Weekend Adventures

This first weekend in Cape Town was awesome! I’m being very serious about the use of that particular word, unlike the multitudes of young people who utilize it for anything in their lives that is slightly more than mundane.

Cape Town truly is awesome (adjective)

definition: extremely impressive or daunting

synonyms: breathtaking, awe-inspiring, magnificent, wonderful, amazing, stunning, staggering, imposing, stirring, impressive; formidable, fearsome, dreaded; informal mind-boggling, mind-blowing, jaw-dropping, excellent, marvelous.

I went on a Baz Bus Cape Point tour on Saturday. We left bright and early and drove around the entire peninsula for the day. Our first stop was a little beach area where you had the option of taking a boat to seal island, which I didn’t actually end up doing. But I did walk around the beach. The mountains are always covered in a mist that makes them look incredible.

Our second stop was to Simon’s Town to see the penguins. They were adorable. The way they walk around reminds me of the way toddlers walk–with that unstable waddle. Strangely there was some dead animal on the beach that this seagull was pecking at, and it was crazy because four of the penguins stared down that bird–they actually leaned forward with their heads jutted out at the same angle as if they were scolding the gull for eating another dead bird. Consequently, the bird ended up dragging that dead thing half way down the beach to avoid the penguin’s reprimanding gaze.

Our next stop was into the cape of good hope nature reserve where they dropped us off with some bikes and told us to ride about 5 km to a meeting point for lunch. If you read my blog, then you’d know that I only JUST learned how to ride a bike while in Taiwan a few weeks ago. I did alright then but I was super tense especially when people, scooters, or cars passed by. I lost control on every tiny hill and couldn’t stay on for very long. But this ride was GREAT! I was a bit apprehensive starting out that I wouldn’t be able to get back on the bike and ride it, especially because this bike seat was so much higher and it wasn’t as easy to get off. But it went fine. Going up the hills were tiring as hell, and I did end up walking part of that, but I coasted down the hills with perfect control–cars passing by and all. Guess I just needed a better bike.

The hope was to see a few animals on the bike ride like baboons and such, but I guess they were all hiding. The ride was beautiful, nonetheless, and I felt like I made a great accomplishment. Just goes to show it’s never too late to learn something new. It’s just still hilarious to me that it took me leaving the country to do it.

Anyway, our final two stops were to the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point Lighthouse. The Cape of Good Hope was absolutely beautiful and the walk/hike up the lighthouse, while tiring, was definitely worth it to see down across all the water and mountains.

I normally, don’t enjoy tours, but that was definitely worth it and was probably one of the best ones I’ve done yet.

Sunday was a little less adventurous but still great. We went to Mzoli’s for the braai. A braai is pretty much a barbecue, but here you go into the little store and you choose the meat you want from these huge cuts of lamb, pork, beef, sausage, and chicken. They weigh it, and then you take it to the back and they throw it in this fiery grill. Let me just say this meet was cooked to perfection. The steak I got was not overcooked and it was so cheap! The meat I got was like R30 (=~$4). You go into a tent out back, eat your meat, drink a couple of beers, and then dance to the sounds of the dj playing.

I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend (except maybe if it was a bit warmer :D)

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