February 20, 2011

So today is day 3 in Cape Town.  It really should be day 4, but unfortunately we had to wait over 24 hours to dock here because of the weather and the huge waves. Because of the weather we had to cancel our shark diving trip for friday because the boat wouldn't take us out. But thinks worked out anyway.  Colleen, Meghan and I got off the boat around noon to meet up with Meghan's mom who was visiting. Once we met her, we were trying to figure out something to do, when we walked past a tourist center. He asked us what we wanted to do and Meghan suggested we skydive, and just our luck... there was a group leaving 20 mins from then to go. We went to an ATM right away and met the group to go skydiving. The jump zone was only 35 mins away... so the whole process was only a few hours.  Neither Colleen, myself or mrs. Hines really wanted to spend 700R on a videographer, so we all went up together. The plane was super tiny... and it was definitely a struggle fitting all 6 of us (with our tandem jumpers). Mrs. Hines was the most terrified, so she jumped first, and only 3 seconds later... I was out, followed by Colleen.  Honestly one of the coolest feelings ever... nothing can compare to the view of Cape Town by free fall. They actually let me take my own camera up with me so I have a cool video of me falling in the sky. After we all jumped... we headed back to the waterfront (which is what they call the area around our ship). We decided to wait before getting back on the boat and instead went to the mall for a little shopping and dinner.  After, we head back to the ship and got ready for the night.  Maggi, Colleen and I went to the bar down the street called Mitchell's which was a cool little pub across from the ferris wheel.  After an hour we headed over to Long street in search of a bar that we didn't really know the name of. All in all... we got pretty lost, and ended up having two locals help us find the place.  Once we got there none of us were really feeling it so we walked back to the ship... which we could see in the distance.
     We had an early wake up call on Saturday for our Winelands  tour.  Colleen, Meghan, Kyle, Malachi, Mrs. Hines, and I were all going together with Cape Zebra Tours (who were awesome). We went to 4 different wine estates and did around 30 tastings. It was a really fun experience learning about wines, and being in the countryside. We got back around 6 or so... and we all got ready before heading out again for Mitchell's (which had turned into the SAS spot).  Maggi came out with Colleen and I, and we met up with Duncan, Maggi's tour guide from earlier that day. He was really cool- took us to a bar on long street called "The Waiting Room". Eventually we ended up at the hotel next to the ship where we searched for free wifi... which never worked out. But I did learn how to say a few things in Africans (language in S Africa)- courtesy of the bell man. After, Colleen went back to the ship and Maggi and I went back to Mitchells. I met up with Laurel and we stayed their until the bar closed. There was an American flag hanging from the ceiling, and they let us sign it- which was neat.   After (circa 330 am) we went back to the boat... and decided it would be a brilliant idea to change into pants and sweatshirts and come back out to watch the seals on the dock. It actually ended up being really cool because the security gaurds let us go down the ramp and be within feet of the seals.  Anyway eventually I went to bed.... but only to get like 1 hour of sleep before our 630 am wake up for the safari.
        The safari was this morning... we had to meet at 7am so it was a little brutal. The ride to park we were going to was about 3 hours. While there we (meghan, colleen, maggi, lily, lauren, and I) saw water buffalo, lion, zebra, springbach, hippo, giraffe, and chettah. We never found the rhino... so hopefully that can be my excuse to go on another safari. It was really neat, and although it was rough without any sleep... I loved seeing the animals. 
After we got back... maggi, colleen, myself and maggis friend duncan grabbed dinner at some seafood restaurant. I tried my first prawn... which was delicious (not as good as shrimp though). After we found some wifi... cool that no one at home answered their phones btw.  
        I decided im going to stay in tonight... for recovery purposes.  I need to be well rested for my day full of exploring tomorrow.

ANYWAY---- to all of you who have no idea where to study abroad. GO TO CAPE TOWN!
its unreal.