Cape Town, South Africa

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After our exotic, fantastic trip through Egypt, we were excited to be able to navigate our way around a country on our own again. We scored immediately with an excellent pick for a hostel called The Sunflower Stop, in the heart of Cape Town. Everybody there treated us so well and gave us a ton of great ideas to explore this incredible diverse region. They also showed us where the nearest mall was so we could buy clothes and toiletries when none of our luggage made the trip from Cairo with us! Sweet!

We loved hiking around Table Mountain (not up it, we took the cable-car...lazy Americans!). The view from up top is one of the best ever! On Halloween, we joined the rest of the Sunflower for a traditional braai - much like a bbq in the states, but the accent is better. The night got a little interesting as pictures will attest, as we were all "over-served" by the bartender, Gaz. Luckily, KT and I snuck off before the entire group went out to Long Street @ 1:30am. Everybody looked a little scary the next morning.

After only a few days, we were off exploring the Garden Route, in a rent-a-car, driving on the left side again (Missy and Lisa, we needed you here).

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Photos

Table Mountain
Vantage point from Lion's Head peak.

KT
Atop Table Mountain.

Cable Car
This is the view riding the cable car down the mountain. So much easier than all that hiking!

Friends, or just posing?
Notice the lizard on the left, wondering if the falcon has already eaten today...

Karlito
Why is this man tilting his head? Good question...

KT on Table Mountain
I'm telling you, she's tough to keep up with on a walk. Generally, this is how far behind I'd get before I had to start jogging.

Lion's Head Peak
Such a cool hike! More photos of this on our return from Garden Route.

Walking into Cape Proper
Table Mountain is mesmerizing. The weather changes rapidly, making hiking dangerous. This may be guilty rationalization for taking the cable car.

Sunflower Hostel
This is the first of three separate stays at our favorite hostel of the trip.

GM of Sunflower
Angie, who was more than patient with our special room requests! This is the evening of the now infamous Halloween braai. Pain would soon follow.

Sunflower Friends
Rodney and Cardi. Cardi gave us great ideas for things to do while in South Africa. Rodney cooked on this eve.

Gaz
This fellow was our bartender at S.F. Every guest was over-served including KF and KT. Especially KT.

Gaz II
Is this not the bartender from hell?!

Halloween
2nd bartender on Hallow's Eve.

KF KT
The smiles were less evident the next morning. Ouch.

Taxi story #2
Our taxi driver tried to pretend he didn't hear us ask him to turn on his meter. When we said we wouldn't pay, he promtly dropped us off. A nice photo was taken during the awkward situation. We had to hitch a ride back to Sun Flower Stop. The End!

Merely Coincidence
This is not a political statement. I just happened to snap this and didn't notice the sign until later.

12 Apostles
Going towards the Cape of Good Hope...

Flora
We read somewhere that Table Mountain contained more flora and fauna than the entire United Kingdom. These rare daises dispensed cash, which we thought was pretty cool!

Cape Harbor
This is just west of Green Point-where we stayed.