It is going to fun!!

okay so where was I?? grilling ostritch and donkey for super bowl i believe. Well this week was mostly orientation and registration, which at the university of cape town is actually a form of torture comparable to water boarding, line waiting. they do not have a computer system here that can handle everyone registering online, so we do it all by hand, in 95 degree rooms, okay so that doesn't sound that bad, it's like they did it in the old days right?? no because they have this great concept of putting everything into the computer system, but only with 3 designated computer people, for a school of around 17000, I literally have spent 4 hours a day for the last week standing in lines. but hey, it's africa time. on friday I finally had finished the registration process, I get home to the compound and on our fridge is a note inviting us to go hiking, it said just a friendly hike, and then a little cave exploring and the last line is written "it is going to fun" which i thought pretty much sealed the deal. me and my roomate tom decided we would go, everyone else was to tired, or hadn't finished registering. we meet up with the group, organized by our landlord, and it's a pretty average group, which reassured tom and I that it wouldn't be a crazy mountain climbing adventure or anything. boy were we wrong, we get there and literally jog up this mountain, only stopping twice eachtime everyone had to much pride to ask for a slower pace, but you could see the pain and agony, then we finally reach the top, the caves. It's not like just walking into the caves, it is contorting your body to fit through crevasses in total darkness (the "guides" forgot flashlights, we were all using our cellphones) tom is clausttraphobic, and i think after that experience I am too. Although I did go on the super tight optional cave, with only about 4 of us willing to do it, but the guides gave us a treat, by singing the south african national anthem in complete darkness (i had suggested koombaiya, but apparently that wasn't appropriate). It was really amazing though, even if my knees were covered with a mix of my own blood and bat guano. when we reached the otherside we were rewarded with an incredible overlook of the ocean and the small fishing towns on the northern cape. there was something else though that should have registered that didn't, the way down was a straight cliff, as our "guides" took off like billy goats jumping down the mountain the rest of us kind of looked at eachother and said "shouldn't we have signed a waiver for this?" "do we need ropes and caribeeners for this" by the time we had scaled our way down to just a regular mountain, the guides were no where to be found. "great i'm lost in africa, !@##$@$%#$!!!!!!" but we did a little bushwhacking (just what you need for open wounds, strange plants that resemble poinson ivy in rubbing against you) and eventually found our way back to the cars. Actually i think that was the most fun i've had in a while, and after the guide took the beleagured americans to a pub on the water for an apology beer, which was nice. And since then "it is going to fun" has become the motto of the house.
Yesterday we hired the "boogie bus" which i'm not sure if i've mentioned is the reggae themed beat up volkswagen that we take around capetown (14 can fit inside, not including the boogie man himself, steve) this time we hired him to take us on a wine tasting tour. the vineyards were as you imagine very beautiful although the area is the heart of Aparthied, so one kind of feels out of place wearing a barak obama t-shirt. But we went to several different vineyards, tried all sorts of wines and cheeses (if we hadn't been travelling in a beat up volkswagen with old cd's covering it, i'd say it was a classy trip, but...) but the highlight was certainly when boogie took us to a lion sanctuary, sure it's no safari, but it was cool none the less (there was something disturbing about going to see the lions after tasting wine all day, especially after what happened in san francisco, but people managed to keep their limbs to themselves.
All this travelling with the boogie man gave us the great idea of renting a bus for ourselves, to drive around the garden route of SA, which is what we did today, we went to avis and rented a van, no problems whatsoever, until the woman looked at my address and said "you do have secure parking for the van right? Observatory is really dangerous" we said of course, and thought no more of it, there are tons of cars all over the streets and for just one night it will be fine. that was our thinking until we saw the van, a brand new mercedes benz 8 person van. horrifying, we can't park that in obs. it'll be gone before we're out of the car. luckily we had the brilliant idea of taking it too the neighboring garage (ironically a benz specialist) we gave them some beers and they agreed to keep the van overnight, not without however saying when they saw us pull up with it "oh man no wonder you want to get this thing off the street, with so much crime around here I always carry a gun" a reassuring start to an adventure. tomorrow we're off. ell