TABLE MOUNTAIN

I went on one of the best hikes of my life on saturday night. And yes, i mean NIGHT. I went on a moonlight walk with the mountain club which is actually called the Hottentots Holland Section of the Mountain Club of South Africa. The leader was such a cool guy and he was 70 and i bet his "rucksack" as he called it, weighed as much as him. he was really hilarious and had a million and a half great stories that he said he should be charging us for. he also played a flute and harmonica for us while we hiked. this russian girl that was on the hike asked her friend to take a picture of her with the guide and he said "smile" and then kissed her cheek and then said "ok now you have something to smile about."

So we started hiking when it was just getting dark and we hiked through a woodsy part of the mountain so it was really dark and then it started raining!! which was really nice and it had been about 40 degrees celcius in the day time (104 fahrenheit) so the rain was so refreshing. and then! to make things even more exciting, it started to thunder and then there was lightning! Really exciting things I tell you. Also part of getting to the top included climbing ladders and parts of the trail were just boulders to climb over. When we got to the top we had a whole view of the city which was also amazing, you know, all lit up and from so high up. Night hikes are definitely a new must do for me and everybody i know.

After we appreciated the view for a while, we decided to head to the Mountain Club of South Africa Hut (where we sleep) and the dirt started to turn into white sand! it looked like snow for a while, and then we were in this big basin that was all sand but up on the sides it was still rock and trees and green and dirt. I felt like i was on another planet, because aside from this weird basin we were walking through and outer border that sloped up, all we saw was air. so i guess it was really small planet. unfortunately it was cloudy, so the moonlight part of the hike didnt really work out.

The rest of the evening wasn't really exciting for me because i got into bed and went to sleep. There were already people in the hut when we got there so that was surprising. The next day it was 40 degrees again, but we walked all over the mountain to different look out points. We walked through a cave and then up a channel that had really bright red orchids in big bunches all over. I wore sunscreen. My knees started to wobble. We got back to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens where we had started at about 5 pm and i was pretty much done for.

SO. and you know i really was really not going to go because i didnt know anyone who was going and the last hike was all older people so i thought it would be weird but luckily i got talked into it. So- good times. the picture at the top is the guide and the orchids. And today i signed up and tomorrow is the first class of a jewelry and metal technique class i am taking at the university and im really excited about it.

ALSO! in the Hut there was a sign that said:
1. Carry your own refuse down- bin no longer emptied by authorities!
2. Place dead members of MCSA in bucket- scatter in suitable spot.
HUT COMMITTEE

and i took a picture because i thought the part about dead members was so crazy. and then i got home and was looking at it more carefully and realized DUH!! the M of MEMBERS is in pencil (not red marker, like the rest) and OF MCSA is added in also with pencil. so it actually meant "Place dead embers in bucket" and i really thought they meant dead members. it was a really exhausting hike, okay?