Table Mountain Conquered
Location: Cape Town, South Africa
Today started off with an abrupt awaking from Payton at 5:30, reminding me I had to wake everyone else up. I don't think Payton slept at all last night. I saw her cooking at 12 when I went to bed, and cooking at 5:30 am when she woke me up. It was worth it, though, because she made us a lovely breakfast as well as lunch to take with us on our hike. Speaking of the hike, today was the day we conquered Table Mountain. Highly coveted and feared by Henry, Table Mountain is one of the seven natural wonders of the world, and it was time to climb it. After eating breakfast and making an emergency shore head run with a few of my peers, we were off! By the time we got there, it was already 80 degrees out at 8 am. Yikes! Anywho, after caffeinating at the local cafe, we're off on our way. Immediately, we were met with steps, and that's just about all we saw for the next 20 minutes until it finally leveled out. Thinking we were out of the hard part, we happily gallivanted along a flat section until we were met with more steps. This time, the steps didn't stop for about the next hour and a half. At this point, Perry and I had long lost the rest of the crew. It was at this point that I realized Perry hadn't drunk any water the whole hike and didn't have any with him, causing me to force him to drink my water. Anywho, after successfully making it to the top, we were met with Jewel, who took the cable car up. She was making new friends with some locals, as she often does. Soon after, Vera arrives, followed by the rest of the crew. At this point, it was safe to say we all underestimated the hike and understood why most people take the cable car up, but we were all so glad we did it. We also found it strange that one of the seven natural wonders had a coffee shop on top of it, but it did come in handy. After eating and caffeinating again, we made our way down. When we got back to the boat, Maia Fin Rai-Ching and I went to the lounge and worked on our cards.
24 cards to all the staff, students, office, and ourselves that we will give out on day 90. After going through a whole pen, we made our way back for dinner, which was some wonderful egg drop soup with a side of cookies crafted by Emma. So scrumptious! After dinner and cleanup, we held a clothes swap in the salon. Some crazy trades went down, and I got the most epic shirt from Hannah. I also traded my swim trunks that Perry found at the bottom of the ocean in Christmas Island for his jorts. This brings me to now, where I am writing the blog while Alice Hannah, Fin, Maia, and Thaxton continue to write their cards.