fish and chips

Remember the student ministry, The Y, with the boards in the last post? Well I visited their group last Friday night and felt incredibly welcomed. It was a good mix of both the campus ministries I attend back home, Young Life and Cru. A bunch of us went out for dinner aftewards, and I made a friend who invited to show me around town the following day. 

Though my program had already taken an excursion down to the Cape Point and Good Hope, we were yet to actually visit the communities southbound. Thus, we ventured out through the towns and up mountain ranges the local way. We also got to take the train to get that far down south, this was my first time! I brought along two friends from my program, Rachel and my roommate Nichelle, on this little adventure. We met up with my friend, Ian, then took the train to Fish Hoek first, where another local from the Y, Jack, met up with us to drive around town. We began in Fish Hoek walking down a strip mall and then along the pier hanging with some sassy seals.

 And I finally had some authentic fish and chips. So good, so good.

We made a stop at one of the places Jack visited regularly as a kid. It rained off and on that day so there weren't many people present, but Jack made it clear that this place was normally "hopping" haha. I believe this place was called Imhoff Farm, but this is more than just a farm (do camels count?). There were also stores that looked like little huts for jewelry, pottery-making, knitted items, and so much more--easily one of the cutest little venues I have ever seen. I don't think mere words could do this justice, but Ian said it best, "This place is like a fairy-tale." For real.

Heading back to Fish Hoek, we stopped by some more of the quaint little restaurants, like the first one below. This restaurant operates in (stationary) train cars, one of the cutest ideas I've seen in a while. We also stopped inside a popular trading post and checked out all of the unique items to say the least.

Perused through this book with quotes and stories from many honorable individuals in today's society. May have to order this at some point.

And, of course, we made sure to hop out of the car to catch glimpses of the beautiful views. As we were right on False Bay, we were not all too far from Seal Island, home to the headquarters of the guys who film Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. If you aren't already aware, South Africa has the greatest risk of encountering a fatal shark attack in the world. Looking out to seal island we were also able to see one of the most common beaches where these shark attacks occur. And still, that very beach is one of the most popular surfing destinations in the Cape. People are funny creatures. Yet, my most favorite view from the day was as we ventured into a mountainous naval base and saw this tank overlooking False Bay. Whoa.

Our little adventure took us high and low, and it was good. Thankful for all of the friendships I've made so far.