Play Day

This is Lauren’s last weekend here! I can’t believe she is leaving next Saturday already. I feel like she just got here. This also means that Miles and I leave in two weeks! I have enjoyed my stay, but have to admit that I can’t wait to get home. Nothing compares to your own home, and boy do I miss it!! I am anticipating it very heavily, which is kind of bad, but I really can’t help it. I’ve been gone for quite some time and am ready to have my life back.

Work was nice. Today was Mr. Smith’s last work day before he was done and the person he was working for would return from leave. It was interesting that we got to spend this day with him. Miles was home sick—I don’t know what’s wrong with him but I feel bad and hope he gets over it quickly! We have so much to do this weekend before Lauren leaves and we have no other time to get it done. When Lauren and I arrived to orthopedics, Mr. Smith told us that he was casting the one patient in front of him and then leaving for the day. Friday’s are half days for all South Africans, but this was way earlier than a half day, it was only 9am! He told us to come back Monday and that there would be stuff for us to do. Lauren and I didn’t know exactly what to do. We decided to take advantage of the beautiful sun and warm weather, and get on with our weekend and busy itinerary!

It ended up working out perfectly. There is a beach we kept hearing about called Clifton Beach that is just before Camps Bay. It is supposed to be amazing, and pretty secluded. There are four sections to it, so we decided we would find out about this talked up place. We picked Miles up and headed straight there. The entrance to the third section (the one we wanted to see in particular) was a small barely visible, poorly displayed staircase just off of the side of the road that wound through the houses there. We decided to go for it, and walked all the way down behind the backs of houses and ended up coming out of the stairs onto the beach. It was the most amazing place ever!! It was down a lot further than the road, so cliffs surrounded the sides of the beach—it was kind of like a little gully in between the cliff peaks. There were big rocks all on the beach and the waterfront and view were amazing. Nobody was on the beach but us, so it was all private, and simply stunning. Since we were down below “street level” in this little gully type beach area, we didn’t feel the wind, which was great! The sun can be shining in Cape Town and it can be fairly warm, but once the wind gets going, it becomes freezing, which isn’t a good thing to feel when you are in your bathing suit at the beach wanting to feel the warm sun rays. It was perfect!!

I was so happy!! We all set our towels out to soak up the lovely sun. Miles decided that he wanted to tan in his boxers so that he got a bigger tan, which was so funny. Lauren and I snagged some funny pictures of him while he wasn’t paying attention. We were there for a good three or four hours I would say. It was so warm and simply perfect. I was really happy to be in the sunshine. We also booked tickets to go on the Robbin Island tour, so when it was time to do so, we packed up our things, got in the car, and drove to the waterfront. The ferry ride is half an hour each way to Robbin Island. I was getting a little seasick, so I was glad when we finally touched solid ground. The first part of the tour was a bus ride all around the island. The second part was a tour through the maximum security prison where Mandela and other political prisoners were kept. It was really interesting and helped me to understand the role that politics played in everyone’s lives, and how that influenced the apartheid and conditions in jail. It also helped me realize what people went through for ‘freedom’ or the idea of it anyhow. This part of the tour was guided by an ex-political prisoner, which I found very interesting. It was overall very educational and I’m glad I went. The ferry ride back was a lot less smooth and made me quite sick. Before we were going to go out to dinner and do something fun, we all decided to go home and take quick naps. I was hoping it would make me feel better as well.

Sooo….my twenty minute nap turned into my bedtime sleep (: It was 7pm when I started my nap…and I didn’t wake up until 5:30 the next morning! It really sucked to be up that early in the morning. So much for going out though hehe