RIght by the beach boiiii

Today some of the orientation leaders took a bunch of us to a beach called Camps Bay. Fourteen of us squished into a small minibus and made our way over. The beach was beautiful. It was located right next to Table Mountain which is this huge mountain that stretches across a large portion of the city of Cape Town. Anyway, while lying on the beach, I tried to put on a sufficient amount of sunscreen that would keep my pale and pasty Vermont skin from getting burnt. I unfortunately did not ask anyone to put sunscreen on my back, so I was burnt to a crisp. My back has been radiating heat for the past three days. The water at the beach was unbelievably cold, so I didn't spend too much time in it….and I’m really scared of sharks so I didn’t go out too far. I’m prolly gonna have to get rid of that shark phobia if I'm going to enjoy the beaches here. But oh my GAITA, a tourist was literally eaten by a “Dinasaur-sized” Great White Shark last week. THE WHOLE BODY!!!! NOTHING LEFT! Even local South Africans have been freaked out. Damn it...ugh!

While on the beach, many African men came up to us to try and sell us "traditional" African objects. This one guy was trying very hard to sell Rodrigo this fold up table with coasters. He first tried to sell the whole thing for 600 Ran (200 for the table, and 100 for each coaster). Rodrigo was not really giving the guy the time of day, but the vender was relentless. Rodrigo asked the guy if he had hand-crafted the table, and of course the guy said yes. Finally, Rodrigo gave into him and bought this ridiculous coffee table for only 200 Ran. The guy quickly took his money and took off. Rodrigo was pretty satisfied with his purchase until he saw another vender with the same exact table. We also saw Rodrigo’s vender on the street with his friend, and they started laughing at Rodrigo and making fun of him by saying “Hey bru, you want another one of my hand-crafted tables…haha. I’ll hook you up with a good deal…haha.” Rodrigo officially got played. I laughed a lot, and I’m still laughing just a lil bit.