"i have a feeling we're not in Cape Town anymore"

Well, this past week I’ve been trying to write about our trip while keeping up with what’s going on back here in Cape Town so yes, this post will be painfully long focusing mainly on our trip and then looking quickly at this past week back in Cape Town. While we were on break, we passed the halfway mark for our time here. Before I know it I’m going to be getting on a plane back to the US of A. Of course, now that the time is speeding up and the days are getting shorter, I’m starting to realize just how much more there is that I want to do here. I’m going to do my best to summarize our trip now but I had elaborated earlier and then my computer went crazy and I lost, like, half of what I’d written. In any case, let’s start where I left off.

Mid-semester break. We had 10 days to see of Africa as much as possible. On Friday like I said, we left from my house at 6:30am to get down to Cape Town to catch the Baz Bus. It was conveniently running late so we hung around waiting and wishing we’d brought food with us. Finally, it came and a few hours later we were dropped off in Mossel Bay right in front of the backpackers. This was my first hostel experience and it was a really cute place, not too far from the beach which is where we went first. This beach was kind of rocky but the waves were big and there were lots of surfers. Then, as the sun went down we walked through town to another beach which had amazingly soft sand and we walked around there relaxing and watching the sunset. Then we walked back through town to a seafood restaurant overlooking the first beach we’d gone to.

On Saturday morning, Mel and I got up early (Rachael decided to sleep a bit longer) since we’d realized as the sun was setting that it would rise over the ocean. We didn’t get the very beginning of the sunrise because we’d gotten up too late but it was still beautiful. Side note: we realized we got up too late because we don’t see the sun until a little after 6:30 but that’s because there are mountains by Stellenbosch that block the initial moment where the sun crosses the horizon. Still, it was absolutely breathtaking and a fantastic start to our day.

After eating a bit on the beach, we made our way back to the hostel where we were picked up for Nyaru Game Reserve for a game drive on quad bikes. It was a pretty small reserve so there weren’t really big animals but it was still really cool. After a little bit of a rough start, we were able to get going and saw lots of animals including various species of antelope, water buffalo, wildebeest (those animals that cause the stampede in The Lion King), cheetah, giraffe, zebra, and ostrich. After the ride we went back to town for lunch and to relax at the hostel waiting for the bus, which was late again, so we met lots of cool people who were staying there and some who were waiting for the bus as well. Late afternoon came and it was on to Knysna (ny-z-na).

We got there in the early evening just as the sun was setting over the lagoon that Knysna is most well known for. After making plans for the next day, we went down to the waterfront for dinner where Rachael was adventurous and tried an oyster, Knysna’s other claim to fame. The next day, Sunday, we began with a canoe/kayak safari through the forests and as with any safari, there’s never any guarantee what animals you may see. But for me, the coolest part wasn’t even the animals. After being on the water for an hour, we reached our half way point at a bridge where we would then turn back to where we had started. It was a beautiful view from the bridge which we took in while enjoying some snacks, paddling a boat is hard work. It was here where the daring were able to take a little swim…by jumping off the bridge into the lagoon. I had decided way before we left that I wasn’t going to pass up any opportunities handed to me so I jumped 8 meters (about 25 feet) into the lagoon which was terrifying but exhilarating. We made our way back to our starting point and then were dropped off at the hostel where I took a very necessary shower. Afterwards, we found an adorable place for lunch with fantastic pizza (not like real Italian pizza but it was really good) before walking around the waterfront and town for a little shopping. That evening of course, it was back on the bus to Port Elizabeth for the night.

We left PE early the next morning to go on to Coffee Bay. Unfortunately, we needed to take a shuttle from where the bus dropped us off which didn’t get going until late, we didn’t get to Coffee Bay until after dark. A quick bit of info, the Garden Route I mentioned earlier ends at Port Elizabeth – the coast of South Africa has many different sections. Coffee Bay is on what’s known as the Wild Coast, where the towns are much more traditional villages and more of what people first think of when they hear that I’m in “Africa”. Our night there was complete with dinner, a camp fire, and a drum circle and dancing.

