On Saturday March 23rd, Allie and I
woke up early to join our host-mom and her friend on a hike up the Helderberg
Mountain, one of the smaller mountains in the mountain range in the Western
Cape. The morning was cool and misty, which made for perfect hiking weather! The
trail was a pretty steady uphill and rocky at some points which required climbing,
but not too bad for two fairly inexperienced hikers like Allie and myself. The path wasn't very well marked so we lost our bearing at one point right before we reached
the top. Mom suggested we stop for a tea break (yes, you read that correctly, a
tea break) to hydrate and get our bearings, so we sat down on some rocks and enjoyed
hot tea, biscuits (cookies), and grapes. After we finished, Mom went ahead a little
ways to find the trail which actually wasn't too far from our resting spot. She
let Allie and I lead the way so she could stay back with her friend who was afraid
of heights. Once we came up out of the forest, we were surrounded by yellow wild
flowers and a beautiful view of False Bay, Somerset West, and the surrounding valleys. It was hard to capture
the view with my camera due to the fog, but trust me when I say it was breath-taking
in person.
 |
| tea time |
 |
| Allie and I almost at the top! |
 |
| view from the top |
After our hike up the Helderberg which took about three hours round-trip Mom, Allie,
and I spent the afternoon resting. I didn't get to rest much as I had three
papers to finished that were due Tuesday, but I did get a chance to call home
and talk to my parents which was great! Afterwards I joined Mom, Sanene, and
Allie in the sitting room for tea, coffee, and homemade lemon meringue pie, yum!
Post-tea time Allie and I began our
preparations for dinner. The previous evening our host-mom had asked us what
food we missed most from home and Allie and I had responded at the same time: “macaroni
and cheese”! Our host-mom isn't the biggest fan of our favorite dish, but she invited
us to cook it for her and Sanene and change her mind. So Allie and I got a recipe
from her mom and made a plan for dinner: macaroni and cheese, fresh salad (all our
salad was fresh – our host-mom grew salad greens in her garden!), and garlic bread.
And of course wine because we were in Stellenbosch after all. While cooking, we
had to make some adjustments based on the ingredients our host-mom had on hand,
but overall I think the meal turned out really good! I’m not sure we changed our
mom’s mind but she did say that she enjoyed our meal.
 |
| Allie working on making the salad |
 |
| Dinner is served! |
No comments:
Post a Comment