After many hours of riding in a bus and several nights of staying at beautiful hotels by the beach, we have arrived in Cape Town. Yesterday we spent the day at Carmel and visited an Ostrich Farm and the Congo Caves.
The Ostrich farm was interesting because everyone thought they were the most disgusting-looking creatures, but I thought they were beautiful. We had a chance to feed them, but we had to be careful because they could bite our fingers off if we made any sudden movements or if we held our hand out in the wrong position. Some girls screamed as they fed them and some guys dropped more than half of the corn kernels. I hesitated at first, but then I gathered the courage to hold out my hand and I ended up enjoying it. My friend Jessica screamed too much to be able to feed them, so I finished feeding them her bag of kernels. I did get pecked once by an ostrich and I had a red spot on my hand from where it pinched my skin, but it was still fun.
In the tour through the farm we saw the incubators, the ostrich eggs, the beautiful feathers, and the actual ostriches. We got the chance to stand on ostrich eggs. It sounds cruel, but ostrich eggs can actually hold up to 170lbs on top of them without breaking. I stood on four eggs and it was like standing on rocks. We did have to be careful because there was an ostrich nearby and the guide told us that if it chased us, the best thing we could do was to act dead.
After holding the eggs we went to a place where 7 people got to ride an ostrich. Only 7 could ride so we put our names in a cup and had a lottery. My name wasn’t picked, but I did get a chance to sit on an ostrich. It was the weirdest feeling in the world because the wings were on top of me and I sat towards the back of the hump. I also stroked the ostrich’s neck. The people who rode it struggled a bit because there was no saddle and they had to hold on to the wings.
One thing is certain: ostriches are scary. They attack when you least expect it and they have one strong toe that could kill you if it penetrated through your skin. We had to hide all shiny objects and be careful with our cameras because they pecked at anything shiny. The good thing is that, as long as you follow all the rules and don’t do anything stupid, the ostriches will be nice. I still can’t figure out how they balance so well on such skinny legs and I’ve decided to never eat an ostrich burger again (I’ve had 3 this semester).
The Congo Caves were incredible! When I first heard cave I thought about a small hole in a mountain, but these caves should be called the city underneath a mountain. It really is a full-on cave. In some parts we came into rooms that were 30 feet high and 20 feet wide and in other parts we had to slide on our stomach to get to the other side. We were inside the mountain for a total of 2 hours and we traveled about 2 miles into the mountain. Some of those caves are thousands of years old and they made me feel like an explorer or like the lady in the movie The Mummy when she is searching for ancient artifacts.
Cape Town looks wonderful so far. We arrived this afternoon, dropped off our bags in our hotel room, and headed out to explore. It’s so windy I had to wear a sweater and I was so happy to see people and cars everywhere. I hadn’t realized how much I miss being in an actual city. It almost didn’t feel like Africa until I looked up at Table Mountain. Table Mountain sticks out higher than any building and it’s a beautiful sight. We met a guy who told us some spots we have to make sure to visit before leaving Cape Town and we walked by a Chocolate House. Any girl walking past a building called a Chocolate House has to walk in because the temptation is too great.
Eunice is a kind elderly lady that works in the Chocolate House. She opened all the drawers around the room that contained hundreds of chocolates. There were probably about 70 different kinds of chocolates and they all looked delicious. We picked out a couple and tasted them all. It was delicious, except for the chili one, I didn’t like that one so much.
We had dinner at a cool Indian place and walked through more of the city. I’ve anxiously awaited Cape Town for so long and I’m finally here. I hope all goes well these last couple of weeks and the illness is just a nightmare we remember every once in a while and then brush it off and change the subject. It’s good to feel healthy again, especially in a city with so many ethnic foods to choose from.
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