Day 7: Jackasses all over

The morning after the Argentina game had us leaving Jozi (Yeah, I've picked up on some of the vernacular) early in the morning as we headed to O.R. Tambo airport again and hopped on our Mango Airlines flight to Cape Town.

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The flight was uneventful and touchdown in Cape Town went off without a hitch. We picked up our baller ride (a Benz Vito), which meant that we didn't need to sqeeze in more people than we had seats available. It also meant that we dwarfed every single other passenger car on the road. Everyone was in a better mood most of the time now that we didn't have to squeeze three butts in to two seats, but one thing it didn't change was our periodic ability to forget to stay on the left side of the road or realize that the lever for the turn signals was on the right side. I'm just joshin'--Nidal and Dad are getting pretty good at weaving through all the minibuses, which are notorious for creating their own rules of the road. More on the minibuses to come as they are a unique part of South African transportation.

The first thing I've noticed about Cape Town is that its much greener. Johannesburg, at least during the winter time, is dry, which I have a feeling had something to do with all the brush fires popping up in and around the city. Once I stopped looking at all the grass at my feet I looked to the sky at the icon of the city--Table Mountain. Citizens of the city use "The Mountain" as their almighty reference point. It really is a spectacular icon and we plan to head to the top of it in a couple days. Cape Town is also much prettier than Johannesburg. So much so in fact, that within five minutes of our drive Alli said she wants to move there. We were brought back down to Earth when we noticed the characteristic corrugated metal structures that make up sprawling shanty towns for acres along the side of the highway just near the airport.

Here, in Jozi, but these characteristic sprawling communities of shantytowns
still spread through the beautiful Cape scenery.

Again our GPS led us slightly astray but we were able to find our accommodations at the Sacred Mountain Lodge, which is made of a small group of cottages in a preppy area of town called Noordhoek.

At the Sacred Mountain Lodge. Alli and Tiffany chillin'
before we head out for the day.

The owners of the cottage are really nice and mentioned that they have a few students staying with them from the U.S. This is how I think the conversation went. "Yes, we have a few university students from Richmond with us. I think they go to University of Virginia." Unfortunately, with our busy schedule and limited time in Cape Town we haven't been able to meet them, but we did offer to bring stuff home for them since the 'zeys live all of 30 minutes away from Richmond and Charlottesville.

After our early flight into Cape Town and an early check-in we had the whole day ahead of us.

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It seems like a lot of polo is played here in Noordhoek and the per capita sun bonnet rates must rival Churchill Downs (we had to swerve around a few people riding horses on the way in). So, you can imagine that the area was beautiful, and the quaint little cottages in which we stayed fit the area perfectly. Probably not a huge night club scene here though.

We drove down to the coast on the western side of the tiny Cape Peninsula where Tiffany's guidebook tipped us off to a fish and chips place called the Salty Sea Dog in a fittingly picturesque coastal town.

Waiting for some fish and chips at the harbor in Simon's town on the Cape Peninsula.
Tiffany is securing our plans for tomorrow. Shark cage diving!

Once we fixed the rumblies in our tumblies with some hake, snoek, and chips we jumped back into the Vito for the highlight of our day: Boulders Beach, where...wait...did someone say PENGUINS!? Indeed a stroll down a beach road and past a few craft vendors takes you to a boardwalk and the sandy/rocky coast where you can see jackass penguins, named for their characteristic donkey-like sound.

This at the entrance to the beach. It's so funny when you see that they have
to specifically mention vuvuzelas on their signage. Happened on the flight
too: "the use of vuvuzelas on the plane is prohibited. Please enjoy your flight.

It's an unfair name because I dare you to look at a penguin dry his tail and call him a jackass.

The jackass in front is a little bashful

Unfortunately, some party poopers have officially renamed them them more PG-acceptable African penguins. We snapped some pictures and watched them swim and sunbathe. I guess penguins are supposed to smell awful, but it happened to be windy enough on the beach that the little guys didn't stink one bit.

Penguins surfing!

Nidal is hiding his excitement. Penguins are his favorite animal.
He was giddy like a schoolgirl.

We then hit our favorite Superspar supermarket to pick up ingredients for our makeshift spinach salad with mandarin oranges, toasted almonds, and chicken breast. Now, after the quick yummy salad, we've all crashed and called it a night to get ready for shark cage diving in the morning!