Cape Peninsula w/photos

Well, we just got back from the Labia. ?!?! What?! The labia?! Yep, that's the name of the mall around the corner from here where the movie theater is! We just had a delicious Indian dinner there after a very long day. I am so tired right now, that as far as coherency goes, this entry may be less so than the drunken blog. On the upside, I am the proud new owner of a nonfunctioning rental car remote, something I never thought I'd be when the day started out.

We woke up, refreshed after our side trip and a good night's sleep, ready to hit the Cape Peninsula in all it's glory. The first place we stopped was Simon's Town to visit "The Boulders," where there is a colony of penguins. You can scramble right up next to them. D had a field day taking their portraits and they really hammed it up for the camera. It's amazing how social they are. Farther down on the beach was an area where people were swimming and laying out, with penguins waddling around right next to them! The penguins were cute and all, but what I thought was even cooler were all the little tidal pools that had formed all over the boulders. They were little worlds unto themselves, inhabited by anemones, starfish (hard to the touch), little fish and snails. We also saw a giant jellyfish (think a little bigger than the size of a deflated basketball) on the beach; it was squishy to the touch.

After Simon's Town, we kept up our journey down the peninsula and wound up in Cape Peninsula National Park, where we climbed all the way to the tippy top of Cape Point at the very tip of the peninsula (check it out: http://www.capepoint.co.za/). It was really a hike and there were people from all over the world along the way. At the top, outside the lighthouse, there was a post with signs pointing in all directions of the world with different distances, so we took some pictures of D under the sign pointing to New York. : )

Then, we headed over to the tidal pools, which, for those of you who aren't familiar with them (I wasn't before I got here) are (roughly) Olympic pool-size areas of ocean cordoned off with cement walls to protect you from the rocks and creatures of the sea, but still allow you to swim. We were sooooooo excited to swim after our long, sweaty climb. But, oddly, the pool was totally empty of people when we got there. So, I ran down and put my toe in to find out if maybe it was just cold (the wind was whipping up a storm) and boy was it! We decided to just hang out in the car and take in the view for a while. As we sat, watching, a rotund, reddish-pink man wearing a Speedo and carrying a thermometer trotted down to the water from a picnic across the way. He spent the better part of 15 minutes taking the water temperature, putting his toe in, taking it out, walking away, coming back, and finally getting in the water, in what we decided was a big fuck you to me, after he'd seen my wussy one-toe-in performance. He was going to show me how it's done. D named him "The Big Baby" because he kind of toddled around like one and his Speedo really did bear a striking resemblence to a diaper. Sad as we were that we didn't get to swim in the tidal pool, watching The Big Baby's antics made the stop worth it.

We left the park then and headed back up the peninsula, parking on a cliff along the way to watch some guys paragliding and parasailing in the wild ocean - amazing! We decided to wrap up the day in Sea Point at the top of the Cape Peninsula. At one point, South Africa was vying to be an Olympic host city and in their bid to win the honor, built their Olympic swimming and diving facility in Sea Point right on the beach. I mean steps from the ocean. Unfortunately for SA, they didn't get the Olympics, BUT, they did get to keep the pools, which they opened to the public and that's where we wound up this afternoon. I jumped off the high diving board and even though I had no skillz like the other jumpers, it was still a rush. We lazed about in the kiddy pool and swam a lap in the gigantor lap pool. It was the perfect end to a great day. OR SO WE THOUGHT!! We got back into the car, talking about what we were going to eat, how tired we were, how good a shower would feel, etc. Key in the ignition, ready to hear the motor turn. Nothing. Again, Nothing. We finally figured out that I'd put the keys in the pocket of D's swim trunks and the alarm remote had gotten wet and now the car was permanently armed, therefore preventing us from starting it. So, we had to use the pay phone to get in touch with the rental company, only, the pay phone kept spontaneously hanging up on us in the middle of conversations as we stood in our soggy pool gear on the side of the main drag while the sun went down. Finally, Codwell, the very nice man from the rental car place showed up (bedecked in a lovely suit!) to rescue us and we were once again on our way, thankful our breakdown came in this situation instead of out in the middle of the desolate rocky plains we'd traversed the day before.

Now, we're home, fed and ready to shower off and hit the sack so we can wake up early tomorrow to visit Robben Island (where Nelson Mandela and thousands of others were imprisoned) and several of the Cape townships.

Today's vocab:

bathing suit = costume

We love you guys!!!

: )