, be happy i was able to figure out the blogging!)  As we were amazed by Mother Nature, the gardens had beautiful, long, green lawns that were definitely inviting for a tired traveler.  Rey and Roger sat on a bench and were my guards as I laid my jacket down and took a quick power nap.  As I laid down and watched the clouds flow by, I felt nothing, which was amazing.  My mind was blank and I was free and on a "holiday"!  I took a deep breath and slept.  Rey was my alarm clock and said it was time to meet Lisa.  Roger, my wingman in the snoring department said that they were able to sell several tickets to watch the amazing snorer.  We walk down and meet Lisa, who takes our picture of the entrance and Table Mountain behind us.  We are now off to Kayamandi, a township.  

The drive is about 45 minutes away.  Of course, I fell asleep.  I tried to be part of the conversation, but the sandman had my hand and was leading me off and away.  When I was woken up by the bumpy terrain, the view is of run down shacks close together, debris, and I even see some chickens walking around.  The road is no longer paved and we are driving along a dirt road.  Lisa has set it up that one of the women in the township is preparing us lunch in her home.  Her name is Mama Esme.  She works with the Khulani Homestay program.  She provides board for volunteers.  Her has a lovely two bedroom home.  The floors have ceramic tile.  She has a quaint living room with bookshelves that have photographs of her children and grandchildren.  On the floor is the set up for lunch.  There are two tablecloths, blue and yellow.  There are plates, glasses, silverware, and napkins.  Mama Esme walks us over to the kitchen, where she wants to show us how she is making  morojo, boiled spinach, onions, and potatoes.  She goes over the ingredients and chops the spinach while she tells us why she loves cooking authentic meals.  You can see in her eyes the love and joy she has for cooking and sharing her wisdom to others of another culture.  On the table, she points to part of our meal, which is steamed bread.  It looks like a giant biscuit.  She tells us that the steam bread stays softer longer than baked bread.  As soon as the morojo is done, she motions us to go to the living room.  She tells us that she wanted us to sit out in the patio, but it is too windy and we will have to make do in the living room.  As we are seated, she brings in the rest of our meal, fried chicken and chakalaka.  Lisa pours us freshly squeezed juice and water.  We sit on the sofas and take turns filling our plates of everything.  It smells lovely.  The morojo tastes wonderful, it reminds me of a filipino dish that my grandmother would always make.  The chakalaka is a dish that has carrots, onions, and chutney.  I think there are other things, but this are the main ingredients that I remember at the moment.  It has a sweet flavor and is served warm.  The fried chicken tasted like fried chicken.  The bread had a unique flavor.  It tasted like bread, but it was subtle.  As we ate, Mama Esme spoke about past volunteers that had stayed with her and her granddaughter, Lulu who will be in first grade at the end of January.  The school year starts in January.  As we are finishing up, Mama Esme tells us about a keresch in the township.  A keresch is like a preschool.  The woman who is running it was stabbed and left to die by her husband, who left to be with a younger woman.  She survived and for her to raise her two kids on her own, she decided to open a daycare facility.  Mama Esme asks if we would like to visit.  We quickly clean up and start walking.  As we are walking down the dirt roads, you can hear children laughing and singing.  As we walk up the makeshift stairs, which are just cement blocks balanced on top of each other, the kids stand still and stare at us.  They are completely quiet.  I wonder what they were thinking.  I instantly missed Isa and Alex.  We meet the woman who is funning the kerasch.  Her name is Constance.  She is a sweet and humble woman.  She then gathers the children in a row and has the children start singing songs and nursery rhymes for us.  The children are so cute.  She has about 12 kids from the ages of one and a half to four.  As they sing, they are still watching our every move.  When they are done, they are quiet and well behaved.  But, remember they are kids, the started to warm up within the next 3 minutes and before you knew it, I had kids all over me.  One girl kept stroking my hair.  Constance said it is because I have straight hair and it is different then theirs.  (i won't tell them about my straight perm ; >)  I also show them the digital camera and the pictures and videos that I took of them.  They all giggle when they see themselves on the display screen.    I then scroll through the pictures from my safari.  When I get to the animals, they all scream and move away from  me.  The teacher let's me know, that they are scared.  We play with the kids for a little bit and then Lisa asks if we want to see their classroom.  We walk over next door and Constance has transformed her one bedroom home into a school.  She doesn't have a chalkboard, whiteboard, or smartboard.  She has handmade papers that are taped to the wall.  I thought my school had it rough, but compared to this, we are like a Beverly Hills school (not that I have been to a Beverly Hills school, just for analogy purposes).  Constance also shows us her breakfast, lunch, and snack menu, which is also hand written.  Mainly, the kids have porridge every morning, fruit and bread for snacks, and the lunch is the only thing that is varied.  I ask Constance what the kids favorite meal was and she said chicken and rice, which is served on Mondays.  We walk back to the kerasch and say are farewells.  The kids are responsive and wave good-bye.  As we are walking out, we ask Constance if there is anything that we could do to help.  She shakes her head and is very shy.  We told her we would like to help and if she made a list of things she needed, that we would try to help.  She is still very humble and finally with the help of Mama Esme and Lisa, she comprises a short list.  We walk back to Mama Esme's house and thank her for her generosity and wisdom.  

