Cape Point Road Trip and other weekend highlights.

I wont go into detail on Friday’s events…. I’ll just give the highlights:
Woke up to a phone call from Cassie… so good to hear her voice!
Theatre day at the hospital, everything went really well.
When leaving the hospital… bus was just around the corner, so no waiting!
Danielle and I finally were able to hike all of Lion’s Head… great hike, reminded me of Camelback Mountain in Phoenix. It was also a gorgeous day to be outside… start of several great sunny, 70-degree weather days.
Dinner at Café Royale, quaint restaurant known for the best gourmet burgers in town. Enjoyed sweet potato fries and a Milo and banana milkshake as well, everything was delicious!

Saturday morning I participated in a Connect event. About 10 of us from Connect went to the Township of Langa to help paint a cottage for a disabled home. The disabled home is for ages 18-50. The townships are the poorest communities in Cape Town. They are neighborhoods made up mostly of huts and government building. Many of the patients from the hospital live in the townships. Fires are common because of the lack of ventilation in the huts. Also, food is cooked and water is boiled in open fire pits then used for a number of chores and purposes. The disabled home had this cottage built but ran out of funding to finish. So we went and where able to paint most of the inside, a 5 room building/home. It was a fun morning full of painting and afterwards we went on a short walking tour of the township. The most interesting part was the “smiley braai”, which consists of sheep heads that are called smiley because the sheep accepts their death with a smile on their face, thus they are smiling forever. They cook the head over the fire and eat everything out of it, I was told the tongue is the best part. The heads are pictured below...

We also attended the shebeen (informal pub) where beer is brewed. The one we visited was small and dark, benches lining the walls and on the floor were 1-gallon tins of the beer (pictured below). We learned that beer is a traditional beverage often drank during ceremonies. It is a way for the people in the townships to connect with their ancestors. The tin was passed around in a ceremonial fashion, but I choose not to try the beer. I know several of my beer loving friends would have enjoyed this experience, but instead I just enjoyed watching. If the beer was spilled carelessly, a fine would have to be paid, which would be equivalent to the cost of a cow.
Road Trip. Saturday.

