Drinking and Diving

Sorry for the lack of posts as of late, but the last few days have been pretty nonstop with tours, meeting people, partying, and my big move to Table View.  The volunteer house in Cape Town finally socially opened up after a few days (mainly due to the upcoming weekend).  With the German girls, Flavio (an Italian-Swiss volunteer), and 2 models (Andreas and Rick) wrapping up work for the week, all eyes quickly became set on the weekend.  I spent Friday soaking up the sun at a nearby beach tucked away in the mountains...stunning...and cooling off in the frigid Atlantic. I'll be very thankful for wet suits come Tuesday. Friday night we found ourselves on Long Street - Cape Town's answer to Bourbon Street in New Orleans, and it did not disappoint.  Backpacker hostels, clubs, bars, and people from all over the world line the street.  Many of the buildings have 2nd and 3rd balconies with people hanging off into the night, and out of every door blasts African, blues, or electronic music.  After a night of paying a dollar for shots and beer and a handful of pretty big clubs, it wasn't long before I found myself actually enjoying electronic music in South Africa.  If you know me at all, this was no small feat.  The dj's and dancers all vibe hard on it here, and the shitshow dubsteppers found in U.S. are completely absent.  Overall it makes for a great scene.

After a great night out, Saturday took most of the volunteer house to Gugulethu - a township just a little ways out of the city.  This opportunity provided us with a chance to experience what many people expected when I told them I was going to Africa (myself included).  The majority of houses in Gugulethu are shacks or small cement structures and line the streets as far as the eye can see.  As of late, the township has become something of a tourist destination because of the local butcher shop and adjacent party tent.  Upon arrival we went to the butcher hand picked our desired meat (steaks, sausages, lamb, porkchops, etc.) off of cattle that was killed that morning.  It was then grilled on an open fire and enjoyed under the party tent with another bumping dj.  I never would have thought that I would pay under $3 for the best steak of my life and eat it with my hands in a shack in Africa.  The houses across from the tent were all open and selling beer to anyone willing to pay 10R for a bottle (< $1), so business was booming.  I cannot stress enough how friendly the people are.  Everyone seems genuinely interested in your story and is more than willing to help in anyway they can.  After returning from Guglethu, Andreas, Rick and I went for dinner and drinks on Long Street.  We ate at Mama Afrika's, where I demolished a game sampler of kudu, springbok, ostrich, crocodile, and a mixed sausage.  Absolutely mouth watering (sorry vegheads but Saturday was quite the carnivorous day).  We stayed at Mama Africa's for a bit longer listening to a marimba band (No Woman No Cry on bongos and xylophones...duh we're gonna stay) and getting model tips from Andreas and Rick.  Swag. Swag. Swag.  Rick has been in Mercedes and Calvin Klein ads among a bunch of others, so he's no slouch.  We eventually made our way back up Long Street to a couple of what have become favorite haunts and one huge club (lights, stage, dj, etc.) before heading home at 4am.

8am came pretty early on Sunday, but the idea of getting in the ocean with Great Whites was enough to get me to jump out of bed.  Flavio, Rick, and I got in a shuttle at 8:30 and took the 2 hour drive to False Bay to jump in a cage off of the boat and admire the beasts that Cape Town is famous for.  The drive was, of course, beautiful and wound through the mountains before finally reaching the opposite coast of where we we are staying.  Everywhere I go this country gets more and more breathtaking.  A twenty minute boat ride to the middle of the bay put us in the heart of shark territory and everyone was debriefed and sized for wet suits.  For me, shark diving quickly turned into shark sitting-in-a-boat-and-trying-to-not-throw-up-all-over-the-Portuguese-teenage-couple-groping-each-other-for-3-hours-in-front-of-me.  I don't know what was worse, the PDA or my seasickness.  Either way I felt like I was going to ralph for almost the entire time at sea, so I didn't get a chance to go in the cage (sorry Connelly).  It turns out the views were better from the ship anyway as we saw upwards of 8 or 9 sharks, from 3m to 5m in length, circling the boat in pursuit of the bait.  I've been doing a good job shrugging off their presence, but their sheer size is enough to make anyone pay a little closer attention in the water.  Hopefully the one that finds me is a vegan.

On Monday I got picked up for my move to Table View after spending 3 hours in the Home Affairs Office trying to extend my visa (I'll get it done this week hopefully).  Table View is about 20km up the coast from Cape Town and is, yet again, even more beautiful.  Where as rocky shoreline occupied most of the area around the volunteer house, Table View has endless white sand beaches.  The mountains, kite surfers, and surfers act as the foreground of Table Mountain's backdrop.  The area is a popular surf spot (although not quite to the levels of Muizenberg) and is pretty affluent and very safe.  If I felt like Gugulethu was "real" Africa this place very much is not.  I'm staying in a house 100x nicer than 525, The Dawg House, or The Orphanage with Sophie (Canadian), G (an Irish girl), and Ed (a California surfer) who watched "Teeth"* the night before I arrived.  All three welcomed me in with open arms and instantly started talking plans for the week/weekend (when the swells will be up, longboarding, paddling out to a shipwreck, climbing Devil's Peak - the highest point on Table Mountain, Tequila Tuesday, the 100 Club**, etc. etc.).  Ed has been here for four months and leaves on Saturday - so among the volunteering will be a slew of 'lasts' for him.  It's shaping up to be a great week.  We went down to the beach to watch the sunset and let the hostel dog's run around on the sand and in the ocean (Freddy a Basset, and Mango/Lychee a mother/daughter duo of border collies) as the clouds rolled in over Table Mountain.  The hostel (Saltycrax) is filled with surfers and has a hot tub, bar, and rack of surfboards/kiteboards and wet suits that we are encouraged to take advantage of.  This must be the place.

*Teeth is a movie that surpasses Santa's Slay, Thankskilling, and The GingerDead man for absurd horror flicks.  It stars a woman with teeth in her vagina, and I'll leave it at that.  I think I'll get along with the house just fine.

**Take a shot of beer every minute for one hundred minutes.  It's a lot like an American power hour - but you can't stand up (i.e. no peeing) until your done.  The record on the wall is 217 minutes, from a chick.

Surf's Up,

JB