Shila Travels: October 2013

Wowwwww wow wow.

Life has been a magical, mystical adventure! I'm pretty sure this post is going to be a little on the vom side of things, but there were just so so so many excellent things that happened in Cape Town that I couldn't resist sharing them. I know I know, I'm very privileged to do all this stuff. Very very very. I promise, pinky swear, cross my heart hope to die that I'm insanely appreciative of it all!

SO.

Cape Town.

Just, wow.

You need to go there. I'm so serious about this. You really do need to see it! Cape Town is a city that has literally everything you'd ever dream of having, all in one extraordinary place.

After a week of excitement and beauty, here were some of the highlights:

- We met up with other interns!!! There were 7 of us total, and seeing some other Coady kids was definitely one of the best parts of the trip, hands down. The Coady International Institute sure knows how to pick 'em (if I do say so myself)! The other interns are beauties and it was the best to soak up their energy all week. We rented a GORGEOUS loft for the week, and it ended up being crazy cheap for the 7 of us to chip in. Check out the other interns' blogs, I have a link on the right somewhere. And as for the other interns who couldn't join us: we missed you deeeearly, and in one month it will be the absolute best ever to have the 20 of us in one place!

- The city was STUNNING. THERE WAS SALT WATER AND I DIED OF HAPPINESS!!! And there were mountains. And gorgeous plains. And gorgeous people. And gorgeous everything. The scenery was breathtaking!

- It was COOL! Like, long sleeve weather. A relief from the Bots heat was sooooo so so so so needed and to feel a cold ocean breeze was fannnnntastic!

- Our loft had showers!!!

- Cape Town was SO economical! I couldn't even believe how cheap it was. The South African rand treated us exceptionally well. It was crazy cheap to do the coolest things. An hour train ride along a gorrrrgeous shoreline? It was 0.90CDN. Yes please!!!

- We ate RIDICULOUSLY good food all week. And restaurants had DELIVERY! Such a treat. And yes, we even had McDonalds! Wooooo!

- We went to the aquarium and just so happened to show up for the shark feeding which only happens once a week. It was SO interesting! These crazy divers got in a tank filled with dangerous fish and fed the sharks and turtle in front of everyone. The aquarium itself was AWESOME! So many cool things to see.

- We hit up Robben Island which was a short boat ride away from the city. The island has quite the history, and was for a long time the grounds for a maximum security prison that held Nelson Mandela and other political activists. Our tour guide was actually a past prisoner of the island, so that was pretty badass.

- We saw African penguins, and they were really, really, really cute.

- We hiked on Table Mountain and it was really hard but really beautiful.

- We went to the South African Museum and there were insanely huge whale skeletons and dinosaur bones and really cool animals and things about space and I loved every second of it.

- WE WENT SHARK DIVING! This was my number one Cape Town goal, so it was a huge highlight for me. I'm super into Shark Week (box DVDs say whaaaaa!) so of course I was in heaven getting to see sharks up close. We took a sea-sickening boat ride, chummed the water, got in wet suits weighed down with weights, and climbed into a metal cage attached to a boat. It sounds really nuts but we felt very safe in the cage. The skipper said we had great luck because there were TONS of sharks around, and BIG ones at that! The visibility in the water was pretty bad, but the biggest shark we saw was 3.7 meters (!!!!!!!) and I got a pretty good video of a shark swimming by us and hitting the cage with its tail. I may or may not have had an underwater scream. It was soooo so so cool! Sharks are just so cool!

- We took in the sunset.

- We went to Stellenbosch for wine tasting! I promise I know absolutely nothing about wine, I basically choose the cheapest white and I'm happy, so I was definitely laughing to myself when the wines were described in such fancy detail. But you know, it was kind of cool to learn a few things and have some cheese and take in some scenery. And man, wineries are hilarious. I’m pretty sure it’s one of the few place in the world where it’s not only publicly acceptable but classy to have a buzz on before noon. So much wine!

- We went to the fabulous biscuit market, a farmers market straight from my dreams. It was so so so my scene, I wanted to stay forever.

- We went to Cape of Good Hope, the point in South Africa where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet! It was incredibly beautiful. We hiked a little while to the very tip of the world and it was quite a feeling to be there.

- One of the biggest biggest highlights: I SWAM IN THE OCEAN! A few bystanders were quite impressed with my bravery for cold water since to them it's too chilly for bathing suits. Pftttt! My current Canadian record is October 19th, so I actually found the water quite warm in comparison. And man… to swim in beautiful salt water, my heart basically exploded. It was the absolute best! I miss the ocean so so so much! Landlocked countries are so not my thing. Also cool detail: there were penguins swimming nearby.

Sooooooo, it was all very magical!

Kate and I did a looooooong 16 hour hike back to Bots, and here we are back in Mochudi with only 30 days left! Time is FLYYYYYYYING and I'll be home before I know it.

SO MANY MIXED FEELS.

Anyway, I'm feeling extra happy about being alive lately. It feels great to be back with the kids, I missed them while we were away. Cant wait to see what my last month will bring!

Tell me your thoughts!

shilaleblanc@gmail.com

Shila

(ps this post was downnnnn to the wire, it took 9 hours to load!)

The upstairs of our dreamy (and soooo affordable) loft

The view from our balcony

First time seeing the golden arches in 5 months! It wasn't Tims, but it was delish.

A visit to the aquarium- SO much fun!

The crazy staff going to feed the sharks

Loving the scenery

The view of Signal Hill from the water front

The Nelson Mandela museum and a super cool clock tower

Robben Island! This was from our tour of the maximum security prison

Checking out the grounds

Blake was a full blown comedian that day

Us Coady kids! Looking off into our bright futures, obviously :P

The entrance

Madibaaaa

The view of Cape Town on the boat ride back from Robben Island. It was WINDY and gorgeous

All you can eat sushi- yessssssssssss please!

A visit to Simon's Town and Fish Hoek

African penguins!

Hey little pengie! I love you a lot!

Taking the hop-on-hop-off bus tour. It was so educational!

Gonna climb it

Hike hike hike hike

Self-timer for the winnnnnn!

It's a long way up! Danielle fell and rolled her ankle when we were halfway there, so our hike was cut short. Props to Blake and Kate for making the entire 2.5 hour hike, it was BRUTAL! And we also took the hardest path by accident. Oh man and major props to Logan for climbing it TWICE for shits and giggles! You're crazy my friend.