South Africa arrival

An amazing 2 weeks spent in South Africa with great friends. As is normal for me, I do not do very much planning or research before visiting a new place…and South Africa was definitely a new place…I do so little planning that up until I arrived I had no idea what the plans were other than we were flying into Cape Town and at some point driving to Bloemfontein. That was enough for me until I realized that I had so many people to meet up with around South Africa (ok so they aren’t all that spread out surprisingly) but that some kind of plan or at least a way to get in touch would be smart…but by then it was too late and so we had to play it by ear (which we probably would have done anyway) and it worked (though maybe with more planning we could have gotten together more)…
I was 2 weeks late on my visa for Haiti…lucky me they don’t seem to care much (which is what I’d been assured before but still a bit nerve wracking when actually leaving the country late)…stamped and on my way no problem—security checked twice before leaving Haiti and again upon entering the US…Rhona (British doctor I lived with the first year in Malawi) and I were on the flight from London to Cape Town together…sadly we didn’t meet up until just before time to get on the plane (I’d been there all day but the London airport is huge and I didn’t hear the call for me over the speaker). In Cape Town we were picked up by Isabelle (optometrist from Luxembourg) and Will (ophthalmologist from England/SA) and driven to the apartment we had for a couple of days for showers before heading out to visit Bertus (SA who was in Nkhoma the first year). Bertus had a lekker braii (delicious grill out) for us with his girlfriend Anya. It was fun to catch up and see that he hadn’t changed all that much. The next day we were given a grand tour by Ken and Colleen Cross (SA couple who had come to Nkhoma to help out at Ebenezer my second year). From views of the Cape Town peninsula (somewhat shrouded in clouds) to the seaside towns for fish and chips and seal petting to the penguins at Boulder Beach. Then dinner with Natasha (SA doctor in Nkhoma my second year). Tuesday was spent climbing Table Mountain. Isabelle took the cable car up and met us at the top…2 hour hike up up up…beautiful views over Cape Town. A good breeze on top made it easy to forget that you were in some pretty strong sun as evidenced by the burns that the Europeans got (my being in Haiti I think helped as well as sunscreen though they did claim to put some on). We all took the cable car down and I think that helped in not feeling the muscle ache as much as we would have otherwise. We then met up with Will’s childhood friend Brian who is living in Namibia running a guesthouse and shop and had come down for a break. We went for sundown drinks at Camps Bay where Isa, Rhona and I went for a swim despite the warnings of sharks (from people not there). We went to dinner at the Waterfront which has a great feel to it (though I think they overcook their shrimp).