Tim_Day 196 - 203 (South Africa)

Day 196
Ana and I forced ourselves to get up early and start the day. We wanted to have a good breakfast since we were going to be on a long bus ride and the food usually sucks. We found a little German run coffee shop and had some eggs, bacon, and toast. It was good and I was hoping we could get this kind of food in Cape Town.

After breakfast we headed directly to the local “Mr. Price” to try and get some inexpensive shirts. This was a local chain store and I really like the clothing they offered. I ended up buying five shirts and one sweater for a US $45.00. Not bad.

After Mr. Price we headed back to grab all of stuff and head to the bus station. We were way over loaded and it was pretty funny trying to get around.

Eventually our bus rolled in and we headed out. The one thing that was really funny was the amount of old and fat people on the bus. Most of them were Germans and talked with a deep growling hacking voice. One old guy that got on was so old that he couldn’t even make it up the stairs of the bus. He had to sit down and make us way up each step. It was really weird and I wasn’t sure why the hell they were even taking this bus. The trip was around 24 hours and it seemed way too hard for them. But either way they hobbled on and away we went.

We pretty much drove all day and into the night while stopping at every gas station in Namibia. Gas stations are making shift bus stops in Namibia so we pretty much hit everyone possible on the way down. What a way to spend my 31st birthday. Oh well I didn’t care that much and at least I had Ana there with me. She was great and kept trying to make me feel special in different little ways.

For dinner we made some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in our laps. The weather outside was starting to get pretty cold and me and Ana put on our North Face jackets, beanies, and gloves. Those bastards on the bus can’t bother to put the heat on. Man I hate that about this country.

At one of the bus stops I had the driver let me into the bottom to get my sleeping bag and Ana’s. While on the bus we jumped in our sleeping bags. We looked like massive caterpillars but I didn’t care. By this time I was on the edge of loosing consciousness due to the cold.

Somewhere between the shivering and clicking of my teeth I was able to dose off. I’m not sure how I fell asleep. Maybe my body was shutting down like you do just before you freeze to death?








Day 197
Sometime around 2:00am in the black cold morning we reached the border into South Africa. Man this was going to be great since I could see my breath on the bus and it was windy outside. Luckily we didn’t have to stand long in the cold to get our passports stamped out of Namibia and into South Africa. In fact the officer in South Africa noticed that it was my birthday and told me Happy Birthday. I thought that was really nice of him and I was surprised to see he even noticed.

We jumped back on the freezer and keep driving the rest of the night. It was a tough night but somehow I think I was able to sleep a little. Ana had about the same sleep results.

Sometime in the morning we stopped and the drivers were switched. I didn’t care about the drivers changing until the new driver got in and cranked the stereo really loud to wake everyone up. He was playing really dumb ass music obnoxiously loud. The first song had lyrics about “Speedy Gonzales” and the second one talked about different fast food chains. The song went something like “Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut …..” It was horrible and I was hopping he would calm down after a little while. Of course not. He let the entire CD loop more than 5 times. What a jack ass that driver was. The good thing was we only had him for the last few hours. Talking with Alesh and Maya later we found out they had him for almost the entire trip. We knew that because they knew the same songs we did.

As we got closer to Cape Town and I got closer to losing my sanity the landscape began to change. The brown desert hills turned into smooth rolling green hills and trees and vineyards began to cover the landscape.

Eventually we rolled into the heart of the city and were dropped off at the bus station. On the map the hostel Alesh and Maya were staying at didn’t look that far so we decided we would walk to it. We were in the downtown part of the city and there were plenty of people walking around.

Walking down the streets reminded me allot of Chicago. It was a modern metropolis with modern looking city people. The city was back dropped by the magical table mountains. I had seen pictures of the mountains before but it was so much more beautiful than anything I had imagined. I think this city was the most beautiful city I’ve ever been in. It was really magical walking down the street seeing huge mountains and buildings fighting for the skyline.

The magic of the city started to fade quickly once we started to realize that the hostel was allot further than we had anticipated. We were carrying allot of extra baggage and it was starting to get really heavy and clumsy. The people on the street were also starting to look a little rough and I didn’t like the way they were looking at us. We should have not been so cheap and just took a taxi. But oh well we were here and we had to just tough it out and find the place.

Of course we started to get lost and tried asking where our hostel was. We asked about five different people and they all didn’t know what we were talking about and were looking at us like what are you doing here. We found one really nice lady that said “You know you guys shouldn’t be on the streets looking like a tourist”. I laughed and told her “We look like tourist?” Of course we did since I was carrying two backpacks and a suitcase. It was pretty funny and she laughed.

Eventually the nice lady pointed us in the right direction and we found our hostel. It was a pain in the ass and the streets seemed really tough. I’m glad we made it to the hostel and I think we were really lucky no one mugged us.

The hostel looked really nice and we dropped our bags off in the room with Alesh and Maya. They weren’t there so we decided it was time to go get some lunch. We were both starving since we didn’t really eat anything on the bus but junk.

For lunch we found a great little fast food chicken place. I loved the range of food that was available to us since Swakopmund. It was like a modern country and I could feel the fatty food clinging to the walls of my stomach.

After dinner we checked out the local internet place and it was wonderful. It had nice seats, clean computers and the connection was smoking. I was so happy. This was the first internet cafe that we had been to since Egypt that was half way decent. Man I love this city!

When we went back to the hostel we found Alesh and Maya and it was great to be with them again. Once we met them we pretty much headed straight for the bar for a couple beers and some pool. We celebrated my birthday and had a pretty chill night.

I retreated to my bed after the room started to spin too much.








Day 198
I woke up feeling pretty hung over that morning. My stomach and head didn’t really like all the beer I had drank the night before.

We had originally thought we were going to climb Table Mountain that morning but the sky was really cloudy and we decided to call it off. When it’s foggy you can’t see anything when you get up there.

We decided to walk around the city a little and check out things. I didn’t like walking around the city since the streets were so unsafe. The previous day Alesh was approached by three kids that were messing with him. He kept walking and they caught up and asked him if he wanted to get stabbed. He was able to ditch them but it was a sketchy situation. These kind of encounters weren’t uncommon in the area and we were thinking those kids were the local punks. Either way I didn’t want to meet up with anyone and keep my sense awake as we walked down the street.

It was really funny because we walked all the way down to the marina (about 2 miles) and it was all pretty much in the shadows of large skyscrapers and with tons of people. It really felt like any normal city but it had that toothy edge to it. One moment I would be watching the people walking behind us then we would pop out on a corner where you could see the magical Table Mountains popping out of the fog and dominating the skyline. It was beautiful and some part of me really enjoyed the fear that I had. It made the city more interesting somehow. It was Africa and the fear made me feel like I was still there. No where else in the world have I felt that fearful in a huge city. Funny.

Eventually we made it to the marina with no problems. Maya and Alesh might have not been as sensitive as Ana and I were. We’ve both were mugged by gun point on night in Chicago. It was pretty scary and having a gun pointed directly to your head isn’t an experience I want to have again. Especially in Africa where the crime I think the possibility of death rate in this situation was much higher.

Once we hit the marina we walked around to a few of the shops and just enjoyed the environment. We didn’t want to spend too much money on dinner so we decided we would eat back at the hostel area. We grabbed a taxi to get back to the hostel.

Once we were back we grabbed a few drinks at the bar as usual. The good thing about the hostel was the bar was right down the hall from our room. You could literally walk about 30 feet and be sitting in a really nice cozy little bar. That kind of access to beer and traveling with two bloody English people was a sure sign we were going to be alcoholics that week.

After we flipped a few beers to the wind we headed to the local fast food chicken place to grab some food. I could tell Maya and Ana were way to drunk when they started to have a burping contest right in the middle of the restaurant. It was really nasty and I could tell they were pretty blasted. It was pretty funny though and me and Alesh just sat back and tried to pretend we didn’t know them.

After the burping contest was complete and everyone in the place was grossed out we headed back to the bar to pound a few more and play some pool. It was good times and we met some really nice locals named Simon and Shakera. They were really cool and it was interesting to talk with them about South Africa. They were there during the partied and they talked about how things were. One thing that was really interesting was that Shakera looked like a Mexican but he talked as if he were treated like a black person. I think the white people in that area said if you aren’t completely white then you must be black. Really weird.

Eventually we crawled our way back to the room to sleep off the alcohol. The nice thing about being an alcoholic was that it was easy to fall asleep and I always slept well.








