Imperfection is Beauty: Oh, Africa (Part 1)

It's here, 1/2 of what you all have been waiting for! And yes, by you all I mean my grandmother (Hi Nama!).

One month ago I was dragging my feet back into work after an incredible trip to South Africa and Zambia. While I am still wishing I was there, I also can't wait to share a few stories from the trip!

I guess I should start from the very beginning...

Mom and I decided to fly to Cape Town one day before Dad and Katie to really take advantage of our frequent flier miles, so we had one whole day to entertain ourselves before they got there. Now, I know what you all are thinking: shopping. And while we did shop a little, I also convinced Mom to do something a little more out of the ordinary......Abseil Table Mountain!!

Yes that is right, somewhere between the jet lag and glasses of champagne at dinner we had signed up to abseil 1000 meters above sea level, 112 meters down. I will admit the cheerleader in me quickly dispersed when I 1. saw our vertical descent, and 2. learned there was no guide, but somehow we managed to navigate through the mist and survive the incredible experience!!

Right before we took off (can't tell how high we are because of the fog)

The day after our potential near-death experience, Dad and Katie arrived. I must admit I was super excited to have a roommate (although I am not sure Katie can say the same)!

They arrived!

Lovin on my roomie <3

We toured the townships of Cape Town, visited Robbin Island, and Katie and I somehow convinced M & D (as they love to call themselves) to have an extra long day of touring one day and add Boulder Beach, Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope to the agenda (so worth it, btw). Every single thing was amazing, and brought about something unexpected.

Now as for a particular unexpected event: we were very surprised to meet a Medicine Man in the townships of Cape Town. Let me just set the scene for y'all: We were walking/driving around through one of the townships of Cape Town when we heard our guide say we must meet "the medicine man". We had been in the township for a couple of hours now so we knew what to expect from the location, but not from the man. About a minute later we rounded the corner and came upon this hut:

Medicine Man

It was pretty much what we were expecting, until we walked inside. As we each took a seat inside the medicine mans hut, we looked up and were surprised to be surrounded by dead animal skin/bones/etc. For those of you who have heard about my immediately a vegetarian for 3 months following the Cambodia market experience, you can imagine how I felt about this. But I took a deep breath and made sure to sit between Dad and the door. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until the Medicine Man put on his feather headdress and took out his "healing wand". I wish I had a picture to insert for right here, but I was too busy consentrating on avoiding getting "healed". Not because I was not open to the experience, but because I saw the special wand/stick/item. This wand was a horse's tail attached to a stick that he was swooshing around at us, the same way a live horse would swat a fly. Begin get-me-out-of-here mode. While I appreciate the culture, I do not love dead animal parts in my face, so what seemed like the longest 5 min of my life later we were on our way.

Below are some more of our wonderful Cape Town experiences, stay tuned for Zambia next week: