Table Mountain!!
So, we finally did it! We climbed the Table Mountain today!! In case you haven't heard about the Table Mountain - it's a mountain in Cape Town with a flat top, a bit more than 1000 m high. Here is a photo of the mountain: http://darkroom.com.au/darkroom/catalog/images/IMG_1379.jpg
That's the highest mountain I've climbed so far! :o) (in Estonia, the highest "peak" is 318 m :o)
We didn't start at the very bottom, but drove up to the cable car station where we chose one of the many hiking routes up the mountain (I guess the easiest one). Still, it was quite hard. It took us 2 hours to climb the mountain. The sun was shining all the time, it was really hot and at some point (during the most difficult sections) I started wondering why I chose to do this on foot instead of taking the cable car! :o)
But once I reached to top, I was really glad that I had climbed! It was very windy at the top and the land was not as barren as I had expected - there was low vegetation, no trees, only some bushes. Tiina, I wish you had been there - you would have loved to see the plants there (I had never seen any of those in Europe!) - I picked a stone from the top and a couple of flowers.
We walked at the top (as I said, the mountain is flat), took lots of pictures, had a picnic and then climbed down - for me, coming down was more difficult than going up - you had to be really careful not to slip on the stones. I guess my legs will really hurt tomorrow..
Afterwards, we drove to Signal Hill (next to Table Mountain) and again took some pictures there. On our way back, we drove to Camps Bay beach and relaxed there for a couple of hours.
We've discovered a great eating place a few minutes from our house - a cafe/restaurant called Diva (it's supposed to be Italian food) - the vegetarian lasagne is delicious there!
We are having some trouble with our car - it takes too much oil, like about 1 litre per day!! (it uses oil instead of water to cool the engine). On Monday we will go to the car rental to have it checked! Meanwhile, if anyone reading this knows what the problem might be (why it takes so much oil), please let me know!! The car is Volkswagen Beetle, quite old, I think made at the beginning of the 80s.
Yesterday night we got home really late, so there was no time to come to the internet cafe to write the blog. We had a great day - the weather was perfect, so in the morning we went to the Kirstenbosch botanical gardens. It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in my life... I won't even attempt to describe it here, you have to see the photos!
I've taken lots of photos, so that both of my memory cards are full and I had to buy an extra one (which after today is full too!) - I can't wait to share the photos with you, but I can do it only next week when we start our project.
After the botanical gardens we met with our friends from Khayelitsha who took us to townships. We started with Nyanga, then went to Guguletu and finally, Khayelitsha. It's just such a huge contrast... the rich white people living in their villas along the beachers and poor black people in shacks in the townships... The worst are the informal settlements, the squatter camps...
We also drove past the school where we'll be working starting from next week. We went to a couple of bars in the townships. In the first one, they sold only meat!! You could buy the meat and then they would cook it for you and you'd eat it there. So, for me there was nothing to eat there. Then, we went to another bar (in Khayelitsha, near our school) - it was really crowded there.. we danced, played pool and enjoyed ourselves. Afterwards, a teacher from Esangweni (Tups) invited us to his place - there the party continued (again dancing, eating (meat) - it seems that the black people here don't eat much else than meat!)..
We got home really late and I felt that I was tired - there were too many emotions for one day. While driving back, we saw an accident on the highway - 2 cars had crashed and a person was lying on the road.... This was quite shocking to me. Quite close to our place I almost turned to the opposite lane (for a moment I forgot about the left side driving...)...
While in the townships, I felt really safe because our friends were sort of protecting us. Otherwise it would have been impossible for us as white people to go there on our own..
Some of you back in Europe have been checking the weather forecast for Cape Town - don't believe it when it says 13 degrees!! It's much warmer. So far, only one day has been cloudy, otherwise really warm and sunny. The sun is so strong that I've had to use sunblock every day and despite that, I've become quite tanned...
