We flew across a continent in 11 hours and 40 minutes. Class XII has arrived in Cape Town South Africa to begin our international study seminar.
We landed and were met by our travel guide Marius Botha, who will be the brains of our operation for the next 10 days. Next on the list was money exchange. If you have never exchanged money, it feels a little bit like getting your nails done. They are speaking to each other (while waiting on you) in another language and it very well could be about you. It was, however, the first time I felt filthy rich. I exchanged $240 and got back 2700 Rand. I also heard from a classmate who used the ATM, "seeing your account balance in rand is pretty exciting!"
We were met by our bus and kicked off our journey with a trip up to Table Mountain. This area of the cape is very prone to fire, and recently have experienced massive fires. This is very similar to California. In fact, fire is also a way to make certain the area survives.
Table Mountain is the premiere tourist spot in South Africa with approximately 2 million visitors a year. It is also said that Table Mountain is visible from 200 KM out. (You'll have to do the math there).
The view was quite impressive, and was the first real view of an ocean I've ever had! It was perfect weather to sit and enjoy the view.
In addition to a trip up the mountain we took a brief city tour of Cape Town, which has become a second Hollywood because labor is cheap and the scenery is second-to-none.
We were able to get checked into our hotel by 3 pm and we could get settled in, and most importantly - showered and cleaned up. Some of us grabbed a cold beverage from the bar, and we sat around reflecting on a wild couple of days. Our night capped off with dinner at the hotel as a big group.
Tomorrow we visit the wine country, and a farm.
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