Sad to say "bye" to South Africa

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Well, as you probably guessed by now...I did make it out of Dar es Salaam. In fact, as soon as I posted my last entry I booked a flight to Cape Town and was at the airport within a few hours. I can not begin to tell you how excited I was when I got to the Johannesburg airport on my way to Cape Town and it was clear I was back in a developed country. For one, my Blackberry worked again and they have a huge airport that has something other than curio shops in it. I got into Cape Town around 10:00 at night and had booked a room at the Cape Town Backpackers at the last minute so that I'd have somewhere to go when I arrived. I was fortunate enough to be in a dorm room with a group of girls that were really nice and funny. We were giggling like school girls within an hour. Unfortunately, they only had the bed available for one night so the next day I had to find a new place to stay. Tania (aka Calgary) and Stephanie (aka Toronto) walked with me down Long Street to help me pick out a new "home" for the next few nights. I was sooo excited to see nice restaurants, cafe's and all kinds of stores like we would have back home. I will fully admit I am a slave to the 1st world and could never live in a developing country for a long period of time. I'm too spoiled! We wandered around Long Street and down to the V&A Waterfront where we had an awesome lunch at the Greek Fisherman. Tania had been on a wine tour the day before and had bought a bunch of wine and cheese, so we decided to do a wine and cheese dinner at the hostel. It was really fun to just hang out with girls. After a few days of exploring Cape Town and staying in probably one of the loudest hostels on this planet (Carnival on Long Street, just in case anyone wants to NOT stay there), I decided to move over to an area called Camps Bay. I managed to find a 4-star accommodation for 1/2 price since it was a last minute booking and Tania decided to join me for the weekend. I went from staying in the worst dorm room possible on Long Street to a villa a few blocks from the beach. It was such a nice change and totally worth stretching my budget for a few days. I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend at Camps Bay just relaxing on the beach and eating nice meals along Victoria Rd. It is such a beautiful area with the mountains on one side and the ocean on the other. Tania and I even went to a club called Ignite to listen to some live music and do a bit of dancing. We had booked a ride up to Stellenbosch (wine region) for 8:30 am on Monday morning and after our night out on Sunday we were dragging a bit. I was so not ready to start tasting wines at 10 am. We had booked beds at a hostel called the Stumble Inn. The name is a dead give away, but it sounded like it would be fun. When we got there a big Overland truck had just arrived and all they had available were 2 beds in a 10 bed dorm and the guarantee it was going to be loud. I wasn't quite prepared to go back to a loud dorm room so when they offered us a private room at a discount at a sister property we took it in a heartbeat. We were so glad we did. It was a really nice room and a quiet place with a good sized kitchen and lounging areas. The next day we joined a full-day wine tour that went to Stellenbosch, Paarl and Franschoek (sp?). It is such a beautiful area and the wines were very nice, but admittedly after the 2nd winery (5+ tastings at each) and lunch, I was having difficult time finding any wines I really liked. It all went a bit fast too since we hit 4 wineries in 3 regions over the day. We were able to visit with the wine maker at Simonsig, Debbie Burden, whom I had met in the states at a wine event organized for the Red Cross. She was so nice to come out and say "hello". She won South Africa Woman Wine Maker of the Year in 2005 for her 2003 Redhill Pinotage. We were hoping to buy some of the Redhill Pinotage but it was sold out at the winery. I did manage to find a bottle of the 2004 in town and it was quite nice. If you come across it, it's definitely worth a try! I spent another day in Stellenbosch wandering around town with Tania before I had to catch my flight to Johannesburg. I was sad to leave the Cape Town area as I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the natural beauty of the area. I sincerely intend to visit again when I have more time and can do more traveling along the South African coast.
While I had not heard anything truly appealing about Johannesburg, I booked a few days there so I could visit with my cousin James Karam's cousins that live there. I am so glad I did. They were SOOO gracious and generous and all made me feel like a part of their family. My first night there Marina Karam had organized a dinner at her home and invited over 30 people to attend. They served a feast that included some great Lebanese food. It was all a bit overwhelming and I did my best to remember everyone's names but there were so many people. Many of them had met my parents, or my cousin James (aka Jimmy) during their visits to El Paso over a decade ago. It was good to talk to people who knew my family and I also got to hear a few stories from Joe Karam about his days living in El Paso. He knew my Mom before she met my Dad, so now I know where to go if I want any scoop on my Mom in the future. They were at a loss as to where to take me and had raved about this place called Sun City, a place built by the same guy who built the Atlantis in the Bahamas. Marina decided at the last minute to get us a room there (not an easy task) and so the day after I arrived we headed off to Sun City, the Lost City, which is about 2 hours away from Johannesburg. The place was sooo impressively beautiful and well taken care of. If you want to see where we stayed, copy this url into your browser. . I could see why they all rave about it so much. Marina and I ate some really nice food and did a touch of gambling on the slot machines. Unfortunately, we didn't win but we had fun. We drove back on Saturday to attend a birthday party for Cole, Belinda and Clive's son. Belinda and Clive hosted me while I was in Johannesburg and really made me feel welcome in their lovely home. It was so nice to see such a large family that is sooo close to each other. I was quite impressed that they work together, live near each other and choose to spend their free time with their family members. It's the large family environment I think most people dream of one day being a part of. I think if Helen and I worked together we might actually kill each other. Not that we don't love each other, but I think we have our limits. (Helen, before you get upset with me, recall when we tried living together after college. :}) Anyway, it was very heart warming to meet such a close family that was so welcoming even though we aren't blood relatives. One woman, Bunny, completely went out of her way just to stop by and say "hello" and meet me for 30 minutes. I commented on her necklace and she took it off and gave it to me!!! I was just blown away by their generosity. My flight was scheduled to leave on Saturday at 10:30 pm, so we arrived at the airport close to 8:30 only to find out that my flight to Delhi (via Dubai) had been CANCELLED. 😞 I was supposed to have a 16-hour layover in Dubai and was actually looking forward to exploring the city for the day. Most of my friends would have dropped me at the entrance to the airport and said "bye, have a safe flight", but Marina, Belinda and Clive insisted on coming in with me (before knowing my flight was cancelled). They waited in line with me for 3 hours to get a flight rescheduled the next day. Sadly, my rescheduled flight was now on Ethiopian Airlines instead of Emirates and I had a 4-hour layover in Addis Ababa (from 10pm - 2am). The end result just meant I got into Delhi about 7 hours later than my original plans and I'll have to visit Dubai another time. I also got to spend one more night at Belinda and Clive's home and had breakfast with all of them and George and Corin's family the next morning before heading to the airport once again. I think they were starting to wonder if I was actually going to leave. 😊 Again they insisted on coming in with me to ensure I got checked in and my flight would actually leave. This time, I was able to get on my flight and made my way to Delhi, India where I am now...at least for another 10 hours or so. Tonight I am flying to Singapore to visit with my friends Amanda and Andrew Lawson, as well as another former neighbor Sid Mukherjee. Amanda and Andrew were my neighbors until last December (hard to believe it's already been almost a year!!) and had a baby girl, Eleanor Rose, in February. I am looking forward to meeting her and spending some time with friends who know me. I think Amanda may even be organizing an American Thanksgiving dinner. I'll update you on India and Singapore in my next entry. Best wishes for a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!

