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Published: February 4th 2008
Well, I have completed my volunteer program with African Impact, Cape Town. I now have one week to explore this most picturesque city on my own and I couldn’t be happier. Sunday morning I packed up my stuff and headed to Simon’s Town with Ashley, Charlotte and Becky for brunch and to walk around. I really liked the marina and all of the boats…so pretty to photograph especially with the amazing color of the ocean. It’s really a cute little place with lots of shops that I could have bought a suitcase worth of stuff! But alas, I didn’t buy a thing…well, at least until we went to the Green Point Sunday Market. Helen picked us all up in Simon’s Town and drove me to my hostel which is in Green Point and essentially across the street from the market so it really was rather convenient. The market was great…again for photographing and for browsing! I did end up buying two paintings…go figure. Seriously, I don’t think there are enough walls in Manhattan for the number of paintings I have bought. I have a problem, especially when I don’t even have any walls to speak of at the moment! Oy vey!
The rest of the day Sunday I went to the Waterfront. Had a fantastic time just meandering and taking pictures. Really, I just love taking pictures…I am so much better at communicating through photographs than the written word…that’s for sure. So I went to book my ticket for Robben Island. Well, I knew that they are pretty booked up but I didn’t think a week out!!! Their first available was for February 4…one week from when I went to buy it and the day after I leave Cape Town. Of course I tried to talk my way into a ticket for an earlier time…and that happened to be the day before…fortunately I have an evening flight so it will still be ok timing wise. There was so much happening at the waterfront…concerts playing outside, men as statues, bands playing, and the like.
I also popped over to the Westin to make reservations for Lee and I for a wine tour and dinners. It’s really a shame that I got an email from him the next day saying he was sick in India and heading back to the states to get himself taken care of! I was SOO disappointed
but happy he was getting home to get better. This boy travels so much I only saw him 3 times in 2007. Anyway, he’s hoping to come the following week but I had changed my plans to go to Tel Aviv earlier so I will miss him in CT entirely and apparently just missed him by a short window when he was in Tel Aviv as well! Bummer…
On Monday I woke up early and headed down to the waterfront. I figured I’d grab some breakfast and make a plan for the day. The waterfront was so still. It was pretty early and did not have the busyness that it had the prior evening. It was very serene and I enjoyed it. Just a nice calm moment with nice light. And it was a gorgeous morning…essentially no clouds and a sapphire bright blue sky…so what can you do in CT on this kind type of day? Well, you cant go to Table Mountain since the winds are too strong and the cable car is not running…and you cant try to trade in your ticket for Robben Island cuz even if there was a cancellation the trip was not happening
that day since the water was too choppy! So the two most essential things to do in Cape Town will not be happening on this day. So I decided to hop on the sightseeing double decker bus and head to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. It was set up on a magnificent piece of property hugging the mountains with stunning views of the town below. I was a bit disappointed as I thought there would be much more flora and if there was I must have picked the wrong season. Shame. Next I went to World of Birds. Seriously, more birds than you can ever imagine…I think there were over 3,000 species…absolutely incredible and for the first time - keep in mind it is like 1 in the afternoon - I filled up my 2GB memory card! I was SHOCKED at myself. In less than half a day I had taken over 700 pictures! How does that happen? Well, go to world of birds and you will understand. My next stop on the bus was Hout Bay. I had heard lovely things about it but I thought it was a bit small and not much to do. Lovely for pictures at
Mariner’s Wharf but I guess I was expecting a bit more from the town itself. Oh well, you still really cant go wrong…everywhere in CT is fantastic. I ended my day trip in Sea Point to walk along the promenade to head home. It was a really nice afternoon and I had a great stroll. Oh and PS the wind on that bus when you sit on top is incredible…I thought I was going to be blown off the vehicle several times.
Tuesday I got up at 6AM to meet up with my friend Jon’s friend, Greg. We were going to hike Table Mountain. I’ve been told by several people the dangers of it and how anyone who does must be mad. This is cuz the weather is so unpredictable and the wind can be gale force. Thus, I decided to go. Wait, what?! You know me the daredevil. Anyway, I did call Greg the day before to make sure he knew what he was doing…and I’m glad I did - although it didn’t help that we first started out we missed the clearly labeled sign that said Platteklip Gorge and headed off to the Saddle of the mountain.