The next morning we found out that we had to leave pretty early in order to catch the shuttle back to the bus pick up which meant we couldn’t go to the “hole in the wall” a rock formation that is supposedly the highlight of visiting Coffee Bay. It just means I’ll have to go back because I would love to spend more time there, it was an incredible place. We made the most of our time there by climbing a hill with a fantastic view of the surrounding area, going down to the beach, and walking around the village to see what the people were doing. The culture there is distinctly Xhosa and we got to talk to a bunch of different people, Mel even got to exercise her Xhosa when a woman was walking in the same direction as us. Before we knew it, we needed to catch the shuttle to the bus that would take us on to Durban, our last stop with the Baz Bus. We figured it out, and we did spend many hours on the bus (close to 30) but we met many incredible people, all on different adventures yet going in the same direction as us. They were from all over the world and it was so much fun talking to people and swapping stories.

We arrived in Durban late Tuesday night and checking in, we saw that right next to the hostel was Ushaka, a waterfront kind of area with shops and restaurants. As we had all day on Wednesday in Durban, we started out with breakfast there before venturing into the city to Victoria Street Market where we walked around for a few hours. Coming from Cape Town, Durban had a very different city feel to it. The market wasn’t like those we’re used to which are geared entirely toward tourists, local people were there doing their regular, every day shopping. I think many people were actually surprised to see us there walking around, we definitely stood out. After the market we needed to try bunny chow, essentially a hollowed loaf of bread with curry and (I got) mixed vegetables inside. I only got a quarter of a loaf which was plenty…and my mouth was on fire by then. Still, it was really good and something we’re glad we got to try as I hadn’t heard of it until Durban.

The rest of the afternoon we relaxed by the beach. I got to step into the Indian Ocean and yes, it is as amazingly warm as everyone says. It was tough pulling us away but we needed to get back to the hostel to get ready since that evening was the first night of Pesach and we went to the Durban Hebrew Congregation for a communal Seder. The synagogue itself looked very nice even though it was dark by the time we got there. What was surprising to me (even though I should’ve expected it I think) was when we were greeted by a guard before a huge locked gate. He let us in reluctantly when I insisted that they knew we were coming, he brought us to the main dining area where I spoke with a man the guard had called over and he welcomed us when I gave him my name. We sat at a table with mostly older couples which was nice because they took quite an interest in us, asking us questions about Cape Town, studying at UCT, America, and our travels. The seder itself was very pleasant, there’s something about the familiar in an unfamiliar place that made me so happy. It wasn’t very long, probably shorter than I used to a minus the family, plus South African political jokes. Then, dinner was really yummy although we had eaten a bit before going so we weren’t too hungry. I did swipe a box of matzah though, since I had no idea how I was going to be able to keep Passover while in Zambia.

At 4am on Thursday my alarm went off and I grudgingly got up and ready for the taxi coming to get us to bring us to the airport for our flight up to Livingstone, Zambia. We got there with plenty of time to get through security and such, and before we knew it we were on a plane to Johannesburg (only a 2 hour layover) and then Livingstone. Having not had time to do more research, we landed and found out that we needed to pay for our visa into Zambia in US dollars, which none of us had. After taking a while to withdraw money from the ATM in local currency (Kwacha which has a conversion rate of about 5,000 Kwacha to 1 USD, so yeah I have cool 50,000 bills) and then waiting for a while to get it converted into USD, we finally all got our passports stamped and returned to us.

Next thing we needed to do was to find a cab that hopefully wouldn’t completely rip us off in our attempt to get to the place we were staying, the Livingstone Holiday Home (LHH). We had tried to stay in one of the two backpackers but they were both full, there were even CIEE people on the plane to Livingstone so we knew there were lots of Americans there for the same days as us. This place was not like a backpackers, but personally I am so glad we stayed there. It was in somewhat a residential area tucked away from the main road and touristy areas but not too far that we couldn’t walk or take a cheap taxi. We pulled up and were graciously greeted by a young guy we know now as Masa. He was extremely friendly and helped us out with figuring out how to pay (we couldn’t charge anything and didn’t have enough of one type of currency at the moment) for the room. We had booked for different rooms since that’s all that was available online but he was able to give us a room for the 3 of us to share, 3 separate twin beds each with its own mosquito net ;) haha. After getting just a bit settled in, he walked us around town telling us about the area before taking us to a restaurant where we got to try traditional Zambian food.

