A Series of Fortunate Events

This is the best trip of my life.
These past few days have been absolutely incredible. I haven't written in forever, and I don't even know where to begin.... so I'm separating this in sections.
TOURISTY STUFF
If you're a tourist in Cape Town you can't help but fall in love with this city more and more every day. It's not in many cities around the world you can wake up and walk around town to the view of one of the most beautiful stadiums in the world, the long winding beach, and a huge mountain in the middle. In terms of scenery, Cape Town is perfection... a mix between Santorini and San Francisco, the Andes and the Amazon... all on the coast of the Atlantic. Breathtaking. And so much to do! We've hiked all the way up to Lion's Head, chilled during sunset (cocktail in hand) in (the very chic) Camps Bay, Safaried in a game reserve and taken a boat out to Robben Island.
Lion's Head was ridiculous. That morning I had crashed at my friend's place (and by friends I mean the 15 volunteers living in this house). I was asked if I wanted to go to Lion's Head... but was forgot to be told that "going to Lion's Head" implies a 1hour hike (and climb) up to the top. Not a good place for tight jeans and skater sneakers, but totally worth it. The views up there are amazing... we took tons of pictures, although I must say people seem to have finally found a way to limiting my snap-away addiction: exercise. It's hard to think about taking pictures when you can barely catch your breath and your face looks like a swollen tomato (oou, attractive). Still though, once you get up there nobody is thinking about the hike up anymore (well, until you see a guy in his flip-flops and wonder how the hell he managed the hike up in the first place). You're completely taken away by the scenery (and the possibility of lying down and resting for a bit. That is until you have to come down... if you think climbing up is HARD... going down is absolutely TERRIFYING. Part of the charm of Lion's Head apparently s not only the beauty and the exercise, but the adrenaline. The whole hike up is steep and next to sheer sheer drops.... a narrow path, and no handrails. That is unless you count the barbed wire fence there is around some of the steepest sides. Because of course when you're about to fall down a steep cliff edge, the thing you want to hold on to the most is barbed wire. (Seriously?!) Anyways there is also parts where a chain goes down the side of the cliff and you can actually sort of rapel down. All in all, it was very exciting.
Robben Island was great too. The trip over there though... not as much. Try popping 4 exhausted 20-somethings in a bobbing boat at 10am after a night out in town. We were pretty lucky we didn't have to make use of the paper bags in front. We were even luckier though to manage to get in the tour bus with the best tour guide in the island. And I mean that literally.... this man is the one assigned to guide the tour when all the important people come around. He's got the coolest stories about touring everyone from Bill Clinton and Obama, to the princes William and Harry, all the way to John Travolta and Oprah... oh yes, and Bill Crosby! Apparently that was a hilarious one. More recently, he also toured the Dutch football team (who were there a week after we were). The island itself is beautiful, and the view of Table Mountain is amazing. The jails are very moving... Nelson Mandela's cell is nothing like what you can see in the movies. It is tiny. Very, very tiny. And you can see the sort of oppression the inmates where kept at before: the old lunch menu shows how the rations (although all small) were even smaller for black people than for indians and coloured people... the Apartheid's way of creating animosity even within the inmates. Apparently, however, they didn't fall for this, and the Indians and Coloured actually would share all their meals in equal parts with the Black inmates.
The Safari was one of the things i'd been looking forward to the most. And it was great.... but as a recommendation, if ever you are planning a trip to Africa and want to make time for a quick safari, do not expect the big bad wild. 1-day safaris do not exist... at least not the real thing. They take place in private game reserves, which are fenced and where animals are easily spotted, and separated by categories (it wouldn't be very economically feasible it their lions kept eating their zebras). Also, since they promise you a view of the big 5, if you don't manage to see their "wild" lions, at the end of the safari they take you to the "zoo" part of their premises, where you can see the big cats in barbed wire fences. It's amazing, but a bit depressing at the same time. Fortunately, I knew this before I went. However, a lot of my friends didn't, and were sorely disappointed. The reserve was at a beautiful location though, and... with the availability of free champagne and the sun out by the poolside, we ended up having a great time, and a sweet photoshoot. Part of the amenities also included seeing two friends try to chase and ostrich... and the plan backfiring. Nothing - i repeat, NOTHING - is funnier than watching an italian guy being chased by an ostrich. And then him mimicking its "attack".
WORLD CUP STUFF
If you follow my facebook updates, you will by now know of my famed picture of Beckham. Now I know people have taken to going "nah, he's not such a big deal" when asked about him. It makes you seem cool and original... you're better than everyone else by not liking Beckham. But face it, it's a lie. The man is pure perfection.... especially when dressed in the perfectly cut English team suit. And standing 2 feet away from you.... and yes, when he hugs you and says "you're welcome" in his perfect british accent as he squeezes your arm. Ahhh. But that's not the only exciting thing that's been going on in my football world. Like the sneaky latin I am (and in this case, I am damn proud of it), I have managed to snake my way in to the coolest spots every game... whether it be on luck or just talent lol. During Italy-Paraguay I stood less than a foot away from the likes of Cannavaro, De Rossi and Camoranesi... and translated the answers of the Paraguayan players for the international reporters. I was even live on Paraguayan radio!! For England-Algeria, I was on the pitch and next to the bench as the players came out on the field. I even show up on cameras... if you look for a picture or video of Fabio Capello (English coach) singing the anthem that day, right next to his head you will see a small set of brown hair and a big smile bobbing up and down. That would be me, standing behind him. Ridiculous. I have also watched every game so far, VIP booth every time. Oh and of course, watched as the players got on the bus to leave the stadium... capturing shots not only with Beckham but also of Cristiano Ronaldo and his teammates, and the whole English team... oh yeah, me and a friend totally got checked out by Gerrard and Johnson. Waved at by Crouch... and motioned to come on the bus by the Algerian team lol... which of course we were banned from.
FUN STUFF
The people here are awesome. I can already see the next week when the first of us start to trickle away is going to be a hard one. Not only have I made great South African friends, but also a huge group of the most amazing international volunteers ever. We are already planning a visit to Peru in 2014... and then road-tripping it to Brazil for the next World Cup. Should be amazing. I've been staying in the volunteer house (it's a house 15 of them rented) some nights, were the latin people (Mexican, Peruvian, Venezuelan and Honduran) usually take over with some salsa dancing in the living room. Every day is so nice and fun... whether it's just walking to the water front or going to watch the games at one of the local bars. The USA win yesterday was ridiculous by the way... props to the "soccer" nation for supporting their team that much... I was impressed (although their chanting of "bullshit, bullshit" every time their team was penalized was just SO american hahaha)
Now everyone is pumped for the coming up round of 16 matches, so these should be some exciting days until I return to Canada. In the meantime... i'm off to enjoy Cape Town!!