Day 199
The bad thing about being and alcoholic is the morning after. My stomach and head were feeling pretty good and I had to take a couple aspirins to calm my head down.

We didn’t do much till the evening when we had to head to the Marina to catch our tour boat over to Robben Island. By the time we got on the boat I was starting to feel better and ready to feel bad again with my sea sickness. The oceans looked rough and reminded me of the power that I saw in the oceans in the bottom of South America near Antarctica.

I strapped my sea sickness patch behind my ear and jumped on the puck mobile. Luckily the boat seemed really nice and actually was a hydrofoil. Being a hydrofoil in theory meant it should cut down on the rocking caused by the waves.

When we got out into the ocean the waves were MASSIVE. I’ve never been out on seas that big and the waves were really impressive. The waves arose from seemingly nowhere and were the size of small mountains. When we crested the top the boat would fall forward and we would sometimes loose our stomachs. I was holding onto my patch and praying. Good thing the ride was only for an hour and I was able to survive it pretty well. I think I only turned like four different colors.

Once we got to the island we were escorted onto some old buses. We got an old bus that was actually used to transport old prisoners around the island. It was pretty cool and the island was a great jail. The waters around it were treacherous and reminded me allot of what Alcatraz was like in San Francisco.

The bus tour was really fun and they took us around showing us various different sights where they prisoners lived and worked. I was really surprised to see how many animals were on the island. We saw reindeer, penguins, rabbits, and tons of birds.

Eventually the bus dropped us off at the max security jail and the tour continued. Our tour guide was an ex-convict and I was really interested to have him guide the tour. As he brought us through the prison he pointed out and talked about things for a very personal point of view. He said things like when he first came there was no glass in the windows. He said it was always freezing and really hard. He said he had to fight to get things like mattresses and warmer cloths which eventually they got. Labor was hard and filled with tasks like digging and filling holes back in. When he talked about the prison it really brought life to the place and I felt like I got to real glimpse the past. It was an amazing experience.

Eventually we got to see Mandela’s jail cell and a few other things and we were on our way back to the mainland. The waves on the way back had even gotten bigger and the seas were looking mean. It was like being on a rollercoaster when we were going over the waves. Once we got back to port I was more than happy to get off that boat.

We taxied back to the hostel and had some pizza for dinner. It was pretty good and we washed down the grease with a few more beers.

That night we had some beers but not too many. I think we were all a little beat from the previous nights. We spent allot of time hanging out with Simon and Shakera. They were really cool guys and it was fun to party with them.

I headed back to room to crash a little early but the LOUD music right down the hall was driving me nuts. I should have had a few more drinks so the music wasn’t so loud. Eventually though I did manage to fall asleep.








Day 200
I slept pretty well even though they started doing karaoke in the bar underneath our room shortly after I tried to fall asleep. The people sang really badly and the sound pierced the earplugs I was wearing. I wonder if there is a more annoying sound to hear than someone singing off key to a Garth Brooks song?

Despite the bad music Maya got up early to catch her bus back to Namibia where her flight home left from. It was sad to see her go. I was going to miss hanging out with her.

Once Maya left the dynamics of our group was a little different. It was nice having two boys and two girls. We seemed to balance each other out. But we adjusted and made the best of the new group. Alesh was still a great guy and I loved hanging out with him.

Ana and I decided we actually needed to get a few errands done and headed out on the town to do that. We first went to the music store to get a CD for Ana’s aunt Sabrina. After that we headed to the market to buy a couple masks. I had wanted some African masks and we found a couple really nice ones for cheap. Bargaining was a little tough but in the end I think we did pretty well.

In the evening we tried to find me some shoes but didn’t have any real luck finding my size. I needed new shoes pretty bad and the squeaking sound they made was driving Ana nuts. I must say the sound was also starting to drive me nuts as well. Every time I was anywhere quiet all you could hear was my one shoe squeaking. It was pretty funny but also annoying.

In the evening we met up with Alesh, Simon, and Shakera and had some more drinks. Of course I drank too much and shouldn’t have since Ana and I couldn’t were headed to go swimming with the Great White’s the next morning. I was pretty excited about going to swim with the sharks but Ana was a little nervous and second guessing herself. I told her don’t worry it’s going to be great.

We hit the hay a little too late and a little too drunk.









