Kudu:
Springbok is the south african national animal, also mascot of the world champion rugby team:
All three are very good!
After packing our bags we headed off to the V & A Waterfront to walk around seeing we have about 3 hours until our ride to the airport would arrive. We found some more souvenirs and then were searching for some of the local music we had been hearing at the fan parks and in the stadiums. Every pre-match playlist followed the same order of songs including Bob Marley's "could you be loved" and a bunch of african artists. Freshlygound is one with a style called "afro-pop" (almost any song by them is good) and K'naan the other (his song "Wavin' Flag" seems to be the world cup anthem here). I highly recommend both if they are available in the US anytime soon. This was the 6th music store we had gone to during our trip but it seemed the entire country was sold out of K'naan's album. We spoke with one of the store employees who told us they were expecting a new shipment any day now. When we told him we were heading to the airport in an hour for our flight home he offered to sell us his personal copy! Which we bought, for what amounts to around $28 (we gave him an extra few $ for being so kind).
People in south africa are too nice, everywhere we have been. The whole country is beautiful and everyone will say hi to you and ask about where you are from, what it is like back in the US, how we like South Africa, which team we support, and on and on. Made the whole trip so enjoyable!
After the waterfront it was time to head back to our hotel (Protea Hotel Victoria Junction) for the trip to the airport. By the way, we learned at Kirstenbosch that a Protea is a type of flower with many varieties.
On to the airport leaving picturesque Cape Town behind. Our flight to Johannesburg left at 3:50pm (9:50am EST on the 26th). Arriving in Johannesburg we had to collect our bags at baggage claim and hurry over to the international terminal and check-in for our Delta flight to Atlanta. Turns out my bag was a few kilograms overweight with the souvenirs at the waterfront so we had to quick shuffle some stuff around between our 2 bags - thank goodness I had the hand-held scale my mom gave me! Made it much easier to figure out when my bag was under the proper weight rather than guessing before going back to the counter again.
It was a little chaotic getting to johannesburg, getting our luggage from British Airways (which took FOREVER), checking-in with Delta, returning my Vodacom SIM card rental, and getting to our gate, but we managed to make it! We finally settled into our seats after 4 of 5 different security screenings. 3 seats across with me at the window and Sarah next to me and a nice woman from Oregon on the aisle. The nice thing about international flights is the food is quite good (chicken and mushrooms for dinner and then an omelette for breakfast) and they come by with free drinks and such at various intervals. We watched "Inglorious Basterds" at the same time on our in-seat tv's so it was like watching at home. Good movie. All the while the pilot was providing updates on the US-Ghana round of 16 match that kicked off just as the flight left the ground. Sad to hear the US lost in extra time, but they had a good run. Then it was time to take my ambien and get comfortable...