After painting in the Langa Township, Danielle and I left for our first South African road trip. We left about 2:30 and Danielle started us off by driving, which meant I was the navigator and I surprisingly was pretty good... a few turn a rounds, but we made it to our destination even with a detour that we weren’t expecting and I actually had to read a map (no map quest for us). (College roomies… if I have to be the navigator I can be an good one, but I will say I like sitting in the back seat much more). We were excited to finally make it to Kalk Bay, our first destination. Kalk Bay is a fishing village where bohemian artists meet trendy diners, the rocky shoreline meets architectural mansions and surfers mingle with hikers and fisherman. We walked along the main street, looking at the cute stores and antique shops, and enjoyed some delicious treats from Olympia Bakery. At the harbor we saw some seal lions, lots of fish for sale, and an aggressive fisherman who wanted to talk to us and not exactly sure what else he wanted from us. We drove through Fish Hoek on our way to Simon’s Town, where penguins and the navy share sand and sea. Simon’s Town was pretty dead by the time we got there. We had a quiet, peaceful dinner at the Waterfront with a great view of False Bay and boats. Not sure how the restaurants stay in business when we were their only customers and it was a Saturday night. Our next mission was finding a Bed and Breakfast. Our friends had given us a place they stayed at a couple of weeks ago, but we had a hard time finding it and when we did they were full. After trying about 4 places we finally found a Bed and Breakfast with an open room. We stayed at the Cheriton, which was a cozy Victorian home with a maritime theme. We were able to watch movies and enjoy tea and biscuits in bed. The next morning we had an amazing breakfast of smoothies, tea, eggs, sausage, bacon, and toast. It was fabulous, I was satisfied and we listened to birds and our view was False Bay. It was my first time staying at a B&B and I’m definitely a fan.
Sunday.
I drove once we left the B&B all the way to Cape Point. It was a little weird at first and the hardest part was the blinker and wind shield wipers are switched, but it was helpful that is was just a straight road to the point. Cape Point is situated at the junction of two of earth’s most contrasting water masses- the cold Benguela current on the West Coast and the warm Agulhas current on the East Coast. It is also popularly perceived as the meeting point of the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. Geographically, however, the Indian Ocean joins the Atlantic Ocean at Cape Agulhas National Park, which I am going to this weekend. We experienced some of the highest sea cliffs and some major wind and they say it has the freshest air in South Africa- straight from the Antarctic. We were early enough that there weren’t a lot of people. We didn’t realize we would have to walk up such a huge hill to get to the lighthouse…. my flip-flops became my hiking shoes for the day, but the views were truly beautiful. I know I say that a lot about everything, but I have learned to realize that Africa has beautiful views, not sure if it’s because I’m not used to such great views or if it’s because of the water and mountains combined, but everything was beautiful and we were so glad we had such a pretty sunny day. Cape Point was fun but the memorable thing about Cape Point is that Danielle and I both got attacked by baboons. She is a much funnier writer than me so I am posting what she wrote:
Cape Point is famous for its baboon population. The area is flooded with them and it is well known that they can be dangerous, especially where food is involved (I can relate). So when Jamie and I ventured out, we were sure to keep our wits about us and our food sealed in the car. We made it all the way out to Cape Point (the drive through the reserve and the walk out to the lighthouse) without ONE baboon sighting. We were actually pretty disappointed. Anyone who has been to cape point has great pics and amusing stories about the excessive baboon population. And we didn’t even SEE one. We were reassured by a staff member that we would most likely see at least one on our way out. As we were walking back to our car, we found what everyone was talking about! baboons were everywhere along the paths; climbing fences, tumbling on benches, playing in trees. We were taking pictures left and right as the babies made faces at us, and the adults ignored our presence. We took so many pictures, in fact, that Jamie’s camera ran out of memory space. As she was reaching in her bag for a spare disk, a (rather large) baboon, who up until this point hadn’t done so much as blink an eye at us, assumed she must have some food in there. As the baboon approached her, I gave her a calm ‘heads up’ figuring he was just curious. She turned just in time to see the baboon leap onto her back in a chaos of grunts. She screamed and dropped her bag as I jumped in yelling, “There’s no food in there!!!!” I expected him to throw his hands up and say, “Oh! My bad. Just checking. I’ll just be going, then.” So you can imagine my surprise when he dove at me. I shook him off and assured him that I didn’t have any food either. He wasn’t buying it and thought maybe he should check for himself. We did our best to look fierce and he backed away just enough for me to gather our things and make a stealth get away. We raced down the path in nervous laughter toward the parking lot (which is really difficult when your legs are trembling) and each time a baboon ran past us, we huddled in fear. The other tourists thought we were over reacting, but I have a hole in my dress proving otherwise!
The baboons are a crazy wild animal and pretty sure I have learned my lesson and really never want to be around baboons again. So after that we went to the Cape of Good Hope, which is the southern most western tip of Africa. We saw some amazing waves and the bluest ocean. After the point we went to Boulder Beach, home of the African “jackass” penguins, which are cute and harmless animals. Ate lunch at Kalk Bay at Olympia Café. We also stopped at the bakery again to bring home treats, got an ice cream cone at a popular ice cream place; the line was out the door. On our way back into town we were trying to take advantage of having our rental car so we went up to Signal hill to see what was there. It was super crowded but was a nice area for picnicking, a small trail and great views. I definitely want to go back for a picnic and would be perfect for sunset. Then we headed to the Waterfront for dinner and to go to the grocery store. It was another great weekend, and many pictures and memories.

Pictures from the weekend:

The super cute store that we stopped at along Kalk Bay... Denise you would of loved it.

Olypmia Cafe in Kalk Bay... amazing desserts... between the two of us we were able to try several things. We also stopped on the way home :) Cathy you would of loved it!

Kalk Bay... all the colorful fishing boats.
Didn't see any whales, sharks, or dolphins, but some seal lions.

Simon's Town... where we had dinner and also where our Bed and Breakfast was.

Exploring in the back yard of our B & B... found an Arizona license plate on the wall.

Where we ate breakfast... it was a great morning to eat outside!

We made it to Cape Point!

The lighthouse is to the left... this is as far as we were aloud to walk.

Another amazing view... i'm on the left.

The baboons... cute, but not so cute when they are on your back.

The big one on the bench is the one that attacked me.

The ocean was beautiful, the water color, the waves, everything about it, I could of stayed there all day just watching the water.

The ostrich and me....

I wanted to get a little closer, but i'm learning my lesson with the baboon.

The cute penguins....

I can get close to them and they wont hurt me :)

"Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth."

Psalm 8:9