cap 100: the winelands and beyond

it's safe to say that most of us staff members (if not all) are
pretty burned out on doing sas-sponsored trips because being
surrounded by the students all of the time can get a little taxing.
sometimes we just want to be out on our own with no responsibilities
to the students. this is what brought us to planning cap 100: the
winelands and beyond.

with the help of the local tourist desk, i gathered ten of my closest
friends and booked a trip to the winelands of south africa. south
africa is known for its wine, and within a two hour drive of cape
town, there are literally hundreds and hundreds of vineyards just
waiting to be visited. so friday morning, we met our tour guide,
deon, outside of the tourist agency on the wharf and took off for a
day of visiting six vineyards before being dropped off in the town of
stellenboesch for a relaxing night in a villa.

the we of this trip was me, yas, karen, melissa (three other rds),
jason (who works in the book store), chris (the shipboard
photographer), beth (the administrative assistant to the dean), amy
(who runs the computer lab), krista (who works in the field office),
and jason and byron (two of the global nomads). all sas-sponsored
trips have rules that must be gone over at the beginning of each
trip, so, as the unofficial trip leader for our little excursion, i
came up with a few rules of my own to go over with the group,
including "no talking about work. there must be something more
interesting about you than what you do on the ship" and "what happens
in the winelands stays in the winelands." there was a lot of
laughing from the beginning of our trip, and we were all very excited
to be getting away from the ship and getting away from the students
for a little while. we almost felt guilty about how much fun we were
going to have.

the wine tasting was great. some of the vineyards we visited were
constantia, clos malverne, zevewacht and sylvanvale. i haven't done
an official wine tasting since liz, kevin, jen and i drop up the
coast of california and stopped at the bonnie doone vineyard near
santa clara. i learned a good amount about wine and wine making
during these tastings. it really is amazing what a science it is.
(i was proud of myself because the following evening, when we were
back in cape town and all went out to celebrate krista's and lisa's
birthdays, i tasted a wine and knew that it was a shiraz because of
its peppery taste!)

not only was the wine tasting good, but the area is gorgeous. there
are rolling hills covered in grape vines, with beautiful mountains in
the background. it just added to my belief that south africa must be
one of the most beautiful countries in the world.

that evening, we stayed in the caledon villa, a small bed and
breakfast owned by a german man named johan. it was such a quaint
place. there are two houses with a joint backyard with a pool. all
of our rooms were in the second house. it was great because not only
were we near each other, we also had a living room in which we could
hang out and talk in the evening, which is exactly what we did after
returning home from dinner.

in the morning, when melissa, karen and i (who were sharing a two
bedroom little suite) arrived at breakfast, johan and his staff had
set up a separate dining room for our group. the table was
completely made with a true continental breakfast spread, and they
were also taking our orders for eggs with fresh vegetables. it was
so yummy. after breakfast, everyone wandered in to town to explore
the street market and the shops. we knew our van was picking us up
at 1:30pm at the villa, so we didn't have to worry about sticking in
a large group. it was so nice to just meander through the streets of
stellenboesch with no agenda.

after returning back to cape town, i continued to wander aimlessly
and take some time to myself. i took a walk through the wharf,
glancing in shops and enjoying not having to keep up a conversation.
i returned back to the ship with just enough time to get ready for
the birthday dinner out. that day (oct. 1) was both krista's and
lisa's birthdays, and a group of almost 20 of us went to a
traditional african restaurant that was recommended to us. i had
grilled calamari (surprise, surprise) and pap, which is a traditional
african food that is similar to mashed potatoes, except instead of
being made from potatoes, it is made from maize. after dinner, a
smaller group of us stayed out and went to a pub on long street,
which is the "happening" area of cape town. it was a good time and
a nice way to spend our final night in south africa.