i am sitting in heathrow on an 11 hour layover which is part of my 43 hour journey home. we were in the harbour in capetown the other day, and saw one of those signs with the distances to places, and apparently vancouver is the farthest away major city in the world, at 16912km. so, after flights from CPT to joburg and then to london, i am about halfway in and i am pretty bored but looking forward to getting home.

i last left you in the impossibly pronounced oudtshoorn, the ostrich capital of the world and possibly even the universe. if it aint ostrich, it aint oudtshoorn. their pens have ostrich feathers attached to them, they eat only ostrich eggs, and instead of a meat section on menus, they have ostrich. unfortunately, before i got to partake in ostrich gras, i got violently ill, potentially from eating some bad ostrich. however, despite interrupting all of those early morning bathroom seekers who had to step over me while i was sprawled uncomfortably on the floor next to the toilet after relieving myself of my ostrich, i decided to persevere and see waht the town had to offer. so we went and saw the cango caves, one of "seven wonders of southern africa". if you ever go there, it is a pretty amazing place, not that i enjoyed it because i was violently vomiting in a corner. the problem with defacing this national treasure was not really the act in itself, but more the obvious nature of it. i dont know if any of you have ever thrown up in a cave before, but the sounds really reverberate. paige said nobody heard me, but i can't see how they didnt, especially with all the head-tilt-aw-are-you-ok-dears i got from the 98% grandma populations that was simultaneously touring the caves. anyways, the sad part was that i was then unable to visit an ostrich farm, altho apparently i was too heavy to ride one anyways. paige got to tho, and she was complimented on her skills at staying on the ugly beast. i hope she wrote that compliment down to remember.

after otown, we headed to a place called mossel bay. we met a guy earlier on our trip named matt who told us "we had to stay in this abandoned train that was right on the beach." despite the fact that he finished the potatoes before i could get any at a dinner, right in front of me too that bastard, we took his advice. they made us pay up front and made it very clear there wre no refunds, which was smart of them because we paid before realizing we were staying in a train! picture a closet with 2 physics-defying beds fit in there, with a cockroach graveyard beneath for good measure. any doubt i had that i hated matt and he evidently hated me came when we went to see this post office tree he was raving about (yes, yet another tree that south africans were bragging about). the story was that an explorer tied a shoe to a tree in the alte 15th century to tell another explorer some message about some other explorer who died. so, it was just a big tree sitting there, and then we read the sign that extolled the virtues of the wondrous tree before trailing off with, this "may or may not be the right tree." you are on my list matt whoever you are. incidentally, things i've learned on this trip that really piss me off: people who over enunciate what they are saying to the point where it sounds like they think everyone is in kindergarden; when you get a small sandwich or cookie at a shop and are given 26 napkins; this 30 year old child who works at the toy store across from the computer i am currently on who has been playing with a remote control car for over 2 hours and keeps hitting me in the feet with it; african caeser salad, which is not normal caeser salad; the dutch (ok, i'm joking... well only a little).

so we finally made it to capetown, which was potentially the most amazing city i have ever been to. we stayed in a hostel that had a perfect view of table mountain, which is just the most amazing icon a city could have. we spent several days just walking around the city, mostly at the waterfront. took a boat ride out into the harbour for a view of the city. we then hiked up table mountain, which was as hard as advertised. at one point we strayed off the path, and i tried to do a little rock climbing to get us back to what i thought was the path. however, when i did this i happened upon some actual rockclimber at the base of a cliff who looked at me as if i was batshit loco, and advised me to turn around before i killed myself. we eventually got up, but it was really foggy. so, we took a cable car up again the other night to watch the sunset up there, just the most unbelievable view i've ever seen. the 12 apostle mountains on one side stretching out into the ocean, the lit up city on the other side. i cant recommend coming to capetown enough. we also did a cape peninsula tour, saw some penguins, rode some bikes, got sick again, etc... it was pretty rad. unfortunately getting sick again prevented me from going skydiving over capetown, which had been my dream the whole time, but oh well, my ma is happy.

so ya, i have now left africa and it is the most bizarre feeling to be heading home. south africa surprised me on so many levels. apparently it is the 3rd most biologically diverse country in the world, which isnt at all surprising. the scars of apartheid are still evident in so many ways, but i give credit to the vast majority of the people, who always talk about the past and have embraced the important history of their country. just in travelling through the country a bit, it was amazing to see how pronounced the income gap still is in so many ways tho. despite things such as the empowerment movement, which is basically encouraging entrepreneurial ventures by all races, it does appear that there are still so many problems. for example, every single hostel we stayed in was owner/managed by white english or afrikaners, while often the help was in the form of black people. the slums are in some ways more depressing than in other countries in africa, because the divergences in living conditions can change back and forth as you drive just a few kilometres, from squatter camps to mansions and back again. the slums in the cape flats are some of the most vast and squalid in the world. south africa is so beautiful, with such a volatile past and with its amazing resources it has so much potential; it was really just interesting to spend a few weeks there and soak it all in. with a few notable exceptions, the people were excellent and kind, and i would return in a heartbeat. however, if you are looking for an authentic african experience, i think uganda or tanzania would be more prudent, because south africa in many ways is just another european vacation.

overall, i guess i am just in shock that it is all ending. ive had some of the most incredible experiences and am sad it is coming to an end. however, i think one of the reasons travelling is so important is that it really makes one appreciate that they are lucky to come from where they come from. looking forward to getting home, muchlovedunc