So I am now writing to you from AFRICA!! Yes, we have arrived safely, and I have only been here for not even a day and I am in love with Cape Town! It is so beautiful and clean. And there is so much just right off our ship, and it is so much safer than Brazil. (And it smells better too.) I got up early this morning - the earliest ever so far since I started this trip - 5:50 am. The sun hadn't even come up yet! But it was beautiful to see the port as we pulled in and the sun rose. The view of Table Mountain was beautiful! We weren't able to get off the ship until close to 11 this morning, but once we did, we went and looked at the shops and mall that is right here in port. The mall is HUGE!! And there is this really cool hand craft market that I will check out after my safari, which I leave on tomorrow morning!! I am so excited! Anyways, this afternoon I was lucky enough to go on a township tour and it was amazing. The conditions there are so horrible. They lived in tiny houses that looked like little boxes. My room is bigger than most of their houses. Our tour guide told us that the families there are still there from when they were forced out of their homes back in the 1600s. The kids walked around on the dirty streets in their bare feet. Their grocery store was just a tiny little shack on the corner. The truly amazing thing is that even though these people didn't have very much, the kids and the people are seriously the happiest people I have ever met. The kids were incredible. They loved taking pictures, and people brought stickers and little toys to hand out and they were all so excited. And so CUTE! I would ask one kid to smile for a picture and like 10 kids would rush in to be in it. Hence the picture of like 12 kids, and my face in the middle. I really couldn't believe the spark these kids had. It's hard to explain. They were just so excited about everything and so nice to us even though we were complete strangers. It was so heartwarming to be welcomed like that. In the states there are times that I feel life is so hard, and I am not saying problems there are nothing. But just seeing these people in these conditions, and seeing their zest for life in spite of their hardships, kinda makes me feel silly about some of the things I complain about. I posted a couple pics of me and some kids, and one of this precious little girl. The other pictures are of Cape Town before the sun rose, me and Hayley on the ship pulling in, and then Cape Town once the sun came up. Beautiful huh? Today was also great because I was lucky enough to call the church and get a hold of my mother, father, and Tim all at the same time! Then I had a few extra minutes so I called the salon and got to talk to a couple of people there. I am having so much fun, but it was awesome to be able to talk to some familiar voices from home. Well, I should get to bed because I gotta get up for an early flight to my safari tomorrow. I will be sure and say hi to Simba for all of you!