June 29-30, Kirstenbosch/Hike

Saturday morning I woke up, and after laying in a bed all week I decided that I wanted to go out and do something. I was starting to get anxious and almost depressed just sitting in the house. I talked to the group and we decided to go to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. I was quite excited and couldn't wait to walk around for the first time since the surgery. We arrived there in the afternoon and upon pulling in I knew that this place was going to be beautiful. We bought our tickets and walked through the gate into a short wooded area. As we came out of the woods there it was: one of the most beautiful sights of the mountains I have seen so far. The grass was the most vibrant green I've ever seen and there were flowers everywhere. We walked from garden to garden and saw all of the different flowers, some native, some not. Words cannot really describe all of the beauty I saw that day so I'm going to include many pictures so you all get to see some of the amazing sights that I witnessed.

First view at Kirstenbosch

Protea, the national flower of South Africa

Later that evening I went to my first braai! A braai is basically like an American cook out or BBQ. Boyd's friend James invited us all over, but only all of us girls and Boyd went because Matt and Chris were out with their co-workers. We arrived at this beautiful house that James was staying at. A few minutes after we arrived, some of James' friends arrived. We got to talking and I was so curious to here about their lives. After laughing and talking about all of our adventures they got to talking about some things they have done. This couple has been bungee jumping, to safaris, and are planning on going skydiving soon. The thing is, they aren't the first adventurous couple I have met. Many of the people I have met here have experienced so many crazy things and participate in all of the extreme sports. I know part of the reason is because they live in the perfect location for it all, but they also don't take life so seriously and enjoy every aspect of it. I decided that when I go home, I'm going to start being more adventurous. But anyway, back on track...I was talking to Rebecca (one of James' friends) about us wanting to go hiking the next day. She suggested that we hike Skeleton Gorge because it was a fairly simple hike compared to Table Mountain, and perfect for someone who just had surgery done.

Rebecca was completely wrong! We (Jenny, Allison, Boyd, Matt and I) got to Kirstenbosch the next morning and started making our way toward Skeleton Gorge. We quickly found the entrance and immediately we were hiking up the side of the mountain at basically a 90 degree angle. We climbed steep stairs the whole way up and after reaching a certain point we had to literally climb rocks in the middle of the gorge to get to more steps. We climbed three ladders which were attached to the steep rocks and let me tell you, it was extremely difficult. About 30 minutes in I thought I wasn't going to make it. I kept pushing myself and by the time I realized that I couldn't do it anymore, it was too late to turn back. We kept going and pushing on and after many difficult climbs and beautiful views we made it to the top of the mountain. We met a family at the top who said we should take the 45 minute hike over to the cable car, that way I didn't have to walk all the way down. We took their advice, but first walked over to the dam and ate some lunch. The dam was beautiful and unlike anything I've ever seen really. I never expected their to be such a large amount of water at the top of a mountain. Finally we picked up our things and made our way to the cable car. Sadly, our hike that was supposed to be 45 minutes ended up being almost 3 hours. Here we were completely alone on the top of Table Mountain and it was brutally cold and windy. The sun was starting to set and we were getting quite nervous so we picked up our pace. At one point, while we were walking through a valley, I completely collapsed right into a bush. Part of me just wanted to lay down there and give up but I got up, laughed and carried on. The rest of the hike was pretty intense with wild winds and steep ladders that overlooked cliffs. When we finally reached the cable car we had 45 minutes to spare before it closed. After all of the hard things I went through that day I was just ready to get off of this mountain. I will say that even though my experience was hard, it was most definitely worth it. The views were absolutely amazing and probably something I will never see again. And how many people can say they hiked such a hard trail 4 days after surgery. In the end I was quite proud of myself, and I hope that someday I can go back with my family...when it's warm out.

 

xoxo,

Alexandra