Day 201
Getting up the next morning at 4:30 am wasn’t easy. Ana was the smart one and didn’t drink that much. But of course I had a couple too many and I was still feeling a little drunk at that early in the morning. Kind of sucked because it was cold and we had to wait on the stairs for an hour before the damn bus came.

We were supposed to be the first pick up but ended up being the last pick up instead. The mini bus was loaded with people and the only spot left for me was next to a fat guy. The next two hour ride to the boat sucked. The fat guy’s ass took up the whole seat and I keep falling off the seat on the turns. Man that sucked! I was also tired and hung-over which added to the wonderful experience.

We finally got to our final destination and I was so glad to get out of that damn van. There was a free breakfast waiting for us which was nice. I didn’t want to eat anything since I wasn’t feeling to well. I also don’t eat before getting on a boat because that’s like loading a “puck cannon” with extra powder.

I also found out that the waves were going to be MASSIVE. In fact they had sent out a message a few days earlier telling all the big wave surfers they had 2 days to make it to that area. There was a great storm causing massive waves big enough for them to hold a contest. Great. I was assured to be chumming for Great Whites the whole time we were on the boat. But it was worth it if I could see a real live Great White Shark！ I’ve always dreamed of swimming in a cage next to those monsters. If I had to barf for 5-6 hours straight it would be worth it.

I strapped on my trusty sea sickness patch and we jumped on the boat. Ana wasn’t looking too excited about being there but I told her not to worry and that if she didn’t want to get in the cage she didn’t have to. That seemed to make her feel better. She is a strong girl and I’m glad she is so willing to overcome her fears to do something so great like this. Love that crazy girl.

As we headed out of port the waves started getting HUGE. You could see the waves were the size of small mountains and you could see several sets of them fading off into the distance along the wall. I’ve never seen waves that big and they were even larger than the ones we encountered going out to Robben Island. I think the waves must have been around a hundred feet at the tops. The waves rose and swelled up large enough to make the boat have to climb over them. When we reached the top the boat would surge forward aggressively as it fell over the top. When this happened I would loose my stomach and that wasn’t cool. I was getting worried that I would be upchucking in no time.

To help me manage the seas I learned that being outside is the best. I pinned myself up again the side of the boat and tried to watch the waves build in front of me. There was a nice handlebar on the side of the boat to hold on and I could watch the amazing waves form from what seemed like nowhere. The ocean seemed to lift up from the bottom right in front of us and the wave would get to the point where it looked like it was going to crash onto the boat and sink it but it never would. It would stay in the shape of a mountain of water and never get steep enough to break even though it looked like it could. If one of those waves crashed in front of the boat it would have covered the entire boat and sunk it for sure.

The waves were amazing and I hope I never forget the power that was out in those seas. In the distance we could see some of waves breaking in the shallower water and they were amazing. They were so large they moved slow and crashed with an amazing power. I wished we could see them closer because they must have been amazing.

Eventually after fighting the seas for a while I started to get to “Shark Alley” I was so excited to be there since I had always heard about this place on the shark movies. It was the world’s most famous area for the Great Whites. This was a great place to see Great Whites because there was an island filled with hundreds of thousands of seal. They were everywhere and were a perfect snack for the sharks. This also was the only place in the world that the Great Whites actually breach the water while hunting seals. They will actually come from the bottom at full speed straight up at the seals. They have so much speed by the time they grab the seal that they fly into the air. Can you imagine seeing that! That would be amazing! I know that the first sailors in the area to record this event were laughed at. They said huge 10-15 foot sharks were jumping the air. Yeah right.

As we approached shark alley the skipper announced we would he anchor just outside the mouth of “Shark Alley”. There were rocks on both sides of the alley and that was too dangerous with the size of the seas. There were about 2 other boats anchored already in the area and that was good since they were chumming already to attract the sharks.

Once we got the anchor secured one deck hand started to make some chum and pour it over the side. Another deck hand tied a large tuna fish head onto a rope with a floater on it and threw it out. The chum was the smell that would attract the sharks and the fish head was the bait to get them in close.

