Robben Island

Ahhh another great weekend (so far). Last night we were VIP at this awesome club and got to go to the VIP upstairs and it was amazing! We met some professional South African rugby players aka we got free drinks at their table ALL NIGHT. We met lots of interesting people and it was just a great time. Getting back around 4am left us all a bit tired to start our trip to Robben Island today though. We had to take a 45 minute boat ride out to the island and I have been on a good number of boats but never have I ever been on one that felt THAT much like it was going to flip over!!! It was so windy it was crazy. Ironically, the only girl that doesn’t drink was the one throwing up off the side of the boat the whole way there so that was lovely (not). Once we got there we got on these buses, which everyone was crammed into but little did we know that was going to be half of the tour. We would go ½ mile then stop and the man would talk. I was not a fan of the set up- at all. Then we finally got to walk around but again you would walk, then stop every 30 feet to listen to the guy talk. It was very, very interesting though. We got to see Nelson Mandela’s cell (#7!), the quarry in which he worked, and the court in which they played tennis and basketball. He spent 18/27 of his prison years on Robben Island so there were lots of interesting facts. Long day of history though, almost too much. Everything dragged on and we didn’t get home until after 4, which everyone thought was a extensive. On the boat though we saw 3 awesome animals- a dolphin on the way there,  then 2 seals and a whale on the way home!!! Seriously INCREDIBLE to see in real life!!! The whale was kind of far off but it was still breathtaking to actually see the water getting blown out as he came to the surface each time. Incredible. Another interesting story was on the way there we sat next to this 40-ish year old women who was there with her 70-ish year old mother. It’s her birthday tomorrow so they went out to Robben Island for it, which was her first time going so she was excited. As we got talking she told us how she had eight children, four of which have already passed. Very sad, makes me again appreciate where we live and all we have. But anyways, after we got back we all took naps and are now about to go out for some South African food then out for a little bit. The bus to get picked up tomorrow for SHARK DIVING is at 6am so it won’t be a late night for us- hopefully.

Side note: dad you asked if their language is the one that makes sounds as they talk and yes- that is Xhosa. It’s crazyyyy to listen to and impossible to ‘click’ like they do mid-word. I’ve tried too many times and have gotten no where. Worth googling though.