Here I had a little moral dilemma because the matzah I had was certainly not enough for the 3 days we would be in Zambia and I obviously couldn’t starve myself, especially since we anticipated having a packed weekend. Masa told us about Nshima (silent ‘n’ so pronounced like shima) which is the base for the traditional food they had there. It was eaten with pretty much anything from meats and fish to basic vegetables. The dilemma, nshima is made from corn. Considering that I have never needed to think really hard about keeping kosher for Passover, I was surprised with myself to remember that corn falls under kitniyot but since I didn’t want to starve myself for 3 days, I decided to consider myself temporarily Sephardic. Just like with the Sephardim, corn (eaten as nshima) is so common that I think Jews there wouldn’t have banned it since they would’ve then been in the same situation I was in. So in terms of food, I had a pretty typical diet for those 3 days: hard boiled eggs in the morning, a bit of matzah or salad kind of things for lunch, and nshima with veggies for dinner. And the nshima was actually quite yummy and it was cool trying this new, cultural food.

Ok, enough about food already. Friday started out slow but we eventually made it to a place where we got to book activities for that day and the next. We obviously had to first go to Victoria Falls, no question. For those of you who don’t know, Victoria Falls is one of the natural wonders of the world and a wonder it truly is. The traditional name for the falls in Zambia is Mosi Oa Tunya which means “smoke that thunders” because the mist looks like smoke rising above the falls and the sound of the water over the falls is like thunder. It was an absolutely incredible sight, putting Niagara Falls to shame. We were there during the high season and this year is one of the highest the river has ever been according to our guide. The spray was so huge that we couldn’t even completely grasp just how vast the falls were because we got lost in the mist.

As we walked on our guided tour, we realized our poor planning in that two of us were wearing sneakers and walking under the falls which (even with a poncho) left us as wet as if we’d just jumped into a pool. I eventually gave up trying to stay dry and even took the hood off the poncho to let the spray soak my head; it was such a powerful feeling. I also kept track and saw at least 14 rainbows just walking the short bridge that takes us alongside the falls. The spray is so strong and constant that the algae were everywhere we looked, covering the rock and bridge. Then we got to do just a bit of shopping at the market right next to the falls and I got a necklace that makes up the sign of the falls. It’s supposed to look vaguely like the man who first greeted Dr. Livingstone (after whom the town is named) when he discovered the falls.

After getting suckered by some of the booths into buying lots of stuff, we rushed back to LHH to change before going back out to the falls once the sun had gone down. It is called the lunar rainbow and it can only really be seen beginning the day before full moon through the day after full moon. It was the day after full moon which meant we were lucky enough to be able to go and see it. On those nights, the moon is so bright that there is enough light to create a rainbow over the falls at night, a lunar rainbow. It was absolutely incredible and like nothing I’ve ever seen or even heard of. We finally dragged ourselves away and returned to LHH for the night.

We decided to take a break from touristy things at the falls and went into Mukuni Village for the first half of the day on Saturday. We were showed around by a young woman who even brought us into some of the huts and talked to some people with us. If I remember some of what she said correctly, about 7,000 people live in the village which is the first one Dr. Livingstone visited when he discovered the falls. Our last stop in the village was at the market where everything was made in the village and all the money they make from their sales is communal, so the entire town profits, regardless which vender things are bought from. I think this last bit of knowledge is what we used to justify buying so much stuff; we were helping the entire village, not just one vender. It was so different from the market we’ve gone to in Cape Town. The people were pushier but in a friendlier way; every person there shook my hand and asked my name before telling me that they had something different compared to the others to show me. Eventually I was marketed out and while I waited I talked with some of them about living and studying in Cape Town. They were all so nice I only wish we could’ve stayed for longer to talk to more people.

The second half of the day we went to a gorge for some activities, we could see the Zambezi River not to far away where the water was choppy after having gone over the falls. There were 3 activities as part of this adventure package. First we did the flying fox which is sort of like a zip line but you run and jump and once you can’t go any further to the other side of the gorge, they pull you back in. If you make it to the other side, you get your money back and even though none of us did we did get pretty far and enjoyed the view almost 100 meters above the gorge floor. Next we went abseiling which like reverse rock climbing; you make your way down the cliff into the gorge by slowly lowering yourself on a rope. That was a bit nerve racking since I went down very slowly and got to look around and it occurred to me that I was hanging off a cliff 50 meters above the ground and the only thing keeping me up was my grip on the rope (don’t worry Mom, it’s safe and I’m fine, see). After a painful climb back up, our last and most terrifying adventure was the gorge swing. It is a few seconds of free fall of a little less than 100 meters before the rope catches and you swing back and forth across the gorge, Mel and I went tandem which also meant we had to go backwards with our legs tied. It was a terrifying build up to the fall since we had to walk to the edge, turn around, and back up until our heels were over the edge of the platform before rocking backwards to fall off. Even though it was pretty scary but I’m so glad we tried it.

