Cape Town, The Windy City

Africa » South Africa » Western Cape » Cape Town
March 30th 2006

Published: March 30th 2006

Well, I arrived in Cape Town at 9am after a night of watching Shakespeare in Love continuously while trying to get some sleep at the same time. Had a nice chat with a South African guy seated next to me. Upon arrival I was almost denied entry to the entire country because I don't have an onward ticket. I have a ticket from Kenya to Egypt, but nothing showing how I will actually leave this country. Eventually they let me pass but it was an issue. Welcome to Africa, indeed. I phoned the hostel and they came to pick me up. Got checked in only to discover that I am $500 poorer - somewhere along the way I have had $500 stolen from me, and how or when I don't know. It is a very crippling feeling and my hands shook for quite some time. I thought my things were always well guarded or locked up and now I am missing an entire month's worth of travel money. I don't know how it happened, so I can't even learn from this properly. I will just have to try harder, not trust anyone, and come home earlier than anticipated. Most of the people I meet are so wonderful, that it is so easy to forget that there are those out there who will take advantage. Very disheartening. After a shower to wash away that violated feeling, I walked about the town for a bit. Cape Town is intereting for its dichotomy. It is very rich and very poor; very black and very white; both beautiful and dirty. Several businesses close early and have locks on the doors that prevent you from entering outright even during the day; you have to ask. It's not safe to be out after dark unless you take a taxi back and forth, which means I don't go out after 6:30pm or so. It looks like home, then you hear someone speaking Africaans and you remember you're in Africa. It's a strange place. But no doubt a good place to break into Africa.

I eventually met Julia, a great English girl in my dorm that I spent the next several days with. We had some pizza for dinner at the hostel, as it turns out that for safety reasons we can't leave the hostel after dark without a cab. There we met Jon, another Brit, who was equally nice. They are both in their early twenties and I am flattered they would hang out with an ld lady such as myself. 😊 The three of us spent bunches of time together in the next few days to come. We made plans for Table Mountain the following day, and I went to sleep early since I had been without for nearly three nights.

The next morning the three of us set out to climb up to Table Mountain. We started out early and went and bought some food for the day. Then we walked over to Table Mountain and it took a really long time in the sun uphill to get there. By the time we got to the cable car I was literally seeing stars and had drunk a liter of water. So I decided to take the cable car up and meet them up there a couple hours later after they hiked it up. I felt like such a loser bu tit really was the right choice. I spent a couple hour walking around up there and then had some lunch and waited for them. It was amazingly beautiful. No clouds, just blue sky and perfect views all around of the city, the coast, the mountains. Cape Town really is situated in an amazing place. They made it up just after they thought and needed a serious rest. It was hard going up many steep steps and I'm glad I knew better than to do it. I am seriously not in shape enough for that. I did walk down with them afterwards and I felt that in my legs for days to come. I worked hard, but they worked really hard. It was a good day and we all deserved our sleep.

Saturday Julia and I went on a Cape Peninsula tour. She had signed up and I decided to tag along. I was so unprepared coming here, so unlike South America. So this was a good way for me to learn the area a bit. And it was beautiful. We had a hilarious guide named Lauren, though with her accent I spent all day thinking it was Lidell. Go figure. She would sometimes give us "some good information" and then let us "listen to some good music." She was great. And the tour group was great - 13 in all, from Japan, Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Ecuador, England...Nice combo. We went on a boat tour to see the Cape Fur Seals, we went to a reserve to see the only penguins that breed in Africa, we saw bunches of cute towns, then we went to The Cape of Good Hope Nature Reserve and rode around a bit on bikes, after being warned to give the baboons anything they grab. Luckily we only saw them before and after the bike ride. But I must say, seeing the baboons was the first time I really felt like I was in Africa. Cape Town is very first world and you would easily forget. Afterwards we went hiking to the lighthouse in the park and then to the tip of the Cape of Good Hope. It was a great day.

Sunday Jon walked with us to the waterfront and we spent a few hours walking about down there. It is beautiful and really built up. Julia and I bought tickets to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was kept for 18 years. John had already been and recommended it. We had a boat ride over and then a bus tour around the island. After the tour we had another tour of the prison itself, led by an ex-political prisoner, who had been there 20 years.

