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For our last day in Cape Town, we went to Robin Island, which was probably the highlight of my whole trip. I had just finished reading Nelson Mandela’s biography right before I left for study abroad, so I was very anxious to see the jail in person. It was $20 total for the whole trip. We took a boat to the island and then we all got on a bus. The tour guide first took us to an old graveyard. In the 1840's and onward, lepers were isolated on the island. Family members would drop them off there, and they were housed in tiny cells. Mentally ill and blind people were also kept there. We then went to the prison area of the island. Our tour was led by an ex political prisoner during the time Nelson Mandela was there. He took us to his old jail cell, and then to Nelson Mandela's cell. It was a lot smaller than what I imagined it to be in the book. We also saw the old lime quarry where he worked all day crushing lime (for no reason at all - the lime served no purpose, it was just to demoralize the prisoners). It was so awesome to see that all after reading the book. 
We also went out to eat at a restaurant called "Mama Africa" and Stephanie and I got our faces painted. We caught up on a little sleep, jumped on a plane, and made it back to Pietermaritzburg by 11am the next morning. The break was really wonderful overall, but it's nice to be back in my cozy bed again!
Cape Town is famous for its vineyards. In Stellenbosch, about an hour away from Long Street where we were staying is where the majority of South Africa’s wine is produced. We stopped at a few different wineries to sample cheese, wines, and to see how it was produced. I definitely learned more about wine than I ever cared to in my life – but it was a very fun day overall.
The next day, we went to the Southern most point in Africa. It’s called “The Cape of Good Hope” and is the meeting point of the Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. It was so cool to be able to actually see the junction of the two contrasting water masses.
After our hike to the tip of the cape, there were two baboons in the parking lot. They come up to about your waist, and are very dangerous, so we 
waited in the car until they ran down into the brush. We thought the coast was clear, so we opened up the car doors, and we hadn't even closed them when one of the baboons came running towards us. It immediately jumped into our car and started rooting around through our stuff. We had a cosmopolitan magazine in there, and it ripped all the pages out, then found my bag of cookies and ate them! It ended up running away with a bag of chips. So nothing too great was lost – and it was actually a pretty funny situation looking back.
After the baboon encounter, we went to “Boulder Bay”. It’s a beautiful little lagoon, and the water is about 20 different shades of turquoise and blue colors. The granite boulders are 540 million years old, and everywhere you looked were penguins sunbathing on top of them. It was so weird having the temperature be 90 degrees out, and then to see 
penguins swimming around! They were pretty use to people, and had no problem waltzing right up to you to steal your spot in the sun. I wanted to keep one as a pet – but I figured it would be tough taking one back home on the plane.
Our first day in Cape Town, we ventured to the V & A Waterfront. It’s sorta like a mix between the Florida Keys and Mackinaw Island. There are lots of little shopping areas, places to eat, and tons of sailboats. The views here are absolutely breathtaking. Off in the distance are monstrous green mountains and cliffs, and then all around you are water and lovely buildings.
The only thing I didn’t like about Cape Town is seeing the wealth in contrast with the poverty in this area. You’ll see million dollar beachfront properties, and then 5 minutes down the road will be people living in cardboard boxes. When we went out at night, there were so many kids, as young as 5 years old, out on the street begging for money. It’s a tough situation, because you never know if it’s their parents that set them up for begging, or if they need it for themselves. We found the best thing to do was to give the kids food instead of money. It’s very heartbreaking to see such a drastic disparity of wealth – and I feel like a hypocrite for even talking about it, since I’m able to go on a vacation like this when these kids are suffering just to get money for a loaf of bread.
The next day, we decided to climb up Table Mountain. Most people take a cable car up – but I thought of my adventurous sister, and decided to follow in her steps to take the more scenic and less lazy route to the top. So, four other girls and I did the climb up Platteklip Gorge to the top of the mountain. It would have been a great hike, only we ran out of water part way up, and the heat was excruciating. We ended up taking lots of breaks in the shade, and made it up to the top in pretty good time. I attached some pictures, since they do a better job of explaining the beautiful view than I ever could.
For Easter Holiday, we MSU students decided to embark on a journey to Cape Town. We rented a car and left Friday evening for a 22 hour journey along the “Garden Route” which stretches along the eastern sea border of South Africa. The drive was gorgeous, but it was mostly spent driving through the dark. I was not quite comfortable with facing insane South African driving, or driving on the left side of the road – so my job was to keep the driver awake throughout the night. Luckily, we faced no problems and arrived at our “Titsikama Backpackers” destination safely the next day.
Titsikama is about 6 hours north of Cape Town. The backpackers we stayed at offers Treetop Canopy Tours, which we all did the next day. We left at about 3pm for safety training and to get harnessed up. The location of the tours is in one of South Africa’s few remaining indigenous rainforests, and the views were absolutely beautiful. We zip lined from tree to tree, 
attached by pulleys and carabineers. 
Our next stop was in Plettenberg Bay, the home of the worlds highest bungee jump. It is 216 m high off a huge bridge underneath a highway. I was not having it. At first it sounded like a good idea, but after talking to a couple people about how they felt like they almost slipped out of their harnesses and one girl’s foot strap came off, I decided against the idea. Luckily, Stephanie decided not to go either, and the two of us went to curios and took pictures of the other jumpers, which was a lot of fun – and we also saved some money.
The same day, we finished the remaining 6 hours of our drive to Cape Town. Along the way, we stopped at three beaches to relax on the rocks. At one stop, we were able to see dolphins, and they put on a little show for us, doing flips above the water. The backpackers we stayed at in Cape Town, “Deco” was by far my favorite of all the hostels. Every room was painted in a bright, vibrant color – and we had a hammock, a pool, and lots of dogs and cats to play with.
