Day ten Cape Town

DAY TEN - CAPE TOWN

ILONA KARNIŁO

Phew! At least I got a little better for the Table Mountain. Karen joined us for that day. The view from the top was outstanding. Then we went to beautiful, green and lively Cape Town Gardens, where we were enjoying the sun while waiting for Tertius, who later took us to some burger place. Unfortunately, I started to feel unwell again, and didn’t really enjoy the rest of the day. I made a bargain – 280 ZAR into 230 ZAR for an African-shaped sculpture to hang on the wall. It later turned out that the same thing costs 199 ZAR in Johannesburg. In the afternoon we travelled to Franschhoek – a place, which name I will never remember how to spell. All of us were invited to a braai by lovely people, a professor of economy and his wife. Unfortunately I was still recovering and could only eat crackers with tea. It was, however, a local specialty (special tea), with an addition of buchu, which ellegedly works miracles when it comes to stomach bugs.

Table Mountain

AGATA LEŚNOWOLSKA

When you start a day with Table Mountain it must be amazing, especially if the weather is a good as it was for us. How do you describe the view, if you already used all kinds of positive adjectives you know at least three times? You go to Thesaurus. So the view was astonishing, startling, astounding, marvelous and breathtaking. Then we spent just a casual afternoon in Cape Town. We went to the Gardens, visited the Green Market, ate hipster burger, visited shops in the Long Street, Zuza failed to bargain. I remember being confused about not having to hurry or having a deadline. I didn’t know what was going on.

What made the day memorable was our bunch falling prey to street vendors and sellers. Our politeness and unassertiveness made us easy victims of aggressive marketing.

Our visit to Stellenbosh University wasn’t a visit at all. I really wanted to see the library but we just walked around. The most interesting thing though: there were two pictures printed and taped to the sidewalk. Both were pictures from someone’s Instagram account (Instagram is where people publish pictures) from a Halloween party. There were people dressed up as blacks. All bedaubed with some kind of black grease, maybe foundation. Anyhow, the pictures were commented “Blackface is racist!!”. Now, seeing what is happening in the University in Pretoria, I realize that in South Africa universities are a part of political discussion. However it looks like now, I guess no longer a discussion but a fight in most cases, it is still quite remarkable in comparison with Polish reality. Here, the importance of student organizations is practically nonexistent. There are student organizations but they have no influence whatsoever. Needless to say the students themselves, unorganized, are completely disengaged from politics in their country. So yes, what is happening in the universities in South Africa right now is overwhelming and exotic and it got out of control. But it is a wonderful thing that the students feel like they are part of the conversation and they’re active in voicing their opinions (even if it’s on a sidewalk).

We ended up in Franschhoek, where we had a wonderful time during dinner with our hosts and their dogs.

Oh yes, and I must conclude that there is nothing overrated in Cape Town. 

Cape Town

MICHAŁ MARCINIAK

Today we start with Table Mountain. I was really waiting for it. Along the way we pick up Karen. It is really nice to see her here in South Africa. We used the cable car  to get to the top of the mountain. The view is definitely breathtaking. I cannot believe my eyes, it is all so beautiful. The whole Cape Town at me feet. Ships in the distance look as if they were floating in the air. We are now 9585 km from Warsaw- impressive. I will certainly remember these views for life. Then we went to lunch with Tertius Kapp-a lecturer who worked at our faculty. Afterwards we walked through the streets of Cape Town in search of souvenirs. Unfortunately it is time to leave that wonderful city. On the way to Franschhoek we stopped at Stellenbosch University. We quickly toured the campus and we relaxed on the grass for a while. Me, Agata and Zuza stayed with Joan Archibald and her bunch of dogs. The dogs were very excited for our arrival. One of them especially liked Zuza. She had to caress him all the time. In the evening we had braai with Adrian and Ilona's hosts. We spent a really pleasant evening.