MISS YOU ALL!! Pictures coming up soon :D

Fun Fact

A traffic light in South Africa is a ROBOT.
And also Germans are the KINGS of football: LOS, DEUSTCHALND!!
(We slaughtered the Aussies with a beautiful 4-0)
I will write more tomorrow, promise... tomorrow is my first shift at the stadium at 9am, and I need some sleep... I jumped around too much watching the match today :D


Again... LOS, DEUTSCHLAND!!! :D
(can you sense me bobbing up and down as I write this?) aaah it was a great game!!!

Reca-pichulaychon (pidgeulation JA)

Clearly I was not made to keep blogs. And so I apologize to all those who were waiting for a new entry eagerly for the past 3 days (cue cricket sounds). But your wait has finally come to an end, and after 13 hours of sleep, a ridiculously good omelette and with a big cold glass of coke in my hand, i give you a recap of what i've been up to:

Monday, June 7th

First day of International Volunteer Training!!! There's was over a hundred of us in this training session in Cape Town, and they come from all over the world: Canadians, "Americans" (they refuse to say they're from "the States"), Austrians, Koreans, Costa Ricans, Argentinians, Mexicans, and some weird Peruvian chick... people think she's related to Hugo. You could always tell what nationality's people were just by the sort of questions that were asked: the Latin Americans all wanted to know how they could sneak in free to the games, the Americans (TEXAS, BABY!) wanted to know if stun guns were legal in South Africa. After receiving a weirded out "no," she proceeded to look around to her fellow  panic-stricken Americans and mumble something about taking it around with her anyways.