Seriously, we both must have had our heads in the sand to miss this sign! So we took another route for about an hour and retraced our steps. We hadn’t seen anyone else the entire time and when we eventually made it back down we saw a handful of other people gearing up to climb. All of my anticipation about climbing was sort of alleviated. I thought I was mad for climbing and when we took the wrong turn I wasn’t too upset that we may not be climbing…but let me tell you now after the fact that I am SO happy I did. It was a really difficult hike. About two hours of vertical up the gorge and this is after our little warm up. During our hike we had seen the cable car run and then we saw nothing for a long time…so again, I was a tad nervous cuz if it was too windy for that maybe I’d get blown off the mountain…but I knew if I felt unsafe I would turn around and not once did I. When we got to the summit it was amazing…the views were just incredible and we had the entire tabletop/
mountain to ourselves and the few others that hiked up. We were REALLY lucky with the weather and that there was no tablecloth at all. It was just amazing…360 degree views and only a small breeze. It was ours for about 15 minutes until they figured out down below that it was ok to run the cablecar. The first people off the car told us that the wait to come up was FOUR HOURS! They could all hike up and down in that time so I was so much happier that we braved it and got some exercise along the way! I did struggle a bit…probably a mix of being out of shape and climbing such a vertical the altitude took my breath away…its over 1000m of vertical. And yes, I started on my jumping. Greg happily obliged to take photos of it! After our climb back down we treated ourselves to large pies of pizza in Camps Bay and it was oh so delicious and definitely deserved. We walked across the street to the ocean. I hadn’t stuck my feet in the Atlantic yet and let me tell you that I don’t need to do it again! It was
fucking FREEZING. Literally.
So today was a day of breaking the rules. Not only was I told not to climb Table Mountain I was also told I couldn’t go to Llandudno. This is an exclusive area in CT apparently, according to a few people who said we weren’t allowed in. Anyway, Greg said he had already been there so we went to go again and with no problem, right past the security gate. Strange?? The sand there is by far the best sand I’ve touched yet. The softest, finest purest white sand in CT. We had a nice little stroll along the beach and then did a little more climbing - as if we hadn’t had enough. Lots of boulders to walk on and around. I loved that Greg was now coming up with ideas for me doing jumping pictures. I’m sure he secretly wanted one although he never did. We found a nice little cave out of a boulder looking out to the ocean and just hung out for a while with a little visitor from our friend mr. seal. All in all it was a great day in Cape Town!
I had a lie in on
Wednesday since it was a very long day. I took a leisurely stroll ALL OVER cape town. I walked to get some breakfast at Melissa’s and made my way to the District 6 Museum and then the South African Jewish Museum. District Six was very informative and I loved the way it was put together…extremely photogenic. The SA Jewish Museum and Holocaust Center were interesting but clearly paled in comparison to the one in DC. Then it was over to Long Street and the Green Market Square and back home. Greg picked me up for dinner to meet up with a few other people at the same spot in Camps Bay that we had lunch at. Shockingly, there was NO wind in Camps Bay which is known to be the most ridiculous of the ridiculous. We had a lovely time and after dinner Greg dropped me off at the waterfront so I could meet up with my friend Neeta’s friend Anusha from NYC…we actually met out in the Hamptons and we knew we would be in Cape Town around the same time. Greg had to go home to get his stuff together for his two week journey through Botswana, Zim
and Namibia. I am SOOO envious, but not of the 30 hour bus ride he is currently on. That sounds miserable. So I met up with Anusha and her two friends on her same program (volunteering at the Red Cross) at this Jazz bar, The Green Dolphin, and just chatted over a drink or two. It was nice to be out in a venue like that. I mean bars are fun but this was just more lax. It was a pretty late night for me. I think I was home around midnight! Oooh and I bought a new book! The History of Love. So far so good.
