Come Fly With Me

This past weekend was definitely more hectic than the last, kicking off on Friday night with a booze cruise around Cape Town. We had met a minibus driver, Enrico, the week before whilst travelling to Manenberg, and had become quite taken with his van (which sported the words SEXY LADY in neon green on the front). So 17 of us piled in with our drinks and Enrico drove us up to the Signal Hill lookout, through the streets of Cape Town, past Camps Bay and finally onto Long Street (where the night continued well on into Saturday morning).

Don't ask about the pink panther hanging in the window (courtesy of Amanda)

As one might imagine, Saturday was more laid-back; I spent most of my day in Cafe Verdi (near my house), eating hearty pub food and reading a book.

Sunday's main activity proved to be one of the highlights of my trip so far - paragliding off Lions Head! Dan, Megan and I decided to go with Cape Town Tandem Paragliding, and I was really impressed with them (despite my flight instructor, Stephan, telling me this was only his second flight but that he had watched the DVD a few times - not true, of course).

Looking apprehensive, after Stephan's "joke"

We walked to the take-off site (about 10 minutes up Lions Head) where we were kitted out and had a quick briefing. Then it was a quick run and a jump off the mountainside before we were lifted high into the air.

View over Camps Bay (Signal Hill in background)

Needless to say, the view was incredible and the feeling of cruising around in the blue sky is out of this world (or at least, high enough above it to feel like that). Plus, Stephan pulled a few sweet moves with the parachute at the end - which gave me an unexpected and very exhilarating rush. I've posted a video below (edited with the help of Bluejuice to mask my screams of "oh my god this is f****** amazing!"); anyway, it's an experience I would highly recommend!

We touched down in Camps Bay, where we then met up with Sanjay and Siya. We spent the better part of the afternoon...and then the evening...and then dinner...lounging around and drinking cocktails (or, in my case, eating three different meals of seafood).

 Camps Bay beach front

The gang: Siya, myself, Sanjay, Megan & Dan

Can't get enough of the Cape Town wild oysters

 It wasn't on the menu, but they obliged anyway: my amaretto sour

This week, being my last week at PAHRO, has so far been fairly busy. On Monday I had a nice midday reprieve by way of lunch with Lyndon (who is leaving his post of Social Justice Co-ordinator) and Dan. We went to the Eastern Food Bazaar, which is a fantastic food hall in Cape Town city with Turkish, Indian and other Asian cuisine. As well as being insanely cheap, the food was delicious. I decided to prepare myself for India by ordering a dosa and sweet lassi. The thing I'm disappointed about is that I only discovered this place in my last week here!

Today was a busy day, particularly because I needed to go out to Lavender Hill to meet a few clients. One of them is a lady who is opposing a protection application in court on Friday, and I drafted submissions for her hearing. Another is a pensioner who I am helping him with a life insurance claim (the bank, typically, had messed him around a bit). I have made a lot of headway on both of the cases, and the hugs of gratitude from both of them today reminded me once again why this job is so important (and how rewarding it is).