I met a whole bunch of people, but the best part was sneaking out with a couple of them to go check out the stadium. Let me just say this, people: Soccer City (Jo'burg's stadium) has got NOTHING on Green Point. It was finished in December 2009, and has a capacity of 64,100 people. It's easily the most artistic of all the World Cup stadiums, but more important than that I think is what a friend told me: it has this inviting glow, this homey look that makes it look welcoming and motherly. Fitting for Cape Town, also known as the Mother City.

Anyways we went into the dressing rooms and stuff, sat in the benches and acted like big superstars. It was awesome. After that it was a pretty chill day... it was raining horribly so the girls and me decided just to have a chill day. We went to the mall and watched Prince of Persia (phwoaaar, Jake Gyllenhaal... plus it was a pretty cool movie lol) and then just came home and chilled with the family.

Tuesday, June 8th

Tuesday was absolutely beautiful outside, sunny and breezy... a good mix for walking about. The girls and me left the house relatively early and started out tour with the Castle of Good Hope. The Castle is the oldest colonial building left in Cape Town, and it is the seat of the military today. It looks absolutely beautiful from the outside, and it's totally worth the visit to see the views of Table Mountain from as well as some cool war exhibitions... plus we got to see the change of guard. Other than that there's not much else to see. We did get some cool pictures though.

After that we walked down to Iziko Slave Lodge Museum. Now that is a museum worth visiting. This used to be the Slave Lodge of Cape Town back when slavery was still taking place. It's extremely well presented, interactive and very very stirring. Their main exhibition is obviously about slavery, but they also have another one about Nelson Mandela, which is sure to stir up some strong emotions.

After Iziko we walked past Parliament (and the balcony where Mandela gave his first speech from after being released), down Company Gardens (where the squirrels come shake your hand... literally) and all the way to the Iziko Natural Museum of South Africa: and awesome exhibition of everything from whale bones to huge dinosaurs, and a cool planetarium. Nothing short of the Natural Museum of America in New York... except maybe in fame. 

It was starting to get colder then, and we were pretty tired, so the girls and me walked all the way back to the V&A Waterfront, picking up a lost American tourist on the way haha... Oh yes, I picked up my England-Algeria ticket on the way too! Coolest thing, I can't wait for the games. At the Waterfront we shopped around until we got picked up, and then came home.

Wednesday, June 9th

Aquarium day! I woke up super late, but it was OK cause I was on my own for the day. Tommy dropped me off at the Waterfront around 3, and I went straight to the Two Oceans Aquarium, famed for its over 3,000 species and... it's Predator Tank: 2-million litres of water, 28-cm thick viewing panels, short-tailed sting rays (the largest of the stingray species - at least 4.3m), and 3 2m-long jagged-tooth sharks... oh yes, and I'm diving in the tank this Saturday.

I spent over two hours in the aquarium, taking pictures and enjoying the sight (while blaring music on my headphones.. Class A Tourism) and then toured around the Waterfront and Victoria Wharf (awesome mall). Got myself a huge German flag, and - picture this - Kanye West Germany sunglasses. They. Are. Ballin.

After getting picked up from there by Johnny (Tommy's friend) he took me down to Long Street, Cape Town's nightlife area. South Americans have taken over!!! Football fever is BLAZING, there we people with drums and vuvuzelas, singing in spanish and portuguese, and all you could see was jerseys form the South American national teams. Argentinians and Brazilians are the loudest... but it was me, the tiny Peruvian, who was easily the most excited... and proud as hell to be Latin American. 

Jaws

Shut up with criticizing my unoriginal title.... it's a classic :)

I WENT GREAT WHITE SHARK CAGE DIVING TODAY (that enough should count for a blog entry, that's how exciting that is)

It was sick!! It all started cause last night I went to one of Tommy's friend's brother's birthday party (which was massive fun by the way. And I learned new things... such as South Africans say "hectic" instead of cool or awesome AND a bathing suit is a COSTUME. I couldn't figure out if they wanted us to dress like sharks or something when I first read the things-to-bring on the dive list).

Anyways, turns out that brother has an older brother who works with the daughter of the owner of the biggest Shark Cage Diving company in Cape Town (you're allowed to re-read that last sentence a couple of times). As it turns out, the daughter had organized an office group outing to go on a dive for today. And since I wanted to go, hey said there was an extra spot if I wanted to join them.

So, with full knowledge that I may just be jinxing myself by saying this... my travelling good luck stands. I got to go with company, with zero planning, got a ride to the place AND PAYED FRIENDS AND FAMILY PRICE hahaha! It ended up costing me ZAR500 instead of the regular 1500. HECTIC.

I can safely say that (not counting the seasickness and waking up at 5:30am) it is by far one of the most amazing experiences I had ever had in my life. These animals are kings of the ocean. They are huge, intimidating, and IMMENSELY beautiful. It's amazing how they were swimming around us so calmly, but even in their slowness you can tell how incredibly powerful they are: everything from the tip of their noses to their tiny beady eyes, long tail, fins (and.... yes, the very sharp teeth) is made to let you know that you're facing a creature to be reckoned with. It had to do nothing but swim close to us slowly to have us all gasping for breath much sooner than we would have if we were swimming across a pool, and desperately grabbing on to the gate, half terrified to leave the water for fear of missing out, half wanting so badly to scream (out of excitement, not fear) up in the air gap. It's funny how people think comparing ourselves with the big vast universe can make us realize how tiny we really are (and how insignificant). But trust me, while the universe can be a vastly abstract concept to grasp... swimming face to face with a Great White will definitely put you into perspective. We are puny humans.

I did nothing else today. Between the dizziness and the adrenaline, I came back home and... dirty and salty... collapsed in bed and didn't wake up until 5 hours later. Now I'm going to get some rest again... tomorrow I begin training at Green Point Stadium!

I grabbed some pretty cool shots you can see on the new facebook album, and I'll be posting the ones from Table Mountain tomorrow... Table Mountain, by the way (since I made no blog about it) has made me seriously consider coming to live in Cape Town for a while. The views from up there are absolutely breathtaking, it's peaceful, clean and so much fun to jump around rocks on. We could see the stadium and Robben Island, all the way around to the nicest beaches, and I had a laugh watching the girls panic every time i'd climb on big boulders near the edge to grab a cool shot. The risk was well worth it, I hope you enjoy the pictures :)

Alrighty bedtime. Toodles, bloggies!

June 6 - 5:11pm Lima, 6:11pm Ottawa, 12:11am Cape Town (so for you its still June 5th.. baha being in the 5th is sooo yesterday... GET WITH THE TIMES, PEOPLE!!)

Waka Waka

I didn't write a blog yesterday night namely because I was partially dead tired + partially impaired by South African cider... which apparently is ridiculously good. Lucky for us though, my memory is still pretty intact so I can tell you all about my day. 

OK so the twins and Vera (their mom) took me to this really nice mall not too far from here, to get myself a South African cell phone. We toured around the place a couple of times, until we finally got to the store where I found the thing I was looking for, went to purchase it... and realized I'd lost my wallet two stores before. Now you see, I can sense you wanting to smack my head right now, and I fell you. All those warnings about getting mugged and stuff? Well I decided why run the risk, I might as well loose the thing and make it that much harder for them to mug me. Right?? Right??? Shut up.

Anyways thank god the lady at the store had found the thing and was keeping it safe for me. No, nothing was missing; yes, I'm an idiot; no, you cannot continue to make fun of me now.

The (actual) exciting part of my day came after. They took me to the stadium! I did my accreditation thingy and got my big stadium pass (oh do I look hot in my accreditation picture. not.) and then also got my uniform, booklets and A FIFA WORLD CUP PEN!!! It does not get cooler than that. I'm coming back monday to have a tour of the stadium and we get to go on the field, and I start working on the 14th. Adidas rocks by the way. The FIFA volunteer sneakers they gave us smell delicious.