Thursday was wine day! I went on a tour of four vineyards (Fairview, Backsberg, Beyerskloof, and Villiera) in the Stellenbosch, Praal, Franschhoek areas. I love love love the way vineyards are set up. They are ridiculously picturesque and I had a field day. I cared more about taking pictures than actually tasting the wine. I do love vino and was interested but I just didn’t feel like drinking too much. I mean I did and maybe that distracted me enough to wonder off! Our guide was Bruce. What a character. He introduced
himself and mentioned right off the bat if we want to buy an elephant he knows people (special)…and he also went to clown school so you can imagine how his personality was. He was very into music and essentially had every new pop song on CD and wanted us to be happy with what we were listening to on the drive. I dunno it was nice but still seemed kind of bizarre. The scenery was absolutely incredible…the hillsides were terraced just like in Asia but instead of rice paddies it was grape vines. There were only 6 of us so it was perfect….a really sweet German couple, another German guy and an Aussie couple. Great long day and it was once again stunning out. Oh and my dad turned 65 today…HAPPY BIRTHDAY POPS! Oxox
I want to do a helicopter ride around Cape Town. I flew in at night and I leave at night and I think that seeing it from a bird’s eye view would be insane. I don’t have anything to do tomorrow or Saturday and Sunday is for Robben Island. Unless I can get a ticket for tomorrow or Saturday if there are cancellations…well see. Rather
get it done and not feel like I am running around Sunday before my flight. And I hope my hotel in Jo-burg will show the Super Bowl!
So Friday was a wonderful day! I slept in and got my yummy breakfast from Melissa’s again. They know how to make scrambled eggs and they are just SOOO good! I made my way to the waterfront to possibly inquire about helicopters and take a chance at Robben Island. Well when I arrived at the docks at 11AM the lady at the RI counter was screaming for passengers to go on the 11 o’clock ferry! I jumped of course and traded in the ticket that I had for Sunday. The ride on the open water was a little shaky maneuvering among the swells but it didn’t bother me. When we got to the island we did a bus tour and then a walking tour of the maximum security prison where Mandela and other politicians were held. I was a bit disappointed with the little amount of time we got to spend there. I think it could have been a bit more informative, but our guide was incredible. He was really funny and
personable. It was about a 4 hour journey. Once I arrived back on the mainland I went to look into the helicopters…for a bit of money you could take a ride in an old Vietnam helicopter for 30 minutes around Cape Town. I thought it was a bit expensive but again, just as I was arriving the last one of the day was just about to go and I said to hell with it, let’s do it. Well, I am SOOO happy I did and it was worth every single penny. Seriously, probably the best thing I’ve done so far. It was like a rollercoaster in the air. This was no ordinary helicopter ride where it circles around and you take pictures…we were diving down quickly to the ground and the ocean and riding just mere feet above the floor to soaring back up in the sky. It was insane! And the veering side to side, I was screaming like a little girl but enjoying every second of it. I had no idea this was that kind of ride but I’m glad I didn’t…no expectations led me to love it. Awesome, really…and if you are ever in Cape Town you
have to do it…it’s Huey Helicopters.
Saturday was a bit of bust. The weather was just stunning once again but a big inconvenient problem occurred and I pretty much resorted to vegging around and staying local. I’m not sure what I came in contact with or ate but I definitely have had an allergic reaction to something. I was a bit irritated but what can you do. At least I’m not really losing a day of seeing the sights as I’ve pretty much done everything in Cape Town so far. Anyway, I’m back at Melissa’s where they are playing some Dave and I’m just enjoying the people watching. I got some meds from the doctor and was feeling like going out for my last night so I called up the girls from the volunteer project to meet up with them. I went into town where Becky’s two friends from London were staying. They had a great flat right on long street and high up with a decent view. When they said they had made reservations for us at the Hussar Grill I laughed. I have eaten there twice this week already as its right by my hostel!! It was
great to catch up with them and see them once more before I headed out of town. I decided since I was so close to home and I was beginning to react again that it made sense to go home and take some drugs and get some sleep. HAPPY 63RD MA!
