Playing Tourist.

This weekend I decided to be a tourist and headed into Cape Town with a North Face backpack and a DSL camera around my neck; two telltale signs of the American tourist. Though I consider myself a South African resident at the moment and hate being lumped in with the tourist/backpacker population, I thought spending two days sightseeing wouldn't hurt. Since I am not on a study abroad program this time around, I have found it more difficult to get out of Stellenbosch and thus haven't been on as many adventures as I would have liked. So Friday afternoon I took the one hour (on a good day) train ride into the city and got a bed at a local backpackers.  I have found the backpackers/hostels here to be fantastic - cheap but always clean, friendly, safe and an overall good way to meet some interesting characters from all over the globe. 

Saturday turned out to be the most beautiful day we have had here since I arrived in July. I ended up taking the City Sightseeing tour bus and loved it despite being super hesitant of it's extreme touristic nature. It is a double decker bus that is open at the top so you get excellent, unobstructed views. It has two different routes that each make about 15 stops around the city and surrounding areas. I got to see many places I wouldn't have been comfortable or able to visit on my own. I visited the oldest wine farm of South Africa, Groot Constantia, which was built way back in 1685, then headed on to the Imizamo township. Later I explored the harbour at Hout Bay and got to experience the madness that is Saturday afternoon fishing.  I also walked around Camps Bay a bit before the African sun started to fry me. Camps Bay is the Venice Beach of Cape Town and is where celebrities such as Prince Harry can be spotted quite frequently. Sadly, Harry was no where to be found this weekend so there won't be a royal wedding for me anytime soon! I ended the night watching the sunset over the Indian Ocean from Signal Hill which looks out over all of Cape Town and the ocean. (put new CT pictures from this weekend in my Stellenbosch Rondte Twee album on the right --->)

 Groot Constantia

Imizamo Yethu township

Hout Bay

Camps Bay

Sunset atop Signal Hill

Table Mountain at night

Bit of exciting news here: Table Mountain in Cape Town was recently declared one of the New Seven Wonders of the World along with Puerto Princesa Underground River in the Philippines, Komodo Island in Indonesia, Jeju Island of South Korea, Iguazu Falls in Brazil/Argentina, Halong Bay in Vietnam, and the Amazon Rainforest of South America. 

Today, Sunday, was like a whole different season. Cold, rainy, and windy which is by far the worst here in Cape Town. I spent the morning taking the bus around the second route and then wasted an hour or two in Cape Town's aquarium before calling it a day and taking the train back to Stellenbosch.

Countdown to St. Louis: 24 Days

To sum up my last few weeks...

After my last update in NYC, I had a 24 hour layover in Dubai before making it back to Cape Town. Originally, I was excited to spend the day sightseeing in the city. When I got there though, I was exhausted, it was hot and because it was a Friday, and thus the Muslim religious day, the public transport and pretty much everything else were closed until 3 in the afternoon. In addition, I found it a bit more difficult to navigate the city than I had expected so I ended up just taking the metro into town and walking around for an hour or so. A bit disappointing! Next time I will know to book a tour or something. Because of this, my pictures are not too exciting! Really, Dubai was just hot and sandy - everything was brown.

When I arrived back in Stellenbosch I slept for almost two days straight. I have been back two weeks now and my sleeping habits are finally getting back to normal. The temperature is beginning to rise and I think summer is just around the corner here - finally! Last weekend some friends and I took the train into Cape Town. We went to one of my favorite places, the Old Biscuit Mill, which has a market on Saturday mornings with the best assortment of delicious foods and local up-and-coming designer clothing. It is very upscale, trendy and you will find all the Americans of Cape Town here.

Old Biscuit Mill

View of the countryside from the train on our way back to Stellenbosch 

This past weekend I enjoyed hanging out around Stellenbosch and went to another local Saturday morning market.