South Africa, Days 1-3

Hellooo from the Indian Ocean!
Cape Town is in the past now, and I can’t quite believe that a third of my trip is behind me! I guess I’ll start from the beginning. I’m starting to have a more tightly knit group of friends on the ship. It’s a really great feeling when we can cram 12 of us into a second deck (aka small) cabin to watch Avatar on a computer screen and still really enjoy ourselves and feel comfortable. It’s also nice to know that even if most of those people go on various trips in port while I have nothing planned, there’s still a few people around that I know and get along with well to meet up with.
Anyway, in each port, we’ve arrived by around 8:00 am. By 11:00, the customs officials have come onto the ship and stamped everyone’s passports, which they do in bulk as they eat catered breakfast. This time however, we each had to wake up at 6 am because we got into port early. The officials started stamping passports at 6:30, and they called us up by “sea” (our 5 residential decks are divided into the seven seas - I'm in the Agean!). We picked up our passports at the front of the faculty lounge, went up to the officials and introduced ourselves. Chatted with them as they stuck a visa into our passports and stamped them.. then we returned the passports and were on our way. It was much more intense and personal here than the other countries. There were also customs people walking around the ship with sniffer-dogs searching for drugs and stow aways from Ghana.
We had a diplomatic briefing by some US Ambassadors working in Cape Town at around 10. The latter of the two TERRIFIED us. We got off the ship expecting a war zone in the streets of South Africa. Though it is extremely modern in technology, culture and architecture… Cape Town has the highest crime rates in the entire world. This man told us of 250 lb. US Navy men getting knocked out and mugged, and of a woman who was raped in the bathroom stall of a nice restaurant in broad daylight. He advised us to only take phone calls on the streets with our backs to a building in order to protect half of our bodies and be aware, and that he never travels to a township unless he is in a bulletproof car. Ultimately, he exaggerated a lot. Cape Town was lovely and I haven’t heard any horror stories (knock on wood!).
We were unleashed into the city around noon, and I headed up to Table Mountain to hike to the top with some friends I made at breakfast who wanted to look into climbing too. We packed our climbing shoes and chalk, threw on our boots and headed up to the mountain. Upon arrival, we realized there were about 200 SASers hiking the mountain the same day, and that the trails would be crowded. I took the hike REALLY slow as it was so hard.. I ended up hanging in the back of the group with a guy on my floor who was moving slowly from a bad sinus headache. We enjoyed the slow pace and it was great to take my time. Also, at one point I did end up getting to throw on my climbing shoes and boulder a bit, so that was very cool.
The restaurant at the top was amazing especially after working up a huge appetite. I had a burger DIPPED in barbeque (Braai) sauce and a local beer called Black Label. After wandering around the tabletop (ha!) and taking in the unbelievable views of crystal clear waters surrounding the city, we boarded the last gondola down from the top at 3 pm. The clouds came in an flowed over the mountain in a way I'd never seen, creating what is cleverly called "the tablecloth." After returning to the ship, I took a hard nap and then went out with some friends to a restaurant called Karibu in port for dinner. We bought A LOT of wine, and it was all overpriced – but SO delicious. I had Springbock, which is a type of antelope here, and it was so tender and flavorful. Our group then went to Mitchell’s, a pub in the V&A Waterfront area where we stayed, and had a great time with some tequila and local beer.
At noon the following day, I departed on my river rafting adventure – my first ever Semester At Sea organized trip. I didn’t know anyone else going, and there were 16 other people in our group. Our trip leader was a professor who brought her two kids, ages 7 and 12. The other 13 were students my age. After about 2 hours, we got off the bus at a winery. We got a tour of the vineyards and the whole area where they filter out the skins and stems from grapes, and showed us where the fermentation process took place. Then we got to taste the wines!! They were sooo delicious. I especially liked one white we tried, so when we all bought a bottle for our campfire later, that’s what I bought. I plan to order lots to have them delivered to the states. It cost about $2/bottle at about 16Rand.
We boarded the bus and rode another 15 minutes to where we would make camp. There were makeshift cabins set up with holey bug-nets, and several large witch’s brew-like pots sitting next to the fire that several guides had set up. It was about 6 pm and dinner smelled delicious over the hot coals. The dish was called potjiekos ("small pot food").
There was a local botanist who came and spoke to us about the local plantlife in the area where we were, near the Breede River. After that, we played cards at some picnic tables and drank tea and hot chocolate while we waited for dinner to cook. At 8:30, it was FINALLY ready. We were starving and ate quickly. We all over-stuffed ourselves with lamb, chicken and rice, and sat around the campfire talking until about midnight. Everyone sang Happy Birthday as it struck midnight, which was a neat treat. I was so full that I could not finish my wine, and realized that I bought a bottle of a type of wine I really didn't enjoy by accident. Then I went to bed, and made a point not to turn on any lights as I had seen a horrendously large spider in my cabin earlier and knew I wouldn’t sleep if I saw it again.
We woke up at about 7 am. Everyone here says “wakey wakey” in the mornings, which is terribly annoying but definitely makes you want to get out of bed so they’ll shut up about it quickly. We convened around the morning campfire and watched as our guides made bacon, toast , sausage links and fried eggs over the fire. It was so tasty and filling.
We then set out for a 20 minute drive up the river. When we got off the bus, the 3 of our 6 guides who weren’t at breakfast had already set up our 2-person rafts with life jackets and paddles and lay them out along the riverbed. We had a quick instructional session on how to paddle down-river, and jumped into our boats. I shared mine with a girl named Julie, who has a cooing voice and is so sweet. We were also cabin-mates the night before.
The river was so slow, which made for a serene and relaxing day. We traveled a total of 10 kms down the river, which is about 6 miles. There were Class 1 rapids sometimes, and because it was so hard to steer, we ended up going through tree branches several times. At long stretches of calm water, we would jump off the rafts and swim around in the river, enjoying the cold water on our sun-baked skin. My head got so sunburnt because my scalp and ears aren’t used to sun exposure! Youch. But the water felt great, and we sang different songs as we paddled. Our guides were so much fun. All in college or post-graduate school, they loved American movies and we spent a lot of our time quoting Wedding Crashers, Old School, I Love You Man and The Hangover. One of our guides looked especially like Marshall from How I Met Your Mother and he was the funniest, and the head, of the group. Alarmingly, they were very opposed to Desmond Tutu. As white men from rural areas of Cape Town, their position in the social hierarchy lowered to achieve equality as apartheid was cast-out, so I suppose that explains the background of their judgements.
After pulling over for a lunch of cold cut sandwiches and a river-side nap, we finished out the ride by 4:00. Our shuttles took us back to the ship, and I spent about an hour freshening up before meeting up with 9 other people in our group for my birthday dinner! I was craving sushi, so we went out to Long Street and found a zen-like sushi place. After some sake, wine and rolls of linefish, we went back to the waterfront to have some drinks at Mitchell’s. Alexa and some others went back to the ship at about 1, but I stayed out like a champion with Ross, Ross, our friend Matt and went to a club on Long Street called “The Dubliner.” I fell on my face in the street on the way in as I tried to get over the curb to the sidewalk. Needless to say, I didn’t last long at the club. I definitely had a great time while we were there though, and got home at around 4 am. What a great birthday… it rivals my dad, Uncle Leon and Cousin Aaron surprising me in Vegas with my friends for my 21st last year. Two great years in a row! What more could you ask for?