That's the highest mountain I've climbed so far! :o) (in Estonia, the highest "peak" is 318 m :o)
We didn't start at the very bottom, but drove up to the cable car station where we chose one of the many hiking routes up the mountain (I guess the easiest one). Still, it was quite hard. It took us 2 hours to climb the mountain. The sun was shining all the time, it was really hot and at some point (during the most difficult sections) I started wondering why I chose to do this on foot instead of taking the cable car! :o)
But once I reached to top, I was really glad that I had climbed! It was very windy at the top and the land was not as barren as I had expected - there was low vegetation, no trees, only some bushes. Tiina, I wish you had been there - you would have loved to see the plants there (I had never seen any of those in Europe!) - I picked a stone from the top and a couple of flowers.
We walked at the top (as I said, the mountain is flat), took lots of pictures, had a picnic and then climbed down - for me, coming down was more difficult than going up - you had to be really careful not to slip on the stones. I guess my legs will really hurt tomorrow..
Afterwards, we drove to Signal Hill (next to Table Mountain) and again took some pictures there. On our way back, we drove to Camps Bay beach and relaxed there for a couple of hours.
We've discovered a great eating place a few minutes from our house - a cafe/restaurant called Diva (it's supposed to be Italian food) - the vegetarian lasagne is delicious there!
We are having some trouble with our car - it takes too much oil, like about 1 litre per day!! (it uses oil instead of water to cool the engine). On Monday we will go to the car rental to have it checked! Meanwhile, if anyone reading this knows what the problem might be (why it takes so much oil), please let me know!! The car is Volkswagen Beetle, quite old, I think made at the beginning of the 80s.
Yesterday night we got home really late, so there was no time to come to the internet cafe to write the blog. We had a great day - the weather was perfect, so in the morning we went to the Kirstenbosch botanical gardens. It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen in my life... I won't even attempt to describe it here, you have to see the photos!
I've taken lots of photos, so that both of my memory cards are full and I had to buy an extra one (which after today is full too!) - I can't wait to share the photos with you, but I can do it only next week when we start our project.
After the botanical gardens we met with our friends from Khayelitsha who took us to townships. We started with Nyanga, then went to Guguletu and finally, Khayelitsha. It's just such a huge contrast... the rich white people living in their villas along the beachers and poor black people in shacks in the townships... The worst are the informal settlements, the squatter camps...
We also drove past the school where we'll be working starting from next week. We went to a couple of bars in the townships. In the first one, they sold only meat!! You could buy the meat and then they would cook it for you and you'd eat it there. So, for me there was nothing to eat there. Then, we went to another bar (in Khayelitsha, near our school) - it was really crowded there.. we danced, played pool and enjoyed ourselves. Afterwards, a teacher from Esangweni (Tups) invited us to his place - there the party continued (again dancing, eating (meat) - it seems that the black people here don't eat much else than meat!)..
We got home really late and I felt that I was tired - there were too many emotions for one day. While driving back, we saw an accident on the highway - 2 cars had crashed and a person was lying on the road.... This was quite shocking to me. Quite close to our place I almost turned to the opposite lane (for a moment I forgot about the left side driving...)...
While in the townships, I felt really safe because our friends were sort of protecting us. Otherwise it would have been impossible for us as white people to go there on our own..
Some of you back in Europe have been checking the weather forecast for Cape Town - don't believe it when it says 13 degrees!! It's much warmer. So far, only one day has been cloudy, otherwise really warm and sunny. The sun is so strong that I've had to use sunblock every day and despite that, I've become quite tanned...
posted by Kadri Aavik at 11:50 AM
1 Comments:
tsau Kadri,
su tegemisi põnev jälgida, mida kõike sa selle lühikese ajaga juba teinud-näinud oled... hetkel võib neid kohti su kirjelduste toel ette kujutada ning hiljem fotodega võrrelda...loodetavasti saab peagi ka fotojäädvustusi näha:)
Päikest,
kirsti
Post a Comment
<< Home