Cape Town

It's a little strange to be celebrating Christmas in the southern hemisphere.  It just feels different for someone from Minnesota.  Still, the signs are even more omnipresent than back home this time of year.

Cape Town is gorgeous.  It reminds me a lot of San Francisco with a better view and taller mountains.  Lots of great food, wine, beer, shopping and fast internet.  We've even gone to 3 movies already.  However, all of Southern Africa that can travel feels like they have come here at the same time.

Outside the V+A Waterfront are statues of the 4 South Africans who have won the Nobel Prize.  Here I am with Desmond Tutu.

Lots of lazy afternoons in the harbor on this trip.

Table Mountain is the first stop for many as it was for us.

The other tourist stop is Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. He was moved off the island, but this was his crucible. It was a tour that was a little lacking; I wanted more about the prison experience at Robben Island, and it missed on this educational front.  It more of a bus tour on an island than anything else.  Still it was worth it to have been at this famous place.

Similar to Alcatraz, you can see the city from the prison.  This might be the best view of Cape Town anywhere.

We were led on a tour by a former prisoner at Robben Island.

Here is Nelson Mandela's cell. It is left as it was when he used it.

After liberation, the former political prisoners returned and all of them brought a rock to make this lager pile.  This is where they prisoners worked all the days breaking rocks as their labor.

Mandela hid the manuscript for "Long Walk to Freedom" in this garden.

Shark Diving on Christmas Eve

When I first learned I was headed to Southern Africa, tops on the list was going to Cape Town and follow that up with a shark diving trip. So on Xmas Eve Day, we booked the trip. Think of it as a gift a day early.  It was amazing to see such a beautiful creature up close from behind a phone booth like cage. One even got so close it crashed into the cage. It was stunning.  However, I wouldn't do it again despite the rush and my amazement with it. Part of it is the winds picked up and I became sick half way through the long trip at sea. So did 75% of the boat.  Just about the only ones who didn't were the kids and crew. However the main reason is I just don't think it is sustainable for great white sharks to be drawn in just for my viewing with chum in the water and a baited line. There has to be a better way to appreciate the majesty of this animal.

The Apex Predator.  Our boat.

Cut out of the cage.

Mmmm.  Sitting right next to the chum bin.

Prepare to meet the shark.

The floaty seal named "Gladys" is irresistible if you're a shark.

Favorite Signs

I don't think Malawi will get many medals at the next Olympics

People do so anyways.

The image of the bed wasn't enough.

All the tourist needs in one place.

An art project at Bishop Mackenzie.  

These were my haircut options

Is that guy at the bottom right a zombie?

Best non sequitur of all time.

A minibus.

This was part of a costume.  I bought the sword weapon at Golden Peacock, a Chinese superstore.  Meredith made the shield which is a blackbird, the Czech translation of Kos.  This is an unstoppable combination.

Thanksgiving

Not being restricted to one day, we celebrated Thanksgiving twice this year: on Thursday and then hosted a party on Saturday.  The celebrations both did justice to all aspects of the holiday.

It still is hot.  Hot oven all day, plus 90+ degrees, and no AC.  It wasn't Africans who thought of this holiday in November.

As per Kos tradition, I made my pie (twice).

Katy, Agata and Heather

Watching Calvin.

The entire dinner table. All outside of course.

Katy and James were in charge of games and trivia for the night.  There were two teams and one of the contests was to make a turkey from materials in a bag.  It was a riot.

Here was the turkey that we made.  It was the winner as determined on Facebook.

The losing turkey.

The end of the night feels like this.