My last day I started back off at the doctors to get more meds on a completely OVERCAST day. And a bit of rain, so I’m really glad I got to go to Robben Island on Friday and not today…as well as the helicopter ride instead of switching my flight to earlier (that would have been a bust!). Seriously, it was the first time in weeks that it was this cloudy, if ever. I walked to the waterfront after my morning breakfast at Melissa’s and the rain and then based on a recommendation from Alan I headed over to Cape Grace…a stellar hotel at the waterfront. He said to go to the bar but since it was noon I decided to just have a look around. Well my look around included a 4-hour stay reading my book at the pool. They are so nice there! It started to
clear up a bit with some sunshine poking through but it was really an off day for Cape Town. I guess it made it that much easier to leave although I am really upset about having to go. I absolutely HEART Cape Town. It is just splendid here and everyone should go! I am at the airport now waiting for my flight to Jo-burg. I don’t think I am getting ESPN or the Super Bowl tonight. I’m quite sad about this as I would have loved to see at least ONE game this season and especially after winning my fantasy league.
So I am quietly going through my pictures waiting for my plane and this woman who has just come through security sees me and bolts over and sits down next to me and swishes her ass against mine as if we are best buds and says oh are you on my flight? She REAKS of alcohol…tequila and she is barefoot. Her feet are as black as the skirt I am wearing. It is absolutely hysterical. She wants to know if I am on her flight. Then she says “I’m pissed” (which is drunk for those that don’t know).
Then about ten minutes later in the most slurrished of voices that only the truly sloshed can do she asks if I’ll let her know when we are boarding the plane…I had to ask her to repeat herself twice. And we are literally 10 feet from the boarding gate door. I’m still wondering what happened to her shoes…another ten minutes pass. She asks me again if I am on her plane! We start to board…obviously she is right with me, hanging on the podium for dear life…she can barely stand on her own two (bare) feet. It begins to get to be too much so I ask her what happened to her shoes. She says, absolutely seriously, “I threw them out the window when I was driving here.” What?!?! I repeated her statement as a question… “You DROVE here?” She replies “Yes. And my shoes didn’t fit in my purse with the beers.” My jaw dropped. Shame.
I am now sitting in the Johannesburg airport waiting for my flight. I feel like a big ball of cotton candy…why you may ask? Well this reaction I have (ok RASH, I hate that word so I going to continue to avoid
it) decides to blow up and then die down as it so chooses, but this morning it was in full force…I pretty much took a shower with pink calamine lotion. I knew El Al and its rigorous screening process so I made sure to be there early…about 4 hours. OK, so maybe too early but last time when I was flying BKK to JNB I go their 3 hours early and I must have been the last to arrive! Anyway, obviously I was first and my questions were fine. I think the guy started asking more questions just cuz of all the traveling I was doing. He was more interested in my Tibet experience than asking security questions. Ok I exaggerate, obviously he did his job but he chatted me up when he was finished and I was happy to share. I thrilled he didn’t notice the pinkness of my feet!
It is a bit cloudy here in Jo-burg so I suppose it makes it easier to leave South Africa, but I am SOOO sad to be leaving! Honestly, this is an amazing country. Oh and the El Al security guy asked if I enjoyed myself in SA and
said you know, this isn’t really Africa. I was so surprised to hear him say that. I responded with that this is absolutely Africa … there is so much culture here…It’s the uneducated that think SA is completely underdeveloped like other regions of the continent.
Ummmmm, I just saw an Avis plane take off…I didn’t know they were renting 747s now??? How bizarre?
I am SOO upset that I didn’t have anywhere to watch the freaking super bowl!! I read all the plays this morning but still if someone has it on DVR please keep it for me! I would like to see one game this season especially if the NY Giants won! A little sad I wasn’t in NY for it but alas, there will be another in my day…I hope. I had a number of emails and even a phone call to see if I had seen it. Poopy, as my nephew would say.
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erika
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caught up
Just caught up on this one...it's so amazing that you have kept up with your blog. This is an invaluable treasure from your travels and I can't wait to see what you do with it. I vote for the title of whatever you do to be "Jumping around the world in 153 days" (or whatever it was). :) I LOVE AND MISS YOU TONS BETHIE!!