It only took about fifteen minutes for the first shark to emerge from the depths and attack the bait. It was amazing and my heart starting pumping. The shark was about 15 feet long and surged at the bait from seemingly nowhere. The deck hand pulled the bait away and the shark missed the bait. It then proceeded to cruise elegantly and smoothly past the side of the boat. Everyone was getting pretty excited and pushing a little to see the shark. I didn’t like the feeling since the railing on the side of the boat was only about three feet tall and I didn’t want to accidentally fall in. I might have to use some of my Kung Fu moves on that poor defenseless shark.

After a few passes they started to load the cage and suit up the first four people that wanted to go in the cage. I wanted to be first but Ana wasn’t having any of that. The first group jumped in the cage and they looked like they were having fun. The oceans were really rough and the cage was rocking all over the place. They looked like they were getting throw around a little. I was trying to focus on the horizon and keep myself from getting too sick. But I was losing the war and decided I wanted to be in the next group to go in the cage. I usually get less sick in the water and I was hoping being in the cage would make me feel better.

We started to suit up and that turned out to be interesting. The suits were full body suits and the one I had must have been for a four foot one hundred pound girl. The boat was bouncing all over the place and I was trying to get the damn suit on and not puck on anyone. Eventually we all got our penguins suits on which were extremely thick black wetsuit material that included booties, a head cover, mask, and weight belt. Ana was looking pretty cute in her suit kind of like a penguin with massive excited and scared eyes. Crazy girl was going in the cage. I was proud of her. I know this was a big thing for her to do. She’s not a great swimmer and has never been in a wet suit. But what better time to learn than when there are Great White sharks around.

The first group was taken out of the cage and it was our turn to get in the shark infested waters. By this time they had attracted a second shark and it now there were two Great Whites circling us. I was the third person in and Ana was the last since that position would give her the fastest escape should she want out of the cage.

When I jumped in the cage I was expecting the water to be cold but to my surprise it was actually not too bad. The wet suit was really thick and did a great job of keeping us warm. The cage was really small and was constantly being bounced violently. Above our heads we only had just enough room to keep our heads above water without hitting the cage. At times it felt like the cage was going to fully submerge but it never did. It was a really claustrophobic place and I was really surprised that Ana was still in the cage. Our bodies keep bouncing off each other and it was a fight just to breath and remain kind of stable in the cage. I continually keep getting mouth full’s of the cold salty chum filled water. Man that tasted great. I’m not sure why the sharks go crazy over that stuff.

Shortly after Ana got in the water the deck hand yelled “shark on your left!” That was our signal to go under water and looked for the shark swimming right by our left side. The water was murky and the bouncing of the cage made it hard to see the shark but sure enough I saw him shortly under the water passing by. He was a monster and it was really amazing to see him. I remember that I smiled under water and got some more yummy chum in my teeth. It was great to see the shark and in my head I check of another thing from my “got to do before I die” list.

A couple minutes later the guy yelled that we had a shark on our left. I was starting to get the hang of the cage and trying to relax and not fight it to much. This time when I went down I was able to hold my breath for a while and get a great view of the massive shark passing us.

Watching the sharks glide by for the next twenty minutes was a really amazing experience. The deck hand would yell which side they were coming from and I would take a deep breath and push myself under the salty cold water with the top of the cage. Your eyes would scan the dark waters till you found a huge shape appearing from the blue green dark depths. As the shark got closer the outline of a shark was clear and you started to see the smaller details like the eyes and gills. They were massive creatures but in the water they moved with grace and ease gliding along with one swipe of there powerful tails. It was really beautiful to see that. I sat there in mesmerized by the experience. As the sharks got closer to the cage it would position itself just under the bait. Then at the moment the shark would turn from a slow graceful ballerina to a monster. The fifteen foot shark would surge at the bait with a monstrous power and open its mouth showing its massive teeth filled jaws. It was in that moment that I would get a magical sensation running down the back of my spin and it was in that moment they were truly the masters of the sea. Once the shark missed the bait it would instantly settle down and glide away. It was almost like it was conserving its energy. Seeing the Great White underwater was amazing and I wish everyone can experience something like that. Amazing!

Ana stayed in the cage for at least five minutes and that was really great. She got to see a couple sharks under the water and I was happy she did. The one thing she remembers really well was when the guy yelled “Keep your hands in the cage there’s two sharks”. It was hard to hold on the little handle bars on the side of the cage and we all keep grabbing the side of the cage rather than the handle bars. They were the same width steel (about .25 inches thick) so it felt the same under water. I don’t think the sharks would have bitten our finger but what might have happened is the shark would slam against the side of the cage and maybe break our fingers. But when you’re in the cage and you realize your fingers are outside it feels like the shark is going to bite them off. You move them pretty quickly.

