Swellendam

Wednesday we woke up early and drove to Swellendam. We stayed at backpackers there that was very large with a lot of people staying there. We were in a room with ten people, so there was us 9 girls and then Nick from Germany. I think he had a good time because we included him in everything that we did. There was also a large family of baboons that lived at this hostel, or in the woods right by it. So we had fun watching them. About half of us went on a hike during the day to see a waterfall, only to find out that there was a drought and the waterfall was no longer existent! It was still a good hike though. Then we went on what was my favorite part of spring break! We went on a “Sundowners Cruise” (sundowner=happy hour drinks). It was a little drive away but in a lake formed from a dam. It was a huge, homemade, double-decker pontoon that took us on a cruise around the lake and down a stream through some cliffs. It was only us and Nick on the boat. We had a great time just going around on the boat and when we got to the cliffs, we took out kayaks and went deep into the cliffs to see a waterfall that was still running! Some people went cliff jumping, but I didn’t. The water was black from the roots of the trees that grow there or something like that. On the way back, the driver stopped and we jumped off the top deck of the boat. It was fun to swim in fresh water (although some people’s doctors warned not to swim in fresh water in South Africa) and of course to jump off from up high. Some girls were scared, but I helped them all jump! We went out to dinner at a seafood restaurant with Nick too. When we got back home we had a fire and made s’mores with weird crackers and strawberry flavored marshmallows, but it was good!