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Africa
Just hanging out and 'figurin what to do next. Well its been quite awhile since my last blog update so I decided it was time I let all my loyal readers know that I am safe and sound in Africa. Jord and Ryan have provided extremely informative updates on our time in Buenos Aires last weekend and so I will try to focus more on my three days in Africa at this point. I left Buenos Aires at 8:30 PM Wednesday evening and enjoyed a luxurious 7 hour flight across the South Atlantic Ocean. I have nothing but praise for Malaysian Airlines, I managed a seat at the emergency exit for my long legs to stretch out and even had the two seats beside me empty for my stuff. My seat had a lovely metal arm which extended to hold an LCD monitor where I watched movies most of the night, the food was great and I managed to consume my last mouthfuls of Argentinian beef in extreme comfort. I landed in Cape Town after waking up to see the sunrise over the ocean, the GPS on my screen kindly indicated with helpful graphics just how close we were to daylight in order for me to prepare. Needless to say
Rugby
From Winnipeg Manitoba to Buenos Aires, Ryan James "The Muskrat" Lang takes the field. I arrived in Cape Town quite tired, I didn't exactly sleep a lot in Buenos Aires and this flight didn't help much in that department. Customs and Immigration in both airports was a breeze, I received a nice comment about how little great I was bringing for an inter-continental flight.
I made Friends with an Australian fellow named Steve and we managed to find a ride from the airport, our driver was a hilarious Swahili fellow named Mark who even gave us a brief tour of the city before dropping us off at the Hostal. I managed my first glimpses at one of the more famous townships, and they are pretty bad, but frankly not nearly as bad as many of the Bolivian slums, however I do plan to visit the other townships, apparently they actually have some awesome restaurants and stuff in them. It was a great chat with Mark, he explained a great deal to me and how the Africans love all travellers no matter what colour, they're always open minded and nice and he's had some great times with foreigners who visit, however he has never in all his time in Cape Town had a drink
Cape Town
The Lions head mountain on your left, and out a ways you can see Robben Island, the infamous prison where Nelson Mandela was held (unless I was misinformed). with a white local, I'm not sure how long he has been in Cape Town but it did seem like quite some time.
Our Hostal is great, extremely comfortable and upon arrival I slept for most of the day before Steve and I went out to explore a bit, this area of Cape Town is extremely trendy, its like being in Yale Town, except for the obvious differences, I opted against eating out since they have groceries down here... groceries the likes of which I haven't seen since leaving home. My first purchase was a bottle of Heinz Ketchup, I didn't care what I would eat it with but later I filled my shopping cart with sausage rolls and all the important ingredients for grilled cheese... yes they have a sandwich maker in the Hostal! Bagged salad and other delights filled my shopping cart. It was pretty tough as well since on the way to and from the grocery store there are all kinds of Asian and Indian restaurants, stuff I haven't tasted in 7 months were certainly calling to me, but I figured I would wait and get some recommendations before splurging. Travellers down here as well definitely
Argentina Food
I have mixed feelings about saying goodbye to the food in Argentina. have more money as well, few carry backpacks and instead opt for suitcases (and in one case a big brown box), as well the majority of them maintain the use of their cell phones.
Yesterday I visited the famous Tabletop Mountains just next door to downtown Cape Town, we caught a minibus (Collectivo -yes they aren't gone yet!) and one of the craziest ones of the trip, I have absolutely no clue what language these guys were speaking, I can't even venture a guess, but the driver did speak perfect English although heavily accented. Driving on the left side of the road really freaks me out, well actually, driving isn't bad but as a pedestrian its quite confusing and I'm checking everything a dozen times it seems before crossing any roads. I planned to hike the mountain but upon arrival signs indicated its closure, Steve and I had our suspicions but after talking to a girl from the Hostal who said she tried going up without a trail and got stranded for 6 hours, plus advice from Mark that it was actually really dangerous we bought a ticket, of course once on top and hiking the perimeter of the mountain from there I did find the trail down, so I'm not 100% sure what the situation is, its insanely steep and so I'm not sure exactly what the situation is. I suspect however that anyone in decent shape with half a brain could definitely hike it though.
Last night we partied down on Long Street which is like the Granville Street of Cape Town, and bar hopped to a couple places. Drinks weren't that expensive compared to home but not all that cheap either compared to places like Bolivia (I have a feeling I will be saying that a lot in the future). The streets reminded me somewhat of those in Brazil, there is a similar feel down here and it turned out to be a good Friday night. There are a lot of intricate issues down here, the English guys I was out with said they are hated still by all kinds of Dutch descendants and the guy from Toronto who worked at the Hostal and joined us said I sound incredibly American down here, and apparently that's not such a great thing either. All in all there were no problems except getting out of bed this morning!
There is so much to see and do in Cape Town, and a lot of it is really awesome, but also really, really expensive. Cage diving with the great whites and also cage diving with crocodiles, sky diving, abseiling, horseback riding and renting motorcycles all top my list but unfortunately I really have to decide what sort of sacrifices have to be made in order to pay for all of it. Regardless, I am exploring at quite a relaxed rate right now and taking it really easy after my insane South America travel schedule. The only other news worth mentioning is that so far my search for the Kruchak tribe has provided nothing but dead ends.
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randy
non-member comment
stick with it
keep lookin ole boy, keep lookin