Braais, Beaches, and Wine

I’ve done a good job of crossing goals off of my list.  Here’s the rundown so far:

• CAGE DIVING. Cage diving was amazing.  We drove to the coast at eight in the morning, which took about two hours.  When we got there, there was a delicious breakfast set up for us and we got going right after eating.  On the way out our guides explained everything we would be doing and how trip would work.  We rode out to where the cage was anchored and reeled it toward the boat, which wasn’t parked too far offshore.  Then the guides threw a fish mixture into the water to attract the sharks.  The guides explained that sometimes the sharks could take minutes to come or they could take hours.  Luckily, two sharks come up the boat almost immediately.  It was so cool to see the sharks!  They were huge.  The first five divers, me and four friends, got into our wet suits right away and hopped into the tank, which was secured to the side of the boat.  Whenever a shark came close enough to the cage, the guides would yell ‘Down!!’ and we would have to push down to the bottom of the tank and push our faces up to the very front of the cage.  I think I had the best spot to watch because the sharks kept coming right up to me.  The first time one came close was freaky, but it was more exciting than scary.  After a while, I started to get really seasick.  The boat was so small and the waves were fairly big, so we were constantly rocking.  After spending about thirty minutes in the cage, we got out to watch the sharks from the boat.  I was incredibly seasick for the rest of the trip, but I still got to see all the sharks.  Even though I was sick, the trip was amazing, and I would do it again in a second.  Eight different sharks came to the boat, all between 2.5 and 3 meters.  There was one really enormous one that kept swimming right next to the boat under where I was standing.  Cage diving totally changed my opinion of sharks.  Instead of being terrified of them and thinking of them as monsters, now I kind of like them.  They are really beautiful and seeing them in the wild is very powerful. 
• STELLENBOSCH.  I went on a cycling tour of four vineyards in Stellenbosch, the wine country just outside of Cape Town.  A group of about twenty of us took the train to Stellenbosch and got fitted with bikes through the tour group Bikes and Wine.  We then proceeded on our trek through the wine country.  Stellenbosch is really beautiful, with rolling hills and a background of crazy beautiful mountains.  It was hot out, and the biking was not easy.  There were lots of areas of sand on the trail, which made it hard to pick up any momentum because we were constantly stopping.  The scenery and delicious wine made up for the difficult biking.  The second vineyard we went to made brandy, and we tried ten and twelve year brandy as well as a peach/apricot/brandy mixture.  I struggled with the brandy, which was really strong but delicious.  We also had this drink called Angle Share, a creamy milky delicious brandy.  We all drank a lot at the second vineyard, which made getting to the third vineyard all but impossible.  Almost all of us walked our bikes for at least part of the ride.  The views on this leg of the trip were especially amazing. 

One of the many amazing views from the wine tour.

• ROBBEN ISLAND.  I went on a tour of Robben Island the other day.  I wish I could say how amazing and powerful it was, but honestly, the tour fell short.  Not to say I didn’t enjoy it and wouldn’t recommend going, but the tour was nothing like I thought it would be.  We drove around the island in a bus for the first half of the tour.  It was cool to see the quarry where the prisoners worked during the days and the wildlife and scenery was great.  The prison itself was interesting.  An ex-political prisoner led our tour, and we got a firsthand account of what life was like on Robben Island. 

A pic from Robben Island, where one of the ex-political prisoners was kept for years after he was supposed to be released.

• V&A WATERFRONT.  The ferry from Robben Island leaves from the V&A waterfront, so going there was inevitable.  It is such a nice area, with upscale shopping and delicious food.  I had such an amazing fish dinner at one of the waterfront restaurants. 

In other news, I went to an amazing braai (BBQ) yesterday called Mzoli's.  Mzoli's is the absolutely amazing restaurant that is known for having some of the best meat in the world.  The food was amazing! We drove out to the township where the restaurant is in the early afternoon and immediately went to the bottle shop (liquor store) to get our booze for the day.  Then the party started.  We had lamb, chicken, sausage, squash, and pasta salad.  It was such a delicious meal.  Then we danced off all we ate for the rest of the day.

My plate at Mzoli's.  Yum. 

Classes started on Friday, and since it was a syllabus day and none of the professors were showing up, I decided to skip out early and hit the beach instead.  What a great decision!  I went to Muizenberg with some friends.  A few rented surfboards but I just wanted to be a beach bum for the day.  The weather was great, the water was clear and warm, and the waves were fun.  That night a friend had a braai at his house-yet another night of great food and friends. 

Beautiful Muizenberg.  I love the colorful bathhouses.

Right now I'm sitting at Cocoa Cha Chi, a local internet cafe.  They have these amazing chocolate cakes which, when warmed up, have oozing gooey chocolate in the middle.  It's not really a cake, but a bun-looking thing with a somewhat crunchy exterior, soft cake inside, and then the molten chocolate middle.  Basically, they're the best things I've ever eaten, and going to Cocoa Cha Chi to use the internet is an amazing excuse to buy a cake.  Speaking of cake, I'm going to go buy one and eat it!  Bye for now.

-Sarah