June Already?!?

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted! Almost a whole month has gone by since my last post, and I am now a mere 17 days away from my departure from Cape Town. Looking back on these past five months, I can divide my trip pretty clearly into three phases; doing, experiencing, and reflecting. The first month or so we just did as many things as possible, going from place to place, spending whatever money we had somewhat wrecklessly, and enjoying life to the fullest. The next few months were somewhat more meaningful--the spring break trip allowed us to experience the true South Africa, far from any tourist destinations or hot spots. We were exploring the country as it was meant to be explored, and I gained a lot from my travels around this beautiful land. Instead of just doing, I was thinking about what each experience meant to me. These past few months have been more of a reflecting phase for me. Having crossed off so many items off my bucket list already, I have been able to just live my life in Cape Town and enjoy the little things this city has to offer. Being able to fully emmerse yourself in a culture is a true gift, and for that reason I appreciate the timeline of this trip. I feel like I have had enough time to not just do the city, but to be in it. To live in it. That being said, I have not just been sitting around reflecting all day--we have still managed to get out and do lots of fun things, even in the midst of all the final exams and projects looming overhead.

On Friday, a group of us hiked Devil’s Peak, a mountain that is part of the Table Mountain range, and the closest mountain to Obz. Devil’s Peak is the mountain whose tip I can see from our frot door, but up until last weekend had yet to climb. After hearing that our Friday Marquette classes were cancelled, we geared up and walked from our house to the Rhode’s Memorial, the starting point of the hike. The memorial was created for Cecil Rhodes, an important South African politician.

Rhodes Memorial

After checking out the awesome view from the memorial, we headed uphill. We didn’t really know the way, nor did we have a map, so we made a few wrong turns and found our fair share of dead ends before we finally got on the right path. It was definitely one of the toughest hikes I have ever been on, but the views were spectacular. The higher we got, the more of the city we could see, while keeping our house in view the whole time. The view was much different than the one from Table Mountain and Lion’s Head because it allowed us to see the suburbs and other areas that were on the other side of Devil’s Peak, usually blocked by it when atop the other mountains. As we got higher, we could see both sides of the Cape Peninsula, and we had views of both Flse Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

Panorama from Rhodes Memorial

checking out the view

Just when we thought we were reaching the top, we realized that we were actually seeing a false face, the real top of the mountain was much higher, and behind the place we had reached. We continued upward, finally reaching the top after about 3 hours of uphill hiking, but the views were incredible. It was a beautifully clear day and we had perfect views of the entire city. After a quick rest, we began the hike down, we were exhausted but it was a much easier trip down, and though we took a different way back, we made it home safely with no wrong turns. The day turned out to be much more exciting than a regular day of Friday classes!

Another new and fun experience was going with my roomate Hanna to her service site last Sunday. She volunteers at Place of Hope, a shelter for abused women and their children, and works primarily with the kids and in the soup kitchen which runs every Thursday. We spent two exhausting hours chasing the kids around, giving piggy back rides, holding newborn babies, and trying our best to contain the chaos to one room. The kids were so full of life and energy, and became immediately attached to us. It was such a fun day, and it brought a whole lot of sunshine to the rainy weekend.  Hope everyone is doing well, I'll try and write one last post before I leave!

"Mountains are created to be conquered; adversities are designed to be defeated; problems are sent to be solved. It is better to master one mountain than a thousand foothills."

--William Arthur Ward