Thumbs Up Adventures: First Few Days in South Africa - Flights, Driving, Cape Town, & Rocklands!

Goeigdag from Clanwilliam, South Africa!

Joe and I just finished a lovely home-cooked breakfast (the usual - grilled cheese sami for me; eggs, bacon, sausage and toast for Joe) in a little internet cafe in Clanwilliam. We have been doing some bouldering in the nearby beautiful landscape of Rocklands! There are boulders of all shapes, colors, and sizes for as long as the eye can see. Joe said he would like to stay here for the next 20 years and see how many boulders he can climb; I mentioned that he can stay here for a lifetime, and still probably not make a dent! We've been hearing from our camp buddies from all around the world, that there are some amazing sport routes around here as well! Today however, started off with a thunderstorm and high winds; we figured this was the perfect opportunity to head into town, update our blog, and get some supplies.

Our journey to South Africa started off in a typical Joe's "go! go! go!" fashion. Our flight into Atlanta was delayed in landing by 45 minutes, waiting for a thunderstorm to clear the airport. Running to make it to our international connection to Johannesburg, we came to our gate just in time to a) discover that we had been assigned the absolute last row of seats on the flight and b) that our outgoing flight had also been delayed by another 45 minutes. I called my mom before taking off, expressing great concern that we will likely miss our flight from Johannesburg to Capetown, since we would have less than an hour to make our domestic connection in South Africa. My mom said "don't worry! Everything will work out." As we landed in Johannesburg (time 5:59P), we pushed our way from the back of the airplane, sprinted down the jetway and concourses to the passport checkout line -- NO LINE (time 6:03P)!!! Got through in a minute, got to the baggage, waited for 10 minutes to get our bags, and sprinted to customs -- no customs people (time 6:15p). Once in the domestic terminal, we received some valuable help from a local porter who sprinted with us to Mango Airlines and helped us check in on time (6:22). Gosh, we are cutting it close! Stood in the domestic security line as people chatted away without realizing that our flight was leaving in 15 minutes, until another lady finally pointed this out. So I stood there patiently (while rolling my eyes out of frustration - time 6:30p). Another LONG sprint later, while running, we hear the "final boarding" call for Mango Airlines...I tell Joe, "Go ahead and tell them I'm right behind you!" All that sprinting through the airport had made me short of breath! Time 6:35 - In line for boarding!! As we finally made it onto our last leg of this journey, Joe and I reminisced about how unbelievable it was that we, the last people on our flight to Jo-burg, were the first and only people of the 12 passengers who were supposed to be on this flight, to make it on board, in time...phew!

We arrived in time to Capetown, took another 1.5 hours to get money and our rental car - a stick shift! Joe had a great time driving a stick shift on the left hand side of the road - initially, he kept mistaking the wiper blade switch for the turn signal switch, so every time we made a turn, the wipers would turn on :) The lack of a power steering left a couple of bruises on Joe's right elbow.

Our first night in Cape Town was pretty amazing, even though we were dead tired. We decided to get some food and drinks at midnight and soak in the wild, crazy, jubilant spirit of the World Cup! The next day, we had a quick lesson in where to find cheap supplies and groceries in a fancy mall, on our way Rocklands. Let's just say we ended up purchasing, returning things, and repurchasing goods to make sure we got the best deal!

Well signing off now, as there are people waiting in line to use the internet here. We will right more about some of the cultural aspects and nuances that we have started to notice on our trip so far. In the meantime, enjoy these first few photos!!

first night out on Long Street of Cape Town!