What a Week

By far, this has been the most action packed week I have had in my travels this year. Since I start working tomorrow, and it is already 10 PM local time, this post won't go in depth into everything I've been up to, but I will try to hit the highlights(the internet connection here is also egregiously slow, so there won't be many pictures, but I will try to include a few really good ones).

So as I left off in my last post, I was trying to find a way to occupy my time this week, and explore the city all by myself. I did indeed make it down to the waterfront, which is nice, but largely dominated by shops and restaurants, so not terribly interesting culturally. However, there is a huge craft market with all sorts of locally made goods, including artwork, furnishings, and jewelry. Needless to say I had a great time wandering around the place, as everything was just bursting with color and excitement.

If you have ever done any travelling to a major foreign city, you may have seen these large, open -top, double decker tour buses driving around. Normally, I sort of shun these buses as a lame tourist trap, as it is so much more interesting to explore a city on foot. However, in this case, when I wasn't sure that option was available to me, these buses were great. There were two routes, one that focused on the city center (known as the city bowl because it is surrounded by mountains), and another route that focuses on slightly wider surrounds of the city on the other side of Table Mountain. While touring around the city itself, I stopped at the District Six Museum, and the Old Good Hope Castle. If you are unfamiliar with the story of District Six, as I was, the story was the inspiration for the movie District Nine. In the age of apartheid, District Six was a multi-cultural neighborhood inhabited mostly by black and "colored" South Africans near the city center. In the '80's the government decided that the land could be used for more expensive white-only neighborhoods, and evicted the inhabitants to the townships (slums) in Cape Flats, and completely razed the neighborhood. Apartheid ended shortly there after, and the area remains undeveloped today because the city has been unable to develop the land without the consent of the former inhabitants. The empty space near the city center stands as a testament to the legacy of this suffering. I want to go back at some point, because I felt like this trip was so much about becoming informed for me, that I didn't let the stories properly move me. Old Good Hope Castle is the oldest castle in South Africa, and has some really beautiful Dutch architecture.

That night, some of my roommates and I climbed Lion's Head to watch the sunset. This was unbelievably beautiful. The hike is only about an hour long, and the trial head only a 15 minute drive from my house, but when you get up there, it feels like you have left the city entirely. The climb involves true climbing up rock faces, and the view from the top includes Camp's Bay(a really beautiful beach), Table Mountain and the Twelve Apostles, and the city. Also important to mention in setting the scene is that the sun sets over the ocean, which is important to me as an east coast girl because I'd never seen this before. Unfortunately, my words and pictures will be inadequate at capturing the sublime beauty of the place.

The following day, I took the bus to explore some of the surrounds of Cape Town. I had been taught in school, and understand that large mountains will often have completely different climates on one side versus the other because of the way they block rain clouds. However, Table Mountain is the first mountain I have ever been to where this is so apparent in such a small space. After a 20 minute bus ride to the other side of the mountain, I was transported from the rough, scrubby ecosystem near Cape Town, to a much more lush Afro-Mountain forest. One of the places I stopped while on the other side of the mountain was Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, which specializes in native flora. I spent two hours here wandering the grounds, and especially the useful plants garden, without even realizing it. The place is absolutely magical, with lots of little nooks to hide and enjoy a picnic or simply enjoy the weather. From there, I took the bus to Camp's Bay, a beautiful beach popular with models and celebrities, and spent a hour or two laying on the beach reading a book. I didn't go in the water partially because I had no one to watch my things, and partly because the water in the summer is only about 50 degrees farenheit. Too cold to simply float and enjoy, like we did in Hilton Head. I think my biggest accomplishment from these two days was managing to spend all of this time outside without getting sunburned. If you've spent anytime with me at the beach or a frisbee tournament, than you can understand that is no mean feat.

