Ridiculous Moment: I Went to the World Cup Final

It's crazy. Surreal. My good friend Malusi got hooked up to attend the World Cup final in Johannesburg, and through another stroke of good luck (best-of-one rock-paper-scissors, tails on the coin flip -- sorry, Omar), I got to go with him. We went to the game with a company big wig and a bunch of South African kids who won a contest to attend the match for being good students. Our seats: luxury box. A private suite, with delicious food. Seriously ridiculous.

I am dumbfounded.
The kids. They had a blast.
Inside the suite.
Closing ceremony before the game. Quite a spectable.


Our friend Nelson Mandela was there. I waved at him. He waved back.
The very cool Soccer City Stadium.
Fan madness at the game. The Dutch people went all out.




A free kick. At the World Cup Final. Crazy.
Dutch fans came in full force.
Tennis hotshot Rafael Nadal was sitting in a suite near ours. We saw him in the hallway. I tried to catch him in this picture, which is specifically for my Aunt Carole.
Puyol runs with the World Cup, which he would also win for having the best hair in soccer.
These awesome Spanish supporters ran onto the field while the team was celebrating. They were promptly tackled, but they are true heroes for even trying.
This guy made it pretty far. In this picture he jukes these security guards. Best footwork in the whole tournament.
Then he got tackled.



This guy was in the suite next door and he helped get me and Malusi some adult beverages, as our suite was packed with high school students and completely dry. His name is Jabulani (like the ball), and he made two friends that night.

Overall: unreal experience. Still can't believe it happened, but very glad it did.

Lula

I went to this presentation about Brazilian tourism and listened to a speech by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. He was very animated, and managed to trash talk his own country's soccer team for not winning the World Cup. Apparently he is hilarious, but the subtleties of his humor were thwarted by a terrible translator. The Brazilians there seemed to love it though.

To The Tip of Africa

We drove out to Cape Point, also known as the Cape of Good Hope, which is the tip of Africa. Pretty much had to do it.
A nice beach on the way. Some Endless Summer type waves. I am so angry that it's winter here.
Hout Bay, a town in between Cape Town and Cape Point. We had seafood here.



There are apparently a bunch of baboons that hang out at Cape Point. There's a few gangs of them that break into peoples' cars and steal stuff. Hoodlum baboons. We only saw one on the drive back. We also saw an ostrich. Safari!
The end of Africa.
Two Oceans: Indian and Atlantic.

Plant Appreciation Day at Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden

We went to see the plantlife at Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, which is the world's first botanical garden. Lots of cool plants here, and tons of protea flowers in all sizes and colors. Day-Glo plants. I defer to Vern for any useful information, but my horticultural analysis is that these plants are neat.