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Published: June 17th 2007
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De Waterkant
This is our cute little gay neighborhood. Well, I arrived in Cape Town last Wednesday evening, and it's taken me this long to have a moment to sit down and use the computer. Needless to say, I've been having an amazing time, and Cape Town is truly the most beautiful place on earth. I'm going to divide everything up into a couple of entries, otherwise this would be the longest, most picture-laden entry on earth.
I'm staying in a holiday house with six other girls from my program. We're staying in an area known as De Waterkant, which means "The Waterfront", and it's a trendy little area near the Cape Malay Quarter and Bo Kaap. This is high real estate, but because it's not on the beach itself, it's not that high, but it's very very close to the center of the city. It's urban living, but this tiny little neighborhood is quaint and very similar, from what I understand, to some areas in San Francisco. It may also be reminiscent of San Francisco because it is the gay-friendly district. The house is luxurious to the extreme; we have a rooftop pool, sunken bathtubs, and designer furniture. The area we live in is very hilly; to get
My House
Where the magic happens. to my house from the main lodge of the guest village, I have to go almost vertically up this ridiculous hill. I am going to have amazing legs by the end of all this. I am sharing a room with a girl named Katie, and I don't think I could have asked for a better roommate. She is very relaxed, laid-back, and considerate. The other girls are pretty nice too.
So, Thursday morning, Katie and I woke up, and found my friend Eric, who was in my section at UF. The three of us decided to set off to explore, and we ended up going down to the V&A Waterfront, which is a tourist-heavy area built along the harbor of Cape Town. The weather wasn't very good; it was cold, and misty, with clouds threatening rain. The Waterfront has a lot of building going on right now, because of the massive improvementsSouth Africans are making in order to host the World Cup in 2010. So there were these huge cranes everywhere. We saw a few typical tourist curio shops, and just generally took in the scenery. South Africans are very aware of their history, and everywhere you go, there
The Waterfront
Cape Town Harbor, with Table Mountain (covered in rainclouds) in the background. is some sort of monument to the national leaders that either industrialized the country or played some role in the ending of apartheid. There were some statutes of Mandela, Tutu, and other South African leaders down at the Waterfront.
After the Waterfront, we headed back to the lodge, where we met up with the rest of our group for orientation. Orientation was lengthy, and our professor highlighted the massive crime that occurs in the area. Although we are in the "safe" area of Cape Town, the residents are often targets of crimes like robbery and mugging b/c we are known to have money, cellphones, etc. The group found it amusing that our professor only mentioned all the bad stuff after we got here and couldn't do much about it.
We had dinner at a restaurant called Cafe Manhattan, where I had one of the best hamburgers I've ever had in my life, and an interesting Namibian beer called Windhoek Lager. It was a very light lager, more like a pilsner actually. I got to meet some more of the people in my program, including this guy named Michael, who I had been speaking to on the telephone regarding
More V&A Waterfront
The architecture is really amazing, all over the city. the safari we're planning on going on. He had helped me plan and organize the trip, and it was really nice to put a name to a face. We hit it off, and after dinner, Michael, Eric, and two other girls (Kristen and Britt) and I decided to go out and see what else there was to do in Cape Town at night.
We ended up at a sushi restaurant and bar named Tank, in the Cape Malay Quarter. Tank is very swank, and reminds me of a place you would see on South Beach in Miami. The interior is all white furniture, surfaces, with huge tanks of fish and blue lights illuminating the area. I personally feel a little unnerved eating sushi while there are fish swimming in front of me, but to each their own. We had a few drinks, then made our way to a Cuban nightclub called Cubana, where we danced some, and then made it home.
Not bad for my first day in Cape Town.
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laura
non-member comment
aww it's beautiful!!! i love the original names of the places you've been.. a cuban place called cubana ;) hehe. i want to make a picture request -- i want to see the inside of your new home!! esp the POOL!! that is so neat =) miss you tons and i cant wait to hear more about your trip and cape town!! =) xoxo