What a Pair!

Shanley and I had our first experience with healthcare in South Africa last night.  I got really sick Monday with a gastrointestinal bug, and was vomitting every hour through the night.  By Tuesday I was out of energy (and food) to vomit any more, so I rested in bed the whole day, relying on saltines and sprite for sustinance.  Luckily I have some Azithromycin with me, which I took, and has come to my aid.

Then Tuesday night Shanley woke up with shooting pains in her back and drenching sweats.  She cooled down with some ice compresses, but was still in a lot of pain.  So we called our clinical director Avril, who is also a nurse practitioner, and she picked us up and drove us to hospital.  After some lab work and a chest x-ray, it was determined that Shanley's back pain was the result of the heavy cough she had been exerting over for the past two days.  The x-ray confirmed a respiratory infection and so she was sent home with an antibiotic, pain medication and a cough suppressant.  In total, we spent less than two hours at the ER; enough time to make it back to the hotel and crash!

Today we are both feeling on the upside of things, and with a little extra Vitamin D from laying by the pool, I'm confident we are well on our way to recovery.

Bidding Wars

Monday: Shanley and I started the week like any good tourist would, with a guided city tour of Cape Town.  We're NOT talking about one of those big red buses though - we were fortunate to be the only two people on the tour, with our knowledgeable guide Isadore.  We drove south and proceeded counter clock-wise around Lions Head and Table Mountains before ending in the downtown central business district. 

Part of the tour included a visit to a diamond factory, which was pretty impressive.  We learned a lot about Tanzanite too, which is the official stone of Africa and also the birth stone for December.  It is only mined at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro, making it one thousand times more rare than diamonds.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Green Market Square, full of street vendors and other African curio shops.  Shanley taught me the art of bargaining with the street vendors and I caught on pretty quickly.  I ended up buying some souvenirs for less than 50% of the asking prices!

Also of note, we both enjoyed an Ostrich burger for lunch :) It was pretty delicious...

A Whole Lot of Listerine

Yes, listerine - the stuff you rinse your mouth with!  Shanley and I took a long walk to Camps Bay on Saturday, which is about 10km from Sea Point (each way) and is directly along the coast.  The water is so blue, so aqua, that it looks like listerine! 

Camps Bay is a very charming neighborhood in Cape Town (similar to Alki Beach in Seattle) and it is surrounded by multi-million dollar properties which made the long walk very entertaining.  After the first 10km we were ready to chow-down, so we found a pizza place for lunch which waswas a steal of a meal and soooo good too!

We also spent Sunday near the ocean blue... in fact, we went cage diving with Great White Sharks. Even before Shanley and I left the States, we both agreed that shark diving was something we wanted to do. Our hotel concierge has been very helpful and facilitated a great dive adventure for a price we couldn't turn down. The day started at 0500 when we were picked up from the hotel and had a two hour road transfer to Gansbaai.  One perk of being awake so early was watching an African sun rise; which sneaks up over the horizon then floods the sky with color:

We then loaded a boat where we met the crew and dive master, who prepared us to meet the sharks.  After an hour on the boat, navigating through the Atlantic waves, we reached Shark Alley!  The weather on the day of the dive was beautiful, but rain from the week prior meant the water was cloudy and visability was very limited (about 1meter in front of you).  We waited while the crew tried to bait a shark toward our boat.  At the first sign of a shark, the dive master hustled us into the cage (naturally, Shanley and I volunteered for the first group).  Even in wet suits, the water was freezing; we later learned that the water here rarely reaches temperatures above 14 degrees Celsius.  The shark was baited right in front of us, and we were fortunate to catch a glimpse of the sharks swimming right by.  Our group of divers (there were six at a time) got to spend the longest amount of time in the cage and had two shark sightings.   Per the dive master, it wasn't an ideal day for shark sightings, but for Shanley and me it was worth it!

This Is Africa (T.I.A.)

In just two days, Shanley and I are already seeing some of the best (and most interesting) sides of Cape Town; for this we are dubbing the term, "TIA" which comes form the movie Blood Diamonds.  In one phrase it captures people, places and things that are unique to this continent and culture that are otherwise too difficult to describe or make a comparison.

