I climb. I dive. I survive

Almost anything encountered while traveling has some sense of extraordinary, a feeling that you may not see, feel or try such a thing again, that every thing is a once-in-a-lifetime, that every little thing needs to be taken in because life will just flee by.

Really, it should be a way we should all be experiencing our day to day lives, but being in a foreign location naturally brings this feeling. Nonetheless, every once in awhile the truly extraordinary will come smacking you in the face. That you're living something radically different, that you're breath is taking away by it all, and you're exceedingly lucky for it. So have been my last two adventures here in Cape Town, while I have taken the time to visit some great historical sights, and reflect on the remnants of apartheid that surround me, I want to save my race-related, more serious post until after visiting Robben Island later this week. For now, I am going to grace you with two wonderful and rather crazy experiences.

1. Climbing Lion's Head

While Table Mountain is the well known landmark and heart of Cape Town, and one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World, there are many other beautiful mountains. Sitting right next to the Table Mountain is Lion's Head a 2200 ft (670 m) mountain (that would be around 180 floors high if it were building). It gets is name because it stands next to Signal Hill, a longer mountain that has a shape of a lion, so the mountain at the end, is the lion's head.

Lion's Head is a popular spot to hike on the full moon to see the sun set and moon rise from the top, and every month a big Capetonian party happens at top. It's actually popular for paragliding off of, haven't gotten myself that adventurous yet.We couldn't make it to the actual full moon, but we decided to climb a couple of days later since the moon was still big. I'm not a big outdoorsy person, and I've hiked only a couple of mountains, the hike up to the Great Wall in China and the hike up Corcovado where Christ Redeemer stands in Rio, which are both pretty comfortable easy hikes. I imagined Lion's Head to be a bit of a workout (which it was), but after the hiking portion, there's was some serious climbing occurring, that I was not expecting.

Steep rocks, short ledges, chains to pull yourself up the side of the mountain, I went from being out-of-breath tired of walking uphill, to seeing my imminent death quite quickly as I hoped across rocks and chains without a fence or bar to keep me from a crazy drop. But  like any workout, once you're in the zone, you're in the zone, and although Raji chose not to go all the way, I made it to the top. It was a complete blast, and the view  I have no words for. You bet I'm gonna be there for the August full moon, maybe I'll even paraglide.

How it started...

 

There was a lot of stopping for pictures on the hike

This is the "Lion's Rump" as seen from the back of the mountain

I apparently was excited

 

Then it got a little rockier

And a little scary, that's very easy fall, waaaay too easy.

But beautiful

Steeper

And steeper

 

Again, a very easy drop. No harness or anything, just climbing the side of a mountain. Imminent death.

Beautiful sunset

The last bit was pretty crazy.

But we made it.

And just took in the view. So amazing.

It can make you feel so small

The moon rising from behind Table Mountain

On our way down (after sunset) it got quite scary. But a freezing Raji who patiently waited in a lower ledge, befriended the mountain rescuer, Alam (above), who gave her gloves and an extra jacket (it gets cold up there). He guided us down as we chatted, and he turned out to be such an awesome guy.

Alam, was born in the infamous District Six, a former residential area in Cape Town that for generations was home to a lively mix of people, made up a mostly coloured population, along with Malay people and other merchants and immigrants. It was famously evacuated and bulldozed in the 70s by the apartheid regime.   60,000 residents were relocated to nearby townships (slums), because of it's prime location near the city center was to be given to White citizens. (Although the official reasoning for the removal was that interracial interaction causes conflict.) With the work of the Hands Off District Six Committee and the rest of the resistance movement  a lot of that planned development was halted, but the destruction and displacement of a community was seen and criticized around the world, and is never forgotten.

His father was one of the first political prisoners in Robben Island, and although his sisters and extended family chose to live in exile, his nuclear family remained in Cape Town all throughout the apartheid resistance to see democratic South Africa today. It's pretty amazing how young this country is, how much peace and reconciliation people can do even in such a short time. It makes me hopeful for conflict everywhere in the world. People can be incredibly atrocious, but they can also be extremely resilient, the fight is certainly not over, but it's going.

2. Diving with Sharks

Oh man. Where do I start with this? Diving with sharks is definitely on the list of completely insane things that I will only do once in my life. Interestingly enough it was not the sharks themselves that made the experience so crazy. In fact, if I could do the dive part again, I would it was amazing, exhilirating, but I will never repeat the crazy boat ride,vomit and general chaos to do it.

The day started with a nice early two-hour drive out to Gansbaai where we were to do the dive. Gansbaai is the town and bay closest to Geyser Rock, a small island that is home to over 60,000 seals and Dyer Island, which is home to African Penguins. The space in between these two islands is known as "Shark Alley" because the seals and penguins attract sharks and thus one of the best destinations in the world for shark diving.