As we are driving out of the township, Lisa explains that many of the houses become mini-BBQ's where they sell meat and vegetables for the people coming home from work.  We can see many people walking towards their homes, kids are on the street playing, the smoke is becoming dense as we start to see more and more BBQs.  This part of the township is a bit more run down then the part that Mama Esme lives.  It looks like a scene from a Feed the Children infomercial.  It really makes you think and reflect about life.  This was definitely an amazing experience.  Lisa drives us back to our house and bids us farewell.  We all relax and freshen up before we go to dinner at Wakame.

Wakame is the restaurant that Bons (Bonita) manages.  It's menu is Asian fusion and sushi.  Gareth has provided Moet champagne for his last night here in Cape Town.  The restaurant has to two parts.  The upstairs is called Wafu and has a beautiful outdoor patio that over looks the ocean.  It has a bar and is a bit more casual.  The menu served up staris is dim sum.  Wakame is downstairs and is for more formal dining.  The waiter pours all of us champagne, which we all toast and look at each other in the eye.  According to Bons and Gareth, we need to look at each person in the eye when you toast or it is bad luck in the bedroom department??? Either way, we all, Bons, Gareth, Liza (Gareth's cousin), German (trail guide), Duncan (champagne festival), Roger, Rey, and I look each other in the eye and toast.  Bons is the manager, so she pretty much leads us on our choices for dinner.  It didn't matter, everything was delicious.  The sushi was amazing, which I shared some with German.  Of course, I also got a main meal, which was the herb crusted and seared tuna.  Unbelievable!!! The seafood here is so amazing.  And yes, I did order a starter, calamari, which was to die for.  After three cosmos later, we were debating about dessert.  I was definitely on the verge of being defeated, but I am a fighter and pushed on to order the chocolate banana spring rolls.  I had one wonderful spring roll and threw in the towel.  Everything was so good.  After dinner, we went upstairs to take a few pictures of the view.  It is almost a full moon and the reflection off the ocean is amazing.  We were joking with Bons that it must be very difficult to come to this location every day for work.  We eventually head home and fight the wind, which is howling and go to bed.  I attempt to blog, but when I went to my room to get my camera, I sat down and before you know it, I woke up at 4 in the morning in bed? Oh well, the blog will happen, it just isn't as punctual.  But, would you expect my blog to be punctual?   ; >

Day 10 - December 10, 2008

Day 10

December 10, 2008

We have a busy day planned.  We start are adventure by heading south.  Gareth is a sweetie and is going to be our tour guide and chauffeur.   We drive to the southernmost point in Africa called Cape Point.  We also see the Cape of Good Hope, where the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian Ocean meet.  It is an amazing view.  There is a lighthouse at the very edge.  There is a cable car that takes you up to the top.  With all of our awesome meals, we decided to walk to the top.  But, before we were going to take that walk, we decided to give our bodies nourishment, since we hadn't eaten yet.  It was about noon.  There was a restaurant called Two Oceans Restaurant and there were only serving lunch.  Rey and I got chicken wraps, Roger had the seafood soup, and Gareth had a cheeseburger.  While we ate on the patio and had a view of False Bay, it was beautiful.  You could see the the clouds rolling over the mountains.  It was amazing.  Along with the view were birds that was some kind of Starling, according to Gareth, who was into birds.  He had mentioned that these birds were quite tame and was surprised that they would come so close.  Well, it turns out that these birds work in pairs.  As I was admiring the female or the cow bird (grey feathers on head), the male was planning his attack on Rey's fries.  As the male or bull bird goes in for the french fry, I continue to pour ketchup into a large pond on my plate.  Everything happened so fast.  Rey was missing a fry and I had just poured pretty much half the bottle of ketchup on my plate.  We all just start laughing.  As I quickly make my plate the communal plate for ketchup and try to scoop as much ketchup as possible on each fry ~ didn't want the waiter to stereotype Americans with using too much ketchup, we were done with lunch are ready for our hike.  

