Beach All Day Everyday.

It is now Sunday and the weekend is almost over. Although I don’t consider my week to be very strenuous at all. Saturday we spend the entire day at the beach. I must have reapplied sun screen at least 20 times. I have never been this tan in my entire life. The ocean is freezing which I would have never expected. It took me 10 minutes just to get in all the way. The waves are huge and people are surfing up and down the entire beach. Most of the surfers wear wetsuits because of how cold the water is. Some of the guys I have met from other places like Ireland and France also surf, which I didn’t expect, but I guess the water is colder there so they are use to it. The wind is also another huge factor at the beach. It is probably responsible for some of the waves that come in, but it also helps keep it a lot more cool at the beach. There are also a ton of dogs on the beach, which is unusual to me because usually dogs are banned from public beaches in the states and here it doesn’t matter. I like how relaxed this place is and how there aren’t so many meaningless rules. Once we got back from the beach I took a shower and got ready for the evening. We went out to a nice restrauant situated right on the beach. We sat outside and watched the sun set and the moon rise. The place was called Cabanas and they had everything from seafood to steaks and burritos. It is weird because the food here resembles the states; there are different themed restrauant all over the city. I haven’t even had a chance to experience traditional South African food in the city yet, but the steak I got last night was delicious. The meal was very cheap as is all the food here. My entire meal consisted of a 300 gram t-bone steak, mashed potatoes, a salad, an alcoholic drink and a hookah which only costs about 20 US dollars. After dinner we walked to a bar down the street and met some South African boys who played on NMMU’s rugby team. They were pretty cool to talk to, but they kept speaking in Afrikaans, which we obviously couldn’t understand. Today we basically did the same thing. I woke up semi early and went out to the pool to read some. I am in the middle of Nelson Mandela’s “Long Walk To Freedom” which is a recommended book for one of my classes, but should probably be read by anyone who visits South Africa. Lunch was a quick peanut butter sandwich and then we were off to the beach again today. This was the last time I will have to make the long walk to the beach because out bikes are being delivered tomorrow and I am way to excited about it! Tonight I will be reading about 100 pages of the book so that I can stay on top of things for class. We are all trying to come up with a trip this weekend and I think we will end up going to the Seaview Lion Park which houses lions that are unable to be placed back into the wild. They also have a few baby cubs that were born a little after Christmas that I think they let visitors hold and feed. We don’t go on our trip to the elephant park for another few weeks and Cape Town isn’t until spring break. Some other places that are on my list of sights to see; Victoria Falls, one of the seven wonders on the natural world, which borders a few countries one of which I know for sure is Zimbabwe. Kruger Park which is at the northern tip of South Africa and is suppose to be the best way to view game in a safari like manner, although it is extremely expensive. I also want to visit Swaziland and Lesotho both of which are countries within South Africa. Drakenberg Mountains, Durban and Joberg are also on my list of places to visit. If only I could drive stick it would be so much easier! Cheers!