Hallo Suid-Afrika

Greetings from the southern hemisphere! I honestly can’t believe I’m in Africa right now, everything has been such a blur and my sleep schedule is so off that if you told me I was dreaming all of this up I would totally believe it.

The journey was long to say the least. I got on a bus at 2:30pm East Coast time on Tuesday afternoon, from there it was a two hour bus ride to Boston, sitting in the airport, and a seven and a half hour flight to Amsterdam. We landed around 2 in the morning EST and 8am in Amsterdam. I wish we had had time to spend a night or two, the city and countryside looked adorable from my window as we were landing. Then the real fun began. We had just enough time to deplane and go through security in Amsterdam before boarding another flight, this one headed for Cape Town. Spending eleven and a half hours on a plane was never something I thought I’d have to do, but it went rather quickly all things considered. Also, I’ve decided that I adore flying international, once we were airborne from Boston the wine was free flowing and frequently served.

Now for some first impressions of Cape Town; we landed about 10:30pm local time and quickly went through passport control and customs. The airport seemed small, and despite everyone reminding us that it was winter, it seemed quite warm when we walked outside. Everything is super close here, and our hotel, situated across from the center of town on the lagoon and facing Table Mountain was a quick drive from the airport.

Everything is super clean here. We went down to the Victoria and Albert waterfront this afternoon and it seemed like everything was being constantly cleaned, there is hand sanitizer everywhere. I’m wondering if this is common only in the tourist heavy parts of the city or if it is more a part of the culture. Besides that everything seems incredibly environmentally conscious, there are public recycling bins all over and many places seem very concerned with promoting conservation and earth friendly practices. There are several game preserves and botanical gardens that focus on preserving and breeding endangered species and reintroducing them into the wild, even Tigers from Asia!

One of the strangest/greatest things is the dichotomy between the city and the nature that surrounds it. I would have believed I was in a European or other Western city at many points during the day, except that the backdrop of Table Mountain was omnipresent. Most incredibly, the amount of cultures mixing here is incredible; I have already met tourists from India to Canada and all over Europe. Tomorrow we’re planning a tour of the Cape Peninsula and hopefully a trip up Table Mountain, and we’re doing a mini safari this weekend!

Everyone we’ve met that lives here is very proudly South African, and loves to tell us all about the wildlife and changes that South Africa has been through. They also ask if we watched the World Cup, which they’re obviously proud of, I can’t wait to go to the stadium and see a match!

Xoxo,

Sara

Pictures to follow!