As traveling companions, Shanley and I both have the same philosophy to jump right in and get-going!  Our first stop was the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront (or, V&A for short).  It's a pretty populated part of town with lots of shops, restaurants, and high yield for tourism.  It's about a 30 minute stroll from our hotel, which provides both a scenic escape and good exercise.  The World Cup stadium is nearby and so there is a lot of construction activity right now, but also lots of World Cup excitement.  One of the best things about our hotel is the view from our room:

This picture alone does not do the view justice!  I tried to upload the panoramic version but that failed.  To summarize though, we have a perfect view of Lion's Head mountain coupled with sweeping views of the ocean!


Friday we spent some time with the hotel concierge learning about tour options and nearby attractions that will give us the most comprehensive experience in Cape Town over the next week.  We also ventured into the Malay District which is a devoutly Muslim community with really colorful buildings and several Mosques.  We had high hopes for finding some Malay food, but were sorely disappointed and "resorted" to an African Tapas Cafe that was en-route back to our Sea Point neighborhood. The food was delicious and we are already thinking about our next "African" meal.

To Corbin, With Love

FYI: Corbin is my seven year old nephew, who I adore, and who is currently going through a phase where is is absolutely fascinated with "afros."  He feels deprived that he doesn't have one himself; hopefully this helps...

Up In The Air

Shanley and I met in Amsterdam for our flight to Cape Town - a 13 hour flight to be specific.  We flew KLM Royal Dutch Airway, which had several perks:

Note: this is a borrowed picture from Bing, the Heineken is not mine.

-"Good" food (per airline food standards).  We were well fed all 13 hours including Belgian chocolate ice cream :)

-An enormous selection of in-flight entertainment options

-The smoothest landing I have ever witnessed

-An array of free newspapers for your selection before boarding (including the Financial Times and International Herald Tribune

-Extra leg room in coach seating (a serious plus)

-Arriving an hour earlier than planned arrival time

-Delivering our checked luggage after a journey half way around the world (I had my doubts)

All in all, we made it to Cape Town in good company, good time and good accomodation!  Well done KLM.

And We're Off!

Shanley and I both left out of Seattle yesterday and are presently in-route to our final destination: Cape Town.  We will be meeting in Amsterdam shortly, but for now I'm grounded in Washington D.C. at Dulles.  Well... not exactly at Dulles any more; I checked into a hotel after my checked bag couldn't be immediately checked for my next flight (the bag is full of medical supplies and other things that violate the 3oz TSA liquid limitation).  Here's the thing, I arrived in Dulles at 06:00 this morning and my connecting flight doesn't leave until 19:30 this evening.  What complicates the situation is that I'm flying 2 different airlines, and KLM (the airline that will take me over the pond and so forth) doesn't open their ticketing desk until 15:00.  So, I'm stuck with a bag that I have to re-check and I will probably have to pay another erroneous baggage fee.  Normally I NEVER CHECK BAGGAGE... seriously.  I am a carry-on only kind of gal, but this was an exception and the medical supplies are needed for the program, so I broke my own rule.  Lesson learned.

Nonetheless, my spirits are in good order: nothing a hot shower, a three hour nap and free WIFI can't fix!

BFF

circa 2004

I'm in count-down mode for my departure to South Africa; this time next week I will be landing in Cape Town!  Before I carry on much further in my blogging, I feel that it is importnat to introduce my co-star in this adventure, Shanley.  Perhaps you've been astute in reading the blog so far and will note that I have mentioned my dear friend before.  Well here's photo evidence that she does exist!

These days I strongly dislike cheesy colloquial acronyms, but nonetheless "BFF" is reminiscent of the early days in our friendship when life was blissfully consumed with slumber parties and Sanrio characters.  Truly, we have been friends that long... 

Here are the startling statistics: we have been friends for approximately 67% of our lives thus far; 27% of that time we were devoted penpals while Shanley and her family lived in Nigeria, Africa (we sent letters via snail mail because email was not widely available until later); another 33% of that time we lived 150+ miles apart.  Together we survived Mrs. Pointer's 3rd grade class, the Clinton AND Bush administrations, two junior high school dances, one senior prom and a 13.1 mile half-marathon.  The numbers don't lie... we have a pretty impressive track-record, and we're about to add to it: 10,226 miles and 74 days of traveling!