Stress: Longer I'm here the more there is to see!

Continuation from previous (Weekend Update):

The peninsula tour was really fun. Nice chill day making new buddies and seeing marvellous sights. Figured it wouldn't be too hard on my sad sick self. We got to see the entire peninsula (btw Aussies, Brits, and SAs say that word REALLY funny: "peninshoola"). STUNNING. Every time we turned a corner and every new view we saw was jaw-droppingly gorgeous. Can't believe all of this beauteous nature is all packed into such a small place. We stopped in Bo Kaap, which I had visited the week before with James, Kate, Dean, and Chloe. But it was cool to actually hear a bit more of the history. It began as a Vietnamese neighborhood back right after they were released from slavery. During that time they were greatly restricted in the ways they could express their culture. So when the were finally free, they went crazy and painted all of their houses these amazingly bright bold colors. After some time, a large Muslim population moved into Bo Kaap as well and there are mosques on every third corner all decorated in the same bold colors. Most recently, and large population of college students have been colonizing the area so its really trendy and young and fairly safe. So its a very interesting mix of cultures and people and has a super cool vibe to it (Oh! and the gay neighborhood borders it too). We had several cars of guys in their twenties in full muslim garb drive by blasting African drum music. So weird!!

We drove around and past the West Coast Beaches and towns and only stopped for long enough to figure out we HAD to come back. Paradise. AHH! Especially Camps Bay and Clifton. Pretty upscale neighborhoods and ridiculously so in comparison to whats just over the mountains from them. We went to Cape Point (Nature Reserve), which is the most SW point of the African continent and hiked up to the lighthouse where views were unreal. You could see the entire peninsula from up there, so Atlantic ocean on both sides and all the bays along both coasts, and mountains shooting straight up from the coasts: table mountain, lions head, muizenberg mountain, the 12 apostles. We even spotted a couple buildings in our "home town" (Muizenberg). There's a lot of super cool history about explorers and shipwrecks and such. Something like 300 shipwrecks right around that point. Only downside was all the bugs at the top! Gross and of course they all fell in love with me most of all! I had on a bright yellow/green skirt and they just swarmed. Got my first bug bites of the trip and was itching off imaginary bugs for the next hour. Still worth it though. And if I'm okay with bugs you KNOW the view was good!

We came back around to the eastern side of the peninsula and went to see the penguins again. I'd gone to Simon's Town to Boulder Beach a couple weeks before with Doni and Tyler, but there's no getting tired of penguins! So cute and awkward and little. And they are almost always in pairs because they mate for life and its adorable! You can climb through the boulders to like secret hidden little white sand beaches and privately obsess over the closest little jackass penguins (that's really their name).

Next up: Lunch. Finally! It was about 2:30 by this point and we'd left the house at 8:15am. We went to Kalkies at the Kalk Bay harbor. Its a sort of grungy but awesome hole-in-the-wall seafood place just sitting on the dock with a canopy over top. I got my first fish and chips, which are apparently a big deal! Its one of the classic 'Cape' dishes.

Side note: I came wanting to experience all the 'local' cuisine. But there is such a mixture of cultures that much of the 'local' cuisine is much like you'd find in the states. There are certain specialties though. Like fish and chips. And there's a special type of cuisine called 'Cape Malay' that is a mixture of indian, south asian (indonesian), dutch, and middle eastern. It is unique to the Western Cape of SA. And delicious. Or at least I thought so. I went during my day in Bo Kaap with James and crew and had a sort of wrap with a spiced curried steak. A few had the traditional dish bobotie. I was really the only one that loved the food. But some weren't super open to new things and some just ordered really heavy food. There is lots of game eaten here: ostrich, kudu, etc. And biltong--sort of like jerky--is huge as well. Moral of the story: There is no one local cuisine. There are many and they are all intertwined, a reflection of the people here.

Back to the tour... We headed to a winery in Constancia for our last stop. This is not the big wine region that is classically boasted about. It is a smaller area right in the center of the peninsula. Gorgeous! We were all seated around a huge rustic wooden dining table. And the pouring began. We continued the party (and the bonding) in the courtyard outside and then headed home around 6:30.

Long Day. A few of the girls were going to a hockey game after (invited by some referees they met cage diving) and I was planning on going with but there ended up not being enough tickets and I think it was a blessing in disguise because I was sick, remember? And of course, I can't say no to good times :)

Woke up feeling pretty shitty on Monday, even as it was. Hawking up phlegm like I was going for the world record. (Apologies for the explicit nature of that description). It was pretty bad. Back to no voice at all, constant coughing and of the moist kind as described above. I had to stay home. There was no way I could be helpful at school feeling like I was. And there's really no soap, paper towels, napkins, or anyway to deal with the phlegm thing soooo. Bed it was! And I slept man! I tried to be somewhat productive and organize my stuff, do laundry, and practice consulting cases. Useless. My eyes kept closing on me and I slept basically all day. When nighttime came (about 5 hours after I got up-up) I had no problem going right back to sleep. So as much as it sucks to be away from my kids I think it was much needed.

I'm getting more and more behind on retelling my adventures as time goes. So quick synopsis (I promise I'll get to it all asap):

trying to walk to town and nearly passing out, Constantia wine tour, no brass bell, visiting Robben Island, ferry out, hottest day we've had, crying when reading about Mandala, African Dance show, best latte ever and hugest cheesecake ever (cheesecake factory watch out!), third class train, table mountain hike, opera, champagne, ostrich stew, cable car, robert, green market, kids dancing on train, girls' night but not really, mall and train back, horseback riding, imnhoff farm, santori,, story about mommies and daddies, health form and mulumba, my favorites, Sara at Sunrise, kloof st, savoy cabbage, fiction, high tea, kalk bay, cape to cuba (x3), tapas, friday market puppy, sneaking wine, house to ourselves, switch rooms, woodstock market, foooood, new people oh my, Toad round 2, my first Village, Kirstenbosch yoga, smelling evil, camps bay day of chill, deep convo with Jenny, Kayla just Kayla, sushi and sunset, gelato....

See, so much! I can't believe I only have 3 weeks left. It's gonna fly by