Mother City: Part Deux

On our second day in Cape Town we rented a car to drive the cape. We got as far as Camps Bay before we let yet another meal drift the hours away. It's nice to not worry about time. The next couple stops were quick photo ops as the coastal scenery was absolutely stunning, but our main destination was the Cape of Good Hope. It was tourist central when we arrived but that didn't take away from how beautiful it was. We climbed up a pretty good cliff to get the ultimate view of the Indian Ocean meeting the Atlantic (this is actually disputed, most believe it's actually Cape Agulhas) and just breath it all in.

We continued our drive up the other side of the cape to Boulder Bay where the Jackass Penguin colony resided. I was so excited, I have been waiting to see penguins in the wild for my whole life. Man, what a let down! It was very similar to a zoo. The penguins were able to meander wherever, but were mostly kept in a reserve area and tourists were restricted to the boardwalk above the beach. Lame. I can't deny that they were totally adorable though so it was still wonderful.

Earlier that day, we had booked tickets for a dinner cabaret/Cirque du Soleil-type of show called Vaudeville. We rushed back to the city, rushed to get changed and rushed to the show only to have the doorman tell us they weren't ready yet haha. The show was pretty cool overall. It's was a bit naughty as promised by the woman who told us about it, and some of the acts were really impressive.

I wish we could have spent a month in Cape Town, there was so much to see and do. Guess I'll just have to make another trip.

Neither snow nor rain...

Kara and I did eventually get the packages of wine sent. Whether they'll actually get to us in the States is still a mystery. We really like a challenge so we waited until the morning before our flights to figure out how we were getting the remaining 13 bottles home (yeah that's right, do the math). A couple generous bartenders in the area donated some boxes and we wrapped the bottles in my unessential clothing. Why didn't we put them in plastic bags first asked the Post Office lady after we had already tapped up the boxes with almost an entire roll of tape? Again, the challenge.

Three suspiciously taped, custom-declared "olive oil" boxes and $120 later, we said adios to the packages and pondered if and how they would arrive. My bet is two will make it but one will contain a hot mess of wine, clothing and giraffes figurines.

I don't have photos of this so here is one of Kara struggling with her surf board.

Howzit and Izit

We said goodbye to Kara in Cape Town and then Michelle, Bryan, Todd and I took off to Joburg for our quarterfinal games. We stayed at Thulani Lodge in Melville, a "cosmopolitan" suburb. The Netherlands v. Brazil game was on so we went to a place called Liquid Blue to eat, watch the match and try to sell our extra tickets for Guana v. Uruguay (long story). There was a rowdy group of South Africans/Netherlands fans next to us that bought our tickets and offered us a ride. These guys were totally fun and a little nuts. Besides feeding us free beer, they apologized for everything: the cold weather, the US not advancing, I think even our crappy accommodations in Durban. Totally funny.

It would have been such a massive pain to get to Soccer City if we hadn't met them, not to mention a total bore. As we sat in the stadium traffic they got everyone around us to cheer and smile; walking in they hugged almost everyone we passed. We bought them some beer (only Bud, what?!) and headed to our separate seats.

The game was crazy fun, Soccer City holds something like 90,000 people and I would say 89,987 were cheering for Ghana. We were actually behind the goal for the shootout, too bad it didn't fall in Ghana's favor. "It wasn't for us" was how many people responded.

Last Day in SA

Our last day in Johannesburg was pretty mellow. We actually got to sleep-in for the first time on the trip, which was bliss. When we eventually got out, we spent most of the day at the Apartheid Museum. It had some really powerful information but actually was a bit confusing. The path to see the displays in chronological order zig-zagged all over the place but we made due and learned some new things.

After a late lunch, Michelle and Bryan headed to the Spain v. Paraguay game. Todd and I were so wiped we just watched the game from our hotel room. Afterward, we stupidly watched that M. Night Shyamalan movie where the trees make people kill themselves and didn't get to bed until pretty late, especially when you factor in having to find something happy to watch after.