Stellenbosh University

ADRIAN PTASZYŃSKI

Playing lice on Adamastor's head

The top of the Table Mountain – there are certain places in the world that just resonate with ancient energy (and Japanese tourists), and that is definitely one of them. My only problem is the little cart ride (or the elevator ride, I am not really sure how to call it) we took to the top. The achievement would be very much more enjoyable and satisfying if I would climb all the way up there instead of taking a cheap way out. Unfortunately, it is not safe to do that because of the mountain bandits. Anyway, sitting there on top all night would be a whole different experience. Note to self – do that somehow. We had a wonderful walk around the park and had lunch with THE man in Cape Town – Tertius – who hooked me up with yet another specialty of the Cape, a delicious kind of plant that is equally popular in Poland and yet is utterly different in South Africa. In a good way, naturally and expectably. I will be referring to it later. Sitting down for a while on Stellenbosch campus, we finally settled down in Franschoek for the night, in a mountain house close to the stars.

Franschhoek

ZUZANNA WALISZEWSKA

We’ve heard about Table Mountain hundreds of times. Honestly, it wasn’t a thing that I was really waiting for. I mean, I presumed that it would be beautiful, but what I saw on the top of the mountain was beyond my wildest dreams. I can’t even write about it the way I feel it.  It was just perfect. You could see the whole Cape Town, below you. The clouds were floating upon the ocean. It looked like the ships were flying on the clouds.  Later on, we took a walk in Company’s Garden, where we could see the monument of Cecil Rhodes. I really enjoyed those moments during our tour, when we didn’t do anything specific. We were just walking aimlessly, experiencing the daily life of Cape Town. After a few hours of walking around the city, we headed for Franschhoek.  Me, Agata and Michał stayed at Joan Archibald’s house. She turned out to be a really nice lady, with three big adorable dogs. What I’ve spotted in South Africa is the fact that every host (except of Tildie) that I was staying with had a dog, at least one. I think their presence made homes even more homy and I really enjoyed their company. Later that day, Joan took us to Jan-Henrik and Amelia Hoon, with whom Ilona and Adrian stayed.  Like with other hosts, we talked about our country, politics and our studies. People were always very surprised when they got to know that we are on South African studies.  Of course there was a braai again. This time, a new dish appeared on our plates- slaphakskeentjies. The dish consisted of cooked onions with a sauce on the top of it. I really enjoyed the taste of it, as I’d never tasted anything of this kind.  

Day eight traveling to Cape Town

DAY EIGHT - FROM HARTENBOS TO CAPE TOWN

ILONA KARNIŁO

As the first week has passed, it was time for Cape Town – which I’ve anticipated the most. It was a long drive from Hartenbos. We’ve stopped at a few spots along the way: Mossel Bay (to send postcards to Poland),  Cape Agulhas – the southernmost tip of Africa where the two oceans meet, and finally, a bay, where a lot of penguins live. Highlight of the day was surely the little creatures waddling along the coast. It was really hard to handle their cuteness.

We arrived in Cape Town just in time for the sunset and the spectacular view of Lion’s Head mountain (which I wanted to climb, but it was not on our agenda). We spent a lot of time searching for a place to eat. The problem was our waentjie, which did not fit into any parking spot. We gave up and decided that our kind hosts are surely going to offer us something to eat.

Mossel Bay

AGATA LEŚNOWOLSKA

So we are finally traveling to Cape Town. At this point I thought Cape Town must be overrated by lazy people. I mean we had been traveling for a week by then and I already saw so many beautiful places, I didn’t think it could get any better (baby, baby, baby).

But we started with sending our postcards in Mossel Bay. I was so excited about the special stamp and, in general, sending postcards from the same place the poor sailors used to do, that I sent one to myself. We were told it would take weeks before they reach their destination, so I even wrote little something to myself. Letter from South African Agata to Polish Agata. The plan was that it reaches me when I’m stagnant and melancholic (like now), I read it and life becomes bearable for a while again. Now, that didn’t happen. What happen was my dad reading my letter to myself and laughing a lot. The one time in the history postal service was too quick.

Ok, so we post the postcards, the weather was amazing, there wasn’t even one cloud in the sky and we first drove to the Cape Agulhas. We went to see the Suthernmost Tip of Africa and the meeting place of two oceans. We also visited the Lighthouse which wasn’t high but the climbing was quite an exercise. When I look at the pictures now I’m astonished by the blueness of the place. The sky is so clear and its colour is so intense it almost looks like an over-photoshoped picture. Now seriously, why is he sky there and I am here?