With Ana outside the cage there was a little more room and it was easier to see the sharks. We got the chance to see at least twenty different sharks passing the cage. They were amazing and I was starting to get the hang of just going underwater and holding my breath the whole time they were passing. I was so glad that we had a pool in our backyard growing up and I learned how to swim and hold my breath so well.

One of the sharks that passed the cage got a hold of the bait. The deck hand had to fight with the shark to get the bait back. When he did this the shark turned and swiped the side of the cage. That was pretty cool to see and the guy up front got a great close up of the shark. I had been taking photos with our underwater camera the whole time but unfortunately I wasn’t ready for the shark that pounded the cage. Oh well I still got the memory.

After about twenty minutes the five gallons of salt water I had drank was starting to effect me. I think the large chum pack that the guy keep shacking right next to my head was helping me as well. See every time he shook it a bunch of fish guts and leftovers would float into the water right next to my face. Man that was a nice experience. Bottom line was that it was time to get out of the cage. I was sea sick, cold and a little beat down. But despite that I’m sure my face was smiling and I know my heart was filled with joy.

Once I got out of that damn suit and stared at the horizon for a while I started to feel better. The waves were MASSIVE and I was surprised that I was doing as good and I was. Man I love those ear patches. If I could marry them I would have. Doing something like this would have been impossible without the patches. In fact there were about five people on the boat that were so sick they couldn’t even get up to see the sharks swimming by. Poor things. We met one Belgian girl that had that happen to her. I felt so bad for her. When we saw her towards the end her eyes were actually yellow colored. She was soooooo sick.

There was a third group of people that went in the cage and after them I was happy to hear that no one else wanted to go and that we were headed back to port. In the time that we were there we saw eight different sharks and I though that was pretty amazing. The deck hands said that the largest was around 18 feet long or so. That’s one big sharky.

We picked up anchor and a few last people hacked over the side before we headed out. In the end at least half the boat hacked up their breakfast. It was pretty rough on the boat and just before we headed out the guy next to use hacked. Then just as he got his head back in the boat the guy on the upper deck hacked and a little splattered on him. Luckily it looked really watery. Maybe that was too many details?

Before we headed out the skipper took the boat into the actual shark alley to show us the area and we got to see all the seals. There were over 200,000 of them all over the place and this was a huge breading ground for them. It was also a buffet for the local Great Whites.

On the way back the waves seemed even larger than they were when we went out. They were so amazing just to watch rising from the ocean to a height way over your head. The skipper would gas the boat to make it up the crest then at the top shut it off when we started to go down. It was really cool and I loved this trip. Man what a great day!

At one point on the way back we spotted some whales in the ocean and that was really cool. They were massive and there were two of them. I’ve never seen real whales in the ocean and it was really cool to see them with there huge fins and blowing water into the air.

Getting back to dock was wonderful and I think everyone was glad to get off the boat. We were drove to the little house where we were going to have lunch. We had some cheese sandwich and I carefully ate making sure to be sensitive to my stomach. I had done great on the boat and I was so happy of that.

Driving back to town was fun with our idiot crazy driver. But sure enough we finally made it around 8:00 pm. We hung out with Alesh, Simon and Shakera for a little bit and had a couple beers. My stomach was still a little off and I was pretty tired so we headed to bed early. Falling asleep was easy even with the pounding bass.








Day 202
Because we went to bed early we woke up early. We also had a couple errands to run and we decided that we better get in gear. We had been drinking and bumming around for allot of days and it was time to at least get a couple things done.

First we sent a package home with my sculptures that didn’t fit in the suitcase. I was sending my real bust sculpture home in the mail which had me a little scared. But I boxed it up and sent it off hoping that it would make it. We’ll see if it makes it?

After sending the package we headed over to try and find me some shoes. While we were walking to the mall area we met up with Shakera and Alesh. They were pretty messed up and were out to go get some food. We went with them and Shakera said he would take us around to different stores looking for some shoes that were big enough to fit me.

