And just like that, my study abroad in Botswana was over. Crazy and amazing experience, I'll certainly never forget it, and I'll be collecting my thoughts and reflections on the whole time for a while - maybe by the time I post from the States I'll have some coherent conclusions. But not yet - for now, the adventure continues!
I took a bus out of Gabs the morning of Friday the 28th, bound for Joburg, where I would meet the others who had flown in - Peo, Lily, Sam, Andrea, and Matt - for the trip down to Capetown. (As you may remember, my original intention was to travel after the program on my own, theoretically to Namibia, but I decided to change my plan to Capetown about the same time the rest of the group came up with the idea of extending their stay. Worked out pretty great, and traveling with friends is always fun.) My bus to Joburg was supposed to arrive at 1, but we broke down by the side of the road and waited 2+ hours for a replacement bus (which was a double decker, for small consolation), so I ended up getting in at 4:30. Lucky we'd had a 4-hr layover to begin with, so it worked out ok. From there, we took a 20-hr bus trip to Capetown, putting my total travel time at 31 hours. Not something I'd like to repeat soon... oh yeah, I'll be flying around the world next week. Anyway.
Our exhausted selves were met at the Capetown station the next day by Katie, my friend from Pomona who'd been studying abroad there for the semester; it was nice to be in the company of someone who knew their way around the city, because after Gaborone, we were all going through major culture shock in the most developed city in Africa. I went home with Katie to the 20-person mansion she'd been living in (stairs? chandeliers? rooms the size of small houses??) while my friends got settled into their hostel. We ate dinner all together, at a restaurant ten times classier than anything I'd set foot in all semester, and we had SUSHI! Hello, Capetown!
During our wonderful week-long vacation, we hit all the major attractions. We took the cable car up Table Mountain, which towers over the whole city, and did some hiking on top. (One area of the mountain, appropriately called Echo Valley, has the best echoing I've ever heard; we spent 20 minutes shouting into the abyss and getting a kick out of the friendly replies.) We took a tour of Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for many years. We took the train to Boulders Beach, which is a gorgeous area on the coast famous for its colony of penguins! Spent quite an enjoyable couple hours climbing on rocks and chasing penguins around the beach. Possibly the most exciting excursion though, which I accompanied Katie on, was cage diving with great white sharks. Yes - SHARKS. So close I could have touched them, if I were stupid enough. Katie and I were driven out to the shark spot (Shark Alley), and then with a few others, rode out in a boat to find the sharks. The crew threw tuna heads and chum (tuna, fish oil, and seawater) over the side of the boat to attract sharks, and then as soon as we saw the first one we pulled on wetsuits and scrambled into the cage hung off the side of the boat. No snorkels or scuba was required, as the cage rose a few feet above the waterline, so we just had to duck under and hold our breath when the captain yelled, "Down!", meaning there was a shark for us to see. Turns out the Atlantic is pretty damn cold, and I was in the cage for an hour and a half - more than twice as long as most other divers, just by coincidence - so I was really more concerned with shivering and swallowing seawater than being attacked. (Only 5 people a year die from sharks, so I assure you, Mom, we were really safe the whole time.) But when we did see sharks, man, were they impressive! It's really an indescribable experience to see a ten-foot-long great white swim directly toward you to snatch some chum directly outside your cage. It was kind of like a reverse zoo, actually, if you think about it. But way cooler. We brought a disposable underwater camera with us, so once Katie finds somewhere to develop it there'll hopefully be some photographic evidence for this adventure!
Ending vacation is never fun, and it sucks times a million when you have to say goodbye to the friends who have been with you for four months through thick and thin. Especially those Colby girls, since it's unclear how or when I'll see them again. But ke botshelo - that's life. We all had an amazing time together, from Manyana to Capetown. Most of them are State-bound now, but I've got one last leg of my trip: I flew back into Joburg today to spend a few days with my cousins - well, second cousins actually, or something like that - who live here and have kept in contact with my family for several years. Just as every one of my Botswana families has been, the Gritzmans have been incredibly gracious in settling me into their home, and we've spent this afternoon planning activities for every day from now til I leave on Friday. Should be a great farewell to Africa - what a time it's been here!
p.s. In case you're living under a rock, or a pile of boulders, the World Cup starts Friday! I may not be a soccer fan in the traditional sense (or the non-traditional one), but nevertheless: Go Bafana Bafana! Ayoba!!!
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