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Published: February 24th 2008
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We arrived late last night to Rooi Els (means red awl, like a tree) near Cape Town, South Africa after many, many hours of travel. We counted it up and it was something like 28 hours door to door. We flew Atlanta to Dakar, Senegal; Dakar to Johannesburg; and Johannesburg to Cape Town; then drove the ~hour to Rooi Els. We are staying with our friend Dan’s mom Pat at her house on the sea. It is an absolutely gorgeous setting on the bottom edge of False Bay. We look across the ocean one way and see Cape Town, look the other and see the Cape of Good Hope, with ocean, mountains, rock formations, blue skies. It’s an incredible setting. Better than I would have imagined.
The day was fairly low-key. We needed that after all that plane time. We drove over to Kleinmond (means little world) for lunch by the water. We all had some version of fish and chips, all with hake, some with prawns and calamari. It was nice because I have to say I was starving! We browsed through the little shops and then went on the big grocery run to stock the house. And then, a
day at the house. The sun came out, and it is just stunning here! We all relaxed. Some napped, others read, others just absorbed the view. We are here with friends Cathy and Dan, Dan’s mom Pat, and Dan’s childhood friend Adam. It’s a good group and a great vacation so far. We cooked out steaks, chicken, corn, made some bread and salads, and had a wonderful dinner in after watching the sunset. It was a little cloudy but we had some color break through, and I can only imagine what it will look like on a less cloudy day.
I learned some things today: shanty towns are inhabited by squatters. I didn’t really know what a squatter was, so I learned that today also. The government doesn’t do anything about these people living on the land. They are the tiniest little “houses” and Pat told us she saw a book once called Shanty Chic about how they decorate. I love that. We are staying in a designated United Nations Biosphere. It is also one of the nine plant kingdoms of the world - meaning, there is such a diversity of plants here that it is a protected area. It
is not very built up at all, and absolutely gorgeous. The plants that live throughout the rock formations are so different - there can be little sprouts of flowers that look as if they’re in vases almost, they just jut right out of the ground in little “arrangement” looking things. Otherwise at this time of year (end of summer) there are varying shades of green, tan, auburn, red, and then the flowers. The rock formations are wonderful as well. Baboons are the “thieves” of this neighborhood. Everyone has bars on the windows to keep the baboons out. They break into homes to steal food. Pat has come home in the past to find her kitchen full of baboons. I was finding this hard to picture, and then on our drive back to the house, we spotted a lone male baboon on the roof of her neighbor’s house! I can’t wait to see another one when my camera is handy.
p.s. check out our friends' (Dan & Cathy)
blog too!
Dave’s turn:
Well, I have had a rock star year so far. First, Argentina and Uruguay, then a week in the Wasatch valley of Utah skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling, now South
Africa! Ok everybody stop being jealous (haters), even I can’t believe it. About our first day in Cape Town area, our host Pat is an unbelievable person. She is involved in all of these charities to do with South Africa effort from wildlife to human rights. She is very interesting to talk to and the house is amazing. I want to mention the ride from the airport to her house only because we were met at airport by her friend Jerry. He is from Germany but has lived in South Africa for 50 +/- years. He told a couple of great stories about coming here in the 1940’s from Germany (after the Russians forced his family to leave) and never leaving to woman drivers (a common thread with men around the word.LOL) to golf. It made the hour drive to Rooi Els really fun. I hope we get to hang out with him again. His take on American politics was right on the money, “what a circus”.
We pretty much chilled today after the long (if you haven’t figured out, the plane trip was grueling) ride to get here. The landscape is beautiful, and the ocean and wind are pretty
strong. Everybody pitched in and made an excellent dinner. Dan and Adam made steak and chicken on Pat’s built in braai and Cathy and Amanda made a very nice salad. Even Amanda had some steak! Pat and I did what we do best supervise and made drinks!
Tomorrow, off to the wine country. Did I mention the long flight????
Well, back to our rock star life!
Dave
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jeanie mercer
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Fabulous!!!
Your photos and commentary are fabulous! What a gorgeous place. Keep it coming!