As we mentioned in our last post, we ended up checking out of the B&B we were scheduled to be in due to lack of internet service and distance from where we needed to be.  Sad, because it was a cute little place but where we ended up…OH BOY!  We feel like we are living in a condo!!  Before we left, Tina was so happy because they had a washer and dryer and since she only brought 6 pair of undies (not sure what she was thinking!), she has been giving a new meaning to the word “commando” for a couple of days.  Needless to say, she now is “covered!”

Our living room

Our bedroom

Our morning was a little off due to having to find a new place to stay and then actually getting there but all ended up ok.  Tina and I have been doing an awesome job, I must say, staying in the moment and just allowing things to happen as they will.  This keeps us in a state of squeezing everything we can out of every moment we are here.

We ended up taking the half-day afternoon tour headed to The Cape of Good Hope.  This area is the southwestern most point of South Africa and is where the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans meet.  Thabani was our tour guide and he was a hoot!!  We were in the van with a couple from Austria and another couple from Whales.  Thabani was cracking jokes the whole time about where each of us were from.

Tina and Thabani

Chris and Tina at False Bay overlook

It was a quite eventful ride (it took about an hour and a half) and we stopped a few times along the way.  As we were passing a beautiful beach off of the Atlantic Ocean, Thabani pointed out to us the FULL-TIME shark spotters on the beach.  The shark spotters sit up over the cliff with binoculars and have different colored flags that warn the guard on the beach if there is a shark in the area.  This happens quite often due to the fact that the sharks mistake the people for seals!   If you saw the movie “Jaws” – that is the shark we are talking about.  They are ALL OVER the waters in Cape Town!!  (Vin you would be in heaven!!)

False Bay

We then stopped to see the penguins and found out their nickname is the “Jackass Penguins” due to the fact that when they make noise apparently they sound like a Jackass!  (A few people I know came to mind….  :))  They so reminded me of the movie “March of the Penguins!”

Penguins

“Happy Feet”

Tina and I then decided we had to use the restroom and upon entering the stall noticed a box on the back of the toilet.  To our surprise and laughter (loud enough for the entire place to hear!) there were boxes of FREE condoms in every stall!  Seriously though, this is a way South Africa is educating people on safe sex so as to prevent the spread of AIDS.  (NO – Tina and I did not take any!!)

Only Tina and I would take a picture of condoms!

We started our drive again and were warned about the WILD BABOONS!  These guys are EVERYWHERE!!!  Apparently, they have been fed too much by tourists so are now on the violent side and actually try to jump in peoples cars to get food.  We passed a mama and her baby on the side of the road….SO CUTE!!

Baboon mama and baby

We finally almost got to our destination when we stopped again for a bit to climb up to a lighthouse overlooking the Indian Ocean.  It became very apparent as to why they call Cape Town the “windiest city in the world!”  Tina almost had to cash in my life insurance policy because I literally almost got blown off the edge while going up.  TINA IS MY HERO…SHE SAVED MY LIFE!!  (tears of joy and gratitude flowing).   We were so “blown away” at the top, we decided to take the Funicular (a flying Dutchman-kind of cable car) back down mainly due to the fact that I was having a hard time remembering where I put my life insurance policy!!

Lighthouse view-you have no idea what it took to take this picture!!

“Funicular” car

Once we got back to our “palace” we decided to order pizza and beer.  We were soooo happy!  We also noticed that this is the first post that we do not have a picture of us drinking an adult beverage….on the other hand,  we also just noticed that we talked about drinking an adult beverage and happen to be drinking one as we type so maybe this whole paragraph is totally pointless!

On to tomorrow where we are going to be…wait for it….DRINKING!!!  (full-day wine vineyard tour!!)

Here’s for “hoping” for a good day tomorrow…

(Tina Here!)

Well we slept through breakfast because we were so exhausted from the last two days.  We met up with Zali for the Opening Day of the Congress before Chris had to give her Keynote.  The Keynote was extremely well received by all 300 participants – Chris had a mile long line of people wanting to thank her, ask her opinion on various matters, and one gentleman even invited her to possibly speak in the UK next September. (You know where I’ll be next September! “The Chris-Tina Road Show”)

Chris’ keynote-yes, she actually worked!

We were invited to attend the evening “Mixer” which was an Irish Pub Evening.  They served “Pub Food” (Chris was relieved there was no Ox-Tail!) and, you guessed it… wait for it… BEER!  We each started the evening off with a Guiness Stout and ended with a gallon of water!

“I swear, this is the last one!”

