Ostriches, Penguins and Baboons, OH MY!! Scream laughing my butt off!!

Ostriches, Penguins and Baboons, OH MY!! Scream laughing my butt off!!
Well wow…what a day!! Just when I thought yesterday was the best day ever paired with some of the best scenery ever….today blew yesterday out of the water!!! Before I get to our grand day, I just wanted to sum up my 4th of July.

After I posted my blog, I headed to dinner with Kim, Elayna, Chris, and Mary. While we were there we met this local named Raymond who was fascinated with the fact that we were Americans. When we told him it was our independence day, he asked us what we liked most about being an American. This turned into one hilarious round robin list of things which include: Taco Bell, Tater Tots, Vegas, FREEDOM, Capitalism, animated movies with talking animals, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin’s resignation, laser tag, American tax payer for funding our trip, roller blades, water parks, indoor water parks, the fact that our country was founded by guys wearing powdered wigs, chilli cheese fries, Coney Island , white water rafting, eggo waffles, gas guzzlers…the list goes on and on….we also brought it back to our entire group when we got back to the lobby. We were not surprised to hear Kathy’s (from Alaska) favorite thing was the Palin resignation… Great times with some great people half way across the world on the 4th of July.

So this morning we were up bright and early again to head out on a day of sight seeing fun. Our first stop was a bay just outside of Cape Town. We were all blown away by the scenery, but it was nothing compared to what was to come: The Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point. On the way to the Cape of Good Hope, we stopped off at an Ostrich farm where we took lots of pictures of the strange, strange birds. Some people even witnessed some sort of Ostrich mating dance? Lots of laughs on that!

Our next stop was the Cape of Good Hope…the most South Western Point on the African Continent. Yep, that’s right, I was at the bottom of freaking AFRICA. I still can’t get over that. We took a ton of pictures, but my favorite has to got to be me, Elayna, Kim and Tadashi doing Kim’s signature “Scream laugh.” We’re scream laughing because you, the American taxpayers, have funded this opportunity for us. So we just laugh. In all seriousness, I am learning a lot….really I am. But I digress! We also saw two random ostriches roaming around the Cape, so we decided that they were the South Eastern Most Ostriches on the African Continent.



The best group ever!!


Here we are, scream laughing our butts off!


What did you do on your summer vacation?

After heading out from the Cape of Good Hope it was just a short drive to Cape Point. Here we had to hike up one really big hill ( we decided to walk it as opposed to taking the funicular). When we finally got to the top…and out of breath, we were treating to some kick-ass views. I really can’t describe it in any other way. We could see the Cape of Good Hope from there and the Atlantic as far as we could see… Definitely put a lot of things in perspective. I wish I could truly express all that I saw, felt and experienced. And did I mention that it was 75 and sunny with NO wind a the top…yeah I like this “winter”. After checking out the light house and taking a bazillion pictures, Matt, Chris, Mary and I went on a little adventure to Danger Pass. This was an off the beaten trail we hiked to get to another light house and to the very tip of the Cape. We got to see the sheer drop off of the cliffs (really reminded me of good ole Western Ireland). When we finally reached the end we could only stay a bit so we could make it back to our bus in time. The pretty brutal hike, switchbacks, and stairs were totally worth it for the views!


View from the top of the Cape Point

After walking down the HUGE hill, we grabbed a sandwich and sat outside for lunch. Here’s where Cape Point gets interesting. You see, there are a whole lot of baboons that run wild on the cape…and what to baboons like to eat? Well, human food, of course. Now we had been forewarned because some other people in our group and been chased by a baboon while eating their lunch. We made sure to sit facing the brush and far enough away so they couldn’t sneak up on us. Another guy in our group, Jake, was eating his sandwich with his back to the brush, and no joke, the baboon practically jumped out of the bush and grabbed his sandwich and ran off with it. I never ever thought it my life that I’d be telling stories about baboons running off with people’s food. It is amazing to me how they are so used to humans…I probably got 6 feet away from one of them during the afternoon. Crazy to think that, eh?!?!

Next was the penguin colony at Boulder’s Beach. Yes, that’s right, we’ve gone from South Eastern Ostriches, to hungry baboons, to lethargic African jackass penguins. I was super stoked about the penguins because well, I just think they are the most adorable thing ever. What’s not to love about a bird wearing a tuxedo? On the way to the beach, I could hardly contain myself…I just kept talking about the PINKWINKS (shout out to the Thueme fam!). When we arrived, however, the little darlings weren’t frolicking in the surf like I imagined…they were just lying there taking a siesta. I stood there for 45 minutes just begging them to run into the ocean and play, but alas, they would not. I got some cool pictures though, and hey, I can say that I saw penguins in the wild in Africa. What did you do today? J
Next was Simon’s town…yes, I know, the day is STILL not over. This was a little fishing village with a ton of great restaurants right on the docks. It really reminded me of Fish town (Leeland) up in Michigan. Very quaint and beautiful views. We sat facing the ocean while eating sushi. Tough life, I know. Thanks again, Americans!
So, these last two days…wow…just wow…. Saw some of the best scenery ever, viewed some crazy wild animals, and laughed a whole heck of a lot. Best two days ever!! And I still have another month here…who knows what the next 4 weeks will bring…
Speaking of which, I leave on Tuesday to hit the road around South Africa. We are covering the approximate mileage of driving from Maine to Florida and then on to Texas…yeah it’s going to be awesome. Quite a few places we are going is in the African bush…and by African bush I mean no ATMs, internet, grocery stores, phones…just me and the bush….now that’s pretty extreme. Blogs and overall contact will be few and far between, but I will try my best to keep updating as much as possible, since I know all of you just love reading this and being extremely jealous of me.
Alright, off to La Vie for some jazz…