We started up the hill and we were told that it would just be a 15 minute hike to the lighthouse.  Even though the hike was paved out, it was still pretty steep.  Gareth said his calves were burning after 12 steps.  As we continue up, we look over and see the Cape of Good Hope, which looks like a postcard.  It is unbelievable to see these breath taking views.  You will understand when you see the pictures.  We finally make it to the top and it is amazing.  At the top is a post that has the kilometers to certain cities, such as Beijing, Sydney, etc.  When we look over the edge, we see that we can walk further out to where the two oceans meet.  Rey, Roger, and I decided to take the extra hike.  Gareth was tired and headed towards the car for a quick nap.

The hike was not too bad.  It just seemed extremely windy.  At one point, I was trying to put my jacket on and struggled for a couple minutes with the wind.  I believe Roger documented those moments with pictures.  When we made it to the end, the view was amazing.  It was also crazy to think that his is where two oceans met.  Of course, it does get you thinking about are the oceans really meeting or is it just one big ocean????  Things you think about when you are on "holiday".  To demonstrate the strength of the wind, Roger took video along with pictures with Rey and the new hairdo Mother Nature was doing with my hair.  Look at pictures and video.  After taking deep breaths and just being in the moment, we headed down.

Gareth was relaxing in the back seat.  We were on to our next destination, which was to see the penguins.  The African penguins are located on Boulder's Beach.  They are the only example of species that breed in Africa.  We get to the location and pay 40 rand each to get into the sanctuary.  The African penguin is a vulnerable species.  It was cute to see these birds sun bathing on the beach.  It was weird to just see a penguin in South Africa!!!  We observed a few birds, saw some mating, and molting and headed out.  Next!!!  A small snack at Kulk Bay in a restaurant called Polana, which is a Tapas bar and restaurant.  It is right along the rocks.  The view, of course, is breath taking.  In their lounge, they have window seats with lots of pillows and cushions.  We order some drinks and relax.  We decide to get a bite and they seat us at a table.  Rey and Roger enjoy the prawns, Gareth has the seafood pasta, and I order the linguini with pesto and ask to add prawns.  The meal was fabulous.  As we are leaving the restaurant, we are able to see a seal come up to the dock to get some fish.  I am reminded of Santa Cruz.  We head out and pay the car guard and head home.  Of course, I snoozed and snored for the car ride home.  I hope it helped Gareth to stay awake.  As soon as we arrived, Rey was already blogging, Roger was downloading pictures, Gareth took a nap, and I watched some television.    After a short break, we decided to do our wine and chocolate tasting.  We were unable to do this at the winery yesterday because we ran out of time.  Rey made a beautiful display of chocolates, milk, dark, and white.  He open a bottle of red wine, which we allowed to breathe.  Rey went through the protocol of chewing the chocolate and not swallowing until we had the wine flowing over our tongues.  What!!! How can you not swallow melted chocolate??? Either way, I was able to do it.  The order of best to least was milk, white, and then dark.  The tasting was fun.  I think I really just enjoyed the chocolates.  After tasting, we just hang out and finalize our plans for the evening.

