Muizenberg & Kirstenbosch

Muizenberg is a quaint little beach town, roughly 45-minutes from the heart of Cape Town via a train. It lays along False Bay- the western part of the cape. Many of Cape Town’s beaches are world renowned, and despite the colder weather, I’ve wanted to set foot on one since I got into town. With only 48 hours left before I leave South Africa for Zimbabwe, we picked yesterday as the day. Muizenberg is most known as a surfer enclave. Many of the people in our house had gone there many times to do just that, and even today, overcast and around 60 the beach, more specifically, the water, was packed with adventure lovers decked out in neoprene wetsuits.

We only ended up staying for two and a half hours or so, but I was able to dip my toes into the Pacific and snapped some great photo opportunities. It was also my first time taking the train here, and it was interesting to see the city from a different angle. Since we’ve been working in the settlements we haven’t been blinded from the inequality in the area, but seeing town after town flash by on our way to Muizenberg gave insight to how nice some can be and how down beaten others are.

Yesterday we went to Kirstenbosch- one of the largest botanical gardens in the world- for lunch with Sidney and Cynthia before we had our farewell dinner with our housemates in the evening. Kirstenbosch is beautiful- right at the base of the mountains and a full days worth of trails, gardens and paths to explore. As per usual with Sidney and Cynthia lunch was both abundant and absolutely delicious. For dinner, about 20 of us came together to watch the France v. Nigeria game and enjoy one last group meal. It was wonderful spending more time with the housemates and also a great opportunity for some of our friends from work to come together at once. For me, technically tomorrow, our housemates Mourits’s birthday, will be my last dinner in Cape Town, but with 3 of us heading out tomorrow, yesterday was the big group dinner.

One thing I haven’t mentioned much is life at the lodge, and it’s great; I’m so bummed to be leaving. The physical building itself is fine, but its located in a great little suburb called Observatory. Obs for short, the town has an adorable main street with tons of bars and restaurants. Due to its proximity to the University of Cape Town, it’s a young area with lots of international students. Our house is a prime example of that. Currently there are 16 students, mostly medical students, living in the lodge. Right now, including our group, there are 4 Americans, 1 Chinese, 1 Taiwanese, 1 French, 2 Germans, 1 Italian and 6 Dutch in the house. People are constantly coming and going in the house, some here for as short as 4 weeks, like us, others staying 6 months. Everyone is friendly, helps one another out with Cape Town advice and knowledge and is a ton of fun to be around. Almost nightly our little family comes together to watch TV, play games or just talk about our days. It has been great to share this experience with some other and made some great friends along the way.

On Tuesday Chris, Yijing and Yung-Ting depart, some for home, others for Jo-burg, and Wednesday morning Mandi and I head to Zimbabwe. We should get to Victoria Falls in the early afternoon and have the night there before we leave for our weeklong safari starting Thursday! I’m so excited for part two of this adventure, but so very sad to be leaving Cape Town.