Riotcarrot Runs a Race.: #beachlife

My weekend in Capetown Part III- WINE!

Due to lack of planning and lack of time, we did an incredibly touristy version of a wine tour (The Red Hop on Hop Off Bus Wine Route)- I may take my wine-ing a little more serious when the Hubs visits. Although he's not really into wine-ing so maybe there will be no wine. As a team, we are more into vodka-ing. Maybe there's a vodka tour.

I would like to find a really great pinotage to bring home to add to our very tiny wine collection (I tend to drink the wine faster than it collects). Pinotage is apparently the South African thing. I've found some really great ones in the grocery store, but unfortunately none on this tour worth hauling back with me.

Wine:

Groot Constantia

We decided to go with the wine and chocolate pairing at our first stop on the "wine tour" because it was around 1pm and hey, chocolate counts as food right?

Apparently not so much, because 5- 1/2 glasses of wine later I was a little tipsy and I thought this pic of my feet not on a beach was the most hilarious thing in the world.

The wine was okay. I found the chocolate pairing, for the most part, pretty interesting. For most of the pairings, the chocolate really did change the taste profile of the wine, bringing forward certain attributes. Nothing I loved though.

Not tipsy enough to stop drinking though, so off to the next stop:
Eagles Nest

We got "real" food and water this time.

Final Stop: Beau Constantia

This Vineyard is really beautiful, but unfortunately no wine tasting here... T had enough and I had to wait for dinner for more wine. :( We did get to check out the "loo with a view" though. That was pretty fantastic.

When we saw this, we were like what the hell, are there glory holes in this bathroom??

Nope. Just a kick-ass view of vineyards while you pee.

A little wine buzzed and front seat on top of the drunk bus...err... I mean Red Bus...with Alkaline Trio blasting in my head phones and these breath taking views may have been one of the highlights of the trip. It was one of those moments you have where you are like "Holy shit, how the hell did I get here?"

What a great week!

After a productive week at work, learning some new skills and not burning myself with the fryer it was off to Durban for a beach week getaway. Durban is a popular holiday destination for South Africans. This is currently off season so a little slower, but nothing like Ibiza off season which was like a ghost town.

We had a bit of slow start on Friday after the restaurant that was recommended by coworkers was closed. Some parts of Durban can be a little rough so we were hesitant to explore

In the dark. It improved exponentially after dinner and through the rest of the
weekend. I will go back if I have time, there are a few tours of traditional African villages I would like to do and I'd love to explore the nightlife properly. I'm struggling to find a U.S. Or international town to compare it to. It's not Maimi, it's not as rich and glamorous. I guess it would be more like Jamaica, but less port-crazy and a little less sketchy.

This weekend is best described in pictures:

First stop after dinner, Florida Road where all the night life is.... when at least the night life that is safe for 2 white girl tourists.

So, so not Miami

Oi! Oi! Oi!

Cheers from Club Cubana!

Club Cubana

Up bright and early on Saturday....

Hello Durban! View of ocean and sketch amusement park from the window.

Off to Ushaka Marine world - a marine entertainment center a couple miles down the beach. I found it interesting how different parenting is here from the US. Kids were running around unsupervised like it was 1981 and there was little scolding... and guess what, there were no disasters that I saw. There also really wasn't many life guards or rules or safety in general...but that is a whole other train of thought.

Wet n' Wild Waterpark

I decided that there were far too few regulations for me to try the tallest water slide in Africa. The little bumpy one was enough.

Sea World- Dolphin Show

Jumping Dolphins

I noticed the "not appropriate for those older than 10 years" sigh a little too late. I really wanted to be a tortuga.

Interesting session on African penguins, including a feeding. Penguins wear bracelets that have a color code. The trainer uses that to identify the birds and make sure every one gets the right number of fishes.

I'm not food!

Long Horned Cowfish..moooo

uShaka Beach

Ushaka beach

I only put my feet in the water because...

Blue Bottle Jelly Fish!

Dinner at Moyo was next. Moyo is a fun African chain where there's traditional African food from all around Africa...including fried worms! There's also face painting and traditional decorations.

Here's a pic of me in a replica of a large prehistoric shark mouth. Because dinosaur shark.

There was a creepy Amusement Park across the street from our hotel that was open almost all the time but there was never anyone really there. It reminded me of Kiddie Kingdom.

Here's some pics of the beach at night:

Here's some morning pics of the beach:

There were so many baptisms.

So the water was a little poopy on Sunday.

yo dude in speedo, why you photo booming the baptism??

I don't care how pretty the beach is...i have my priorities

Hawkers putting out their wares

Here's me on the super sketch beach where we may or may not have been almost kidnapped and sold (I'm actually not really kidding). For some reason we ignored like 5 different people who said "DO NOT GO TO SOUTH BEACH!"

My "I'm grossed out because there's crap and glass in the sand look"

My "I'm trying to make the best of it, but yikes!!" look

Nothing to see here, just a lost weave.

Here's the nice, clean beach with families and cute boys playing volleyball I relocated to after being told by the police I was in a crime area and asked by random people if I was lost:

Yea... this is more like it #beachlife indeed

Clean enough that I actually touched it!

Here's some vervet monkey's that live in the more mature sand dunes and who are apparently a big issue in the area due to the lack of natural predators and people feeding them. They steal shit and ruin the environment. For realz, I wikipedia'd it. Sand dunes have a life span. And Vervet monkeys are assholes. Things I learned on this trip.

Hey Monkeys

You. Stay there. I do not trust you.

Dune lesson.

All together now... "awwwweeeee"

very cute, little baby, but I trust you even less.

Here's Moses Mabhida Stadium stadium. If I had known that I could climb up the stairs and swing down on a rope, I would have worn pants. Damn it missed opportunity.