As a last and final trip, I went to Cape Town on my way out of Africa. It was just the vacation I needed before coming home. I don’t have the energy to type an exciting blog post, but would like to put up a few more posts now that I am home before finishing blogging. Today’s post is a compilation of borrowed excerpts from emails I’ve sent out talking about my trip:

My flights went smoothly, there was fog in J’burg so my flight to Cape Town was delayed, which worked out as it gave me spare time to get through customs, security, & get to my gate in time. When I got in, I went to the grocery store for a simple meal, got settled in at my hostel and spent the evening journaling, resting, and enjoying some long awaited alone time. I was exhausted from only 4hrs of sleep my last night in Zambia & all the traveling.

Saturday, after having recharged my batteries, I did a self-guided walking tour of the main City Bowl with a book I borrowed from a friend in PC/Z which was absolutely delightful, I walked around for about 4 hours stopping at a cafe for lunch and stepping into a few museums along the way. My friend Bridget (a RED volunteer in her 2nd year of service in Zambia) had told me to meet her at the Cape Royale & share her suite with her, so I canceled two nights of my hostel booking & enjoyed luxurious hotel living for two days. We had a lovely dinner together that night at the waterfront when she and her parents got back from their tour that day. I enjoyed a delicious warthog kebab in a mushroom sauce.

Sunday, I went with the group they had been travelling with to wine country. It was an unofficial tour, but we had a driver & the tour guide they had been with for the past week wrote up the itinerary for us. We went to Stellenbosch & Franschhoek, did 3 vineyard wine tastings (5 wines each place.) We had a tapas lunch during the second tasting, walked around the village centers of each town & ended the day with an exquisite French dinner in Franschhoek. The members of the group picked Bridget & my brains about life in Zambia & working with Peace Corps. I wasnt even home yet & already doing goal three J They did have thought provoking questions and it was a lovely day, I’m so glad I was able to this with some people I knew.

Monday morning I said goodbye to Bridget & her parents & went to Table Mountain. It’s a 4 hour hike up the mountain…I took the cable cars, it was my time to be a tourist. There was plenty of walking to do once you’re up the mountain & had I not been alone I probably would have wandered around longer, but about an hour or so on top was enough for me. Beautiful views of the cape & the city from up there! I walked around the city a bit that afternoon; I was especially drawn to the park called the Company’s Garden which surrounds Government Ave…which, beautiful architecture surrounded by nature, it’s my personal paradise. I made myself an appointment & treated myself to a manicure/pedicure – my feet really needed it & it was a relaxing end to my day.

Tuesday I went to Robben Island, but they were having a go-slow so even though my ferry booking was supposed to leave at 11, it didn’t go until almost 2. So I decided to explore the waterfront area in the morning & had plenty of time to do shopping, got some clothes to get me ready for America life, including a very cute dress that I am wearing to my cousins wedding this weekend. Im glad I took advantage of that opportunity because it was the end of summer there so summer clothes were on clearance, while here none of that stuff is really on sale yet.

Wednesday I booked a Cape Pennisula tour, it was an all day thing. It was a rainy morning, which was a bit of a shame, but our guide wisely re-routed our destination points & we went on a 40 min (round trip) boat trip to see a colony of seals. Then off to the penguin colony at boulder rock, where we walked around and watched them play on the beach & they were all along the walkways which was cool to get so close to them. Then we went into the nature reserve where we visited the historic lighthouse at Cape Point, got on bikes and biked the 5k to the Cape of Good Hope. I was reluctant to bike at first because it was cold and windy, but I am so glad I did. It was mostly downhill & I nearly forgot how much I love experiencing Africa from the seat of a bicycle, we biked right by some antelope & ostriches.

I really managed to cram quite a lot into 6 days. My last day I had to check out at 10am & my airport transfer was at 3:30pm, so I went to one more museum, had a coffee on Long Street & just hung out reading a book in the park I fell in love with. Turns out I really like city parks – I barely read, just people watch mostly.

My flights home were as smooth as trans-atlantic travel could possibly go. I LOVED Emirate airlines. They were so professional. There were over 200 movies & countless TV shows to watch. I barely slept I was so busy getting caught up on the entertainment world. What a luxurious end to my time in Africa, now I’m home, shivering away praying that spring starts to prove its here really soon!