Backtracking Entry - Leaving Cape Town

---

February 9-10, 2008

Travel Day - February 9th

Our flight was not until the early evening, so we packed up our stuff, checked out, left our bags with the hotel, then headed up to Table Mountain to take the cable car to the top. Well, I think half of Cape Town decided to do the same thing as it was packed up there!!! We taxied to the base and got into the queue. Well, after about 20 minutes and moving about 10 people, we bailed as the line up to the payment window was about 100m long, and the lineup up to the cable car loading site, was long and then wound into the building (who knew how much it twisted and turned in there). The taxi ride up was just over 40Rands, and it didn’t seem that far, so being the adventurous two, we decided to walk back to the hotel. The route was extremely hot, with neither of us wearing hats or sunscreen. We fared relatively well with only a sunburn on my chest, which today (the 10th), is itchy! Otherwise, I am pleasantly surprised, that no other side affects - we were lucky. We did manage to think about taking water with us, so that helped a lot. The walk back to the hotel was down the windy portion of the road near the cable car base station, then along the roads. We were expecting there to be more shade, but we remembered the route up incorrectly, and there was hardly any shade at that moment (around 11:30, we began the walk down). A couple of taxis honked at us, in their way of asking if we wanted a ride, but the walk was fun. Managed to take a few pictures along the route and passed a delightful looking chocolate shop. You know I was hot and tired when the thought of chocolate did not appeal to me (darn!).

We wandered into the air conditioned small store (its name is Woolworths) to buy cold drinks before heading for lunch. Took advantage of the air conditioning and wandered into the book store too. Picked up a couple of things to read. When we were cooled down, we sat in the shade and drank our cold drinks. Across the street from us, there was a poster advertising a Celine Dion concert. She must be very popular here as since, have seen a contest to win dinner and tickets to her show advertised in a few locations. She will be in South Africa the third week of February.

Lunch was at our favourite restaurant, Greens, and shared yet another thin crust, wood fired cooked pizza, a few glasses of wine for Chris, and a cola and tea for me. A grand total of about 150 Rand (about $20-25 Canadian - great deal!!!). As Chris and I speculated, a lunch like that in Vancouver would cost at least $40 but probably closer to $50 (two glasses of wine in BC cost a lot and these glasses here have a lot of wine in them). Then onto the airport, with a smooth boarding and flight to Johannesburg. We had around a 3 hour wait for our flight to Paris.

As soon as I was able, I lowered my seat and slept most of the night. Woke up feeling somewhat refreshed.


Interesting things about south Africa:
Drive on the left side of the road.
When you say thank-you to someone, they reply “Pleasure”
Taxi drivers are paid 200-300 Rand per day, and that day is 20 hours long (from a taxi driver who worked for a good company, where they train and such, he was 63, and planning to retire in a couple of years).
Food is relatively cheap
Most people speak English and Afrikaan
Lots of palm trees and a few cacti

---