We may take it easy tonight.  Rey went for coffee with Renee.  Gareth had dinner with his cousins.  Roger and I are trying to catch up with our blogging.  I may go out with Gareth tonight, if the feeling of going out to rumble is still there.  But, Roger and I are have too much fun blogging.  We reminisce and laugh about our crazy adventures.  Yes, I initiated Roger into the pee club.  He made me laugh so hard, that I peed my pants.  Many of you know that I tend to pee my pants when laughing way too hard.  In the end, you know I am having an awesome time, when I pee my pants. I will let you know what happens tomorrow.  Whoa!!! just had a run in with a scorpion in one of our living rooms.  YIKES!!! Roger is thankfully here and saved the day by grabbing it with BBQ tongs, since he couldn't find chopsticks (WTF???? chopsticks Roger!!!!) and throws it outside.  I guess we are in South Africa.  Note to self, need to figure out how to call a hospital or know the emergency number to call.  Good night.

Day 8 - December 8, 2008

Day 8

December 8, 2008

  

It was an easy day today.  I had stayed up so late blogging that I didn't wake up til about 10.  We had decided the night before that we were going to have a day of just down time.  Gareth came over and by the time we were ready to go it was time for lunch.  We decided to just eat in Camps Bay along the beach.  We ended up at the Sandbar, which is where we ate after our Lion's Head hike.  I, of course, wanted a bit of everything.  We ordered, or should I say I ordered nachos to start and a tuna and avocado sandwich.  It was accompanied with a strawberry daiquiri and a strawberry mojito.  We ate lunch and had some frozen yogurt on the way to our car.  I had chocolate and english toffee, which was alright, it wasn't like my Golden Spoon.  Gareth went to the store, which is called Pick-N-Pay.  He had to pick up a few things for dinner, which he had volunteered to make.  We drove back home and we and relaxed.  Roger and Rey wanted to just stay and home, relax, and blog.  Gareth and I decided to go to the Waterfront and exchange money for some rand and do some shopping.  The dollar to rand ratio is pretty good, it is about 9 rand for every dollar.  I totally went shopping.  Gareth is a consumer like me.  We both realize that life short and if we want something and still think about it the next day, then we really want it.  I told him that I wanted to get an african printed dress or the style of an african dress.  Let's just say that after many stores, I came home with 2 dresses, 2 t-shirts, a skirt, a pair of shorts, and shoes for Isa, Alex, and I.  We headed home to find Roger and Rey still blogging.  Gareth's cousin, Liza (yup, I spelled that right ~ trippy to meet someone with the same name and pronounces it the same way) is coming over to help Gareth make dinner.  Gareth and Liza make a fantastic dinner.  Liza made a starter that had Arugula, salmon, capers, and cottage cheese.  Our salad had lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and cucumbers.  The main dish was spaghetti Bolognese. Everything tasted fabulous.  We ate outside on the patio.  The wind was starting to pick up, but it was a warm wind.  We cleaned up and hung out.  We have a busy day ahead of us and turn in rather early.  We end the day with Haagen Dazs, Macadamia Nut Brittle.  Yes, I know I am still lactose intolerant, but I am willing to suffer.  

