update from the coast...

I'm going to make this brief because blogging on my kindle feels a bit like carding wool to make a sweater (way too much effort for something that doesn't look that great. Apologies for the lack of formatting). Just to update y'all, I'm alive an having a great time. Already feeling like I don't have enough time to do and see everything I want to. So far, after the conference in stellenbosch, I spent one day hanging around the wineries. I rented a bicycle and made it to a few places around town. The wine was good. The vineyards lovely, and my legs sore (apparently 'just down the road' means 5-6km). Then next day i took the train back to Capetown where I met up with my dear friend from undergrad, kalyan (who was in south Africa on business) and we took the train to Simon's town. There we drove down to the cape of good hope. Where we hiked up to the point where the Atlantic meets the Indian ocean. It was breathtaking and perfect. We saw wild ostriches. And baboons and even a rainbow!!! Then we stopped by boulders beach where a (flock?) Of African penguins live. We got to get right up close to them!!!! I spent one more day on that side of the bay. Then grabbed a bus down the south coast, toward what is known as the 'garden route '. First stop, today, was hermanus-apparently the only place on earth where you can go whalewatching from land!!! The southern right whales give birth and raise their calves in the bay so they get very close to the coast. Today I did the 10 km 'cliff walk' along the coast trying to spot them. I saw two (!!!) But honestly it was little more than a big splash. I wasn't close enough to see much more (and /or they didn't get very far out of the water) . But tomorrow I am going on a whalewatching boat. So hopefully I'll get more up close and personal. Speaking of which, I should sleep! Night for now!