Cape Town

Arrived in Cape Town early Thursday morning to blue skies and a refreshing summer breeze. We drove along the hillside that overlooked the city below that is speckled with brightly colored rooftops and is bordered on one side by rugged mountains and on the other a flowy coastline. Our hostel is a backpacking lodge and travel center caled the Ashanti, and is conveniently located near the main Kloof street that has a great Califonia meets New Orleans vibe with the flowy white iron balconies and short flat buildings. A few of us indulged in our first taste of cheese in a month (wasn't seen at all in China), at a funky Mexican place then went out  to a bustling Irish pub that featured array of locals and travelers- among them was our crew of flight attendents who we had gotten to know pretty well by the end of our 9 hour flight. Yesterday we had a very informative orientation session with Susan, Angela and Rose- the three coordinators of this leg, who are all very excited and passionate about this country and our program. We had a simple lunch in the front yard of the hotel that peacefully clumps lounge chairs, hammocks and palm trees. Despite this tempting lazy venue, we went for a run through the Company gardens that has cobblestone paths and houses numerous national museums, sculptures and statues- and very friendly squirrels. We walked along Kloof street in the afternoon and admired the traditional African markets and spoke to some visitors from Memphis who gave us some tips for hiking Table Mountain. That's where we're off to today- a morning hike before it gets super hot and steamy- we're going to start at the trail that leaves from the national  botanical gardens and go up the "skeleton gorge" path for a 4 hour trek. Apparently the mountain is hollow with a dragon inside, so the last person up will be fed to him- on the table top..siezing the day early!