Thursday was supposed to be a quiet day, just wandering around the busy city center and sitting and reading in a park near my house that I have been jogging in a few times. However this was just not to be. While sitting and reading, I was mugged. I'm totally fine, and luckily I had been given the very good advice of carrying as little on me as possible, so they only took 20 rand ($3), and my old phone. The experience was pretty scary, but my housemates were wonderful when they got home, and made me tea, helped me get a new simcard, and Tineke had an old phone she let me have. They also assured me that this experience was mostly bad luck, and not common in that area. Needless to say, I have learned my lesson, and will not be sitting and reading in that park anymore.

Friday night marked my first professional football match, in Green Point Stadium, which is one of the stadiums where the world cup was held. That match was unlike any other sporting event I have ever been to, and after I leave Cape Town, will likely ever be at again. Luckily, there were far fewer vuvuzelas in the crowd than during the world cup, but the few that were there were definitely loud enough. The people in the stands around us were also amazing. We were sitting in the cheap seats, which meant we were sitting with mostly black fans. Our behavior and spirit at sporting events has absolutely nothing on them. They were dancing and singing, often in 3 and 4 part harmonies. In combination with really great football happening on the field made this the most fun I have ever had at a professional sporting match.

Yesterday, some of my housemates and I drove about an hour to Gordon's Bay, so that we could hike into the Crystal Pools. The Pools are hidden about an hours hike (and sometimes climb) from the road through more scrubby, dry hills. If I hadn't been told ahead of time that the pools were back there, I never would have believed it. However, once we reached the pools, they were a lot like what I imagined the Garden of Eden must have been like. They are a string of oasises filled with cool, refreshing water to swim in, rocks from which to jump (up to more than 60 feet high, don't worry mom and dad, I only jumped from about 10 feet), and beautiful waterfalls. We had a great time sunning on rocks, jumping in, and repeatin the pattern for a few hours. They are a truly magical spot.

Alright, it's now 11 PM and Karin is picking me up at 9, tomorrow morning, so I think it is time to get ready for bed. Say a prayer for me as I settle into my new job for the next five months tomorrow!

Me, Steffy, Tineke, and Hessel at the Crystal Pools

A view of the Twelve Apostles from Camp's Bay

Linda, Me, Hessel, Steffy, and Tineke on Lion's Head. I know it looks really photo-shopped, but I promise it is just the flash. We really are there.

The view of the city from Lion's Head

Table Mountain and the clouds blowing over it, forming the "Table Cloth"

A New Continent

After a solid 36 hours of travelling, spanning 3 days, I have finally arrived in Cape Town. The city is absolutely beautiful, and kind of reminiscient of Nerja in the way it is nestled between the ocean and the mountains. Upon arrival, Karin (my in-country coordinator) met me at the airport and took me around the city to get me a new sim card for my phone, groceries, and settled into my house. As if this wasn't enough activity fresh off a 12 hour flight, Karin also took me up Signal Hill with is one of the smaller hills outside the city, but with beautiful views of the ocean, Table Mountain, and Lion's Head. My poor, Scandinavian, winterized skin already started to burn after 15 minutes of enjoying the view. I have a feeling that the South African sunscreen companies are going to make quite a bit of money off of me.

My roommates thus far have been really wonderful and have taken me out around the city a little bit, including to a bar on the 31st floor of a bank building with views of the harbor. It was beautiful, and an interesting introduction to the nightlife in Cape Town, which is quite vibrant. This morning, Tineke, the Dutch girl I am sharing a room with, took me to a really wonderful market called the Old Biscuit Mill. A number of gourmet restaurants in town have set up stalls there, and sell small dishes as a way of promoting their restaurants, and there are also a number of other small organic vendors selling all sorts of spreads, sweets, and drinks. It was a similar atmosphere to the Boqueria in Barcelona, except all gourmet prepared foods. Basically a foodie heaven.

My internship does not start until a week from Monday, so I have this week to be on vacation and explore the city a little bit, which I am planning to start tomorrow with a trip to the waterfront, and perhaps some of the museums. I need to take a slightly different approach with exploring Cape Town than I took while in Europe. Simply grabbing a map and wandering around alone just doesn't fly here in the same way.