Day 6 - December 6, 2008

Day 6

December 6, 2008

I woke up to the sound of Roger knocking on the door, which correlated with the African drums in my dreams.  I quickly realized that it was time to get ready for our hike to Lion's Head.  Bonita, Gareth's friend who we met last night at the airport, set it up for us to go hiking with some friends who were already planning to hike it that morning.   As we slowly get up, I realize that the sun is out and we can see the view from our rented villa in Camps Bay.  I look out the window and I am in complete awe.  I am looking out into a deep blue ocean, which is the Atlantic Ocean.  To the right I see a beautiful landform known as Lion's Head.  Then, I start to panic.  We are going to climb that.  It looks pretty intense.  Bonita also had mentioned that on the hike there would be a part where I would be climbing up using chains.  What!!! I realize that I am in South Africa and I can take this challenge and it is Rey's birthday.  I suck it up and get ready.  I do point out the hike to Rey and Roger, who both don't believe that we about to hike that.  We receive the phone call that Bonita and Gareth are on their way to show us to our meeting spot.  We end up caravaning to the meeting spot.  It turns out that Bonita and Gareth have a late night and are not going to hike.  We meet our hiking guides, German, Franc, and Morne.  They all look like they are in great shape and will probably want to run up the mountain.  We do our introductions, German is Peruvian and lives in Barcelona part time and South Africa part time.  Franc lives in Barcelona and is visiting South Africa for several weeks.  Morne (accent over the e) lives in Cape Town.   We begin the adventure and start up the trail.  German while hiking was giving us the lowdown of the sites we were seeing as we climbed higher up and we were able to see more and more of Cape Town.  As we climbed up, parts of the trail were starting to get a bit taxing.  We finally reached the climbing part that involves a chain rope up.  It was pretty steep and it was a novice rock climb, which would be okay for someone with upper body strength.  As most of you know, my legs are way stronger than my arms.  But, as I looked down, I had no alternative but to dig deep and climb.  I am happy to say I was able to do it.  (a little shout out to Michelle Mach, who took me to the rock climbing gym once ~ gave me the confidence to know that I could climb up that part ~ thanks) Look at the pictures and see.  Once we climbed past the chains, we had about 15 more minutes of the steep hike.  Yet, during these 15 minutes, I was puffing pretty hard and I noticed I was slowing down.   But, the motivation was to just look up and know that we were almost there. Then, finally we made it to the top!!! It was an amazing view.  On one side you see the Atlantic Ocean and on the other side the Indian Ocean.  Both were magnificent.  German was so sweet.  He realized that he would be hiking with a bunch of first timers and brought champagne for the top.  I then mentioned that it was Rey's birthday, so we did a birthday and a first-timers toast.  What an experience and memory to be at the top of Lion's Head and sipping champagne.  We hung out for awhile and realized that breakfast was awaiting for us at the bottom.  We started our descend and I realized that I was pretty tired.  Also, the hike is pretty popular and so there would be times of traffic jams because the trail was pretty steep and there were parts of passing single file.  Roger and I also realized that we could not get the American mentality of moving to the right.  But, over here people drive on the left side of the car and the left side of the road.  So, people pass on the left.  As we were walking down, everyone was so friendly.  We met a guy, who I had offered to pass us because I was slow, but he said he didn't mind the pace.  He asked if we were from the States.  I asked how he knew and he could tell from our accent.  He actually was a wealth of information.  He was telling us about the language about Afrikaans and that there are only 3 million people left that speak it.  He also gave us some sayings, which I hope to use now and then.  He taught us "LEKKER" kind of sounds like you are saying Laker, but with a think English accent.  Another saying sounds like buy a donkey, but it is spelled baie dankie, which means thank you very much.  It was great to get a little history about Cape Town and their language.  It also kept my mind off the fact that we were still hiking down and was getting tired.  Also, I forgot to mention that the sun had been out the whole time and it was hot.  Eventually, we made to the part of the trail where is was wide enough where we could all walk together.  Yet, it was still steep where I definitely skidded and scared Franc and Morne several times.  I told them it was just me adding some drama to our hike.  Morne was funny because he would always try to grab me as I slipped.  I told him to be careful because then I would take him down with me.  His reply was that we would be able to roll together then!!! After a couple more of skidding scares, we finally made it!! Yeah! Breakfast time.  German mentioned that there is great place called the Sandbar which was overlooking the ocean.  