Day 18: Cape Town, Lion's Head Hike, USA - Ghana Game

Hello everyone...

So today was filled of joys and sorrows, I like ending on a high note so I will begin with the sorrows.  Well, actually it was only a singular major sorrow - USA lost to Ghana in their 2nd round match up in extra time.  It was a very disappointing game - the USA had many chances, however they could no finish.  Ghana prevailed in extra time.  So bad news that we won't get to see USA play in the quarterfinals in Jo'burg at Soccer City Stadium next week.  However, it will be pretty sweet to see Ghana play.  You don't know who is from Ghana and who is from all of the other African nations represented here in the World Cup.  Everyone, including all 48 million South Africans, is rallying behind the Black Stars of Ghana.  Africa is united as one.

Now for the joys...I hiked up Lion's head today...it was a tough climb but the view from the top is definitley worth it (see video for proof).  Even more joyful = Mama Bear and Mighty Joe Young (my mom and my brother joe) got into Cape Town tonight.  I was out watching the USA game while GPop picked them up from the airport...I got back from downtown Cape Town to see Joe gracefully snoring the night away in our hotel room.  Looking forward to continuing the South African journey with them as well!

Oh yea, Cape Town is definitely the second prettiest city I have ever been to.  Second only to Hartford of course!

Day 17: Plettenberg Bay to Cape Town

The hostel we stayed at last night in Keurboomstrand, just west of Plettenberg Bay, had amazing views of the beach from fourth floor wrap around deck.

After checking out the beach and the Indian Ocean across the street, we set sail on the Garden Route once again.  We stopped at Knysna for a great breakfast at East Head Cafe by the beautiful Knysna Heads.

After breakfast, we hit the road once again for Cape Town.

Once in Cape Town we met up with my friend Prab from Boston University and his buddy Hillard from his hometown of Providence.  After seeing Table Mountain and Lion's Head from the City Bowl - I can't wait to hike up them tomorrow.  We ate one of the best meals I've had in SA yet at Mama Africa on Long St.   Long St. is basically Cape Town's version of New Orlean's Bourbon St.  Prab is taking me there to watch the USA - Ghana game tomorrow night.  As for Mama Africa, when we are back here in two weeks, we are definitely coming back for another meal with Mom and Joe.  The Crocodile and Warthog were that good!  And on top of the great food, there was an awesome live marimba band.  My dad explains their lead singer with the singing and dancing ability of the king of pop, mixed with the gift of hitting some low operetta barytone notes....I'll take his word for it...you just watch the movie:

Day 16: East London to Plettenberg Bay

So they didn't lie, we actually saw a whale spouting up water off in the distance while I ate my Wheaties this morning.

After breakfast, we hit to road for Plettenberg Bay.  Plettenberg Bay is on the Garden Route.  We haven't done the section of road between Port Elizabeth and Plettenberg Bay in the sunlight before today, so it was nice to get to do that.  We also made a stop in PE to pay Jacques and Keran a little visit.  The second round match that we have tickets for is in PE  on Saturday, but we have to be in Cape Town Saturday night to pick up Joey and Mom so we won't be able to attend.  Fortunately we have some new SA friends in PE that we thought might be able to enjoy the game, so we stopped by Jacques' home to drop off the tickets.  After some drinks and a quick update on our travels, we hit the road for Plettenberg Bay.

The video doesn't do the day enough justice:

Day 15: Durban to East London

Mom and my brother Mighty Joe Young get into Cape Town on Saturday night, so we have three days to get down there.  Today we left Durban and headed to East London.  First we picked up the next set of match tickets for the quarterfinal in Jo'burg and semifinal in Cape Town.  It ended up working out perfectly as we will be in Jo'burg the day before the match as we will be getting back from our safari at that time.  Also, we fly out of Cape Town on the 8th, so we will spend our last couple of days in Cape Town including the semifinal on the 6th.  I can't wait for these big games!

Today our drive took us through Mthatha, the place where Nelson Mandela grew up.  We were actually driving through at the time of the USA game so we found a TV in a local shopping mall and enjoyed the last second heroics of Landon Donovan.  USA finishing first in the group means that if they reach the QF and SF we will be at the game!  I think they have a good chance against Ghana but I don't want to jinx them.  We also were driving through the part of the coast called the "Wild Coast."

We arrived at the White House Bed and Breakfast in Gonubie, just east of East London.  This place is wild.  It seems like an old beach side mansion that was turned into a B&B.  It actually has a helipad like the real White House in DC.  Word on the street is you can watch whales and dolphins from the breakfast room.  It is dark now, we shall see if this is true in the morning!  Check out the video of our day:

Day 14: Nigeria vs. South Korea, Durban Stadium

Today we got an early start as we needed to get to Durban for the South Korea vs. Nigeria match.  Our drive from Mkuze to Durban took us through Zulu nation in the KwaZulu-natal province.

Picture of Zulu Hut near our hotel in Mkuze

We got to Durban around 2pm and checked into our B&B.  After that we headed to a local mall to meet up with my friend Pete who I played soccer with growing up.  He is in SA for the world cup with two of his buddies from Drexel.  We had a great meal at a Greek restaurant while we watched Bafana, Bafana play France.  We all wanted SA to win by five goals so they would advance, and they actually had many chances but they came up a little too short.  But wow - France is shameful to watch right now, especially with all that talent.

After the game we all headed to the beautiful Durban stadium for the Nigeria vs. Korea match.

The game was quite entertaining and ended in a 2 - 2 draw which allowed Korea to advance in second place out of group B.  Less words, more video: