bday in cape town...

..it has been a longtime dream to jump out of a plane and i told myself no matter where i'll be i'm gonna make it happen...so i did. i left joburg and good people behind so that i could do it. joburg has been raining like a mother..and they do offer skydiving but i didnt want to chance missing out because of a rainy day. cape town was ideal because it's off the coast and the sun has been consistently shining since ive been checking up on their weather.

i arrived here in this beautiful city a day before my bday. it's only a 2hr flight from joburg and plane tix are mad cheap (less than $100 cdn). i made arrangements to get picked up by the hostel people at the airport bc i really didnt want any hassles in figuring out logistics when i got there. i just wanted to show up and have no worries.

im staying on this street called long st. @ long st. backpackers. it's like queen street but with hostels and really flamboyant looking bars and indie boutiques. so much visual stimulus it's wicked..will post up pix!....anyway i arrive and im alive...so i sleeeeep.

the next morning, i get picked up by this older man whose name is arnold. his south african accent was so thick..for the most part i would just nod and smile even when i dint understand what he was saying. he was the one who drove me to the drop zone. he was really sweet and even parked his car on the shoulder of the freeway to scour for an extra pair of shades when he knew i didnt have any. it was mad sunny. he had this paternal sense about him. he drove me to the countryside and we got lost a few times but i didnt care the scenic view was truly a sight for sore eyes...

so i will fast forward to the drop zone...i meet all the people, sign waiver form..get hooked up in a harness..meet my tandem jumper. it was funny, i was a little paro about wearing my contacts bc i wasnt sure if i was allowed to wear them, so arnold asked for me. when he was told the first time it was okay, he kept on making sure by asking different people who were there. i appreciated his concern. he's a paternal kind of guy like i was saying.

so there's a tiny plane that literally fits 5 people. this plane looked plane-crash prone because it was soo fickin small where we were sitting on the floor with legs stretched out. i dealt with it and was just trying to take in the whole experience. the view was phenomenal where you can see white sand dunes and table mountain, the blue sky and the atlantic ocean..it was so picturesque.

i was in awe and also praying that i would live to see my 31st bday! i kept on asking my tandem buddy jason if he actually hooked us together with our harnesses. i think i asked him like 3 times. just wanted to make sure! he gave me instructions of what to do when we would jump out, but honestly everything went through one ear and out the other, so all i did was nod..hehe.

the ultimate scariest part was when they slid the door open and my tandem jumper got us to sit on the edge. imagine being 9000 ft. high in the sky and your feet are dangling over the edge of a plane. at that point my heart was in my throat and i felt kind of paralyzed! too bad. so we jump out and we free fall forward it's wild! i think it was 10 seconds going down but im sure it was probably more at 200km/hr and i think there was a time that we were on our backs and i hated that...it's like a roller coaster. and then the chute is deployed and all is calm. im told to take off my goggles and chill!

you're suspended in the air floating down gently taking in the breathtaking view...ahh life is good. the only unenjoyable thing is that my ears kept on popping and it was getting irritated however, i'd still do it again anyway..the adrenaline really tires you out so i was glad when i got back to my hostel. i never felt so exhausted and it was so nice to have an afternoon siesta!

when i woke up, i went to the bar at my hostel and had a hunters dry (alcoholic cider) they're 10 rand (less than $2 cdn)..having an alcoholic bev after all that adventure is really icing on the cake! i got picked up by my friend's friend michel who's a local there and took me to clifton beach. he was meeting his friends there so that everyone could catch the sunset. this beach was beautiful. i've never been to the beach before on my bday and the weather was perfect. beaming sun, blue sky, white sand, and positive vibed people. they had a picnic set up where peeps were playing backgammon, eating veggies and junk food. awesome.

then we all got into a circle and did this seance kind of thing. i was thinking "uh-oh..they're not a cult are they?"...they were not. thankfully. but it was just a ritual thing that they do where everyone talks about what they want to achieve for the month of february that wasn't achieved last month. we would write in the sand and the let the waves wash it away. i forgot what we had to write in the sand just because i was still buzzing from the skydive. i was in a state of kind of being high to being a 'lil tipsy from the hunters dry, in awe of being on the beach in cape town. i had to ask if i was really there because it was kind of surreal. and thank goodness they really werent a cult because i dont think i would've been able to take in anymore craziness!

whatever these people's rituals are that i was partaking in was cool. i made the most of it and went along. they were good people and i wanted to be open to their cathartic ritual so why not show respect and follow suit. they were all trying to better themselves by doing it in a communal kind of way on the beach. if anything, more power to them... and to their seances.

we stayed at the beach until dark and ended up watching this movie at michel's place called samsara..really good. i was so tired and thought i would pass out but i was really engaged in the storyline so i stayed UP. in a nutshell, this man is in meditation for 3 years in india and afterwards goes off the deepend...and there's this amazing kama sutra scene with his mistress...and that's all im gonna say!

speaking of indiscretions, i get back to my hostel and needless to say, i pass out! i had a packed day and all i wanna do is sleeeeeep. im sharing a dorm room with a swedish guy and 3 british dudes. they're young adolescents so i already have an idea of what they're about. i did notice before i passed out that one dude was missing. i dont care. i sleep.

next thing i know at around 2:30am, the door slams open with this raucous where the missing dude makes a grand entrance with this flashy looking woman (she was wearing a crazy sequined top and hot jean shorts- a definite vice magazine DONT) who's yelling at him..'HOOOOOW RUDE..im thinking 'what the fcuk is going on!' im forced to listen in on what's happening. this flashy little woman kept saying..'you owe me 300 rand (which is like $45 cdn )!!' we were all like 'WHAAAAAAAAAT...me and the other dudes were confused and irate from being rudely awakened.

next thing we realize is that this dumbass dude from england brought in a prostitute into our dorm room!! the funny thing was this dude didnt have enough money and only had 20 rand (like not even $3). the prostitute's livid. they both leave the room and we're all livid. since i was on the top bunk, i asked one of the guys to lock the door and not let them in! we all went on a potty-mouthed tirade.

in hindsight it's hilarious but i absolutely hate being woken up in the middle of the nite especially in such a rude manner so i was being a full throttled bitch!..so after some time dumbass dude comes in without flashy woman and we were like..'what the EFF were you thinking!! he tells us he had no idea that she was a hooker. i was so dumbfounded by his response and didnt want to engage in conversation with him that i went straight to sleep. im thinking 'you're a crazy mofo. and i hope her pimp comes after you with a vengeance!

i find out the next day his friend had to spot him 300 rand to make her go away. now really...that's what friends are for! so one new thing i learn in cape town is that the going rate for blow jobs in this city is $45 cdn. what a b-day.