Monday was an unplanned day. Julia and I went out in the morning to start looking into tours and options for me. I ended up more confused and she ended up with a tour. Go figure. Afterwards we went to walk around the historic part of town and then ended up at the cheapest internet place around. Just under a dollar an hour compared to $5/hr we have been seeing! Whoohoo! Spent some quality time there after our quality McDonalds lunch and then headed to the supermarket to buy some food for dinner. Tried to beat John on the budget but went over by almost double. Ended up with Chicken and Chakalaka, a curry tasting tomato base from a can. Really nice actually. Had it with some rice and veggies. Spent the night chatting, playing chess with Jon (first time since Peru with Mike and I beat him in a distracted moment!), planning my life, and watching Julia pack since she would be leaving the following day. Said good bye to her and then went to sleep.

Tuesday was a completely insane nightmare of planning. I got up early and stopped in at the Travel Agent I have been going to to ask some final questions. I wanted to confirm that there was actually space for me on the overland tour dates I had in mind before buying a trip to Madagascar around it. Good thing I did. Turns out the date I really wanted, April 2, was full and there was only one seat for April 16 on my second choice company. Damn. Let the stress begin. So wit that in mind, I set out in search for the minibus station, apparently located on top of the train station. I did eventually find it, but it was difficult. Then I got squished into a minibus into a seat that was not nearly as big as I was, so that I was half on top of and half under a large black woman. It was a hilarious ride, once I was off and could think about it. I even managed to get dropped off where I wanted to somehow, so that was great. Was in STA travel forever trying to sort out my flights and options. I needed to get a flight to Madagascar which was prohibitively expensive from South Africa, and slightly better from Kenya. Then I would also need to change the date of my Cairo flight, but found that there were no open seats within months of when I wanted to travel on the airline I had booked my ticket. So on the verge of tears, I excused myself from the office at 2pm and went to get lunch. I hadn't had any food all day and was beginning to feel it. I was ready to scrap the whole thing and just go to Cairo, even though it would mean missig out on so much. But after a really tasty toasted sub I changed my mind. I booked a ticket to Madagascar and reserved a seat to change my ticket to Cairo for a different airline with moderate penalties. I figure that although I will go broke faster than anticipated, I should see the things I came here to see and do it right. As a biologist, I can't skip out on Madagascar now - in tens years the forests may be gone and I will kick myself. Eventually made it back to the hostel and Jon cooked dinner - pasta with tuna, corn, and white sauce. I haven't even helped with dinner yet. Very nice guy. Everyone else ate at the bbq at the hostel so we had a quiet game of chess and he beat me after 90 min or so. Sat around chatting and then went to sleep.

Wednesday was just a stress day. Went early on and officially booked my overland tour - 56 days of camping, lord have mercy. And all this for the bargain price of about $5000 in the end. Needless to say 1) Africa is not cheap and 2) I will no longer be traveling for a year. Sent a package home to lighten the load I am carrying and ate at McDonalds again for lunch. Have been so stressed these last few days, nearly to tears; at least I understand and could afford McDonalds. Went back on the crazy minibus to STA to have them start rearranging my ticket at the last moment and then tried to get a ticket to visit a friend in another town for the next day but it was sold out. As was the following day. So I was able to get a seat on the backpacker bus for Friday, albeit at a cost. Went back to the hostel and had a nice dinner with Jon. He cooked. 😊 Made a chicken curry. Afterwards I played cards with Jon, Sarah, and Chris, a nice English couple we met there. Eventually we all had to get some sleep, as they had a big tour coming up the next day.

Thursday at breakfast I talked to another couple, Mike (Kiwi) and Chapala (British), that I been seeing about the hostel for several days. They were leaving in their rental car and offered to give me a lift to Plett, so I changed my backpacker bus ticket for a return trip, packed up quickly, and off we went. I am sad not to see Jon and Sarah and Chris again, but I wish them luck on their journeys and I had a lot of fun with them. And I'll be back to Cape Town, so more stories there I'm sure.

Cape Town, The Windy City

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