After a fun ride of 90s tunes and girl talk, we got to Gansbaai to be welcomed by breakfast and security briefings. The beach was beautiful, and the boats with cages were all lined up in the sand. After learning the basics of boat safety, getting in/out of the cage and staying in the cage without dying, and how to properly vomit overboard in case of motion sickness (at the moment we all just laughed...if only we knew what was coming), we were ready for our adventure.

We have been talking and prepping for shark diving for weeks, and I had thought about the fear of being so close to sharks, the freezing water of the Atlantic this time of year, how I would handle such an extreme experience, but it never occurred to me to think about the boat itself.

Even as we were getting on, 19 of us packed in this small boat without much of seating or handles, even as I saw the giant waves, I just thought of a regular ocean boat ride out to the island. It wasn't until the boat was in the water and the conductor turns and says, "hold on, it's going to be a very bumpy ride" that it finally hits me: 'holy crap, we are about to drive against these massive waves on a small boat'.

What happened next I have no words for. None at all. It was like a horrible roller coaster, a 25 minute long one, no bars or seat belts, no set path, it was us against the cruel cruel ocean. One thing is for sure, I hate roller coasters, I have ridden some before, but I cannot handle the stomach-flipping feeling of a drop.

Every time we hit a wave, the boat went almost entirely vertical, only to quickly drop some 10-15 feet and swirl in all directions and repeat again. For me, it was terrifying to the a point I cannot describe.After the first drop and scream, people flying all over, including Kaity almost flying overboard, I hold on to Raji and bite on to her coat. I closed my eyes, there was no getting out, there was no set end, it was torture, your stomach would flip and and flop in all directions, and all I could think about in my borderline panic state was my neurologist's warning never to ride roller coasters. I imagined all the awful things that could happen to me on the crazy boat ride, and the fact that there was no end to it made it so incredibly frightening. Kaity eventually made it back into the safe area of the boat, only to laugh the rest of the way (she obviously loves roller coasters), I just remained trying to breathe through it, and just calm my head and my body. By the time we actually made it to our dive zone I was so flustered, shaking, but it had nothing to do with sharks.

Ironically, the thing that calmed me, was seeing the first shark. Sharks are 'chummed' or baited over with fish heads. They are not actually fed, but lured over with the smell, then the fish heads are moved away. This remains a point of debate in the marine world as people say chumming can cause a change in sharks natural behavior and to associate humans with food. However, if chumming is done correctly, sharks aren't fed, but following their natural scavenging behavior.

As the first shark was chummed over, and you see it come out to the water next to the boat to try to bite the bait, it was amazing. I was suddenly reminded, holy crap, I'm going to be face to face with sharks, and slowly the anxiety of the ride subsided. However, the movement did not.

 There were some serious swells and chops, and the longer we stayed out there the more our bodies couldn't handle it. Vomiting started, first it was a couple of people, but soon we realized it was all of us. Over 3+ hours, 15 of the 19 of us would vomit, many more than once. How no one managed to vomit inside the voat seems like a miracle. But people even vomited in the cage( extra chum for the sharks =) Trying to change into a wetsuit made it all worse. Bending over in a moving boat and wearing a tight tight suit is just bad news bears. Thankfully we volunteered to be the second group to dive, honestly, I don't think we could have handled it any later. Our last group didn't dive at all because of how bad their seasickness was.

But once you put on that mask and start submerging in the cave, then it hits you. Every pain disappears, everything stops, and when the first shark swims towards the cage, you're just left paralyzed in wonder. Great White Sharks are such majestic and incredible creatures, and there they are inches from my face, just starring at me, some with jaws open trying to get the chum.

The group after us had the crazy experience of the shark actually biting the cage .Sharks can be playful =), they never attack humans for food, only if they confuse them for seals, that is why most people survive shark attacks, because sharks realize after a bite that we're not food and swim away.

The water was freezing, the movement in the cage crazy, but having sharks so close was so exhilarating and incredible. No words, simply no words. We were able to see eight sharks in our time in the cage. I got out, and hoped I  would be able to do a second dive, unfortunately the wind and the movement was so crazy, we packed and left after first dives. But that waiting time for other divers after our dive was brutal on the boat. Everyone looked pale and sick in some partial state of dress or actively vomiting, clothes, wetsuits, everywhere, it was total chaos. By the end, it was as if we had all forgotten we had seen sharks, we just wanted to get to land!

We were welcomed back with warm soup and to see the video of our experience. Oh yes, there's a video. And then it all came together, holy crap. I dove with sharks!

...and I never will again.

