{"id":231,"date":"2015-10-19T04:00:41","date_gmt":"2015-10-19T04:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/adventuretours\/?p=231"},"modified":"2015-10-19T19:14:04","modified_gmt":"2015-10-19T19:14:04","slug":"trapped-in-hermanus-south-african-adventure-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/adventuretours\/2015\/10\/19\/trapped-in-hermanus-south-african-adventure-2015\/","title":{"rendered":"Trapped in Hermanus (South African Adventure 2015)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kruger<\/a>

Elephants crossing at Kruger National Park safari – photo by Guadalupe Ancel<\/p><\/div>\n

It was a sunny and warm travel day as our adventure group made its way to Cape Town, South Africa. We made a lunch\/shopping stop in the lovely ocean city of Hermanus. Joe and I found our way to the tiny and adorable Fisherman\u2019s Cottage eatery.<\/p>\n

\"Fisherman's<\/a>

Fisherman’s Cottage – photo by Guadalupe Ancel<\/p><\/div>\n

After the server had taken our order of two Hake and Chips, we asked about the facilities and were directed to follow the signs outside the eatery. Joe went first and reported that they were very\u00a0clean and would meet my approval. He gave me directions to turn right and go to the glass doors of what would be a hotel lobby. Well, I made my first mistake by taking two rights and ending up at the glass doors of a tres chic boutique. So, I followed my instincts and went across the street to an inviting ice cream shop where I asked the young guy working there if he could direct me to the toilets. He very generously offered me the use of the ice cream shop\u2019s toilets at the back of the shop. I walked through a door and found a sink and two other doors labeled Men and Women.<\/p>\n

\"Lion<\/a>

Lion brothers at Addo Elephant Park – photo by Guadalupe Ancel<\/p><\/div>\n

Here is where I made my second mistake. I walked through the Women\u2019s door and closed it behind me. It was a tight fitting door and it wasn\u2019t until I had pushed the door shut with great force that I noticed that there wasn\u2019t a handle for pulling it open. I proceeded to do what I had come to do and then, I tried to\u00a0pull on the door lock, but had very little to hold on to. So, I decided to pound on the door and started calling for help. I remembered that the young man had been looking at his phone and that he was jamming away to the loud music in the ice cream shop. My pounding got louder because there was also the entry space that I needed to penetrate with my pounding and calling. I decided that I needed to be yet louder so, at the top of my lungs I started yelling repeatedly, \u201cHelp, I\u2019m locked in the bathroom, please, come let me out!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Eastern<\/a>

Eastern Cape Students (first time meeting an American -Joe Ancel) – photo by Guadalupe Ancel<\/p><\/div>\n

I continued with the beating on the door with my fists, but no one came to my rescue. I noticed that the toilet window was open and so I started shouting out the window, \u201cSomeone, please, help me! I\u2019m trapped inside the ice cream shop\u2019s toilet and I can\u2019t get the door open! PLEASE, HELP ME!\u201d I shouted this several times. A few minutes passed and I wonder now if Joe has started to worry about me. Perhaps he thinks I got lost on my way back. Perhaps he thinks I am having tummy troubles. I finally decided that I am going to give it my all and I pound as hard as I can and give a curdling scream, \u201cPLEASE, HELP ME GET OUT OF THE TOILET IN THE ICE CREAM SHOP!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Cape<\/a>

Cape L’Agulhas with Joe & Guadalupe Ancel – photo by Guadalupe Ancel<\/p><\/div>\n

At last, I heard the young man from the ice cream shop at the women\u2019s door. He gently asked, \u201cMadame are you okay?\u201d \u201cIs it alright for me to push the door?\u201d I answered yes on both counts. He gallantly shouted, \u201cStand back Madame, I am going to kick the door!\u201d I stood back and to my relief the door flew open. The young man was very apologetic and told me that the humid weather had swollen the door. We quickly talked about the need for someone to put a handle on the inside of the door and\/or someone sanding down the door. While he walked me to the door, he apologized for my inconvenience.<\/p>\n

I do not know how many minutes I was trapped in the women\u2019s bathroom of the ice cream shop in Hermanus, but to me, it felt like an eternity. By the time I got back to the Fisherman\u2019s Cottage our food was just being delivered to our table. When I think back on this hilarious situation, it will be as great a memory as seeing my first lions in Kruger National Park, or standing at the southern most tip of Africa where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet, or the lovely faces of the children in the Egoli township.<\/p>\n

Written by Guadalupe Ancel (2015 South African Adventure participant)<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Rustenberg<\/a>

Rustenberg Wine Farm – photo by Guadalupe Ancel<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was a sunny and warm travel day as our adventure group made its way to Cape Town, South Africa. We made a lunch\/shopping stop in the lovely ocean city of Hermanus. Joe and I found our way to the tiny and adorable Fisherman\u2019s Cottage eatery. After the server had taken our order of two…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":236,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,30,3],"tags":[43,37,34,50,51,52,47,39,42,53,57,44,38,36,54,55,59,48,40,49,35,31,32,33,58,7,6,4,14,46,41,29,45,56],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/adventuretours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/adventuretours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/adventuretours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/adventuretours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/adventuretours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/adventuretours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":273,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/adventuretours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231\/revisions\/273"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/adventuretours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/adventuretours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/adventuretours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.uwsp.edu\/adventuretours\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}