So, we caravaned down and arrived at this cute cafe type of restaurant that had an open patio, which overlooked the ocean.  As we drove down, Rey must have been tired because he kind of got too close to the curb on the left that we lost our hubcap to our rental car.  We wanted to stop and get it, but we were following German to the restaurant.  I don't know how Rey can drive stick on the left side and drive on the left side of the road?!?!?!   Eventually, we made it and found parking.  Gareth, Bonita, and Antonio (he was suppose to do the hike, but didn't wake up in time) joined us for breakfast.  The food was amazing.  Actually, the food overall has been amazing.  I thought at one point I had the Montezuma's revenge, but realized that it was probably the homemade ice cream and that even though I am in South Africa, I am still lactose intolerant.  All the foods here are so rich.  I am definitely going to have to work hard when I get back.  After breakfast, we decided to head up to the house and just relax by the pool and enjoy our amazing view.  Unfortunately, the pool was not heated, but it was refreshing because it became hot.  It was the type of hot where you would just sweat seating there while in the sun.  We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out with Gareth and Bonita's friends, Kim, Jonathan, and German.  Every now and then, I would try to blog the events of the day.  Before we knew it, the afternoon had quickly gone and everyone left to get ready for Rey's birthday dinner.  Rey decided to take a quick cat nap and Roger and I sat outside on the patio to continue blogging.  We didn't get very much blogging.  I ended up just blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blahing.  We end up chatting til Rey comes out and tells us that it is 7:15 and dinner reservations are at 8 pm.  Roger and I scramble and get ready for Rey's birthday dinner at The Showroom.  Rey had done his research and found this beautiful restaurant in Cape Town.  The Showroom is known as a boutique five star restaurant.  It is actually an extension of a showroom for luxury sports cars.    On the menu, a couple of times, they had listed a car and its price with their main entrees.  Our evening started with a butternut squash soup that came in what look like long shot glasses with straws.  I can tell you what we ordered, but you will have to look at the pictures to see how artistic that would come out.  I ordered a salad and a  beef fillet.  The unique thing about the meal was that after you chose your main dish you had to pick a sauce.  These sauces aren't ordinary sauces.  They had some unique combinations.  I stuck to something that i was familiar with, which had basil, cilantro, and tomatoes, which came in a mortar and pestle, which I had to mull (this section was assisted by Rey) myself.  I will just list the other menu items that everyone got and then look at the pictures.  There was a duck entree, porkbelly entree, lamb shank entree, and my good old beef fillet.  Since it was Rey's birthday, the chef made a complimentary dessert platter that said happy birthday in chocolate sauce.  It also had turkish delights, frozen fruit balls, and as Rey would describe a cakey cookie, but it looked like a Madeline.  We also ordered a flaming lambourghini, which was drink that was in a souffle and lit on fire.  The waitress provided 5 straws, which were sucked on as she poured the different liquors in the center of the souffle and then she poured the flaming zambooka (sp?) which we continued to suck down through the straws.  Just look at the pictures.  It was definitely an interesting experience.  After dinner, we went to the next event, which was a gay bar called the Bronx.  Also, known as the safest place on earth for Liza, not Roger or Rey  ; >  It had an upstairs and downstairs bar with a DJ.  We bought several rounds of shots in celebration of Rey's 40th.  I must tell you that the shot glasses were tiny.  Probably 4 of the South African shots were equivalent to 1 American shot.  We also had some interesting mixtures of shots.  When we first entered the club, we had a purple shot called Potent-C.  It is suppose to be like a red bull and vodka, but in a tiny shot.  One shot was called a sidekick, it was pretty intense.  I really don't know what was in it, but it kind of reminded me of cough syrup.  We also had jagermeister shots.  We did some turns on the dance floor and I think it all hit us that we had had a full day.  When I realized that I was not fit nor my ass was in shape enough to gyrate  my ass like Rey's, I was ready to hit the sack (small shout out to ben : >).  NAW!!! You all know I could've kept going, but I could tell we were all low on energy.  Even my constant shouts of "one more shot!" didn't help.  The sandman had already grabbed Roger and Rey.  So, we said our farewells, paid the car guard and we were on our way home.  Roger was the brave soul to drive home.  Our navigator was this thing called a Garlim, I guess similar to a Tom Tom.  Unfortunately, the Garlim was navigating another car that was already on its way to our destination.  After a couple of honks, driving on the wrong side, and several outbursts that the Gremlin was a fu*king lying bitch, we gave in and called Gareth and Bonita.  Bonita set us back on track and we were thankfully on our way home!  It was an awesome day and I hope Rey had the best 40th birthday!!!

