Arrived Safely in Cape Town!

Marion and I arrived safely in Cape Town this afternoon and settled into our hostel. If you take the shuttle, it can cost around R180, but we took the bus and it cost us R55 and the gentlemen helped us with our bags! WIN!

The homeless/beggars seem to be in abundance on the street, and even a young boy asked us for money, as did a mother with a young daughter. But the trick is to say no. Other girls in our class came to Cape Town and ended up buying food for one of the guys, who went into the store with them and made them buy more than they had originally agreed upon. The next day, they were so high that they didn't even remember the kind gesture and others saw the girl buy for the man and come begging, expecting the same. So we have been quite careful to avoid them completely.

We went for all-you-can-eat sushi tonight and it was okay, but not half as good as 1001 Sushi Islands on Carling Avenue at home! And the gratuity was included in the bill here, which was new for us in South Africa.

The city is covered in a fog/mist and we haven't seen the top of Table Mountain yet. We have to wait for a clear day to climb it, but this is the month with the most rainfall, so we're waiting to see what Mother Nature has in store. I am looking at going shark diving (unfortunately, Khadija couldn't come), but Marion isn't interested, so I may just go alone. It's a full day excursion, as it takes 2 hours to drive to Gansbaai.

Also, it seems that everything is closed here on Sundays, and we're staying on the busy tourist strip, so we'll find something to get up to I'm sure!

Now it's time to nap! We have the alarm set for 11:30pm to see if we want to go and see what jolling (partying) in Cape Town on a Saturday night is like! We're in a 6-woman dorm with a lady from Brazil who ran the comrades race in Durban last week. It's an 87-km race from Durban to Pietermaritzburg. She did it in 10.5 hours! Impressive!

Ciao!