world cup

The mahem has arrived. Bringing with it a huge and expected increase in tourists. Vuvuzelas fill the streets. They're most annoying during brunch, interrupting our attempts to recover from the previous night. I've watched many games in fan-zones (areas around Cape Town with ginormous screens to watch the games on), which can be more fun than going to the stadium. The USA-England game in the fan zone downtown was insane. I also got to go to the France-Uruguay game in the stadium. Even though it was 0-0 game, it was exciting to watch such great teams. I never thought I'd be the kind of person to get emotionally involved in a sport, but I'm hooked.

It also nice to have friends who have parents who know people who know people. Or something like that. We were able to score some "hospitality" seats to the Italy-Paraguay game. They came with cushiony-chairs for our cold bums, a blanket, a catered buffet, and an open bar.

wild coast

Classes are over. The program is officially over. So this is now my last vacation...from a vacation, I suppose. Left for the Wild Coast. Increasingly beautiful and idyllic. Miles and miles of yellow hills sprinkled with huts foregrounded 360 degrees of mountains.

 

 

Our car was bouncing with local house music. Stopped in one town for gas. It was bizarrely populated by Asians and one gas station and a liquor store. That was all. Stopped at another gas station, which is when we encountered a van full of people holding instruments. So we obviously took a short break for a dance party. Great time to show off some of the moves I learned in African dance. Not that you'll see them. Such "brilliance" should probably stay in Africa.

We stayed in gem-hostel-finds filled with hippies and their children. Some highlights include walking on long stretches of beaches with dogs. Or with wild horses. Building a sandcastle, with mote and enchanted forest with some locals. Walking to “hole in a wall,” which was a stunning, deserted beach--except for a man who was previously wearing a “two girls one world cup" tee-shirt who jumped from the cliff above the hole... nude. And watching the sunset over the beach and mountains after spontaneously scaling a mountain by grabbing onto branches in flip flops.

     

dolphin beach

mzolis: part 3

Returned to Mzolis for the third and—sadly—last time. Saw some unfortunate changes (i.e. VIP section, a bigger stage, and fancy looking tents) in preparation for the World Cup. Regardless, Sundays there are the best. In addition to the hours waiting for food sipping on beer, followed by tons of well-seasoned meat that you eat with your hands (my favorite part), there’s also a concert/darty. Mzoli’s never disappoints.

 

mozambique

Learned many things on this trip. Among them:

1. Doesn’t hurt to travel (especially in Africa) with a little more planning than knowing there are some  beautiful beaches somewhere in a country.
2. There really is no limit to the number of people you can fit in a clown-car—I mean, mini-bus.
3. Maputo has it’s own beaches…you don’t have to travel for an additional 4 hours in own of these vehicles to get to a lake.
4. A bum without a pimple is a bum not not.

Saw a lot of real, un-touristy Mozambique. The most polarized trip I’ve ever been on. Got there by traveling for a total of 18 hours (taxi, shuttle, plane, taxi, bus, bus, taxi, minibus, minibus, car) to stay at a house in the middle of nowhere. Got back with a direct 2 hour flight after staying in a beach-front resort with an infinity pool. Definitely the adventure of a lifetime. Cheers to being young and reckless.

jaws. in the real world.

Went shark-cage diving, which should really be called shark cage dipping. After spending far too long struggling to get into a wetsuit, you’re lowered into a metal cage that’s just large enough for four people to stand in. There are two bars to hold on to, which you use to pull yourself down and look at the sharks that are being attracted to the boat.

Our guide asked who wanted to be in the “hot-seat” which I quickly claimed. Apparently we saw a total of 8 great white sharks--not that I could tell them apart. This one shark during our “dive” was not afraid of getting close. The hot-seat ended up being very hot when the shark bit the cage directly in front of my face. This happened three different occasions. The first time, I made sure to stay still and stare into her eyes (rather her mouth) despite it being only inches away from my face. But each time my courage faded. By the end, I was inching away and grasping Hannah’s hand for life. The dips were only interrupted by gasps of breath followed by continual screams of “Oh my God” and fanatical laughs. Ellen coined a suitable nickname I’m not sure if I deserve: shark-whisperer. But I can’t say I object. Especially after enduring this in my face:

(almost) signal hill sunrise

After no one else would go with Brett because of his relative insanity, he dragged me out of bed literally kicking and screaming at 4 in the morning to watch the sunrise over Cape Town. Through gritted teeth, I thanked him for doing so after. Could you blame me? We spent the entire time shivering under multiple dirty blankets on a park bench and taking panorama pictures that I haven't yet stolen from him. So hopefully better pics to come.

pre-k party.

So with the end of the semester coming much too fast, Talya and I planned a graduation/birthday party at her house. We drove our usual trip to Khayelitsha, though for the first time unaccompanied. As we pulled up to Baph, we were soon flooded with our proud kids. Despite the beautiful weather (which is at this time of the year VERY lucky!) they were wearing way too many clothes and donning unnecessary backpacks.