Boats lined up

Our boat and cage, Lady T

Entering the water

  

So happy, so naive... If only we knew what was coming

What a great picture. I think it perfectly catches the spirit of early seasickness

In the cage.

Kaity next to me, she was attempting to take pictures

Trying to stay safely in the cage, hold your breath and take pictures is quite hard so there aren't many great pics. That only means you must come visit me after I return to see the movie!

That's not zoomed in, they were that close.

After an insane morning of shark diving, we decided to make full use of our rented car and go for a drive (which turned into us getting quite lost) to Cape Agulhas, the most southern point of the continent of Africa. Some fun pictures of that:

The road somehow just ended, and we ended in a weird unpaved road, and soon by this beautiful field of flowers

Driving on the right side of the car, after destroying 'sharky', our rental through some bad puddles.

We were all very excited and happy post-shark diving. Many silly pictures occurred.

 
And that is all from my adventures in this wonderful country. Stay tuned for some reflections on racism and post-apartheid.

My Life as a (Non-ugly) Tourist

In the last couple of weeks, I have done a lot of "toursity" things, most of them once-in-a-lifetime, amazing things (petting a cheetah? standing on the tip of the continent? seeing penguins in the wild? Awesomeness), but touristy nonetheless. 
For a few days, I  felt like a sort of perpetual tourist. While my life has a side of ordinary; going to work everyday, spending evenings cooking, hanging out with friends,  and selecting medical schools, my weekends, and self-selected days off are full of really fun Cape Town explorations and eating a lot of ridiculously amazing food ( I will dedicate another post to this, but Cape Town has, hands down, the most incredible food in the world. Period). And I know what you're thinking: what's wrong with that? 


With this life, there is very little immersing myself in South Africa.  My previous travel experiences, particularly Ghana, were so raw and so powerful. Ghana was dedicated solely to exploring the culture around me on every level of comfort (or often discomfort). I was able to see the complexity of history in the faces of everyday, and immerse myself in the hope of the future of the communities I encountered. Similarly was my experience working in Morro do Urubu (a favela outside Rio de Janeiro). Even as an obvious foreigner, I never felt like a tourist. I hate tourists. Although tourism is complex and dynamic, it can do a lot for foreign growing economies, it's also an exploitation, and it always will be.


As Jamaica Kincaid once wrote, "A tourist is an ugly human being".  And it's very true, and we all have been. We seek to escape our nice lives, comfortable homes, families and friends, because our ordinary is somehow so taxing, and we need to 'get away'. We go to some foreign land, even when we don't even leave the nation, some beautiful location for pleasure, we shake off and ignore the discomfort of poverty slipping into our holiday, the homeless child picking up your soda cans, the street food vendor with six children, the poorly paid waiters, hotel housekeepers, taxi drivers. We sulk at rain and hope for shiny non-stop sun for the days we are there, without it crossing our mind what it may mean for a person that lives there, whose livelihood may depend on the few drops of rain. We bargain every dollar down on a price at the market, knowing that that dollar will feed a family, or pay for a school uniform, but instead we feel entitled to fight for our vacation dollar. With our need to 'get away' we become ugly people.


"Every native of every place is a potential tourist, and every tourist is a native of somewhere... Every native would like to find away out, every native would like a rest, every native would like a tour. But some natives- most natives in the world- cannot go anywhere. They are too poor. They are too poor to go anywhere. They are too poor to escape the reality of their lives; and they are too poor to live properly in the place where they live, which is the very place you, the tourist, want to go- so, when the natives see you, the tourist, they envy you, they envy your ability to leave your own banality and boredom, they envy your ability to turn their own banality and boredom into a source of pleasure for yourself." - From A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid

That is what I hate about tourism. Of course, I am not saying that all tourism is awful, that we are bad people everyday, but for most of us that have ever taken a vacation, there is an ugliness to it. Having been blessed with so many experiences abroad, I am always tangibly aware of this, I try to make my travels meaningful and immersive, and not just a series of photo opportunities. And so so many touristy activities, living on a nice university campus with wifi,electricity and running water,  in the middle of a developing nation, is undoubtedly uncomfortable.

However, this is not my previous travel experiences, this is no study abroad, or personal trip, this is my job. I am exceedingly blessed to have it.

The week before last, we had a grueling productive day at work and decided to take the next day off (the beauty of making your own schedule =) to explore the city center (which was more like getting distracted with all the shops that we never made it into the museums). As I sat in a balcony with a drink overlooking the lively scene of Long Street during the day, I had one of those moments of intense gratitude and peace.

