The First Trip - Elandspad and Weekend 2

On Friday the day had finally come that we would visit the Elandspad. It was the first in a series of excursions that Herschel was organizing, together with the boys' school Bishops. We had to be present at Bishops at 7:15 and from there we went to the Elandspad by bus. We started a hike of about an hour until we reached a pool where we could cool down and refresh. We jumped off a 5 metres high cliff into the water, it was amazing. Our hike continued for about half an hour when we arrived at our tea break spot. We had a snack and a drink and then moved on to the next pool. We left our bags at the spot, because we were going to do some swimming. We jumped off an 8 metres high cliff to get into this pool and swam through a hole in a rock underwater. This experience was very impressive. The view during this trip was amazing, every minute of the day. We were in the middle of nowhere, climbing on rocks and swimming in little pools. After lunch we took another hike to a huge waterfall. It was a beautiful sight, and we swam under the waterfall, into a cave. It was the most exciting thing I'd ever done in my whole life, and after swimming back under the waterfall, I turned on my back and looked up to the waterfall. It was truly amazing, something you'd see in movies. The hike back was very tiring and in the full sun, so as soon as we went into the bus, I slept for an hour. On Friday night, I had a sleepover at Elise's house with one of the Chilean girls and the next morning we went to the beach with Lauren and a friend of hers. After the beach, Loren's father took Loren, her brother and me to eat a Gatsby. Gatsby is typical South-African food. It is a roll with literally EVERYTHING on it. French fries, meat, lettuce, tomato, onions and more. It was heavy on the stomach and I'm not sure if I really liked it.  The place where we got the Gatsby was in the area of Cape Town where, during Apartheid, the black and colored people were forced to live. Those people (their families) still live in this area. I didn't really feel comfortable there, because there was a fight on the street and I got scary looks. 

On Saturday night, me and two of Loren's friends went to the Mardi Gras, which is a huge carnaval in Cape Town. There were performances of Idols participants and of course there were some rides. One of the rides was a pool with big bubbles in it, for people to go in and walk over the water. It was a lot of fun. The Mardi Gras was quite a culture shock though, for I was one of the very few white people in the carnaval. 
Sunday morning was very relaxed for me, I slept late because I didn't have to come along to church. When the family got home from church I made sushi to take with to the concert we would be going to that afternoon. It was a concert at Kirstenbosch, which is one of the most beautiful botanical gardens of the world. There was an open amfitheatre and there were two typical South-African artists performing. The first artist was called Claire Philips and she's a singer and guitar player. The second artist was the well-known Jimmy DluDlu. He's a guitar player. During the concert, we ate from our picnik and watched the sun go down behind the mountains. It was a beautiful sight and a lovely day.