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.
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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.
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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.
Ah, thanks for the new entry to the blog. People have been asking for updates. Your mom will particularly enjoy the posting of her graceful tumble to the ground.
ReplyDeleteOhh....Mom, her true colors are shining through.
ReplyDeleteVery cool animal pics!