We walked all over the city with Shakera checking out different places and it was impossible to find a shoe that would fit me. I was getting a little frustrated and decided to screw it and that I would find shoes in Europe. Allot of Africans are really big and I thought finding new shoes would be easy to find. But we were in Africa still and allot of things just aren’t what they should be.

Walking around with Shakera was really fun and at one point he started to call us “Passengers” he would say things like “Passengers this way” and “Passengers be careful of these people there dodgy”. It was really fun and so nice to hang out with a local that way. Shakera was a really chill guy and I wished I knew him back in the States.

One thing that I had seen before was young people sniffing glue. It was sad to see since that kind of high in such a young person for sure had to really mess up their brains. At one point we were approached by a young black girl about 15 years old. She had a small blown up plastic bag with glue in it and taking hits off it. She was pretty messed up and really aggressive. She was asking for money while she kept taking hits off the bag. It was so sad to see and she had a very small future ahead of her. Eventually she left us alone but in my heart I was sad to see her go. I wished her the best and hoped her she got help soon.

After walking around a bit we headed back to the hostel or should I say more specifically the bar to have a few drinks. We started drinking around 4:00 pm which was pretty early to start. We didn’t eat anything for dinner which probably wasn’t the best thing to do.

It was Simon’s birthday so we when he came later in the evening we started even drinking heavier. The bartender started pouring free shots which added fuel to the fire. It was a good evening and Simon was really excited we were there celebrating his birthday with him. He was actually so excited that he showed me his tattoo he had on his leg. He told me he was only showing me his tattoo because it was his birthday. He proceeded to pull up his right pant legs and show me the large outline of a penis on his leg. It was so funny to see and I couldn’t believe he had it. He was such a smooth guy and for the all world reminded me of a French black guy. He said when he was 10 he drew the outline of a penis on his leg and showed his friend. They thought it was so funny they proceeded to tattoo it onto his leg. That explained whey the tattoo was really crocked and poorly done. Crazy Simon.

After a while we decided we wanted to go to the bar across the street and do some dancing. Ana was pretty excited about this and ignored me telling her to calm down on the drinks. I she’s hard headed that way when she’s drunk. I knew she was too drunk when she started dancing by herself to the music.

Anyway we headed over to the other bar across the street for some dancing and drinking. It was a pretty chill bar and was packed with people dancing. We grabbed some drinks and Ana started dancing like a crazy women. I knew she was gone but waited for her to start feeling sick before I took her back across the street to her bed.

Sure enough not long after dancing Ana started feeling really bad fast and wanted some water. I went to the crowded bar and grabbed some water. By the time I came back she was looking really bad. I should have at that moment took her across to the hostel but I chose to take her outside where it was less crowded and let her drink some water.

Ana immediately drank the water and started resting her head on my leg. Poor thing was dead sick and part of me was saying “I told you so” and the other part was thinking of how the hell was I going to get her across the street and into bed where she can sleep off the drunkenness?

What basically happened for about the next two hours was that I sat there with sick Ana off and on sleeping on my leg. She was out of it and as soon as I tried to move her she would scream at me that she couldn’t make it. She was pretty much dead weight and I didn’t wan to try and get her down the stairs with how drunk I was.

Luckily I was pretty light and was able to chill and drink for the next two hours waiting for Ana to get better or puck. She chose the second option eventually and after the floor was soaked I grabbed her and dragged her to the room across the street. I washed her shoes (747’s) and threw them under her bed. She was passed out in no time and I followed her shortly after. What a night.








Day 203
We both woke up late with a strong hangover. Ana was hurting but less than I thought she was going to be. My crazy wife thinks she can drink as much as she wants as long as she dances. That theory was proven wrong the previous night.

For the most part of the day Ana and I pretty much lazed around. Sometime in the late afternoon we decided to got to the food store and get some food for the BBQ that was happening at our hostel that night. We got some beef and a couple sausages.

In the evening we started drinking some more but the crowd at the bar that night was really unusual and I got a bad vibe. It was kind of sad since it was our last night in Cape Town. We cooked up our meat and talked with Simon and Shakera for a while.

Eventually the crowd was getting to rough and gross. A large group of old nasty Rugby players came in and were acting like idiots. I was done with the bar and me and Ana turned in early sometime around 1:00 am. It was a sucky end to an otherwise wonderful time at that hostel.