Monkey Business

Sleep patterns have been affected once by a 15-hour flight and twice by soccer celebrations. After sleeping until 12:30 following the U.S. v. England game, Ben and I both found ourselves awake at 3:00 a.m. Monday. It turns out the wee hours of the South African morning are the best time to upload photos to a blog and check in on the Sunday action in the NBA Finals in the states. Who knew?

We each managed to get some more shut eye eventually. By late morning we had nailed down an itinerary for the better part of the trip. We cross-referenced worthwhile sights from our travel books with our Bible, a FourFourTwo World Cup guide filled with team profiles and game schedules. Interrupted as it was, it turned out to be a very productive morning.

Our hostess Tumi provided a cab for an afternoon trip to the expansive Johannesburg Zoo. We rode in a small Toyota driven by a man named Stephen. Although taxi services are required to run by meter, Stephen's service did not use one. However, his business card read, "Arrive Alive Services," a title that needs no criticism or review from we three. A trip to the zoo is a must if you have time while visiting the city, although we certainly lucked out with the crowds since most guests in South Africa spent the afternoon watching the Denmark v. Holland game. Ben and I took ample pictures and video of the zoo attractions, but to spare you a tour of the animals, I've posted some funning in its place.

Welcome to the Johannesburg Zook.

Ben getting his against the ubiquitous FIFA World Cup mascot.

This one showed off for company.

Stephanie being greeted by a zoo local.

Going down gave me quite a fright.

And then there's this guy, who decided he get a little to friendly with his welcoming.


Thanks to a pay-phone call to Stephen, we "arrived alive" back home to watch Japan shock Cameroon, then tried to stay awake through a slow Italy v. Paraguay match. To our knowledge, the staff of our motel has no way of knowing our sleeping habits. That didn't stop them from stealing half of Ben's bed at one point, though.


Tomorrow we'll be at the FIFA Fan Park in Sandton to watch the colossal Ivory Coast v. Portugal match.