It all began with the Friendly N6...

After what seemed to be a whirlwind of a vacation, we arrived safely back in our village on Monday night ... after two days straight of driving from the Cape. (One of the biggest annoyances of PCVs in South Africa is when people assume that we hang out in Cape Town all the time and that life as a PCV here is like life in Cape Town. But the reality is that we are as far from Cape Town as Indiana is from Colorado.)

We have a lot of stories we could tell from the trip, but I'm going to keep it simple. I'm tired from the travel and we simply have enough photos to do the talking (as usual).

Following our Peace Corps COS Conference in Pretoria, our friend Paul and Jess Vig picked us up and we headed out on the first leg of our roadtrip that would put us in Cape Town.

The first night we stayed at a really cute and rustic place outside of Aliwal North. The four of us had an entire compound to ourselves: two cottages, a bar and game room, a separate wash room, kitchen, outside braai area and gazebo. The place literally felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. We actually got there after dark and had to follow the owners back into their property. We didn't get to see the place in the light until morning and I think we were all a bit sad we couldn't stay for more than a day. But it was FREEZING cold!



Driving from Aliwal North to Port Elizabeth, we made an afternoon stopover at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, which just so happened to be along our route. Jess and Rach enjoyed all of the craft booths that were set up for the day, and I think Paul and I found our satisfaction when it came to Chinese and Indian food for lunch.



We spent two nights in Port Elizabeth, so we made our way over to Addo Elephant National Park to do a little game driving. The Boardwalk along the beach also kept us busy in the evenings with movies, French crepes, and Greek and Chinese food. Oh yeah, and our goal for this trip was to eat as many different international foods as possible ... basically anything other than traditional South African (food isn't exactly something this country is known for).



Leaving PE, we made our way along the coast and spent the morning at Jeffrey's Bay. There were many surfers out in the water preparing for the upcoming Billabong Pro JBay 2008 Supertubes competition. Jess and Rachel grabbed their books and enjoyed a read on the beach while Paul and I threw around a frisbee.



Then it was down the coast further, a stopover in Mossel Bay, and then to the southernmost tip of Africa at Cape L'Agulhas. It was one of those times when we visited a place to say we did it, but it was a bit cold and we didn't stay long. The back roads are always fun though and we definitely like trying to see some of the parts of Africa that many tourists don't. Leaving Agulhas we stopped at Hermanus which is known as the best land-based whale watching in South Africa. The water was too rough though and there were whitecaps everywhere. We saw nothing.



We arrived in Cape Town just as the sun was setting and prepared for a busy next few days. There are literally hundreds of things to do in the Cape area and we had basically three days to do what we could. We got lucky with beautiful weather the first day and decided to circle the Cape Peninsula. Our stops included St. James (photo below), Kalk Bay and Simon's Town (where the SA navy is based).



Then it was on to see the famous African Penguins near Boulders Beach. They were cute but it was one of the most touristy areas I have seen in this country. We were happy to be out of there after snapping some photos. We also had a lot of ground to cover still and our time was limited.



Then we drove down to Cape Point and boy was that a treat. The coastline was breathtaking and very well preserved because it's part of a national park area. We grabbed a bite to eat and sat for a few minutes overlooking the ocean. Despite Rachel's sandwich being taken from her by a bird (encouraged because of the moron feeding them at the table next to us), it was well worth the visit.



Then came our first string of good luck. Aside from Rachel and Jess getting to ride camels on our return trip to the city from Cape Point, we made it to the Table Mountain Cableway just in time to catch the last tram up the mountain. We were lucky not only because we caught the last one that day ... but it was the last clear day of our entire trip and the only day it would've worked to do it.



We got to hang out on top of the mountain until the sun set (which was gorgeous) and then we caught the last tram down at 6pm. Then it was off to Anatoli, a Turkish restaurant that we were very much looking forward to!! They didn't let us down. Although the bill for the four of us came to about R800 (including tip), we were stuffed when we walked out of there later that night. We even had a little Swordfish with our meal!



The next day started with our second bit of good luck. We had heard that booking was essential for tours out to Robben Island. When we called to try and get tickets, they told us they were sold out for the entire next week. We went down to the Waterfront anyways and checked to see if there was anyone that had canceled. The gal told us they had four tickets available for the 11 o'clock boat. We got lucky! The visit to the island was definitely worth it, knowing so much about South Africa's history and particularly Nelson Mandela's place in it. (For those of you that don't know, Robben Island is where Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years during the Apartheid years.)



We drove down to the beach at Camps Bay for the sunset and enjoyed just relaxing for a bit and people watching. Then we spent the evening at the Victoria Wharf. While the ladies did some quick shopping, Paul and I made the wonderful decision to check out the Mitchell's Brewery.



The last few days of our trip were spent in the winelands surrounding Stellenbosch. Although we didn't have ideal weather, it was a great atmosphere to be inside and wine tasting. Over the course of the two days, we visited seven wineries and tasted over 40 wines. And we followed it up with Italian food both days ... a great choice! The wineries were fascinating. Every estate owner and wine maker has their own taste - in their landscaping, architecture and wine. Some of the highlights included visiting the winery of Ernie Els, and getting to taste chocolate and cheese with our wines on the second day.



Our time in the Cape definitely wasn't enough. For me and Rachel, it was our first and last trip down there. We were very happy to be able to spend it with our good friends Paul and Jess. Now we're back at site and have a few days left before school starts up again. And just for a little added excitement, we took our cats to town yesterday and got them castrated. That was an adventure.