Cape of Good Hope and a stomach bug!
I haven't written since Saturday night, and I'll try to get caught up now. Because of the marathon, our schedule got switched around. On Sunday morning, after breakfast, we had our orientation meeting. There are only 18 of us on the tour, which is wonderful! And only 5 of us are going on to the end, in Botswana.
Instead of touring Cape Town on day 1, we went to the Cape. It was amazing!
We drove down Chapman Peak Drive, on the western coast of the peninsula. The scenery was breathtaking. And the wind was too! We reached the Cape of Good Hope. The wind literally pushed me over at one point. We took a cable car to the top, where the views were even more stunning.
The downside was that as the day went on, I started having stomach issues. I hadn't eaten anything strange, but I hadn't been particularly careful either. I felt nauseous but pushed on through the day, feeling worse every minute. We stopped for lunch in Simon's Town. I tried one bite of fish, discretely spit the bite into my napkin, and left the table. This was the stop for Boulders Beach, location of the penguin colony, and I wasn't going to miss that! I did walk down to the beach, where there were adorable African penguins everywhere. These were previously called jackass penguins, as they bray, but they were quiet today. It was still windy, and now, by the beach, we got sandblasted.
By this point, I was feeling really bad, so I sat out the final stop at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden. I had been excited about seeing the garden, but I was in no shape for it. As soon as everyone got off the bus, I threw up and immediately started to feel better. We came back to the hotel and I fell asleep. I felt sketchy when I woke up, but I hadn't eaten anything all day, so I ate a little of the yogurt that I had in the fridge. (No spoon though, so I used my finger to scoop yogurt.) I slept the rest of the night and felt up to doing the city tour today (Monday, day 2 of the tour).
Oh, I forgot to mention the animals. The Cape area is a protected park, and I saw my first elands and ostriches. Some people saw a different antelope, but I didn't see it. There were also baboons that like to hang out near the road. I also had a rock hyrax run across the trail in front of me. It reminded me of a groundhog.
Anyway, our first stop today was Table Mountain, where we took the cable car to the top. The cars hold about 60 people and the floor rotates, so everyone gets a view. The views from the top were spectacular. (I'm running out of superlatives.)
We were lucky that we could get to the top, as the cable cars shut down in high wind—they were not running yesterday, so it's good that our schedule got moved around. Besides the amazing views, I saw a couple of lizards and some birds, two of which were new to me, Verreaux's eagles and orange-breasted sunbirds.
After the mountain, we did a short bus tour of Cape Town, which I found less than exciting. I had asked if we were visiting the Bo Kaap neighborhood, and was told yes. Well, visit meant drive by. I was able to snap a couple of pictures from the bus, but I wanted to explore the area. If I hadn't still felt not normal, I could have gone back on my own, but I decided I'd be best served by resting today. (I slept all afternoon.)
So, no time for Bo Kaap, but we visited a diamond place. Blah. They told us about the history of diamond mining in S Africa, then tried to sell us diamonds. I drank a sparking water and discovered that at least 2 of the men on this trip are egotistical asses. On the bright side, I really like the two other solo women, which is great, since I'll be with them for the whole trip.
When we got back to the hotel, I walked to a nearby Starbucks for a croissant and some snacks. I knew I needed to eat, and the pastry seemed a good start. After I slept, I ordered room service and had a small part of an enormous bowl of pasta. So, I'm moving in the right direction.
Tomorrow is my birding tour, and I have to be okay for that! Then, on Wednesday, we have a 3 AM wake up call for a flight to Durban.
Goodness glad to hear that your on the mend ..praying for ya 🙏🏼❤️