Happy New Year from Cape Town!

Happy New Year, friends! HOW is it already 2015? And HOW many conversations have you had in the last 24 hours about how quickly the year went by?

When I left off yesterday, I was just heading out to kill some time before check-in at my hostel. I did find a nice shady spot to read a book and eat a little picnic lunch. I wandered down to Sea Point Promenade, a large pedestrian and bike pathway that goes along the coastline from Sea Point to Three Anchor Bay to Green Point. It looks out on the ocean and there is plenty of green park space with shade trees, outdoor gym equipment, public art, and playgrounds. The weather was stunningly beautiful: bright, sunny, breezy, and not a cloud in the sky . . . I was still in my air travel/London outfit, but once I found the shade, it was extremely pleasant. My one mistake was forgetting sunscreen before I left for the walk . . . I now have a delightful red neck and a very subtle tan line about halfway up my forearms, where I had rolled up my long sleeves. NICE. No matter! I enjoyed the walk and the weather and particularly the people watching.

Three Anchor Bay, nearby to where I killed time before checking into my hostel.

After I was able to check in, I got settled and headed immediately for the shower. I cleaned up and cooled off and felt prepped and ready . . . for a nap. I knew that without one I wouldn't have the stamina necessary to truly enjoy a New Year's Eve out in Cape Town, so I went for it. Granted, it lasted an hour longer than I'd planned, but I think I needed it. It was terrible pulling myself out of bed, but I got dressed and ready and met my friends Alex and Claire, the English gals I knew from Zim, for dinner.

Considering that it had been four years since we'd seen each other, it really was delightful to get to catch up and spend an evening together! They've been back to Africa nearly every year since then, including stays at Antelope Park, so they were able to give me updates and talk about what has and hasn't changed there. We ate at this otherwise completely empty Chinese restaurant and our waitress was perhaps the cutest person ever. She was obviously new to serving and seemed a little unsure and timid, but she was just so sweet and pleasant that all of it was absolutely endearing.

Antelope Park 2011 Reunion!

After the meal, we snagged ourselves a cab and headed into the madness that would be the Victoria & Albert Waterfront for the party/concert/fireworks display that was taking place down there. It was crowded, to say that least, and people continued to pour into the area all night. After listening to some of the live music, we stopped in at the ONE bar that was not reserved for a private party to kill some time before the fireworks. Finally, just after 11:30pm, we decided to head back into the fray. The crowd had at least doubled since we'd gone into the bar, so moving around was . . . difficult. Finally, we walked about as far down the wharf as we possibly could and found a spot. Others, however, were unwilling to view the fireworks from any kind of distance at all, and we were soon sandwiched on all sides by other NYE revelers, simply trying to stay on our feet, keep track of our belongings, and not tumble over the railing into the patio of the nice restaurant behind us where wealthier attendees dressed in sequined dresses sat comfortably at tables eating tiramisu.

NYE sardines!

Now, on nearly any other night in my life, this would have driven me absolutely crazy and I'd have left. However, whether it was the delirium of jet lag, the proximity of good friends, or the adventurous spirit that always accompanies travel, I found the entire experience utterly hilarious. At one stage, a guy's man purse was squished into my belly while he took a photo with his girlfriend, another guy's armpit was next to my face as he tried to video the fireworks, and a girl's ponytail repeatedly ended up in my mouth briefly as she turned her head. WHAT?! Just too funny.

At least the fireworks were awesome!

After the fireworks, the expected mass exodus left us in a bit of a pickle (along with thousands of others) as to how to get home. Cabs were charging whatever the hell they wanted and my friends and I were going in two different directions. Eventually, and after a lot of walking, we worked it out, although it did still include people soliciting my driver to jump in the same taxi and him laughing and saying "bye" as he sped away when people looked incredulously at him after hearing what he would charge. In fact, we even left two other guests to my hostel in the dust before I could tell him that was the same place I was going! Sheesh. Eventually, a young couple joined me in the cab, headed in another direction, but grateful to have a seat in a cab at all. I made it home in one piece and then it was time for bed!

I slept until about 10:30 this morning and lounged in bed for another half an hour, trying to muster the will to move. Finally, I made it up and prepared to head out for the day to one of my very favorite places on this entire planet: Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. I have been extremely fortunate to see a pretty good chunk of this earth and Kirstenbosch is easily one of the most beautiful places of them all. It reminds me of the phrase we learned about the Rococo style in my art history class in high school: "wild but nice." There are flower beds and manicured lawns and stone and dirt paths throughout the grounds, but there are also forests and ponds and the enormous, untouched majesty of Table Mountain as a backdrop. Everywhere you look there is beauty. Even the air is different there. Walking through the gates and into the gardens felt like I was replenishing my soul. Since I was last here, they'd also added a new canopy walkway made of wood and steel and designed after a snake skeleton that starts on the ground and rises up into the trees, looking out across the gardens toward the mountain. I walked it twice, it was so pleasant. Being a holiday, there were LOADS of people, particularly families, enjoying the day in the gardens. But that's another wonderful thing about them. Even with a huge crowd, it doesn't feel crowded. There are still little hidden nooks where you can find a place to be alone, or else you can pop a squat under a tree or on one of the lawns and watch people throw a frisbee or kids chase ducks and marvel at a tortoise. It was fantastic.

Hook 'em from Kirstenbosch's new Canopy Walkway!

One of my favorite views of the day: Table Mountain behind the walkway.

I came home around the back side of the mountain so that I could at least get a glimpse of Hout Bay and Imizamo Yethu, the township where I volunteered four and a half years ago. It all looks very much the same. It was, in fact, a little more emotional for me to see it all again than I was expecting. I found myself thinking about the little preschoolers I volunteered with who would now be well into elementary school. I thought about the amazing tour guide who had first introduced us to Imizamo Yethu and who has since passed away. I was reminded just how stark the aftermath of the apartheid years is there. I also found myself looking ahead to beginning my internship in a month or so, wondering about the new relationships and lessons that would come out of that.

After a long day, I decided that I wanted to join the throngs of people back down at the Promenade by going for a little run before sunset. There were hundreds and thousands of people in the parks and along the path, but luckily I chose the direction with fewer people the further I got. I headed toward Green Point Park, built around Cape Town's World Cup Stadium from the 2010 tournament. I had seen a soccer game there, but the park was not yet completed the last time I was here. It's nicknamed "the people's park" and is absolutely lovely. It's just across the road from the Promenade and is full of even more green spaces, playgrounds, walking paths, and ponds. It was nice to get moving and join in with all of the other folks exercising down there.

It's been a pretty low-key evening and now, I think, it is time for bed. I'll be heading up to Table Mountain tomorrow morning with Claire and Alex and we're leaving bright and early!

Again, happy new year to you all!