L'Aghulas

5/17/09
The rain continued through most of the night so we were thankful we planned to eat dinner in town. By morning, the sun was making its way through the clouds and the trip to Aghulas was seeming a possibility. We packed up quickly (but thoughtfully considering our lack of space) and headed south..waaaay south.

The drive to Aghulas took about 2 hours. The scenery was mainly farm. We saw sheep, cows, and ostrich in abundance. Before long we came to a small beach town. We stopped at a harbor to touch the Indian Ocean, which for Jamie and I was a first! We continued on to Aghulas lighthouse. This was also the place where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean and is the most southern point of the African Contininent. I envisioned the weight of the massive continent above me. Me; this small tiny spec of thing standing with all of Africa behind me, and out beyond the massive rocks and towering waves…is Antarctica. It’s a pretty wild thought.

I also saw my first shipwreck at Aghulas. It was a rusty old Japanese ship. Murray knows a lot about shipwrecks, and I wished I retained more of what he taught us, but I remember thinking it was really cool. Just take my word for it.
Before leaving Aghulas we explored the lighthouse and the museum. We climbed four ladders and faced ghusting wind to stand outside at the very top of the high structure. But the view was worth our efforts. Making our way back to Cape Town, we drove through towns and the longest dirt road I’ve ever seen. We remained on this one for about 30ks, and that was only a small portion. It felt like we were in an old western movie or something, driving along an endless, mainly straight, dirt road. Debbie did fabulously at the wheel and her little car proved to be quite a trooper.

"where the two oceans meet"

We stopped off in a town called Hermanus. This is a popular tourist spot for whale watching. Apparently the whales come so close to shore that you can see them without even leaving the parking lot. The lot looks down a cliff into massive swells of ocean. Unfortunately, the time to do this is August so we didn’t see any whales ourselves, but the ocean views and shops were worth the stop. I know I go on about views of the ocean and mountains and it probably sounds redundant. But, while I already know the ocean is a view I would never tire of, Cape Town is a beauty all its own. Every mountain and ocean and landscape has something new to offer. I continue to be in awe of this gorgeous country.

That night Jamie, Caroline and I planned to have dinner together. We needed to celebrate all of our accomplishments at RCCH and Caroline’s new job! The plan was to eat at Addis, an Ethiopian restaurant, but because it was Sunday, Addis was closed. We switched gears and ate at Davinci’s instead. What a cool place! The décor is an art theme. The food menus are shaped like a painter’s palettes and the drink menus look like the sample paint strips you find in a paint store. The tables are covered with white paper and every table has a bucket of crayons at it. We decided to design our own pizzas. The craziest combo was banana, pineapple and pear. They all tasted great and we had a fun time creating them. We have all enjoyed working together and agree we make up a pretty stellar team. The combination of our talents, personalities, and experiences is a recipe for quite possibly the best child life team EVER.