South Africa day 5

                Well, this morning I met up with a group of about 7 people to go to Robben Island and table Mountain. The day was a warm breezy day with the sun beating down on my face providing me with just a hint of color. Although it was only 8:30am the sun was in full swing. It’s rays beat down like it was noon on a June day in Ohio. The small group of us went to Robben Island. It was about a half hour boat ride out to the island, where we then took a 45 minute bus ride around the island.

                On this tour we got to see the mosque where one of the political prisoners was buried, Nelson Mandela’s home where he was placed in during his house arrests, the dog kennels, and the village where many of the people who work at Robben Island live. I think the most interesting thing I learned about Robben Island was that former political prisoners who work on the island live next door to former guards. They say that everyone has forgiven one another and live here as friends who completely trust one another.  I just thought that was totally unbelievable. It was something so powerful to hear, that two groups of people could forgive and live at piece with one another. Our tour guide was a former political prisoner. This made our tour very interesting because he told us firsthand accounts of what life was like here on Robben Island when it was a working prison and what life is like on the island now.

                After our tour we took the ferry back to the main land and got some lunch. We came to the ship to eat and regroup. We all filled our water bottles, changed camera batteries, and prepared for an awesome climb…up Table Mountain.

                  After lunch we negotiated our taxi ride and took the 15 minute ride to the start of Table Mountain. There was a giant cloud hovering over Table Mountain. We all knew that there was a possibility we could not have the best view, but the cloud would make it not nearly as hot to climb. The route we chose was the easy/intermediate one that was supposed to take us about 2 and ½ hours to complete. After the ceremonious first picture at the bottom we started up the mountain. The mountain is a little over 2 miles tall, but the trail was a zigzagged trail across the mountain. We think we climbed a little over 4 miles in total. The trail was intense. It was full of twist and turns, steep hills, uneven rocks, loose stones, and overgrown bushes. The group paced themselves well. We took quite a few breaks to make sure that we all felt okay the whole climb.

                The first hour or so was incredible. The view was so strange. Part way up I turned around and looked down at the city below me. This city was full of the hustle and bustle of a major city; yet I could not hear, see, or feel any of it. It looked almost like a ghost town to me. I thought to myself, how strange. I know that there are so many things happening down there, but I cannot remember any of them. There was a moment in this silence-a moment in the fresh pine and cool breeze where I could think clearly. I could think about anything and everything. There was no judgment, no rush, just me and my thoughts. After a few moments I can vaguely hear my name being called; I snapped back to reality and once again started climbing up this mountain.

                Not too long after this peaceful moment we all realized we were being rained on. It was really more of a mist. It was a very refreshing mist, but all of a sudden I said I didn’t think it was rain. We were actually touching a cloud! How cool is that? When we all turned around to look at the city through the cloud we could not see anything! Even though we were just barely in the cloud we could not see anything at all. When we turned around to see the top of the mountain we could not see that either. It was a very strange feeling not knowing where we were except somewhere in the middle of Table Mountain.

                The next few hours were a strange time warp feeling. We had no idea how close to the top or bottom we were, all we knew is that we just had to keep climbing up and eventually we would reach the top. The higher we climbed the deeper into the cloud we went. Honestly, all we could see were a few feet in front and behind us, and a few feet to either side. It was nice to have a group to hike with so we could all keep track of one another. The deeper into the cloud the harder it actually rained also. Needless to say I was soaked. I mean soaked to the bone. Everything from my T-shirt to my backpack to my socks were drenched. All the extra water weight was interesting to carry too. Our bags were dripping water as we climbed up. The water also made the rocks a little slick. The trail started to get muddy, which made us slow our pace just a little until we became acclimated to the new weather conditions. Slowly we picked our pace back up.             

                As we were nearing our 2 hour mark we finally made it to the gorge! Oh was it beautiful! South Africa is currently in their dry season, but this part of the mountain is full of long lush green grasses and bushes. I think we spent 5 minutes here just taking pictures because it was so different than the rest of the hike. Once we walked through the Gorge we made a sharp right turn and had just one more hill to climb to reach the top. Once we climbed the hill we knew we had reached the top! It was gorgeous. The rocks were more of a gray than the marble color on the rest of the mountain, there were many plants, and signs pointing us in the direction of the cable car and gift shop. Everyone was so excited that they all started to pick up the pace to walk to the edge of the mountain. They wanted to see if they could see anything below. However, my friend Matt and I hung back a little. We took our time walking through this magnificent mountain top. He and I both agreed we had never seen anything like this. The colors of the flowers look like paint they were so vibrant, the air was so clean, and the soft sound of the rustling bushes made this place so peaceful.

                When Matt and I finally caught up to everyone we realized we could not see anything. Although the view would have been beautiful we were just so happy we climbed the mountain. When we reached the gift shop the employees just laughed at us because we were so wet. They all said we were going to get sick because the rain was so cold (I didn’t get sick though). We did get to see a little bit of the city from the top which was beautiful. I could not believe how majestic this view was.

                We took the cable car down in awe of the feat we had just accomplished. We went back to the ship got dinner and crashed. We were all so exhausted. This day was definitely the hardest thing I have ever done, but the coolest thing I have ever done as well. I think I slept for 12 hours that night. It was an incredible experience. I cannot wait to come back and conquer this mountain again.