Day 4 - December 4, 2008

Day 4

December 04, 2008

JV lied.  Our wake up call was at 4:28 am and not 4:30.  Either way the call seemed to come right away.  I felt as if I had just fallen asleep, but according to Roger I was snoring before my head hit the pillow.  Poor Roger, we had just met in Paris and now he was sharing a room with someone who could imitate a snoring rhino in her sleep.  He says that once he is asleep that he is out, but he also seems like a really nice guy and wouldn't say WTF! She snores!!! Either way, we quickly changed into our safari clothes and head out for coffee and tea.  They also provide what we thought was biscotti, but it turns out it is called rusk.  We were having our coffee and tea on the outside patio, where I notice a monkey in the tree.  Before you know it, the monkey had crawled all the way to the top of the table and grabbed Roger's rusk before JV started yelling and slamming the table.  Being the typical tourist, I was trying to take some pics, but it all happened so fast.  JV was surprised that the monkey was so  daring, especially since we were all sitting there.  I finally did take my camera out and took pictures of the monkey eating the rusk in the tree.  I needed evidence, since Roger had left to use the restroom, that it wasn't me who ate his rusk.  

The safari begins.  We climb up into our converted Land Rover Jeep that has 4 rows of seats.  It is completely open with no windows and just has a canvas covering above.  JV is obviously in the first row driving.  He also brings his special walking stick, which is actually a rifle.  YIKES!!! We are not at the San Diego Wild Animal Park???? Rey and I take the 2nd row, Moira and Larry the 3rd,  and Roger our photographer takes the entire 4th row.  He needs the room to take those action shots and have both sides available.  As JV is loading the supplies into the jeep, he notices a bird that just tried to fly through the window.  The bird seems hurt and allows JV to pick him up.  It is a beautiful and colorful bird, blue, red, yellow, and purples.  It turns out it is a Kingfisher Malacite, which is rare to find.  JV is able to pick it up in his hand and hold it.  He then hands it to Rey to hold, while he drives the jeep.  As we head out, we see some zebras.  Also, JV hears over the radio that there was a lion kill along the main road.  He quickly drives to the spot.  As we are driving to our destination, we spot the female lion walking along the side of the road.  JV says she has just gone to get water.  He also notices that her belly is big and she is full.  We follow her til she stops at a nearby bush and lays in the shade.  Amazing.  Just further down the road is the male lion.  He is sitting next to the wilder beast that was killed probably at midnight, according to JV.  JV is able to speculate that the wilder beast was separated from the group, so that she could give birth.  we see a set of small leg bones by the carcass.  We sit in our jeep and just observe this magnificent creature and the circle of life is happening right in front of us ( i know, i know, too much Lion King).  Eventually the male lion leaves and we continue our safari.  We end up seeing impalas, rhinos, and lactating zebras.  JV then takes us off the main road and we go off-roading up the mountain. We see the amazing effects of erosion and deposition (CSSP fans should enjoy that vocabulary).  At the top, JV has a little spread for us.  He lays out a little portable table with a table cloth.  He then serves us coffee and tea and rusks for a mid-morning snack.  After a short break of coffee and tea, we clean up and had out again.  JV stops every now and then to tell us about the plant life and fruit trees that grow on Kruger.  We actually stop and pick some fruit from a sour plum, which is true to its name, it was really sour.  Eventually, he head back and it is time for breakfast.  

We had an awesome menu of choices, but we all chose the same item, the traditional English Breakfast.  It consisted of eggs, bacon, chicken livers, tomatoes, and mushrooms.  We also had freshly squeezed orange or guava juice.  As we quickly eat our breakfast, JV mentions the walk and asks if anyone is interested.  Luckily, it had been overcast the whole morning and it is a good temperature to go on a hike.  Rey, Roger, and I are definitely interested.  Larry and Moira are not and decide to rest for the evening safari.  JV says he needs to find another rifle man to go out walking.  He will keep us posted and says that hopefully the other group will arrive, so that he can take us out.  Good news, JV has found another guide, Lazareth.  We are to meet at the reception hall at 10:15.  We meet and we are out of the gates.  As the gates opened, the sun broke through the clouds and it became hot quickly.  This is where JV and Lazareth talk about the rules and how we are to walk single file.  They are in the front and both have their rifles out and ready to fire.  Both have reassured us that neither one of them has ever used their gun.  As we walk, we find dung, skeletal remains, and track marks.  They also educate us about the plant life in Kruger.  JV at one points makes a bracelet out of a tree bark and braids it.  He then ties it onto my wrist.  Just for the recorded, he misjudge the bigness of my wrist and had to braid more.  Anyways, he lets me know that I am not to take it off and when it falls off naturally, I am to make a wish.  The bracelet is pretty strong and Lazareth says that they use this bark to make rope.  As we are walking around, I notice that we are looking across the pasture towards our rooms and salas.  It was weird to think that just yesterday, the elephants were standing where I was.  I realized that this all for real and we not in San Diego's Wild Animal Park.  I realized how small I was in this part of the world.  We eventually hike back to our rooms, where we have some time to freshen up before lunch.  I know, I know, we sure do eat a lot on this safari.  This is such the perfect safari for me.  Roger and I decide to use our plunge pool to cool down.  The plunge pool is not heated and it did feel good.  I must admit, it was pretty cold.  I only plunged in because I didn't know it was deep on the other side.  

