Cape Town Exploration 10/14/12

BEN (from his journal) - As I sit here on giant granite boulders overlooking Camp’s Bay Beach and its beautiful blue/green waters, giant waves, and white sand it hard to imagine how I got to this paradise and what has happened in the last few days, weeks, and months that has lead me here.  After my return from Expedition 2012 and another successful summer at Camp Keewaydin, Gabby and I decided it was finally time to do it; to travel around the world together.  We took the month of September to catch up with friends and family, regroup and plan for our trip which in the end just lead to a lot of eating, drinking, catching up on TV shows, and losing all semblance of physique that I had gained from paddling every day.  However, we were able to put together a base line itinerary with some amazing opportunities.  

       This leads us to October 11, and a very long flight from JFK in New York to Johannesburg, South Africa.  It was a 14 hour odyssey crammed into coach; One of those flights where the guy in front of you immediately becomes your worst enemy as he slams his seat back into your lap (which you subsequently do to the person right behind you).  So 3 movies and many hours of restless sleep later we landed in ZA.  Another 2 hour flight brought us to Cape Town.  We caught a bus and cab and found our hostel for the next three nights, A Sunflower Stop.  We have a small double room in the Green Point Region which is right near the Waterfront.   We got ourselves settled and headed to the Waterfront where we gorged on sushi.  Awesome food for awesome prices.   We walked home soon afterword and passed out like old people at 7 as jet lag took its toll.  

     We woke up Saturday morning and headed straight for Old Biscuit Mill, a huge open air market with great food, people watching, and music.  We had some crepes and smoothies and bought our favorite sandwiches in the world from The Kitchen (chicken, avo, mayo, lettuce, tomato, feta, onion, oil, vinegar, special ‘Love Sauce’).  I also learned to navigate the mini bus system.  Basically you walk in the direction you want to go until one beeps at you whereupon you cram into a van full of people and pay less than $1 to go anywhere.  We navigated our way up to the trail of Lion’s Head and hiked up which included rock scrambles, ladders, chains, and the hot African sun.  At the top we were greeted with the most spectacular view of Cape Town and Table Mountain that anyone could ask for.  We played with our cameras and took lots of pictures, using new knowledge that we had recently learned from a photography lesson.  We also enjoyed our delicious Kitchen Love sandwiches while taking in the view.  It was spectacular.  After the climb back down we caught a cab back to the hostel where we took another trip to the Waterfront for a solid seafood dinner at Quay Four followed by a romantic ride on The Wheel of Excellence, Cape Town’s Ferris wheel.  A bit sun burnt we again passed out quickly and happily after another magical day in Cape Town.  This morning we woke up and headed for Camp’s Bay, the beach!  We had a quick brunch and went to a pristine beach loaded with people enjoying the hot sun.  We made our way to large boulders where we planted ourselves, wrote this, and watched surfers.  It was fun watching the waves grow as the tide slowly crept in.  We eventually packed up and scrambled over some boulders to get back to the street where we hiked along a main avenue until we reached Clifton (This while always surrounded by the jaw dropping beauty of the 12 Apostles, Lion’s Head, and Table Mountain).  We went to one of the Clifton beaches where we relaxed and slept on each other for a bit.  We made our way to the hostel, took showers, and booked our next few hostels.  For dinner, we decided to go to Tank, one of Gabby’s favorite sushi places from studying abroad.  We walked a bit to Cape Quarter, but were devastated to find that Tank no longer existed.  I should note that on the walk there we saw a fight between two guys who were yelling at each other.  One picked up a broken bottle, and we got outta there.  We decided to get a cab all the way back to Camp’s Bay where the night had turned so windy that the wind was blowing water off the tops of the waves.  We found a place along the beach for some calamari and sushi (of course). We returned to the hostel and packed up for another adventure tomorrow.  It still hasn't really sunk in as to what we are doing and what is to come.  Every day feels like a new adventure in paradise, which I am definitely OK with.