We Miss the Rains Down in Africa: Part One

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Before arriving in South Africa, SA, I was trepidatious to say the least. I had heard from a few South Africans that things had gotten quite bad there. The news had also been reporting strikes by the workers perpairing for the 2010 World Cup. Even a simple news search would easily pull up dozens of murder related stories. So, rightly I was nervous when arriving in Cape Town.

Cape Town September 18 - September 24

Upon our arrival we were greeted by a friendly driver from our hostel. While driving through the city he gave us quick facts and pointed out the nearby township. Our hostel, on Long Street, was an old yellow and blue building in the heart of it all. We quickly realized Cape Town is quite large, so we booked a city tour for two days.

Cape Town, CT, is the most beautiful city I have ever encountered. From every vantage point you can see a side of Table Mountain. The white sand beaches are stunning. The water however, is very cold. The place is absolutely inspiring.

Upon further inspection, there is a lot of crime in CT. We witnessed the aftermath of at least two robberies. In SA you are not pick pocketed, you are robbed. More often by knife point than not. We encountered a few men asking for money with the pretense of, Ï don't want to resort to crime." One even pulled out a knife and carved an apple while telling us this. Luckily it never resorted in us getting robbed.

Our literal highlight was hiking Table Mountain. From below it looks like a flat surface on top. From the top it's anything but. We were lucky not to experience the "table cloth"the often present cloud cover when we hiked up. This climb wasn't as difficult or long, only two hours up, as the Schilthorn, but it wasn't easy. The view, however, is stunning. The Indian and Atlantic Oceans meeting point is visible from the top.

The rest of our week was spent visiting an aquarium, watching wild penguins at Boulder Beach, going wine tasting in Stellenbosch, eating Kudu biltong, learning about District 6 and apartheid and wondering around. The weather was brisk, since it was the beginning of Spring, and everything was very green. We were lucky to be there when the flowers at Kirstenbosch gardens were in bloom. Cape Town has it's own floral kingdom and most of it was represented there. Zara and I could have easily spent a month in CT but realized SA was going to be more expensive than planned. We decided to cut our trip about two and a half weeks short. With our new time restraint and our rescheduled flight out of J'Burg we had to move. So we booked our two week Baz Bus ticket and started with whales along the Garden Route.

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