It's Nearly the End of the World

Capetown--Wednesday

Our hotel in Capetown is pretty rad, and being the "business hotel" on our trip (Lizzie's conference is Thursday) it is super fancy and everyone is helpful, and so far there hasn't been any contemptuous sighing, which we received much of in the previous two cities we were in, mainly when we didn't have correct change. Lizzie was up late on Tuesday night working (and then of course, I had some blogging to catch up on) and so we slept late, but then met le beau garcon Patrick who was going to give us a tour of Table Mountain, the Simon Town Penguin colony, Cape Point and the Cape of Good hope. Patrick was a dashing ex-pat from la France, and his accent was definitely French, though peppered with those hilarious "Ja's". He took us to Table Mountain, which is part of the mountains that dominate the landscape of Capetown. Table mountain is flat on top, of course, and is often covered with a shroud of mist which the locals call the table cloth. There are twelve peaks around Table Mountain, referred to as the twelve apostles, and also a mountain called lion's head, which sort of maybe looks like the sphinx. (Lizzie asked if the back end of the mountain was referred to as Lion's butt, and Patrick laughed and said no, that it was called signal hill, which we decided was classier, but less interesting). We took a spooky cable car (which was oddly sponsored by visa) up to the top. I am not afraid of heights, but Lizzie is. Not only did the car go up, but the floor spun as well, so she was having a great time. At the top, we saw Robben's Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned, and which now is apparently overrun by bunnies. (Also, Patrick told us that Robben's Island is just Dutch for Seal's Island.)

We poked around, got some pictures, and then descended for the 2 1/2 hour drive to the near end of the world, or at least the end of Africa. Patrick was full of information, which we absorbed nerdishly (again, it didn't hurt that he was tres beau), and then we stopped at the Penguin colony. He told us Penguin Fun Facts, which totally weren't fun but actually sad, because the colonies are slowly dying out, possibly because of over fishing, or because humans are harvesting the penguin crap (which Patrick dashingly called guano) to use as fertilizer, and the penguins need it to build nests. (The cuteness of many of my penguin photos are marred by their being covered in guano). We were feet away from the Penguin, and I'm not going to lie to you here, if Patrick weren't there, Lizzie and I totally would've each touched at least one penguin. Maybe more. They were ridiculously cute, and there was much squealing, which I'm sure Patrick found absolutely annoying. I mean charming. The penguins liked it anyway, and brayed at us, being jackass penguins. After the penguins we made our way to Cape town and

OH MY GOD BABOONS! NOOOOOO!!

There were Baboons everywhere, all over the roads, staring at us. I took some pictures, mostly so I can horrify my sisters, who share my fear and loathing of all things Monkey-like. They apparently hassle people for food because idiot tourists feed them, so when we got to Cape Point, I had my punching fists ready, empowered by my Spider killing, ready to knock out Rafiki if necessary (who am I kidding? I will never kill another spider, and if a Baboon came at me I would run away crying). We decided to hike up to the top of Cape Point, instead of taking the train (go Rabbits!) and it was simply breath taking. (The view, that is, though the hike didn't help). We saw a huge cross that was erected in honor of Vasco De Gama's loop around the cape, and also the point where the warm and cold currents meet (though it's not quite where the two oceans meet). I've never seen anything so incredible in my life (except for Snakes on a Plane), and the only thing that marred the experience is that we ran into Veruca Salt and her Dad/Boyfriend/Cousin. WTF? You've followed us to the ends of the earth? What are the chances? South Africa is pretty damn big, and they decided to fly to Capetown on the same day we did, and visit the same attractions at the very same time? We had seen a bunch of whales a quarter mile off the coast on our drive to the Cape Point, and apparently Veruca had seen them as well, and was lecturing us about the kind of whales they were. SHUT UP. JAMES ISN'T HERE, NO ONE IS IMPRESSED. Ugh.

Anyhow, we enjoyed the scenery for a bit longer, and then hiked back down. Patrick, who had stayed at the bottom, was surprised that we hadn't taken the train either way, and that we weren't freezing. It was probably 60 degrees out, and yes, there was a wind chill (in all of the pictures I'm in, my hair is blowing around like mad) but for crying out loud, 60! I prefer 80, yes, but I prefer 60 to the 40's we'll be returning to. Also, we're lazy Americans, but not *that* lazy.

Next we headed to the Cape of Good hope, which is on the same reserve as the Cape point, but a wee bit further south, and lower elevation. On the way we saw Ostriches, a male and female and their babies. They were ridiculously cute, and my pictures are a little glare-y because I had to take them through the window of the car, but I had to get a shot of the Ostriches against the backdrop of the ocean. Not what I expected of Ostriches. We stood around at the Cape of Good hope for a while, hoped for good things, and then headed back, only to be immediately stopped by a pack of baboons who were camped out in the road. I, personally, would've gunned it and taken out as many as I could have, but Patrick waited for them to leave. They watched us the whole time, looking for hand outs, but unfortunately I didn't have any cyanide on me. Finally they left, and we drove through all the little dutch towns with their dutch names (there was even a windmill) and made it back to Capetown proper around 8ish. Then we ate (I had the best Calamari I've ever had. Except, oddly, for Wimpy's, the food here has been amazing. I had to hike up to the end of the world so I can fit in my seat in the airplane.) Now, as I'm writing this, we're attempting to upload my pictures to shutterfly. Tomorrow while Lizzie's at her conference, I'll hopefully be finishing that, and then it's the roof deck overlooking the ocean and books for me, and keynote lectures on economics for her.

Some girls have all the luck.