I had a realization of just how much I've grown through my travels, how incredibly hard I have worked for the last four years in college, and how lucky I am to be here, all expenses paid. I am free to enjoy this experience to the fullest, to relax and explore, to learn and learn and learn and enjoy what will  probably be one of the last times of relative calm in my life. I know that I will soon be in the books again for the MCAT, extra classes, and then to sign away the rest of my life to medicine, an incredible sacrifice and a whole other journey I will never come back from.

No matter where I go away from home, I will always be a tourist (at least in some respects) and that's the truth. I will never really be from there and will always enjoy the comfort of earning in dollars, and an end date to return 'home'. However, just because my time here in South Africa has constraints, doesn't mean I become an ugly tourist. That enjoying the free time I have exploring the beauty and opportunities of Cape Town, having a lot of fun with new friends, doesn't make me a terrible person. And that I am far far far from being an ugly tourist, the simple reason that I am so reflective and aware of my impact and role in this city has shown me that, I am no tourist, at least not an 'ugly' one.

Although I can't be more a part of a community, I am taking so much away from Cape Town than pictures. This is a different experience than my previous travels, and I am making the best of it. I have great friends that make our weekend adventures much more than touristy stuff. Even in my limited contact, I have met  Capetonians, learned a lot about the raw reality of life post-apartheid, and have made sure my stay here is reflective and respectful.

And so, I have come to terms with this life of non-ugly tourism, and let myself just be okay with all the great experiences I'm having, I have earned them. And like all other blessings in my life, I will try my best to 'pay it forward', make the best of my time here, and continuously share everything I take, never lose sight of my incredible privilege and the responsibility that comes with it.

On that note, what have I been doing? Pictures are always better than words.

 Petting Joseph the Cheetah

This was a pretty awesome experience. We visited the Cheetah Outreach located in the out of the city. They do incredible work. The Cheetah Outreach is an education and community-based program created to raise awareness of the plight of the cheetah and to campaign for its survival. They are partnered around the world, offering environmental education and workshops, do a lot of training of farmers to reduce conflict between them and predators, and hand-rears cubs to be ambassadors of the species. 

 We got to meet Joseph, who is a pretty old cat and is actually a movie star cat who has met quite a bit of celebrities including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Haley Berry, Snoop Dog, Bill Clinton, and now us =)  He's like a big kitty cat, who would just purr as we petted him, but so majestic and awe inspiring.

You are only allowed to pet them in their back and sides, their ears, paws, tails and belly are quite ticklish, so they are considered their private parts.

They have over 2,000 spots!

You always have to be squatting with at least one knee up, ready to move back in case he decides to stand up.

 Penguins!!!

aka: the greatest creature in the world =) =) =) We visited Boulder's Beach, home to a colony of African Penguins, another endangered species. These little guys are so absolutely adorable it just makes your heart happy. They roam free and sometimes come up to you, but you can't touch them, they do and will bite.

Boulder's Beach is pretty beautiful itself

Baby!

Look at the moulting one, right there in the center bottom. African Penguins molt once a year and lose their water-proof plumage for another one. The process takes 3-4 weeks in which they cannot enter the water, thus can't eat. So they fatten up and fast for around 21 days until their new plumage is ready. On the right you can also see some baby penguins growing their adult plumage.

Watch this adorable video:

Nap time

Sneaky little guys...

Scenic Detours

We decided to rent a car for the weekend, unfortunately Cape Town has no reliable form of public transportation and Hopkins does not let us ride the public taxis (mini vans) that are available. A whole lot of  craziness ensued in driving on the opposite side of the car and the road, but we managed to make it everywhere safely. We did however get lost a lot, and once make wrong turns onto highways that are going up a mountain, there isn't exactly an exit. So we did a lot of detours, beautiful detours on our way to Cape Point.

Baboons decided to come out and take over the road.

This is actually the Cape of Good Hope, it's the southwestern most tip of the African continent. The incredible hike up was so worth it. Looking over the vastness of two oceans, it leaves one breathless.

Another mountain road, this time during sunset.

We were trying to watch the sunset, but this very awesome cloud was covering it.

This is Devil's Peak. The folk-tale behind its name is of a man who challenged the devil to smoking contest. Although he won, the smoke of their contest covered the mountain and today the "tablecloth" of Table Mountain originates at Devil's Peak and clouds carry over down the mountains to Table Mountain.

 

Among the clouds

Another mountain driving adventure

 Wine

Cape Town is home to some of the best winelands in the world. While I am no connoisseur, Capetonians are proud and knowledgeable of their wine, so while in Rome...

 

An awesome chandelier made of wine bottles

Wine tasting at Spier, a beautiful wine estate founded in 1692.

If you ask me what any of these are or what they tasted like, all I can say is wine. But hey, it was a good experience nonetheless.