We sat at the “Celebrity Table” with two South African celebrities: Helen DeBois a Singer who has written a theme song for SANBS that will be released next year, and Marisa Bosman who stars in a “Soapy” (“Sopa” Opera) called ISIDINGO.

“The Celebrities”-Tina, Marisa, Helen, Chris

We were treated to a Singing Competition by each of the Blood Center Regional Groups.  They had to come up with a blood donation related theme song and sing in the competition.  We had “The Blood Clots”, The Twilights who dressed like vampires, and there was even a group that did an Abba medley and they named themselves the ABBO’s (get it – blood types!)

“The Blood Clots” singing their song – THEY WON!

After dinner we danced our Arses off to the Blarney Bros. Band.  They played Irish tunes, American tunes, and we even did the African Hokey Pokey (sorry Genevieve, no Polka’s!).  We were amazed at how many people got up and sang and danced the entire night.  There is an incredible love of life that is palpable here – no one can resist the urge to celebrate and dance.  Talk about living in the present time!

The Blarney Brothers Band

How white girls dance…

Ohhhh, the humility…..

Dr. Sam (a general surgeon) A.K.A. “Bob Marley”, Tina & Chris boogying down!

So tomorrow we are off to Cape Town and everyone has said such great things about it soooooo we are soooooo excited!

Until Tomorrow, Chris-Tina 🙂

As Tina and I were waking up this morning I was blabbering about how great I slept, how comfortable the bed was, how rested I felt, blah, blah, blah…and Tina said, “Well, you’re just happy all around aren’t ya!”  And I stated, “That’s our phrase of the day!”  And voila!!

Chris, Zali and Tina at SANBS

We started our day by officially being “fetched” by our driver, Simon, who was taking us for our tour of SANBS (South African National Blood Service) and lunch with my good friend Zali.  Simon drove us to SANBS and we met up with Zali and her amazingly dedicated and passionate staff.  We were whisked off for a tour of the blood lab where Lillian very passionately described the cutting edge  technology they were using to screen their blood donations for Hep A & B and HIV.  They are truly world leaders in paving the way for other centers throughout the world to have a diverse sampling of HIV+ blood to test new serums against this deadly disease.

Zali, Tina, Chris and Lillian at the blood lab

After discussing the details for my workshops for the Congress, we then headed to Maropeng for lunch where we proceeded to get lost in the desert of Africa with Zali as our chauffer, Gail as our back-seat driver and Tina who knew all along how to go (those of you that know me KNOW I was absolutely no help in the direction department!).    We made getting lost a game between the car  full of women vs. the car full of men that we were following.  Of course, once the women took over the lead, we found our way to the restaurant! (Sorry guys!)

At lunch, to mine and Tina’s pleasant surprise, we ended up having a very spiritual discussion with Zali, Gail, Jerry, William and Justus.  We discussed traditional healing methods, crystals, channeling with angels and tarot cards.  Then we took an unplanned trip into the “Cradle of Humankind” at the Sterkfontein Caves.  WOW!  What a tour!  We “met” the world famous “Mrs Ples” and “Little Foot”, an almost complete Australopithecus skeleton dating back more than 3-million years.  We saw stalactites and stalagmites and generally just had a blast literally crawling through the caves!

Chris and Zali squeezing through the cave

Then, Chris’ most favorite surprise was Gail mentioning that she knew of a great store in Clear Water to buy crystals.  (I was totally in heaven at this point – I was just happy all around!).  Tina and I bought many crystals and were assisted by one of the strongest Indigos I have ever met, Philipe.  Let’s just say we were vibrating when we left…

We headed back to Zali’s office to catch our “fetch” back to the hotel and she presented us both with gifts which included homemade drums, bags, a hand-beaded notepad folder and pen, and a paper pad made from bananas.

At dinner, Tina and I discussed how even if we planned this day we could not have done it better.  Everything just fell into place…as it should and always does when you live in the present moment and stay in a state of joy.

One of the most amazing things we noticed was the level of pride everyone here has for their country and even though the country is very diverse, the respect and admiration they all have for each other.  Also, the incredible level of hospitality that has been shown to us just in the two days we have been here.

“See-a-bonga” (Zulu word for thank you) for sharing our adventure with us through our blog!

Headed to Mabula Game Lodge tomorrow until the 13th.   We are not sure if we will be able to blog there but stay tuned because we will catch up when we return.

Chris-Tina

P.S.  We did see two “wild” animals today…a Meerkat that crossed our path on our way to lunch and a…wait for it…snail!  Yes, I said a snail!  The sad part is that Chris was most excited because she had never actually seen a snail before.  (You’re in Africa and you get excited about a SNAIL Sopa!!!  OMG!!)