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Published: March 13th 2006
So, a lot has happened since my last entry! I have done some traveling, rather physical traveling if you will. The student in me has taken two tests (and hopefully passed two tests). I started my volunteer work with So Live and Learn a program which aims at giving 12-15 year olds in one of the nearby townships the skills and confidence to stay in school and go to college. I also am volunteering in two children’s homes (many for physically/emotionally abused), one which is all girls and another which is both males and females. The children are amazing, it is early in the volunteering, so I hope to make a difference and connect with many of them despite my short time here!
My first All day Hike:
The first weekend in March I went on an overnight hike to the Hex River Mountains (which I believe are North of Cape Town) with the Mnt and Ski club here at UCT. The destination was an hour and a half drive and was amazingly peaceful. The hike was more difficult then I expected. From the starting picture it looks easy, but it got steep quite fast! 45 minutes into the hike
we reached a dam in which many people jumped off the 11 meter wall (3 stories) into the waters below. I’ll let you all guess if I actually took that plunge or not… Needless to say it was an amazing refresher seeing how that weekend was close to 40C. The pictures don’t really show the heat but the conditions were surprisingly dessert like. There were no trees, few shrubs, only lizards, lots of sun, sweat, and many rocks. My little legs proved to be my down side in slowing my down. Where many people could step from rock to rock I had to maneuver a much more physical move up the mountains. The hike from the damn was about 3 hours and had many false horizons. I took my time and enjoyed the amazing view. At the foot of the mountain (in the panoramic) were many farm fields and waterholes. The colors weren’t quite like the Midwest and the mountains as a backdrop were perfect at creating a bowl around the land.
At the top of the mountain there was a small stream (which was appropriate since Hex means which in Afrikaans) and then a rock pool in which we
all went for a very chilly swim. I believe it was colder then the Atlantic. It was so great to be able to drink actually Mnt spring water (from upstream of course) and just be in the middle of nowhere …with 80 other people. we all cooked our dinners and couldn’t have a bonfire due to the extremely dry conditions yet a few people still hiked with their guitars and it became a giant camp out. The moon picture is from when two of my friends and I climbed a mini (yet large) rock hill by our camp ground to watch the sunset and the moon rise. Soon we became enveloped by the Milky Way. I don’t believe I have ever actually seen the Milky Way or at least as vibrantly I did out there. Most of the night we spent star gazing and saw 3 shooting stars, the Southern Cross, O’Rien, and at 2am Scorpio. Hiking down the next morning was probably one third of the time it took to get up (which was depressing but expected) and even hotter then the day before. On the drive home one of the girls in the car with me said where
we were reminded her of Montana. Although I have never been to Montana if it looks like the “What River Mountains” then it’s got to be breath taking. Besides the stars and coming back alive one of the best parts was meeting so many people. South Africans have so much amazing natural resources around them and it’s so cool they never seem to get tired of it; even for the seniors it was as if it was their first Freshers Hike.
Cape Town Festival:
The next pictures are obviously not from hiking! After “writing” my first two tests in S. Africa I was keen to experience some more of down town Cape Town. Due to transportation limitations it is VERY rare I make it to Long St. (where the “trendy” clubs are). Thanks to the Cape Town Festival all of the bars, many stores, and galleries were open virtually all night Friday the 10th and had free music. It was basically like a HUGE Street party. The street shut down at around 5 and we got there around 9 (after some transport difficulties, which is so typical for me!) which was perfect because families were just leaving and the
real party was starting. Haha
There was a fashion show until 12 which I saw part of. Some swing music in the middles, a rock band at the entrance, jazz on top of a bar, amazing African music and dance at Mama Afrika’s (a top restaurant on the area, which is always booked when we try to go) and so on. Every business more or less had it’s own vibe and music. We mostly walked the block back and forth to get the continuous feel. One of my favorite parts was the 4 men on top of a few bars who were painting. All 4 pictures were completely different from the other and throughout the night we would stop and see their progression or watch them drink beer and contemplate their work. One of the more humorous things was the spray paint wall in which I believe anyone could paint what they feel. The funny thing about South Africa is that there seems to be a Chuck Norris obsession and his name appeared many times on the spray painted walls (and he appeared in my school paper, first night at church, and the Freshers hike).
