beginning of the end

It's so hard for me to believe that this is the last month. Am I really in Cape Town right now? Wow.

We finished up free travel just a couple of days ago and have reunited as a group once again to embark on our last homestay. I'm really looking forward to meeting my new host family in a couple of days, but am also nervous that there's no way they'll be able to compare to the last two I have had. Cape Town has already proved to be quite incredible; a good number of us decided to venture around downtown today to check out the sights. The african markets are just bustling with life and calls of "Hello! You are welcome; take your time. It is free to look and touch. I will give you a very good price!" I don't even know where to begin when it comes to buying gifts for my friends and family back home. Another fun thing about this area is the variety of restaurants we can go to! I don't think I've ever been so excited for food... after coming out of Lesotho, anything is luxury. Back to Cape Town though - it is simply beautiful here. Our backpacker is situated right at the base of Table Mountain, which towers over the entire city. Also, there's a cute little park not too far away. It's really nice to walk through.

Free travel was fun and relaxing at the same time. Of course I got burnt to a crisp my first day at the beach. What else would you expect? Haha. It was ok though. Anyway, although at times planning our agenda seemed a bit hectic, the end result was worth it. We stopped in three main places: Plettenberg Bay, Wilderness, and Stellenbosch. Each area had it's own atmosphere, so it was entertaining to explore a bit.

Right now I think I'll head off and maybe take a nap. I'm sort of feeling an ear infection coming on..... not. fun. Especially considering I just got over a 2-week eye infection! gah! Oh well... you've got to take the good with the bad, I guess!