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summer, 2017

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Cape Town, July 26

Today I hiked Lion’s Head with Jin and Ashila. It only took about an hour, so it wasn’t also intense as Table Mountain, which we were thankful for. It was a beautiful, clear day and we went up to watch the sunset. Jin leaves tomorrow morning, so we wanted to do one last cool thing with her. The hike wasn’t too difficult and the views were amazing, this is definitely a hike I would do frequently if I lived here.

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Cape Town, July 24l

Jin, Alex, Joseph, Bri, and I took a ferry to Robben Island, which is the island where political prisoners were held during the Apartheid era, including Nelson Mandela and many other important figures in the social rights movement in South Africa. We got a tour of the island as well as a tour of the maximum security prison, led by an ex-prisoner who was arrested for political sabotage and espionage. It was pretty heavy, hearing about how poorly they were treated and how terrible things were here at that time. It was a beautiful island though, and an interesting and educational tour.

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Cape Town, July 22

We went to a place called Cheetah Outreach, where they work to raise awareness for cheetahs and other endangered species. They have 13 cheetahs at the reserve, and we got to pet one named Rafiki!

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Cape Town, July 8: We took the train to Simon’s Town, which was fun and took about an hour. We ate lunch on the harbor, walked through a market, and went to see the penguins on the beach. We couldn’t get close, and it was pretty crowded, but it was so beautiful and such a neat town.

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Cape Town, July 2, 2017:

Jin, Ashila, Chelsea, and I tried to hike Lion’s Head, but it started to rain a little bit and it made the trail slippery and dangerous, considering it has a lot of rocks and climbing involved. Jin and Ashila went home while Chelsea and I did a shorter hike on the side of Lion’s Head to Wally’s Cave. It was super foggy, so we didn’t get to see the view, but it was still really cool and a lot of fun.

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Cape Town, June 18 (pt. 2/2)

This was one of the most amazing sunsets I have ever seen, I only wish we could have seen it from the top of the mountain like we originally planned.

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Cape Town, Day ? (June 18) Pt. 1/2: Jin, Ashila, and I started hiking Skeleton Gorge up Table Mountain at about 2:40 on Sunday afternoon. We had read online that it would take 2-4 hours, then we were going to ride the cable car down after watching the sunset. However, we did the hardest trail without realizing it, so it was actually a 5ish hour hike. The sun sets at 5:30, so we ended up being stuck a little over an hour away from the cable car at about 6:30 (the last cable car was at 6). We were freezing cold with the temperature dropping fast, our lack of warm clothes, and the really strong wind, so we huddled together behind a rock and called the emergency number we had taken a photo of earlier on the trail. By the time we got in contact with the rescue ranger station, it was getting close to 8 and we were miserable. It took another hour and a half for them to find us after we sent them our location using WhatsApp, but they didn't have trouble finding us and gave us warm jackets for the hike back to the cable car. One of the rangers essentially proposed to me, which was interesting, and then showed me a lot of constellations that we could see in the milky way above us. We rode down on the cable car (which was literally full of shit, since they had filled it with the sewage from the station at the top of the mountain), got checked by the paramedics, gave them our contact info, and got home around 10:30 pm. It was intense and scary but a beautiful hike and sunset, so overall I think it was worth it. From now on though, we won’t go hiking after noon.

(More pictures in next post)

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Cape Town, Day 11: On Saturday, we spent the day in Stellenbosch, a region north of us world known for its vineyards. We did a tour of three wineries and one brandy distillery, all of which were amazing! It was absolutely beautiful and so much fun.

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Cape Town, Day 9: We heard about this thing called “First Thursdays,” which happens on the first Thursday of every month. It’s where a bunch of art galleries are open for free and people just wander around and drink wine and look at art. We stayed for a little over 2 hours and it was incredible.

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Cape Town, Day 6: we started work yesterday but there’s a conference going on with Black Sash branches from all over South Africa, and we aren’t allowed to sit in on it because it’s “sensitive information.” So we have nothing to do, but we are going in on Wednesday and Friday. Today, we hiked up Signal Hill and half of the rest of the way up Lion’s Head. Then we walked along the promenade again and found a public pool, which we decided we’ll do Thursday.

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Part 3/3 - Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, Cape Town

(appreciate the random Italian man who joined our group photo)

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Part 2/3 - Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, Cape Town

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Cape Town, Day 4, Part 1/3: we went to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, which is at the base of Table Mountain. It was absolutely incredible, with all kinds of flowers, trees, and other plants that are indigenous to South Africa. We did a 1.5 hour walking tour before eating lunch there. This was such a beautiful experience and photos don’t do it justice, but of course I took a ton. I’ll add more in another post - there’s too many for just one.

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Cape Town, Day 3: we slept in and were lazy for most of the day until me, Jin, Ashila, Chelsea, and Oge hiked up Signal Hill to watch the sunset. It was absolutely incredible, and our first clear day so it was the best one so far.

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Cape Town, Day 2: we walked along the Sea Point Promenade, down to the Victoria and Albert waterfront, which is a couple of malls and a bunch of shops and restaurants along the bay and boat tours offered throughout the day. It’s a very touristy area, with expensive shops and souvenir opportunities, but we just wanted to look around and eat lunch. It was beautiful, with an amazing view of Table Mountain and the bay, as well as lots of colorful buildings. We also met with our coordinator today, we talked about logistics for when we start our work on Monday, and different things he suggested we try. These free days are so much fun and great since we’re still learning our surroundings, but I’m ready to start work so this will start to feel real. I’m already super excited to get started and begin learning more about everything here.

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Day 1 in Cape Town: our apartment is about a 10 minute walk down a canopy road to the waterfront, and we can see part of the heart of the city as well as the water from our balcony. We walked along the water (not a swimming beach - that’ll have to be another day) and around some shops before getting dinner at a little sushi place.

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Doha, Qatar - we only had about 3 hours outside of the airport during our tour, but I fell in love with the architecture and colorfulness of the city.