Nobody believes me when I say that the 80 days thing is a coincidence. But it is.
We leave the day after Isabel's last exam and return the day before the first full day of school. 80 days.
Actually from take off to touch down at Winnipeg International is 79 days and 20 hours, but door to door from our house... precisely 80 days.

And a bit about the backstory. In 1993 after three years in veterinary practice Lorraine and I quit our jobs and backpacked around the world for eight months, doing everything from living in a cave in Greece (a very nice cave mind you) to camel trekking across the Rajastani desert to celebrating Christmas in Hong Kong to island hopping in Thailand to volcano climbing in Indonesia to living with a family in Samoa to... well, the list does go on and on. Everyone said, "Wow, that was the trip of a lifetime!" To which we responded, "Nooo! It can't be the only time we do that! It just can't be." We swore we would do something similar again when we had kids. It's 22 years later. Isabel is 13. Alexander is 10.
It's time.

Saturday, August 8, 2015

Day 50 Southernmost

Yesterday we drove to the southernmost point on the planet we have ever been, the Cape of Good Hope. This looks and feels like the very tip of Africa, although Cape Agulhas a little further east is the actual southern extremity of the continent. This fact is what is commonly referred to as an "irritating technicality" and thus can happily be ignored.

Cape Good Hope does however divide the icy Benguela Current on the Atlantic Ocean side from the warmer Agulhas Current on the Indian Ocean side. There is a 5c difference in water temperature within a kilometer or so. And it is a spectacular wild location. Warning signs regarding hostile baboons abound, but they are not the star animals here. And who are the stars? Hint: we are more than three times closer to the South Pole than to home...

You are correct - penguins!! (If you are confused by the concept of penguins in Africa I refer you to my "I Froze My Ass In Africa" post.) Now I ask you, who does not love penguins? Judging by the selfie-stick wielding hordes at the viewing spots the answer is that everyone loves penguins (and themselves). More people than penguins, but even that could not detract from the entertainment value of the stars.

No comments:

Post a Comment