Bungee Jump at Bloukrans Bridge

24.04.2010

Bloukrans Bridge, Tsitsikamma, South Africa

Tallest bridge bungee jump in the world.

216 metres.

2 MONTH WARNING

"Mazurka" [vehicle] atop Signal Hill

Greetings. It’s Thursday morning here on the 22^nd of April. Oh, it’s Earth Day. Happy Earth Day. I’m just finishing up an African lit paper, so I can head out of town this afternoon. I thought I’d catch in before taking off along the Garden Route for the weekend.

Cape Town weather has steadily been getting cooler. It’s nice to be able to sleep with blankets again—much more comfortable. We’ve been getting an increasing amount of rain, as well. As much as I like this cooling-off of Cape Town, I am missing Wisconsin’s spring. It’s one of the best times to be in Wisconsin.

Anyways , I had a change-of-pace weekend last weekend that centred around the sky. Five of us took off after school to a city named Sutherland—“the Gateway to the Universe”. Sutherland is a small city surrounded by the barren Karoo—four hours northeast of Cape Town. It’s thought to offer some of the nicest southern sky stargazing. Wikipedia also claims it to offer the best lamb in South Africa.

Upon arrival, we grabbed some lamb curry and headed to the campsite where the owner—an old, spunky, Dutch man—taught us about the stars in the southern sky and we got to look through his telescopes. After this, we threw our blankets underneath the stars, laid facing the night sky, and eventually drifted off to sleep.

Warning: I might come home an astronomy/astrology freak.

"S.A.L.T."

The next day we toured Sutherland's pride and joy, S.A.L.T., which is the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere, to which international astronomers from all over the world come to study. This about sums up the trip to Southerland. It was a beautiful and relaxing change of pace from Cape Town’s bustle… A good 24 hour getaway.

"Ben, Gabby, Eli, & Alex at Sunset"[pictured left to right]

The following night, we took some Chicken Lickin' up to Signal Hill and caught a nice sunset.

That’s about all…we’re leaving on the garden route this afternoon and returning Monday night, I believe. Upon my return, I’ll be greeted with one speech and two essays needing to be written. Don’t feel bad for me, though; I’ve had it pretty easy in school thus far.

I wish luck to those studying in Madison as exam week begins to nearer. I’ll be home in exactly two short months. Time goes by.

Reluctantly sitting down to catch-up on things...

Good morning, y'all. It's Saturday morning here. I'm enjoying some French-pressed coffee, while forcing myself to get semi-caught up with this damn blog. It's been a busy few weeks, and I'll try and cover everything without being completely broad.

I am lucky to have been visited by my parents last week. They flew in Sunday night, and departed back to Wisconsin late this past Saturday night. It was a short stay for them—the longest they were able to do with only a week off of teaching—but we spent a lot of time together and packed a lot of activity into the short time.

We rented a car and drove around for the week. They got to explore the city and meet some of my friends. Highlights of the week include taking them to Pancho’s Mexican Grill (Monday night tradition), where they took tequila shots with my friends (I responsibly became the DD). Tuesday, we went on a wine tasting tour through the Stellenbosch vineyards. Tasted some nice wines. Enjoyed cheeses, as well. Food definitely seemed to be the theme of their visit. Lotta good eatin’s!

Wednesday evening, we returned from a long daytrip in Simon’s Town/Cape Point, and then headed to Rascal’s Pub for a few drinks. The plan was to hit up the Pakistani restaurant afterwards. En route to this plan, Mother—presumably unfamiliar with Cape Town’s uneven sidewalks (and possibly the alcoholic strength in the beer?)—gave my dad and me a scare when she plowed head-first into the pavement. Thankfully, she came up laughing and unscratched. She even redeemed her ego by conversing with the Pakistani worker at the restaurant, finding out that he had attended college only blocks away from our house in Lahore. It was quite the earth-shrinking discovery, actually.

* * *

Anyways, on Friday morning we toured Robben Island—a half hour ferry ride from the city centre. Our tour-guide, Tulane, was an ex-political prisoner on the island. He shared stories about playing soccer on the island with Jakob Zuma and chatting with Nelson Mandela. More importantly, he attempted to illustrate the gruesome and unjust conditions that surrounded the island and the apartheid system. He left us with an uplifting message of reconciliation and the power of the human spirit against evil. Later in the day, we went to the town of Hermanus for the night. There we stayed at a backpackers lodge, walked the rocky coast line, and ate. It was a relaxing end to their stay. Aside from all our financial talks regarding my reckless spending, I really enjoyed and appreciated their visit.

* * *

Alright, let me take you back in time a bit. Prior to the week of my parent’s visit, I went on a fantastic spring break road trip. 10 people (Americans, a Dutch, and a Norwegian). 2 cars. We named them Heaven’s Breath and Skymaster after two renowned pieces of literature that came along with us. We drove through the nights. It was about a 24 hour trip to our first stop, Kruger National Park. And then about 8 more hours to our final destination, Tofo Beach, Mozambique. Including the return trip, we spent about 64 hours on the road. It didn’t feel nearly that long. The car rides were full of fun conversations, games, and many other great ways of passing time. It was just a great group of people who all got along very well.

We stayed at various backpackers lodges throughout the week. The first one was in Nelspruit right outside Kruger. It was called the Big 5. The first morning there we went on a 12 hour safari—from 6 to 6. Our safari guide was a man by the name of Vishnu--a chain-smoking, heat-packing, yet gentle man. We saw tons of wildlife and beautiful Kruger landscape. Elephants, water buffalo, giraffes, rhino, monkeys, various deer, birds, etc… One of the highlights was an old lion that strutted 2 meters away from our wide-open safari van.

Mozambique started with a bang, as I got pulled over for speeding within the first hour of entering the country. I had to pay the patrols 1,000 Meticais, and then I'm pretty sure they just kept the money and dropped the ticket. Either way, we continued on with our journey. The three nights in Mozambique basically involved chilling on the beach and staying up late with the other backpacker guests. Our lodge sat facing the ocean, and sand covered the entire backpackers place, including the pub, restaurant, and lounge area. We went out to sea one day to snorkel with whale sharks--the biggest fish in the world. No whale sharks were spotted, but we did get to swim around with a handful of dolphins and fish. Aside from this, we just soaked up the intense heat, the warm, Indian Ocean, and the friendly Mozambicans.

The road trip home went by fast, and ended with a beautiful sunset against the mountainous land outside Cape Town.

Well, it's no longer morning and my coffee is gone. Hope things are warming up in the Midwest. Peace.