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Photos

Table Mountain
This is Victoria Rd. in Camps Bay, Cape Town. Table Mountain is in the background. Victoria Rd. has lots of great restaurants and bars just across the street from the beach.

Lions Head
Another mountain in Cape Town that is visible from Camps Bay beach.

Sunset at Camps Bay
I like sunset photos, what can I say?!

A bit of temporary luxury
After traveling in a 3rd world country for 6 weeks and staying in hostels for awhile, it was a pure luxury to be able to take a nice long HOT bubble bath.

Wine Tour
This was the start of our wine tour in Stellenbosch. We didn't love the wines here but couldn't get enough of their cheeses!

Wine Country
This was taken during a Wine Tour we did from Stellenbosch. Supposedly part of the movie Blood Diamond was filmed on these mountains.

Sun City
Marina took me to Sun City, about 2 hrs outside of Johannesburg. The grounds and the hotels & casinos were beautiful.

The Karam clan
Marina Karam and the rest of the family could not have been any nicer during my visit. This picture is from Cole's 11th birthday party at a fishing hole in Johannesburg.

Comments

[Cousin James]

Happy For You!
Hey Cousin Julia, I am sooo happy for you that you got to meet up with my wonderful cousins. They are the best cousins you can have. God Bless me when they gave me my South African cousins. Like I said, they would treat you like queen and I see that they did. Wish I could have been with you...One thing I can say is thank you for these photos and I got to see some of my new younger cousins for the very first time. Now I am ready to go back there for a 3 month vacation. God Bless you cousin... I am really enjoying your travel blog and you are a great author. You should wright a book when you finish your traveling and the photos are out of this world. Give Cousin Helen and family my love when you see them. Love Always Cousin Jimmy

[Patty Burke]

finally made the time to few your blog....
Hello Julia, Just want you to know that I think about you and your journey all the time. I finally made the time over the long Thanksgiiving to view your blog! It was soooo much fun. You are a great writer. I could hear your volice in every line. So glad that you were able to visit with Debbie Burden. Keep blogging! Patty Burke