WEEK NINE

So Sunday night we were in Orange River, south Africa, celebrating our last night of camping.. Finishing at 130 in the morning... Monday morning wasn't much fun, Largely because of the 430 wake up. Some of us had to nagged to get out of bed, and not too much breakfast was consumed! We were grateful for the long drive ahead down to Cape Town as it meant we could basically sleep the day away - which we did! We arrived into our hotel about 5, and headed out for our very last group dinner to a restaurant serving plenty of game meat (I had ostrich fillet, amazing!). We had dinner and drinks here, with a local African band and dancers performing in the background. From here, we felt the need to continue on where it ended up being a very very big night - we went to about 4 bars/pubs/clubs and was home after 5. 

Monday morning, again, wasn't much fun.. Although our tour technically finished at breakfast time so we were free to get up as we wished. I made sure I was down at breakfast at 830 so I could say one last good bye to the tour guide and our driver. After 40 days with these guys it was a little emotional and sad. Now, after 2 months of being told what time to wake up, what time to be on the truck, what time we would be arriving at our next destination, what was planned for the day, how much money you were going to need, having all your meals made for you - we were left out on our own!   Very very strange and scary feeling!! The dutch couple, Ed and An who had been with me from day 1 and who I had grown extremely close to, we're heading to the coast of cape town with a hire car, for christmas. They were kind enough to offer myself and Dave (the other guy who was there from day 1) to come with them and spend Christmas eve and Christmas day with them. We both jumped at the offer. So Monday afternoon we drove along the beautiful coast down to  Kommetjie, about 45 min away. We hired a couple of rooms in an awesome house only 2 mins away from the beach. Unfortunately it want warm enough to go swimming but it was really pretty all the same. Cape town and the coast really reminded me a lot of home, the drive to the beach house was just like the great ocean road - windy roads with breathtaking views of the ocean. 

We spent the afternoon and evening eating yummy cheese (which we had all desperately missed - particularly the dutch!) and dips with wine. A perfect Christmas eve! 

Tuesday, Christmas day! What an emotional day. I was lucky enough to be ale to video Skype the family just in time to watch the presents being opened. I got to sing happy birthday to Chrissy, And I got to talk to Mel for the first time! It was also going to be the last day with Ed, An and Dave which was pretty upsetting. So after all this, I was feeling a little emotional but still grateful to be able to spend Christmas in a great country with 3 really good friends. Ed and An treated us to a beautiful traditional Dutch breakfast of sweet French toast. We then made tracks towards Table Mountain national park where we climbed up to cape point, where the atlantic and pacific oceans meet. It is also the very tip of the cape, so we took some time to take in our surroundings. We spent a good couple of hours in the park, before slowly heading back towards Cape town, via Simon's town and the Boulders. The whole area was so beautiful and I really wished I had been able to spend more time in the country. So we arrived back to my hotel at about 430, where Ed, An, Dave and I had to say our final final goodbyes.. This was definitely not easy; after spending 2 months day in day out together; experiencing SO much; doing things that you only dream of, together (gorilla trekking, sky diving, devils pools, Zanzibar etc etc). It was really hard to say goodbye, and once I got back to my hotel room I immediately felt so lonely and bored! I had had people around me 24/7 for 2 months, which I loved, so i was feeling really really crap! That night I spent organising the next part of my journey - south America! 

Wednesday I had a 6am flight from cape town to Johannesburg then onto buenos aires.  I was through customs by 430pm and from there sat and waited and waited and waited for familiar faces to walk through customs.. It wasn't till 7pm that kacey, Courtney, Amy and pip made it through and it was GREAT to finally have them here! Ash got through a bit after 8 and from there we headed to our hostel in the middle of BA where we would be spending 4 nights. 

Thursday we were all wide awake by 6 and feeling pretty jet lagged. Our hostel offered different activities each day and today was a walking tour through the Recoleta district of BA. The first most noticeable thing about BA was how big of a city it is - four or five lane roads through the city streets and how many districts there were. Recoleta is known for the very popular Cementerio de la Recoleta - which is essentially a city of tombs. There are 'streets' after streets of these house-like tombs, many of which you can actually look inside and see the coffin. Many of them have several (we saw one with 14!) coffins. 

Friday we did another walking tour with our hostel through the district, La Boca, which took us first to La Boca soccer stadium and museum. The highlight though, was definitely wondering through Caminito - pedestrian streets full of restaurants painted all these bright colors, traditionally identifying poverty; now very impressive buildings. The streets were packed with tourists, locals and tango dancers! It had a really cool vibe about it. We stopped off for lunch at one of these restaurants and had our own little tango show. That afternoon we came back to our hostel and fell asleep for a good couple of hours before having a BBQ dinner at the roof top terrace and then heading out to a local night club, where we didn't get home till about 6am. 

Saturday we decided to give the area of Palermo a go. We caught the local bus there (an experience in itself!) and wondered the streets. We stopped off for a late lunch and then had some of the best ice cream I've ever had! 

Sunday was pip's birthday and also the day the very popular San Telmo markets are held. It was one lonnnnnnnnng cobbled street of stalls selling some really impressive stuff - anything from antiques, clothes, souvenirs, food and jewelry. We ended up spending a lot longer there than anticipated because there was so much to see. That evening we went to the very famous La Caberera restaurant for dinner in Palermo. The restaurant is famous for its mouth watering steaks. They don't take reservations and we had been warned that you will have to line up to get in. It didn't open until 7pm and we arrived at about 640 and already there was a huge line of tourists waiting for it to open. They also offered 'happy hour' where if you paid for your meals and drinks by 8pm, you got 40% off the bill! So after an AMAZING cheap meal, we headed back to our hostel which had some live music playing, we then went out to a bar in Palermo.  

Xx