So the car was also very impressed and it decided it won’t drive anymore. With a little help from its friends it acquired a new will to live and we were able to continue our journey. We visited Chris and Marica Otto the Sponsors near Hermanus Bay, admired their Chinese flag and went on to the next big thing – the penguins.

I’ve seen penguins before. I even met Probably the Oldest African Penguin in the World. But this number of penguins in their natural environment just standing there doing their own penguin thing was stunning. It was difficult to fight the urge to just sit in the middle of their group and strike up a conversation. I mean so many penguins and no one stole one to the car, that kind of restraint must be appreciated.

And then we drove the most picturesque road ever. In my unpoetical way I can say it was beautiful as hell.

From Hartenbos to Cape Town

MICHAŁ MARCINIAK

We are at Cape Agulhas.It is the geographic southern tip of the African continent and the beginning of the dividing line between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. It is a strange feeling to be in a place where waters of two oceans meet. We went to the lighthouse but it was a bit challenging to get on top of it. We had to climb a couple of steep ladders to reach the top. A couple of minutes later it turned out that that our van has a flat battery. Perfect! Thanks to collaborative effort we managed to start the engine. It was really nice that some strangers were willing to help us. Another attraction were the penguins, a lot of penguins. We stared at them and we took some pictures. What stuck in my mind was a pair of  penguins hugging. Yes! We are in Cape Town. I can see Table Mountain. We are for the moment at the beach. Table Mountain, beach and sunset- could not be better. Tonight, me and Adrian, we stay with Izak en Elma De Vries. They have a lot of dogs and cats, I already like that place. We ate something, chatted for a while and went to bed because we were really tired.

Cape Agulhas

Little exercise for the Chasers

ADRIAN PTASZYŃSKI

Souther than South itself

Today we are heading straight towards the crown jewel of the Southern world – Cape Town! The anticipation is quite overwhelming, I must say... On the way we stopped at Cape Agulhas, which is the southernmost place to go in the world and remain relatively hot – just Antarctica lies beyond!  There was also a lighthouse there to climb – not a tall one and certainly not in the same league as the yesterday's challenge, but still quite fun! Also related to Antarctica – we saw the cutest colony of penguins from up close. The view when driving along the windy, mountainous path along the Cape coast was so breathtaking that describing it with such vulgar words that are at disposal of the English language, or any human language in prose for that matter, is a sin. I'll just leave a space...

In Cape Town, me and Michal are being hosted at the house of Izak De Vries, our (Tour) Father's friend and colleague back from the times when the Professor was a dean at Venda University (which we only just found out there). We also meet a very interesting person, Simon, whose most interesting traits are his extensive knowledge of China and lack of knowledge how to read.

Betty's Bay

ZUZANNA WALISZEWSKA

The next day we were heading to Cape Town. The beloved Cape Town, that we all dreamt about. On our way, we dropped our postcards in Mosselbay and rushed to “Mother City” (this is actually a fun fact from Wikipedia, so I’m not 100% sure that this is a nickname for Cape Town). Our first stop was at Southernmost Tip of Africa. THAT was something. Standing on the tip of the continent, thousands of kilometres away from Poland. The view was amazing, wonderful, impeccable, extraordinary, just beautiful. While others were taking 84932829842937^th selfie I just stopped for a while, to admire the view and try to memorise as much as possible, just to have this image in my head at home in Poland. As we wanted to go to the next place, Professor realised that our car battery (I’m not a car expert, so I don’t know if it’s a right name for a small black box that makes car drive) is dead. While the rest of the group was pushing our van, I was taking photos of this memorable event.  After a few hours we arrived to the place where we saw THEM. Penguins! They were just walking around or standing and for me it was enough. The cutest creatures in the whole world. I could look at them for hours. Some people may say that’s a childish behaviour, to be amazed by penguins but come on. In Poland, we have deers, bears and boars. Penguins vs some Polish animals. I think the choice is quite easy (penguins, of course!).  It took as another few hours to get to our hosts. Me and Ilona could spend some time with Tildie, our previous lecturer. We talked about our time at university, our plans for future and memories from the first year. 

Finally Cape Town!