South Africa

Hey All!

So we left South Africa on the 20th and we are on our way to Mauritius, which I have mix feelings about. Mauritius is pretty much a really touristy place. I’m really ready to get to the Asian countries, which I’m really excited about. In Mauritius I was scheduled to do this Children’s thing the 2nd day and this Adventure thing the 3rd day, but they moved the Adventure thing to the 3rd day so I’m not really sure what exactly I am going to do. Both sound like a lot of fun so it’s a hard choice to make.

South Africa was AMAZING. I pretty much have to go back someday. It was beautiful with so much to do. Plus I would love to go on another safari because it was so unreal.

We got into Cape Town on the 14th. Usually when we get into port, a pilot comes on the ship to get us into the port safely. They usually come on at about 7 am and we get off the ship around 10 or so. BUT, the fog in Cape Town was unreal. The pilot couldn’t come on until about 11 or so and we just were hanging out in the middle of the bay waiting. The rocking was horrible! We were clear to get off the ship (from immigration and everything) at about 2pm. I was supposed to go to Robben Island at 12, so I was unable to go, which sucked. Robben Island is an island where fighters against Apartheid were put in jail during that time. Nelson Mandela and Dennis Brutus (who was our interport lecturer. He fought against equality of races in sports.) both spent time there. I actually never had time the rest of the time to make it there. Instead, Dani, Courtney and myself walked around the whole city and saw where things are.

That night was Dani’s birthday so we went out for dinner with a large group then went to Long Street, which is where all their bars are. One of the professor’s on the ship is from South Africa. So Dani talked to him and he gave Dani his daughter’s email (who is around our age). Dani emailed her and she gave us the name and phone numbers of some of her really good friends. So that night, we went out with some of the professor’s daughter’s friends and had a blast. It was great to have locals show us around the city and take us to different places.

The next day I went on a township tour. Townships are unreal. It’s no where close to any type of living in the United States. Everyone, even the poverty stricken people, should feel lucky to live in a place in the US. The townships have so many people living in them with horrible living situations. In some houses, there is only one family. In others (most) there are 10 families living in a tiny space. On our tour we were allowed to check out a couple different houses, but I did not feel right doing that. I would hate it if people were constantly coming into our house and taking pictures of our living conditions. It didn’t feel right at all. The kids were everywhere. They all came to us and played with us. To them, the foreigners coming in are their entertainment. The sidewalks and where grass should be is sand, with tons and tons of garbage and broken glass. The kids run around without any shoes on in the garbage and glass. It’s really bad. My description of the townships is not even giving a close idea of what it is really like living there. It’s probably the saddest thing I have ever seen.

The rest of the day I went out for dinner and then tried to go to sleep because I had to wake up at 3:30 for my safari. The safari rocked my world! Seriously amazing! I was not expecting what I experienced. I went to a place called Kariega Game Reserve. We drove up to the reception area and got our keys and room assignments. Then they took us in these 4 x 4 jeeps. We rode in these jeeps the whole time we were there. They took us to the Restaurant and Bar area, which was an open wall like building which was made out of wood and very safari like looking. The food there was delicious. Every meal was amazing and I seriously gained so much weight eating there. We went on about 4 game drives the total time we were there. We saw Giraffes, Hippos, Rhinos, Lions, Elephants, Buffalos, Zebras, and many other types of wildlife. We went on a hike and I was about 5-6 feet away from a huge giraffe. The whole entire time it rained, but it was like a mist type rain. We got soaked every time but it could have been so much worse. One day Elephants came an arms length away from our jeep. Also, when we went to go see the Buffalos, we got stuck and so the buffalos thought we were trying to play with them when we were getting out, so that was entertaining “playing” with them. I laughed my ass off! The only thing that sucked about my safari was it was small and controlled. They had 3 different fenced area. One was where the lions and elephants were, another was where the buffalos were, and the last was where all the other animals were and where our chalets were. I would much rather go back and go to a different safari where they weren’t fenced in and nature takes its place.

Our chalets were amazing! There were 3 rooms, 1 queen bed and 2 rooms with 2 twin beds. There were only 4 of us here but it could have fit 6+. Our chalet had a kitchen and a living room. The whole thing was similar to a log cabin. Everything was very safari like and it felt very wilderness like. We had a deck with a small pool (not everyone had a pool) that overlooks part of the game drive area. We couldn’t see any animals from our deck but the view was amazing.

The night I got back to Cape Town from the Safari I went out with some friends from SAS and some South African boys they had met while I was gone. We had a blast. It was great to talk to them and find out the similarities and differences between the two cultures. They were around our age so it was cool to really relate to someone our age too. They took us out to places in Cape Town where absolutely no other SAS kids were. It was AMAZING to be the only Americans around. They took us to this club like place, called Tin Roof, that was pretty cool. They didn’t play music like the clubs back home, but they played music like the theme from friends, I would walk 500 miles, and the Time Warp Song from Rocky Horror Picture Show. When the Time Warp song came on, all the guys we were with (there was about 10 of them) broke out into the dance to the Time Warp dance. It was absolutely hilarious. Something you would never have seen in the United States because people are so uptight. While we were there the power went out. Apparently they have been having some power outages lately that last a couple of minutes. The power went out for about 45 minutes. We left Tin Roof and headed back to Long Street, but the power was out in the WHOLE city. It was so cool to see how the whole city was out of power and everything was dark. As we were heading back to Long Street, the power came back on, but not all at once. It was amazing and words do not express how it looked. The guys from South Africa had not even seen anything like that before.

The next day I went to the flea market and bought some pretty cool things and then walked around the rest of the city. I was pretty sick and not feeling good but went out for a little bit with them and some other people. I spend SO much time with Courtney and Dani. The three are always together. They’re great! Dani is from Vermont and goes to school at West Virginia. Courtney is from Massachusetts and goes to University of Vermont. They’re both really cool people and I really like hanging out with them. Actually, Dani is who I roomed with at the Atlantis. SAS hooked us up together to room together, and apparently it was a really good match because since then we’ve been hanging out.

The last day I was supposed to go River Rafting, but I woke up with a really bad stomach ache and feeling like crap, so I wasn’t able to go. Since then I haven’t been feeling to great. I have a horrible stomach ache and a sore throat. It comes and goes though, but I still wish I felt better. I went to the doctor to get a note to excuse me from the trip so hopefully I can get my money back. I weighed myself while I was there. After South Africa, which I ate a ton of food, I have lost about 10 pounds. I’m now actually feeling much better which is great. It’s really hot and sunny out and I laid out for about 2 hours or so (and got lots of sun).

I was able to download some pictures onto my friend’s computer and so I am going to try to post some pictures on here. Not sure if I’ll be able to though.

I love you all and miss you tons!! Sorry I haven’t been emailing single people lately. I’ve actually been extremely busy. I will try to email you back in the near future (especially you Jamie, I know I have sucked the last few days).

Love Always,

Katie