We learned yesterday from the concierge that this is not something they encourage tourists to do alone. The unfamiliarity with the trails and somewhat unknown levels of experience are apparently a cause for concern for South African locals. Whatever.... We followed their guidance and booked a tour guide the night prior. He picked us up at 7:30am on the nose, and off we went.
Boy was he a talker... I don't think any of us got a single word in (aside from introductions) the entire drive to the mountain. Very nice guy, but man....that's a lot to deal with so early in the day! Once parked, our fearless leader forced all sorts of snacks, bottled waters and bananas on us before we set off towards the base of the trail. Lucky for me, Brandon had already chosen to wear the backpack; however, he would later regret that decision when those 5-10 tiny extra pounds felt more like a ton of bricks once we were about half way up the mountain! He was a champ about it though, he's only complaining about it now and the weight tends to grow a bit with every telling of the story....
It became very clear early on that this hike was no fucking joke. Tons of giant boulders, no real clear path, lots of zigzagging our way through super steep inclines - this was supposed to be the "easy" trail?! I would hate to see the hard one! The four of us are in pretty good shape, all runners and we workout, but the level of difficulty combined with the whole elevation factor made this one tough workout for every single one of us. When we made it to the top in just under two hours, we felt pretty proud of ourselves as the average hike time is 2.5 hrs. Still, we were winded and this was definitely the most challenging hike any of us had ever done.
Once at the top, we hiked across the plateau from one end to the other and hopped in a giant cable car to get down from the mountain top. That was really wild! This thing holds more than 50 people and the bottom spins, giving everyone a panoramic view as we descend. At first it was super disorienting, but it was really breathtaking once you got a feel for it.
We found our way back to the car, and our guide dropped us off back at the hotel. We were so exhausted, so rested a bit before grabbing a really quick bite for lunch. Dinner was early at 6:30, so we didn't want to over do it. We walked off our lunch and then got ready to head out to our traditional African drumming session and family style dinner at 6:30.
This was another one of my "unique finds," and the interactive nature of the experience definitely had me worried a bit. While I'm not generally overly thrilled about interactive meals, this concept seemed way too culturally interesting to pass up - I only hoped the group shared my same sentiments!
The experience started out simple enough, a drumming session taken VERY seriously by our drumming master. Brandon opted to freestyle, often times disrupting the entire group of people and causing us to start over. Jason and I took things seriously, in fear of what might happen if we disobey, or God forbid we fall off beat... And Claire connected with her inner Ansel Adams - capturing the entire activity through imagery, and managing to go undetected in the process.
Everything was great - traditional African fare that we would have otherwise never tried on our own. It was everything we could have hoped for from a true African culinary experience. And then things got real... So real that Jason was summoned by the African Gods, rising from the table and engaging in an authentic African dance! I shouldn't poke fun though, I was shortly enlisted in a similar activity of my own later on in the evening...
All in all, a pretty amazing second official night in Cape Town. Tomorrow, we expect to be oh so sore, and have all committed to some spa services in preparation. A little pampering for us all!
No comments:
Post a Comment