The night was pretty chill. The whole family plus me and some friends of Tommy, the older brother, were chilling by the TV having some South African beer and cider (ergo the lack of blog) and we had a massive debate over who would win in a fight between an Ashaninka (Peruvian jungle people) or the Zulu (African desert/savannah people). We concluded Ashaninkas (or Shenanigans, as they referred to them) would totally kick Zulu's asses. I mean please, they have Poison Arrows Frogs, and they can kill a monkey up in a 160m tree with them. Zulu's don't stand a chance. (Your thoughts?)

I also had to qualm their fears of us Peruvians eating dogs at home (after naturally going with it and informing them I'd be having Mister Frodo tomorrow in the barbecue) as well as telling them that in fact I had not expected their home to be surrounded by lions and zebras... and that I was in fact joking when I said I was severely disappointed, especially because when they had said they had a pool I thought they had meant a watering pond for the wildlife. I may be confusing them with overabundance of sarcasm, but they think I'm hilarious. (I think).

OK now I'm off to Table Mountain and the Waterfront. Don't forget to check out my new Facebook photo album, and i'll post some more later.

AUFWIEDERSEHEN!!

A Morning Quickie

So! While I wait for my nails to dry (they're blue today) and for the twins to have their baths... a quick update on the situation. My host family is AWESOME. The twins are great and my room is great, their brother is great, their parents are great and oh yes... they have good butter. How cool is that. VERY, is the answer you're looking for. (Unless you're CH.C in which case i just scored major no-no points.) OH YES. AND THEY'RE DOG IS CALLED MISTER FRODO. If you don't think they're awesome after that I may or may not want to talk to you ever again.

MORE GOOD NEWS... they've scored... and are scoring me... tickets to see Germany play in Port Elizabeth!!! They're driving there for the match so i'm coming with them! Aaah... we're on our way to the mall right now so the twins can get some jerseys, and then we're off to the volunteer centre so I can get my uniform and stuff. I am too excited!!

Zero jetlag, by the way. After sleeping the whole way through the trip, I still somehow managed to pass right out last night and wake up easy this morning, so I'm all adapted. Its really cold here in the mornings (Lima cold, not Canada cold - thank God) but the sun is starting to come out and I can't wait to get the day started.

Anyways i'm off. Wednesday is Bafana day and I must also get myself a South African jersey.

ps: you can't leave until you admit you loved the blog's title. HAHA pervs!

Mood: Ridiculously EXCITED

Music: If We Even Meet Again - Timbaland ft. Katy Perry

Location: Kuils River, Cape Town, South Africa

Houston, We Have Landed

So last you heard of me I was getting on the train from Ottawa to Toronto. 30 hours later, I've finally reached my destination.

The train was pretty uneventful. I filled those 4 hours by entertaining myself with one of my favourite activities: sleeping. I slept a lot... enough to consider saying I'm damn lucky Toronto was the last stop on the way. (Queue my mom shaking her head here lol)

But it was, and so I got off at Union Station, to be helped by a very kind gentleman who refused to provide me with his cart to carry my two pieces of luggage and whom I therefore had to tip to get him to carry around the stuff for me. There go ten bucks. He helped me to the shuttle service to the airport, and from there once I got into the plane I can honestly say I did nothing but eat and sleep.

The 8 hour flight to Amsterdam was entirely uneventful... but by the way a BIG shoutout to KLM for providing me with what easily was the best meal i've ever had on an aircraft. Those were some good ravioli. In Amsterdam I chatted away the battery life of my last piece of communication (and so my last source of music... but it was worth it) and then off I was, to my 11 hour flight on my way to Cape Town... and an extra 9 hours of slumber.

Cape Town airport is pretty great. Customs is superfast, and my host family was waiting for me outside the gates with a little Daniela Chavez sign (with stars and hearts). They were sure I was bringing someone with me when they saw the size of my luggage.

The sights of Cape Town!!! Oh they are wonderful... or they must be at least. I have no clue... it's really dark at night here. I'll discover more tomorrow.

Till then, PEACE OUT!

Mood: Tired (yes, still)

Music: Can't be Tamed - Miley Cyrus (I know, I know.... I should be ashamed. BUT I'M NOT, SO SUCK THAT)

Location: Kuils River, Cape Town, South Africa