Well, folks you only get this one cute photo of Taylor in our suite. Be happy that your internet speed is the bombdiggity, I just waited over 15 min to get this one photo. I will happily post all sorts when I get back to the states.
Hello, from Cape Town. First, I have to say that this place is everything that everyone said it would be. It is so beautiful. After over a day and a half of travel, Taylor and I were reunited in the little airport. It was so great to see his gorgeous sunburnt face. It was late at night so not much to see on the way to our guesthouse but I met a very nice local on the plane and he explained that where we were staying we would have great views of Table mountain and the city itself below us. He was very right. Our little guesthouse is set beside a small mountain named Signal Hill and behind us in Table Moutain. It is an absolutely great location. We have been able to walk to all our meals and all the way down to the V&A Waterfront.
It’s kinda funny, but the first few days we did a lot of shopping. Taylor was in need of several things and of course those of you who know me well, know I didn’t mind in the least. Cape Town is known to be the shopping capitol of Africa for goodness sake. Along the way we took it all in. So many different colors of people. Very beautiful, I love all the variety of language, you have Afrikaans, English, Xhosa, German, French. It’s wonderful. Of course, I wish I knew them all but for now it is really easy to get around with English. People are very friendly. It is fun to learn the nuances of how they speak language. Here are some examples, a to go box is a take away, all buildings for lease say “To let”. I keep thinking there are toilets everywhere...It’s not a check it’s a bill, it’s a booking instead of a reservation. This may seem kind of silly to explain but it is one of the many things I enjoy when as we get to see more places in this world. The other thing is the bathrooms. Weird, I know? But it’s fun to see different latches, sinks, what kind of hand dryers they have, etc. There are so many different ways things are done. Mostly here, you only have hand dryers. No paper towels at all. Where as in Spain, you had papertowels but it was like using a kleenex to dry your hands. The coolest sink so far was a tilted granite slab the water ran into a reservoir you really couldn’t see. Neato!
In the first two days, we did 6 of the 10 most favorite things to do in Cape Town. We still have to see a sunset from Signal Hill, ride the cable car to the top of Table mountain and go to Robben Island to see where Nelson Mandela was held for so many years. Fortunately for us we still have plenty of time to do this.
The biggest adventure so far has been the paragliding. On Monday morning Taylor asked our innkeeper to book something for us and BOOM, we were set to go in only 45 min. For me this was probably best. I was a bit nervous to jump off a perfectly good mountain side. Our two pilots picked us up, Jacque and Steph. They were great from the start. Super funny with a little cheese ball twist, but it was fun. Jacque is the 2nd best paraglider in all of South Africa and I think Steph is right up there. He just returned from 3 months in Germany, paragliding. These guys are making a living off doing what they love, it’s great to see. They drove us up to the launch spot on Signal Hill and explained what we needed to know on the way. They have an assistant named Irma who is doing an internship with them. What a crazy group to do that with. She was very sweet. When we got to the launch site there was another person ahead of us. It was nice to see them take off first. It set me at ease a little. So Jacque and I were set to go first, you get into a big old harness and they prepare the paraglider. When the paraglider goes up initially you are swept back a little so someone is in the front of you to help with that. Then you run, run ,run until you are airborne. It’s really amazing. We fortunately, did not have to run in the bushes. Taylor and Steph had to do a little of this. Once you are up in the air it is very relaxing and exhilarating at the same time. Jacque and I had a small paraglider so he had to work a little harder to get us up higher in the air. Man, was it FUN!! You truly do feel like a bird. We had great views of the Atlantic and the area in Cape Town called SeaPoint. You could also see the stadium where the World Cup was played. Taylor and Steph were in the air maybe 15 minutes after us. So Taylor and I were able to see eachother flying thru the sky. It was awesome!! I’m so glad that Taylor is an adrenaline junkie. I probably would never have done that on my own. Taylor of course is hooked and at this very moment is walking to the bookstore to buy a book on the subject while I blog. Will I ever learn to do it on my own? Probably not. I thought it was awesome but near the end I started getting kind of nauseas. Never did hurl, but kind of made the last bit of the ride a bit less enjoyable. Jacque and I soared over the stadium and gently landed in a big field. Irma, came over and said “You were gone for a long time” Some people only go for 10-20 min. I think that Taylor and I were up for about an hour. It was so great to rush near the tops of the trees and to be above the birds. It’s all about finding the thermals to get you higher. The rest of the afternoon we were both on a bit of a high. We went for coffee with the guides and then strolled back up the hill to our little room and thought “what the hell do we do know? It will be hard to beat that morning?” We ended up going back out for a great little lunch and had a mellow evening at home. It’s great to be on holiday.