For lunch, I had a salad and a tuna steak on top of some asian noodles.  Dessert was homemade strawberry ice cream. We enjoy this meal out on the patio.  It is so nice.  We are able to listen to all the sounds of the birds and insects.  It is definitely a different world out here.  As we lazily finish our lunch, it is time to get ready for our evening safari.  We quickly get our cameras and we meet JV at the reception hall.  Larry and Moira are there as well.  They're refreshed from their naps and are excited for the safari.  Moira would really like to see a giraffe and Rey would love to see a leopard.  We head out and the first thing on the radio is a group of rhinos by the camp.  These creatures are massive.  Also, I forgot to point out that on some of the pictures I am using the famous one arm stretch technique, which I learned from Jennifer Tibbs and Deena Parmar.  Throughout our trip, Rey and Roger are annoyed, yet still willing to do the one arm stretch pose for my camera.  I am trying to get this pose at most of our destinations.  You will see in the pictures.  Anyways, after the rhinos, we take off and see some deer and even a warthog (not cute ~ sorry).  We drive for awhile and not see any animals.  I, of course, fall asleep during our drive on some parts.  I do wake up on an important part, Rey spots wild dogs, which JV says are rare to find.  Not only do we see the dogs, but we also see the pups.  JV is excited and asks Roger for his pictures later.  We then go off-roading and head to the top of one of the mountains.  JV times it perfectly that we are at the top in time for sunset.  He also busts out the spread of wine, beer, or soda.  He has dried fruit, nuts and billtong (beef jerkey).  We toast at sunset and just take in the view all around us.  I get some great pictures of chemical erosion.  As we head down the mountain, we run into a bull elephant trying to push a tree down.  I was a bit nervous, JV told us to remain silent and we were not allowed to take pictures until he directed us to.  JV seemed tense, which made all of us tense.  Eventually, we were able to shoot away, but we didn't the up close pictures we wanted.  JV then told us about how the elephant was testing us and seeing whether we were there to harm him.  JV said we needed to show him respect, which we did.  Side note, I learned from JV that male animals are usually referred to as bull and female are referred to as cows, whether or not they are an elephant.  So, you have a bull elephant and a cow elephant, doesn't that sound weird??  Took awhile for that to sink in for me.  At one point, JV asked what we thought a female firefly was, since the male one is referred to a firefly.  Being the kid that could have ridden the small bus to school, I said cowfly? butterfly? and waterfly? I think I was getting tired.   All of these were wrong, I also think I made JV wonder about the poor second graders that I teach back in the States.  Just so you know, a female firefly is called a glow worm.  We continue our drive and JV now is driving stick and he has a large light that he flashes through the trees and tall grass.  He stops abruptly by a small tree and tells me to hold the light in this one spot.  He pulls off a chameleon, which Rey, Roger and I hold.  Larry and Moira quickly shook their heads to the idea of a lizard climbing on their arms.  I am still astonished that JV was able to spot the lizard while driving in the dark.  It is starting to get really dark and late.  JV starts heading back to the camp.  

We then have a half hour to an hour to freshen up for dinner.  We relax and take showers and get ready for our meal.  We seat on the outside patio and we are given our menus.  For starters, we have a choice of soup or prawns.  The main entrees were venison, chicken, or tagliatelle verde.  The desert is chocolate pudding or homemade ice cream.  Again, JV sits at the head of the table and we are joined by Larry and Moira.  We talk about the days events and what we saw and didn't see.  We all talk about our next adventures.  It turns out that we are all leaving on Friday.  Larry and Moira and going to stay a couple of days in Johannesburg before heading back to Ireland.  We let them know that we are headed to Cape Town for the next week.  Once we were full after dessert, of course, we realized that we are all exhausted.  We say our goodnights and head to bed.

Once in our room, Roger feels the energy to blog.  I, too, have the intention to blog, but never make it off the bed.  I start snoring away and then I am woken up by thunder and lightening.  It is pretty loud.  I look over at Roger who has also been woken up.  Being the true photographer that he is, he jumps out of bed and starts snapping away.  I wanted to, but fell back asleep.  The next thing I heard was the phone ringing.