Hello from Cape Town. I have less than 2 weeks left and then I am off to Mozambique then back to the US of A- bummer man! I had my first and only visitor last week. Cody came and we had quite the jam packed week: Dinner parties, bar parties, township braii, rugby match, sunset lions head hike, a few visits to the beach, table mountain cable car, surfing, canoeing, bungee jumping, AND lifesaving are just a few of the activities we were able to pack in J The first day he got here 13 of us went out to dinner at this restaurant called Mama Africa on Long Street. They serve traditional African food and have live music playing throughout dinner. We ate some crocodile and springbok! The next morning we went to Llandudno Beach for what we expected to be a nice relaxing day but came home as heros. After we had lounged around we decided to go explore the rocks and caves at the end of the beach. As we were climbing up, a random black lab followed us up onto the rocks. He was hanging out with us for a while then disappeared but we thought nothing of it. But as we were walking back to the beach, Cody heardthe dog whining (I didn't hear a thing, it must be all that alcohol clouding my hearing). We found the dog stuck between two huge rocks close to the edge of the ocean. His front legs were above his head and his hind legs were hanging, so the only thing holding him was his rib cage. It was so hot and he was panting so hard we actually thought he was going to die. So Cody ran off to go find the owner because he was lodged so deep we could not get him out. So there I was alone, stuck with a dying dog, and I couldn't do anything about it. He was whining louder and louder and I just had to sit there are stare at him while I waited for Cody to get back. Finally, after about 15 minutes Cody was still not back and the dog started to close his eyes and stop whining- he was giving up. At this point I started to cry (being my emotional self) and somethingcame upon me. I jumped into the deep crevasse, wedged my way in and started talking to the dog like he was a human- "I WON'T LET YOU DIE LITTLE GUY".I don't know who I thought I was! The crevasse was too deep for me to get my footing so i wedged myself down between the two giant rocks and put one leg out under the dogs butt and tried to lever him up- he didn't budge. So there I was now, stuck as well, with a dying dog.I kept my leg under his butt to prop him up so all the pressure was not on his chest, but then my knee kept giving out. By this time my leg was shaking, I was sweating, crying, and bleeding, but all of a sudden I "Herculesed" the dog out of the crack. I grabbed the dying lab by the collar lifted him with one leg out of the crack he had fallen into- SUCCESS!

I won't bore you will all the details of my last 10 days but I should tell you it was the busiest week of my life. We took the cable car up table mountain, we hiked lions at sunset and had a picnic of cheese, crackers, and champagne. Little did we know one needed a flashlight to get back down the mountain and so there we were, on our way down the steep mountain in the pitch black night. We had no idea where we were and once we were climbing over giant boulders that were not there on our way up we had realized we had strayed from the path. Luckily, a group of more intelligent people with headlamps and flashlights found us and helped us back up to the trail- I am sure they thought we were just stupid Americans.

My boss Sean has an employee named Lindy who lives in the township Guguleta, so she organized for us to have a huge braii and block party at her house on Friday afternoon. We went in a group of about 30 students to Lindy's house and had the time of our lives. I had no idea what to expect going into a township because all one hears about them is how dangerous they are. But there we were, a group of 30 white (mostly American) students partying, drinking beer, dancing, and playing with the township kids in the street. The previous night we had gone to a Vegas Style club called Tiger Tiger and so most of us were quite hungover, but after about 2 Black Labels everyone started going again, and the braii turned into a full on block party. The kitchen became my haven. After a few more black labels, my awkward toe tapping and off beat rhythm turned into a full booty shaking, slap dancing fiasco, and the ladies were loving it! I was the little (well little is a relative term, but compared to most of these ladies I was little) white girl shakin' my butt with all the Township women! My dancing was a big hit- they were all laughing (most likely AT me) and jamming along with me. When I wasn't flailing my body around to the music in the kitchen I was outside playing with the kids. They LOVED us. We had them on our backs, racing through the streets, playing soccer, and taking pictures with them. It was one of the most amazing days of my life. There was one little girl who didn't really fit in and so Cody took it upon himself to show her a good time. By the end of the day she wouldn't stray from Cody's side. She took his hat and glasses and wore them all day and if another kid came near Cody she was sure to beat them up. That that night one of my friends rented out a bar for a 21st birthday, and we set up beer pong and flip cup. So in one day I brought the slap dance and American drinking games to South Africa! Corrupting Cape Town one day at a time :)

The next morning was quite rough but we had no time to waste- we were off on our roadtrip. I was a little nervous to take Cruella out on the open road but she was a champion (she was functioning much better than I was on the first leg of our journey). The first day we drove all the way the Jeffery's Bay and stayed at the most insane backpackers called Island Vibe. We had a second story private room on the sand dunes with a deck that looked out over the entire Jeffery's Bay- we were in heaven. Everything about this place was heaven (with exception to the gun shot Cody heard in the middle of the night and the weird blood stains all over the curtains)! We went to dinner at "The Mexican." I was a little hesitant because my last Mexican food experience in Cape Town was not so hot -my bean, cheese, and rice burrito was made with white sticky rice, red kidney beans, and mozzarella cheese. However, once I saw Corona on the menu, I had no doubt it would be better than my last experience. The rest of that night we spent on our deck looking out at the ocean and playing cards. The next morning Cody got to surf Supertubes (one of the most famous surf spots in the world) on a perfect day- he was pretty stoked. After surfing we were off on our next adventure- the bungee jump! Cody is not too keen on heights so we bought a 6 pack and went to town to work up a little liquid courage. We arrived about 5 minutes too late to do the bungee and so there we were, drunk with nothing to do. We went to my Aunt Tessa's sister's house to shower and get ready for our night out in Plettenburg Bay. The next morning we woke up early and went back to the bungee jump only to find that we were the ONLY people there. They walked us out the bridge which may have been equally as terrifying as the jump. It is a see-through foot bridge that is hanging underneath the concrete bridge, so when you look down you see straight to the bottom of the valley. Once we were out on the platform there was a DJ playing Beyonce and other very loud obnoxious music (mind you this was 830 am). Cody and I were the only two out on the platform so we were getting loads of attention! We were dancing and having a great time and then it came time to jump. Cody was the first of the day and was convinced that the rope needed to be "tested" before he jumped-hahaha! Needless to say we both jumped and survived the 216 meter weightless freefall. It was the most incredible feeling in world! After the bungee we drove to a town called Wilderness, or as Cody liked to call it- HickVille. It was a lazy little beach town with the most gorgeous views. After the jump, we thought we would tone the adventure down a bit so we went to buy snacks and booze for our canoe adventure up the river. Apparently they don't sell booze (except champagne) in Wilderness...who would have thought? I mean if you live in such a miserable small town how do you survive WITHOUT booze? We settled on the champagne and made our way up the winding river. It was gorgeous! We found a sandy beach, had our picnic, and Cody made ridiculous baboon calls in hopes that a baboon would hear him and show himself-no luck!

I have spared several details of our wild week, but it was amazing. All in one weeks time I am able to check 2 things off my TO DO BEFORE I DIE LIST- save a life and bungee jump! It never really was keen on the idea of bungee but after a few cocktails it sounded like something that might be fun. Once I said I would do it I couldn't back down and I am thankful I did it! Since Cody has left it has been so miserably hot that I have spent nearly everyday at the beach, and I have started surfing again! I have to get back to work to catch up on everything but I just thought I would give you a glimpse and what I have been doing here. I hope you all are happy, safe, and healthy and I miss you all. I will be home in about 3 weeks (ugh that pains me to say that)!

Cheers,

Kate