“Chuck Norris sleeps with a
light on, not because Chuck Norris is afraid of the dark, but because the dark is afraid of Chuck Norris.”
I can’t get enough of the jokes! Anyway the festival is great. Clubs started kicking people out at around 5am. I think I left right at the peek of attendance (definitely before 5) but it was cool to see the entire strip of Long Street active outside as opposed to bound within the walls of clubs.
The Cape Town Festival goes on for two more weeks so I hope to catch some plays, performances, and go to the Company’s Garden for Humanity Day on the 21st
Sat. March 11
One reason that I left the festival early-ish was not because I’m a party pooper but I had another hike to go on! Now, the pictures may not look much like a hike but that’s because it was more caving. My friend Daniel went to Kalk Bay a few weeks and went caving and invited Jess and another Daniel and I to go along with him again. Kalk Bay is past False Bay, on the SE side of the Cape. It is in debate if it is the Indian or
Atlantic Ocean, but something not in debate is Seal Island. It looks quite small from my pictures but around that island is the world’s largest concentration of Great White Sharks due to the islands immense seal population! Ironically it is quite close to Muizemburg which is one of the most popular surfing spots in the Cape area.
The hike was short, only 30 minutes without the breaks for pictures and such. We went in three caves and all were very different and none were for the Closter phobic. The first one we had to take our packs off and army crawl for about 15 minutes before coming to a large, open area in which we could walk around in. We then took turns climbing through the mini tunnels within the cave. The series of photos of me Jess took while I lay on my side to get through a narrow and low crawl tunnel.
You can’t tell from my flash (obviously) but the caves were pitch black inside. We turned off our torches (flashlights) and just marveled in the dark. Our eyes were playing tricks on us thinking we could see the rocks, each other, and even light. As we
took turns crawling through tunnels it was great hearing how muffled our voices got while squeezing through spaces of air within the rocks. It’s so weird to think of actually being inside a mountain. I can’t believe what it’s like to work in one all the time.
One of the coolest things was on our way out of the first cave. While we were walking we heard a squeaking and all became quite. BATS! They were quite at first, yet we were obviously very close. We turned off our torches and just listened. There were two groups flying around coming from a small hole in the wall. My pictures surprisingly came out well since I was just aiming towards their sound. After about five minutes of listening and flashing our cameras in their direction they became louder and we let them be. Bats don’t really scare me, especially since I was in their space it was expected but they were flying quite close!
On the other side of the cave was Fish Hoek, a touristy town where sailing is frequent as are antique shops. This side of Cape Town is much quainter then some of the other beaches closer to
the city. The second cave, White Dome, was amazing. We had to leave our packs in the inside and virtually the entire time we were army crawling or crawling on our sides and kicking our feet to move. We had maps, so no worries we knew where we were going. Many of the tunnels are dead ends so you just turn around anyway. On our way out of the last two caves we found it amazing to turn our torches off and find our way out. It was mostly a straight shot but when you can’t see how small the space it is, it seems so much bigger! It was so cool just to rely on voices and feeling of the shoes in front of you for orientation.
The last cave was Devils Pit. It was pretty cool, very wide, but low. By this point my knees and elbow had eaten a lot of dust and lost a lot of skin. The best part about this cave was finding a large leaf we dropped down from the opposite end. We were unsure where the cave was so dropped the leaf down a hole which was too extreme to climb or
jump down and it happened to be the exit or entrance for those prepared cavers who have a rope.
From the top of the Mountain we could see the entire tip of the Cape. Two oceans (or all of the Atlantic) surrounding the peninsula. The landscape is never boring. Although these mountains were rocky like the Hex River Mountains the landscaper surrounding them could not have been more different.
I hope to go back and experience Kalk Bay and Fish Hoek for some more of the cultural activities, perhaps on a day when I’m not sand and sweat covered by 1pm!
***Advice: Go see TOTSI, if it’s playing in the US. It Won an Academy Award, takes place in Jo-burg, and is amazing!!!!!!!!!***
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