Thursday we had an orientation at the lodge we're staying in where our tour guide, Frans, gave us the low down on the country. South Africa has so much history behind it and thier culture is so unique. The beach is two blocks away from where we are staying but it's winter here so I don't know if it'll be nice enough out to actually sit out on the beach. It has rained all day the past couple days here, Frans calls it BMW aka baby making weather (don't worry mom & dad, we're not participating in that!)
Friday we ventured out into the rain and headed into town. It's about a half hour into Cape Town from where we are staying so luckily we have a bus to take us around. We drove up to this beautiful spot where you could see all of the mountains and the ocean and the entire city. It is such a beautiful place, my pictures don't even do it justice.
Yesterday we also went to the District 6 museum. The owner, Noor, enlightened us on the aparthid and how his entire neighborhood was destroyed during it, making all the whites, the blacks, and the coloreds live completely seperately. In Africa that's how they classify people: whites, blacks, coloreds, and Indians, it's not disrespectful to call a person colored or black. Noor read us very moving pieces from his book and was a very interesting man. The most amazing thing is that he was saying that he was not mad at anyone for what happened in the past. He stressed that he didn't hate the whites for splitting up families, making racist laws, and destroying his home, but that he forgave them and respected them. He was such a wise man and a great person to meet.
After the museum we did a little shopping at the marketplace and then went to meet with the people who plan the Two Oceans Marathon, the biggest race in South Africa. It was very interesting to hear how such a big event is put together in another country.
Today, Friday, we started our day by going to Boulders Beach where we saw penguins! They were all over the beach and so cute!
Next we headed off the the Cape of Good Hope, otherwise known as the very tip of Africa, right where the Indian and Atlantic Ocean meet. We hiked to the top of the point and then we came back down to grab some lunch. There were wild baboons walking around everywhere and they went after one of the girls in our group because she had food!
Then we took the most amazing hike to this mountain and it was so much fun. We hiked about a mile and a half up this giant mountain top and the views were amazing! The ocean was the most gorgous thing I have ever seen and we got to walk down these old stairs to get to this beach surrounded by cliffs. I cannot describe the view, it was incredible.
I am so excited to see even more of this amazing and beautiful country in the month to come!
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