South Africa...It's Alright, I guess

After a 21 hour journey via 2 flights & Amsterdam airport, we arrived in Johannesburg & to our hotel outside of the airport. It was late, so naturally we went straight to the bar to have a celebratory drink. In the bar, we heard one of the most stereotypical conversations possible. It goes like this:

White South African Woman, to an older Australian Guy: "What brings you to South Africa?"
Old Australian Guy: "The diamonds."

Seriously, that happened. Anyways, the next morning we hopped a flight to Cape Town, which is probably the most beautiful city I've ever seen. Naturally I got lost driving to town from the airport, but somehow I've managed to get used to driving on the left side of the road, with a stick shift that's in my left hand. Oh, and our car is slightly larger than a Smart car (see below).



It's winter here, so the weather has been grey, cloudy & dreary. But yesterday was absolutely gorgeous, so we hit up Table Mountain (which rises over 3,000 feet above the city) and Camps Bay for a sunset dinner on the beach. In the meantime we hit up Robben Island for a tour, the V&A Waterfront (kind of the Fanuiel Hall of Cape Town, but nicer), and had some amazing meals.

On the soccer/World Cup front, the country is extremely excited for the tournament, and for their national team (nicknamed the Bafana Bafana). Cars drive around with South African covers on their mirrors & flags on their windows...I obviously followed suit and dressed up our rental car accordingly. I've only been in Johannesburg and Cape Town, but if they're any indication of the whole country, then this tournament is going to be AMAZING.


USA! USA! USA!


Highlight so far are pictured below, but all in all the trip has been awesome so far. I love Cape Town in the winter, so I can only imagine how awesome this place is during the summer.




Sparks, our tour guide at Robben Island. All tours of the prison are given by former inmates. He spent 7 years there for being guilty of terrorism




Yes that is a real penguin, only 3 feet away from me in the wild




Me & our guide on the top of Table Mountain, Derek. He's the man...78 years old, still hikes the mountain once a week, and did push ups on the edge of a cliff




This might be the cutest animal ever...it's called a Dassie, and its closest relative is an elephant...even though it's the size of a small dog. This one was sunning itself on a rock on the top of Table Mountain



sunset on Camps Bay, with Lion's Head (2,400 foot peak) in the background