View of Devil's Peak and Table Mountain from Signal Hill

So, I Lied a Little

It has been far more than a week since I returned home from Barcelona, and I have shared no more stories or pictures. As I am in Heathrow now, the updates will be brief, and photos absent. The good news, however, is that I will start being more regular in my updates once I get down to South Africa, so keep checking back!


Alright to wrap up my adventures in Spain. The last week at Mas Bellpuig was very chilly, I think I spent most of the time with a layer of underarmour as well as a sweater and sweatshirt on. We did a lot more planting, and Marisa and I accidentally let the cows out. Gerard's father, Carlos, was not pleased with us. On my last night there, Gerard took Marisa, a Chinese WWOOFer named Fan, and I to the circus. Luckily, the comedy relied mostly on slapstick, so it was pretty easy to keep up even though neither of us followed a word of the Catalan. Perhaps the highlight of the evening, however, came during the intermission when the four of us went to a nearby pub to get sandwiches. The place was deserted except for a few locals at the bar, but this didn't stop Fan from breaking it down in the middle of the pub, all by herself. The locals started cheering and created this wonderfully surreal and awkward moment that Marisa and I shared. Anyway, very strange.





Directly after I left Vic, I met my parents in Barcelona, and we spent a week on vacation, which was wonderful. We stayed in a lovely little hotel deep in the Barri Gotic, a few blocks from La Rambla. I ran up and down La Rambla on a few mornings, including one morning in which there was some sort of charity race going on. This wouldn't have been a big deal as I was running the other way on the wrong side of the street, except that I was wearing a bright orange t-shirt...just like everyone else in the race. Thus, people all along the route kept turning around and cheering for me and trying to tell me I was going the wrong way. Some of our other adventures included visited Gaudi masterpieces like Sagrada Familia (which, as of 11/7 was consecrated by the Pope and therefore the interior is finally considered "complete"), La Pedrera, and Park Guell, as well as the Palau de Musica, which was a truly unbelievable sensory experience. We also ate a lot. And when I say we ate a lot, it is important that this statement is considered in the context of the Widings. When we decide to eat and enjoy a good meal, this usually involves a number of courses, a bottle of wine for my dad and I, and might add up to the day's worth of calories at dinner alone. Now imagine these meals composed of heavy, rich Catalan cooking every night for a week. It is perhaps no wonder than that we all had some degree of digestive distress at some point throughout the week. The food was so unbelieveable that I would posit it was worth it. Marisa also came down to Barcelona to visit one afternoon, which gave us time to wander the city a bit more, and head down to the waterfront. In the course of our wandering she also told me that since I left she had discovered that the Mencos Bellpuigs are in fact Spanish royalty, marquis to be exact. This explains how the house and land has been in their family for 900 years.



My parents and I also spent two night in Madrid. While it was a very short trip, I think we managed to get quite a bit out of it, albeit mostly tourist attractions. I really loved the tour of the Royal Palace we went on, as well as the Flamenco dancing we saw. If you've never really seen flamenco, it is a loud, high energy dance that gets really in your face, since the raised stage puts the dancers feet right at eye level. Madrid had a completely different feel from Barcelona; it felt a lot like I was walking around New York, but with different architecture. Based on my limited experience with both cities, I think I have to say I liked Barcelona better, if only because it felt more unusual.



And finally, updates about since I have been home. I've been very busy running all over the east coast going to med school interviews, which have resulted in an acceptance to Tufts thus far. I'm thrilled about this as Tufts is a great program, and many of my close friends from Williams now work and live in Boston. However, I also really like Columbia and UPenn, from whom I will not hear until mid-March. I also attempted and failed to find some sort of gainful employment, which meant I got spend a lot of time with my parents, who were also kind enough to hire me for a number of household chores. Alright, so my time is almost up, but I will be sure to let you know how Cape Town is once I settle in!