Another two weeks have passed on this journey and it's hard to accept the fact that I only have a little over two more until my time here in Africa draws to a close. With the multitude of activities and adventures I have undertaken in the past couple of weeks, I have continued to grow as a human being in delightful and unimaginable ways. Through the good times and the bad, the rather relaxing and the totally terrifying, lessons have presented themselves that would have otherwise gone unnoticed, perhaps for lifetimes to come. One of those unexpected lessons came on the Friday evening (early Saturday morning actually) after my last post. We were at a lovely bar on the beach in the lavish area of Kalk Bay, enjoying dinner and a few drinks, and meeting new friends around the fire pit. Time passed quickly with our feet in the warm sand and a cool cocktail in hand, and soon we realized it was time to go. Since we were a ways from home, and there was a surprising lack of taxis in the area, we (the three that were left) decided to get a hostel for the evening, and planned on catching the train home in the morning. After asking multiple employees of the bar were the nearest hostel was, we found we had to walk about a mile to the next town of Muizenberg, a short and manageable walk through a seemingly safe area. For fifteen minutes we strolled along the road under the street lights, laughing and carrying on as always. As we rounded the final corner into town, two men approached us from a dark driveway, and demanded that we give them our cell phones. While I certaintly should've handed over the cheap and meaningless phone that I had in my pocket, I thought I could manage the situation. One of the men attacked my friends, one of which is a female, while they too tried to defend themselves. The other came at me, and began to swing at me with his fists. Seeing this, the girl thought that he had a knife and was trying to stab me, and as a result threw her bag at them in an attempt to get them to flee. While this was not the case, a car quickly pulled around the corner and they got in and sped away. Still in shock, we made it to the police station which turned out to be only a couple blocks away. After filing a police report with a rather arrogant officer, we had the pleasure of getting a free ride home in a police car, an experience I would not have gotten unless under much worse circumstances.
The next morning we slept in and relaxed, joking about what had happened the night before. After awhile, we decided to head south once again to explore a new area, the community of Simon's Town. We rode the train there and walked around the beautiful harbor full of big, expensive yachts before having a delicious dinner and booking a hostel for the evening. The man at the desk of the hostel pointed us towards the one pub in town which was coincidentally just a few doors down. Upon arrival, we found a mostly local crowd, and were pleased to find out that it was karaoke night. We spent the night and the early hours of the morning singing classics such as "Ring of Fire" and "Bohemian Rhapsody", and while our voices were not quite to par, the rest of the bar didn't mind joining in to help us out. We returned safely to the hostel for a good nights rest, and the night was a great success compared to the prior one. The next morning we went for a splendid walk around the town, where the flowers of spring showered their colors over the mountain side. After our walk, we signed up for a sea kayaking tour, where we paddled through the waves to a beach filled with penguins, passing multitudes of seals and vibrant blue jellyfish along the way. Once we returned to the land, we enjoyed some fresh sushi before heading home for rest.
Monday morning brought another day of work at the office. I made it about halfway through the week before deciding that I couldn't make it much longer sitting inside all day when such a beautiful country was beckoning me right outside the door. Consequently, I requested to switch back to the building project, where I felt my energy would be applied more effectively. It took a couple days to get finalized, so I had some free days to explore the city. I took one of those days to ride the topless bus, which provided an extensive educational tour of the whole of Cape Town. The next day my friend and I did the tour to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was held captive for 22 years before being released at the end of apartheid. On Friday, I was able to return to work as a builder, and it was refreshing to be back in the South African sunshine working with my hands and hanging out with Deen.
Saturday turned out to be one of the greatest days of the trip so far. We went to town for the "Cape Town World Music Festival", which far exceeded my expectations. Located in the heart of town in a hip and artsy district, the festival featured bands from all over Africa (all of which I had never heard of) playing on three different stages. It was an absolute delight to indulge in music of all sorts in such a lovely environment with so many lovely people. I danced to my hearts content before once again booking a hostel for the evening. The next morning we headed home and had the first down day of the trip, which involved lying in bed and watching multiple movies.
And now nearly another week of work has passed. Time has flown by as we have been laying floor at a daycare in the Vrygrond area of the Cape Flats. I find so much pleasure in being able to physically see what we have done each day, and the project is already finished because of all our hard work. (There are some great photos from the daycare on my facebook page). Last night, we hiked up one of the local peaks called Lion's Head and watched the sunset while enjoying some cool beverages and hot dogs that our lovely host mother, Faye, packed for us. While I sat there in the cool evening breeze and watched the sun sink below the ocean under a blanket of colors, I could not help but feel euphoric. Life is truly wonderful at the moment, and I will not soon forget these days, as they may very well be the best of my life. So long and until next time....
(Due to limited internet access and other limitations, I was not able to add photos to this post. If you would like to see photos of all the above activities, please check my facebook page, where you will find an abundance.)
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