Devil's Peak & Lion's Head

View of Devil's Peak on my walk to Campus

This past week has been a bit hectic, trying to finish all of my school work and do as many things in possible within the short month thats left of this semester. I realized that while being here I had only climbed one mountain. There are three big ones around Cape Town; Table Mountain, Lions Head, and Devil’s Peak. We hiked Table early on in the semester,  but that was the only one. Tuesday was Workers Day, meaning we had no class, so we took advantage of the day-off and hiked Devil’s Peak. Campus is sort of on the bottom of the mountain, so we just walked up past Rhodes Memorial. About of a third of the way up are old outpost sort of things, one called the block house, and the other named after a princess or queen, supposedly. It was pretty steep the whole time, more difficult at the bottom and scarier towards the top. Some parts we were literally hanging on by long grass. One wrong step, or slip on the muddy terrain, and we would have fallen to a rocky death. It was definitely worth it for the amazing views of the city.

This weekend was a full moon, but not just any full moon, it was the full moon that is closest to the Earth. Lion’s head has an incredible view of the sunset and moonrise, so a few of my friends, Rachael, Karina, Emily, and Jake, hiked that in the evening to see it. We brought a picnic dinner and wine to enjoy at the top. Lions head is more rock-climbing-ish than Table Mountain, but definitely not as treacherous as Devil’s. It took us only about an hour to climb up, and even though it was cloudy it was still very beauitful. On one side the last rays of sun were shining through a thick layer of clouds, and on the other side the heavy clouds spread on top of the Twelve Disciple Mountains,  creating a sort of eerie atmosphere.

We were the only ones up there, so we ate sort of quickly and headed down before it started raining. As it got darker the city lights became more vibrant.

I think thats the only interesting stuff that’s happened. I have a lot of work this week, so I spent most of the weekend studying and doing work except for a party we had for Cinco de Mayo. Africans don’t know what it is, so we had to show them what’s up. We did it right, but apparently the neighbors didn’t think so and they called the police. Nothing happened though, they left and the party continued.

I have two huge tests this thursday, and then friday is the Farewell Dinner for Interstudy. I can’t believe the semesters almost over. Next week is the last week of classes and then finals begin. I’ll probably spend some more time exploring after classes end. My big finals are the 30th and 31st, and I get on a plane June 1st. I’m not really ready to leave yet. I’ll have to come back someday soon.