"The Real Africa"

For the last few days of the trip, Todd and I headed to Zambia to see Victoria Falls and take a little vacation from our vacation. We stayed at a great backpackers called Jollyboys in Livingstone. The grounds contained chill outdoor spaces, a good restaurant and a nice pool area. I noticed on the activities board the hostel was shuttling people to the local orphanage, Lubasi Home, to play soccer with the kids. Soccer in Zambia? Yes, please.

When we arrived, the clear leader of the group said to us, "You get your team together and we will get ours." Wow, thought we might mix it up but I guess it was on. We played for over two hours, they were pretty fierce competition. What really impressed me was how they kept the ball in control on such a shiteous pitch...in bare feet! I must have face planted (not kidding) three or four times just tripping on rocks and non-level ground. When the score was 6-6, the six players on our team were donzo but the boys said we will play to 10. Uff. The next 30 minutes were brutal and we lost 11-6 haha. Lesson learned.

The Smoke That Thunders

The next couple days in Zambia were spent seeing Victoria Falls. The first day, we took a speed boat over to Livingstone Island, which sits just above the falls in the middle of the Zambezi river. Our guides walked us around and told the story of the first European to see the falls, Scottish explorer David Livingstone. I loved it because we walked barefoot in the mud. After the tour, they served us a great breakfast right there on the island.

Our speedboat left from this amazing hotel called The Royal Livingstone that had a great patio bar set up right on the river. When we came back from the island, Todd and I had some drinks while we started talking about the looming reality that is unemployedness. It looks like we are probably going to head to Nebraska to do our job hunt from there since all we have down in New Mexico is an air mattress and a couple forks. It's going to be madness in the next month!

The next day we went to the actual Victoria Falls National Park on the Zambia side to walk all the trails. We rented some smelly ponchos and wandered a path puts one directly across from the falls. The mist was so immense and powerful, it was like no rain I have ever been in. My contacts kept swimming around in my eyes. It was total inundation. I wish I had my swimsuit I would have just played in it like a little kid.

We extended our walking below the falls and along the ridge of another gorge however, the mission of the day was looming: bungee jumping. There is a bridge connecting Zambia to Zimbabwe just beyond the falls where you can choose your adventure among bungee jumping, a gorge swing and zip line. I did not think that I wanted to do it at all but I woke up that morning feeling bold.

It turns out that you can't do the bungee tandem (too broke and scared to do it separate), only the swing, which is nearly the same amount of free fall but instead of bouncing you swing. We had to walk all the way back to a cafe to sign up and somehow it worked out that when one of us wanted to chicken out the other didn't and that back and forth took us all the way to the ledge of the bridge. I even had a moment two feet from the "plank" where I said, "Wait. Hold on." And the man running the swing said, "No, don't do that. " And I said, "Okay." And then we were fucking falling! Sorry but there is no more of an appropriate time for swearing. It was a terrible feeling in all honesty. We fell at 160 mph for four seconds and my stomach could just not take it. Todd managed to yell, "Ohhhhhh myyyyyyyy gooooooooooodddd" the entire way down while I just made this really odd, constipated noise. It was nuts. I will probably never do it again but I'm glad I did.

Back to Life

We had a nice last night in Livingstone watching the Netherlands v. Uruguay game with all the other travelers at our hostel. The next day, it was back to Joburg to catch our flight to the States. I watched six movies on the plane and almost never got up from my seat. My feet were insanely swollen and I was delirious when we finally got home at ten in the morning, but we made it!

This was probably one of the best trips I've ever taken. South Africa is a country of such diversity in its landscape and people. The world was welcomed with open arms and I'm so glad to have been a part of such an historic event. I cannot WAIT to see what happens in the final tomorrow, viva Espana!

Thanks for following my blog about our journey, see you on our next adventure!