We went back to LHH before going back into town for dinner to the same restaurant we’d gone to the first night. It was really nice and relaxing although Masa didn’t get to come with us that time so he couldn’t help explain stuff on the menu to us. After dinner, we went back and talked with him for a while about all different things: current issues around the world, personal views, religion, and more. Mel and Rachael were tired and went to bed after a while but I figured that I don’t know when I’ll be able to take advantage the opportunity to talk with someone who has been brought up in such a different culture with different opinions so we stayed up talking for quite some time before I finally decided that it was time for bed.

Sunday, we got up early to go check out the church across the street to see if they would have anything special for Easter. It seemed like any other service to me but the music was very pretty and it was cool just to see the congregation in action. Unfortunately we didn’t get to stay to really talk with anyone because it was also our travel day so we needed to get to the airport. Masa walked with us to a main road, insisting on carrying all our heaviest bags, and got us a cab for a good deal. It was kinda sad saying goodbye to him; he played such a role in our experience in Livingstone but we all agreed that we should keep in touch and he insisted that we inform him when we arrived back in Cape Town (which I did later that night). Our flights back to Jo-burg and then Cape Town were short but they served us on both of them (just like when we had been going there) so at least I got a few 100% kosher for Passover meals. Arriving back in Cape Town left me with mixed feelings. I had so much fun traveling but it was nice and familiar to be flying into the airport seeing the sun setting behind Table Mountain.

This week flew by as I know the rest of my time here in Cape Town will. Something about passing the half way point made me realize how much more I want to do while I’m here so I’m going to try to make the most of every day. The beginning of the week was pretty uneventful and full of matzah. I broke Passover Thursday night with a Cocoa Wah-wah cookie though which was wonderfully delicious. That same night I went out to dinner with people for a friend’s 21st birthday and then ended up at Hemisphere with them and most of my house. Since the weeks leading up to break had been so stressful and I’d been cooped up in my room, it was nice going out and being silly on the dance floor. Friday night I went out to dinner with Mel and her family (her grandmother, mom, and oldest sister) who arrived in Cape Town the same day we returned from break and are here til this coming Wednesday. We had a lot of fun and walked around the waterfront after dinner, I got a few great CDs with local artists, something I’ve wanted to do for a while.

On Saturday I went into Cape Town with a group of people to check out the SA Museum and Planetarium which was a really cool place. I tend to favor particular kinds of museums but this one was really neat; we even got to learn about the current night sky which is the reverse of what we see at home in the northern hemisphere, crazy. I got to experience Ethiopian food then for lunch before we eventually made our way back to our houses but then it was out again, this time with Rachael, Mel, and Mel’s sister down to the Green Dolphin (a jazz restaurant I’d been to only once before) at the waterfront. The food (and by food I mean dessert) was really good and the music was very enjoyable, we had a good time. That wasn’t it though; we needed to show Mel’s sister some Cape Town night life so we obviously went to Long Street. However, rather than go to Fiction, Marvel, or any of those typical places, we splurged on a place called Chez Ntemba just off of Long Street. It is a really cool place with different dance floors that have hip hop, house, and African music. The decorations inside are a bit intense with mirrors and black marble on all the walls and disco balls, lasers, and strobe lights everywhere but the music was great and we had a lot of fun.

Sunday was a wonderfully bum-y day, I didn’t do anything, and now today is Monday and exactly 1 month before the last day of lectures. I got to go to the TB clinic which was nice, I missed the kids and they made it clear that they’d missed us too. Now, I’m just sitting here shaking my head at this beyond ridiculously extensive post and enjoying the warmth of my computer on my lap. Did I mention that there really isn’t fall here, it went from summer to winter-ish really quickly. Winter weather meaning overcast and/or rainy with temperatures in the 50s, feelings like 40s with the wind chill. Occasionally we get a really nice day but I’m getting through them just knowing that it’s getting warmer at home.

Well for now that’s all. I probably should be doing homework now anyway, but it’s been a while I know (sorryyyy) so I figured an update was necessary. Congratulations and thank you for bearing with me and dealing with my ramblings. I miss you all lots and can’t wait to see you. And of course, not complete without a shout out but this time it’s because it’s 6 days until RELAY FOR LIFE!! I wish I could be there and you’ll all be in my thoughts on that day! <3

As always,
Sarah