S potentially locked himself in the bathroom, which led to a flashback of Mori locked in the bedroom with me singing Aladdin songs. Since S speaks literally no English, coaxing him out of the room would have proved to be quite difficult. Thankfully it didn’t come to that point.

After that hic-hip, we continued with the party. We drew. We painted. We played 1,2,3 (our version of duck duck goose). We danced to Michael Jackson. We sang the chorus of Justin Bieber’s Baby. We played hide-and-go-seek and Simon Says. We ran around for no apparent reason. We played soccer. We leaked water-balloons. Yeah, we didn’t throw them because the kids just liked to poke tiny holes in them and squirt them at each other. We baked a cake and, since there is apparently no such thing as packaged frosting in South Africa, we even made homemade frosting. K tried to crack an egg semi-alone. She wasn’t so successful but we brushed the dirt off of our shoulders in time to eat pizza. We ate our cake in addition to Knick-Knacks (think Cheeto’s) and potato chips and candy. Without fail, this led to many sugar rushes, followed by a few sugar overdoses and a one or two sugar comas (Talya and I). Just when we thought the sugar flow had stopped, the kids pulled out cookies and mini-pizzas from their bags.

It was an exhausting but satisfying day that unfortunately reminded me that the end of this trip is around the corner. I really don’t know how I’m going to be able to say goodbye.

girl's day out.

Spent the day in the Company Gardens. After brunch, walked around the South African National Art Gallery. It was overcrowded and the quality of the art was mixed, but it was impossible not to find some interesting (a lot of political) stuff. Then we were attacked by pigeons and squirrels--I had a face-off with one. And took a crazy minibus ride on all of the back-roads to avoid traffic. Barely came out alive, definitely without a regular heartbeat. Ready to watch a live performance at Zula and get the blood pumping again.

copious amounts of cheese

Attended the South African Cheese Festival. Did our rounds in two huge tents full of wines, dips, cheese and crackers, pates, breads, etc. Only to learn that we just touched the tip of the iceberg. No way to make it to all of the tastings, but we tried our best.

afrikaburns: part 3

DAYTIME:

• Painted a design on a tapestry. 
• Took a trip to Alice and Wonderland when we walked through a little door into a tea party that served cupcakes that read “eat me.” 
• Had a personal dance party with our own private dj. Were soon handed cold beers. You know, just because.
• Did probably the best people watching of my life. Some on glowing bikes, some on pirate ships, others in fuzzy-bunny-slipper-motorbikes, or moving concert stages.
• Visited a matchmaking love shack tent that provided heart cupcakes, heart lollipops, wine, and filled out a survey to set us up on a blind date that night. 
• Given shell necklaces to wear.
• Ate bourbon cherries (they came with pancakes in the morning, but we missed it.)
• Sat and talked in the middle of the desert in a little field of glow-stick-y phallic plastic things (the kind you get from Disney Land). 
• Frolicked in a neon-flower garden with children (there were people there of all ages!). 
• Went to a bathroom that had only three walls and overlooked desert and mountains at sunset.
• Watched a yoga class in the same place we later took a long nap in. Were handed baby-wipes to freshen up with by a fairy princess (AKA: little girl dressed in white).
• Ran into my tutorial professor dressed as an avatar. Got very excited that I called the resemblance day one of class.

 NIGHTTIME:

• Painted a face on a canvas. 
• Looked at flying dragons in the sky.
• Walked through a red womb-looking wooden tunnel/sculpture. At one point there were two women in there doing unpleasant things to unpleasant piercings that I care not to rehash in too much detail.
• Got a group of people to dance the Horah (Jewish dance which is like the grape vine in a circle) while we watched Taroh cards being projected on a screen. 
• Saw a man juggling high-tech balls that lit up according to the rhythm he caught and threw them in, and danced to another dj. 
• Hung out in an octopus garden. It was a smallish room, made of cloth walls, full of dangling sea creatures made of string and fabric that glowed under its accompanying black light. Also, one of the walls had Planet Earth projected onto it and had two lawn chairs outside to watch it on.
• Watched a woman spin fireballs around. 
• Sucked on some sour lollipops.
• Returned to Alice and Wonderland to dance to drum and bass. 
• Attended literally the best party I’ve ever been to. In the middle of the U-formation was a truck that had a three-wall living room in the back with comfy couches, framed pictures, and lamps. The Living Room looked out onto a giant Lego man and a huge dance party. There was an insanely amazing DJ who remixed songs including Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and Superstition. The truck also had a wooden sculpture thing that would occasionally spurt fire. Oh, and there were fireworks as well. No biggie.
• Danced in The Igloo (small club that looked like an igloo). Which is where Emma and I returned late-night to chill in nooks that were filled with cushions and pillows.

Our days and nights at AfrikaBurns consisted of floating in between all of these places and our tent, giving (rather, mostly taking) gifts, and picking up old and new friends along the way.

We rejoined reality Sunday afternoon. But I was ready to return to AfrikaBurns before I left.