Saturday May 22nd, 2010
10:30am
This past week I have been trying to adjust back to hut living after a fantastic 9 day vacation to Cape Town, South Africa (aka Mecca :-P). I went with an amazing friend and terrific travel partner, Claire, who works with Save the Children in Mbabane, and will sadly be returning to America at the beginning of July. She will certainly be missed!! Anyway, in contrast to the activities I have accomplished this week (ie washing my clothes in the trickling river, attending community meetings, leading a health club session, explaining the experience of flying to my host family, arguing with a the deputy teacher that women can build houses too – pictures of me doing this are coming from my father which will blow him away, etc) my trip to Cape Town seems like a distant celestial dream! Here is a day by day summary of our tomfoolery in South Africa.
Day 1- (The Cursed Day)
This was our day of travel, and if we believed in omens we would have turned around and went back to Swaziland. Everything seemed to go wrong. Our shuttle from the Swazi capitol, Mbabane, to Jo’Burg airport got very lost. I forgot my South African SIM card (what you need to use your cell phone). Claire was told at the border that if she didn’t get more pages in her passport, she wouldn’t be let back into the country. In my attempt to use my debit card in Jo’Burg I found out that it had expired exactly four days before. We called to verify our rental car would be waiting when we arrived in Cape Town International Airport. They informed us that they took our car to the airport, didn’t hear from us, so they took it back, AND it had started raining in Cape Town to kick off the rainy/cold winter season. Claire forgot a butter knife in her carry on and we were asked at security to remove our kitchen knives, but they didn’t blink at the full water bottle we forgot to remove. With all these things happening we had to laugh. We got a coffee at a café in the Jo’Burg airport and decided that we really needed to turn things around. Thus, we did what any non-superstitious travelers would do: we threw salt over our shoulder - honestly!! ;-)
Once we arrived in Cape Town, a gentleman was waiting with a “Ms. D Crocker” sign (yay! Just like the movies!!) and we started to sign the papers for our little zoom zoom car. When we asked if he could give us directions to the backpackers, four Capetonians who were sitting around us started giving us directions, drawing maps, and offering us advice. It kind of got tense as these wonderful people were on the verge of fighting over who could help us! Raining, very dark, and left side of the road driving, while following one of the four “airport helpers”, made the trip to our accommodations a bit nerve wracking, and yet we made it there safely. Checking in kept us at Longstreet Backpackers for about 20min and then we went out for a FROZEN (non-existent in Swaziland) drink on Long Street. Yes, our hostel happened to be on the most popular restaurant, dance club, and bar avenue of Cape Town!
Day 2- (40min Drive to America)
In an attempt to make for sure Claire could get back into Swaziland, our first vacation adventure was to find the American Embassy. When we parked at a shopping center, as instructed over the phone, and walked up to the front gate the guard asked what we needed. After a quick explanation, he asked why we didn’t park in this lot, because this was “our home”!!! That phrase and the fact that we were truly on American soil made us giddy like little school girls! Perusing tourist magazines from the 50 different states in the waiting room made us happy and a bit homesick, but crazy enough made the highlight list of this fantastic vacation.
Continuing a day full of errands, since the weather was still pretty rainy, we visited multiple special foods stores, I bought running shoes at a huge mall of the waterfront, and we attempted to find the Chinese Embassy for a Visa for Claire’s post-Swaziland visit. Although we mapquested 25 Rhodes Ave and found it with no problem, a pair of little chihuahua dogs greeted us outside what was obviously a private residence! Hmm… maybe the Chinese Embassy was going to be a bit more difficult to find than America!
Day 3- (Hate Rhodes)
It was a torrential rain the following morning on our 2nd attempt to find the Chinese Embassy. A 20 foot run to the information building on the University of Cape Town Campus broke our umbrellas (RIP) and drenched us! They directed us to Rhodes Ave, and we road up and down it asking people to point us in the direction of the Embassy. At one promising stop, to a highly secure and fenced area, we were informed by the guard that let us in the front gate that we were actually at the private residence of the Prime Minister! Why we didn’t go in and have a cup of tea and chat up the Prime Minister, I have no idea. :-P Multiple attempts were made to call the Embassy, and the number kept reverting to a fax machine sound. One lucky try actually got through and the person on the other end told us that if they don’t feel like answering the phone it goes to the fax machine! Astonished and a bit perturbed, we did finally got the correct location, which was on yet another road named Rhoades! Needless to say, we hated Rhoades, and yet there were a million of them in Cape Town area!
Once a visa was applied for, we made a quick stop at the oldest winery in Cape Town, Groot Constantia, which happened to be in area. After a cellar tour and delicious tastings, we walked outside to find Mother Nature had much brighter spirits in the afternoon and instantly decided to make the drive down the peninsula to Cape Point. On the way we visited the famous penguins at Boulder’s Beach in Simon’s Town, gaped at the beautiful ocean scenery, and finally arrived at the National Park. A quick loop through there with some breathtaking walks and multiple stops for picture taking made the spontaneous afternoon plans quite a success! Ice cream at Pick and Pay and eaten in the car was the perfect dinner to round off the day.
Day 4- (Rough Waters)
Waking up to a surprisingly beautiful morning, we headed down to the Waterfront for a ferry trip and tour to Robben Island (where Mandela and many others had been incarcerated). Sadly, all trips that day, and for the rest of week, were canceled due to rough waters. :-( Instead, we took advantage of the favorable weather by doing something equally touristy: Table Mountain. Cape Town is known for a small mountain ridge set dead center in its suburban area. It received its name because of the very flat “peak”, which resembles a table. Although you can hike up its steep side, we chose to take the less exhausting route which included a cable car lift. In line we met an amazingly kind Canadian couple, and on top happened to run into another Swaziland Peace Corps volunteer I had no idea was even in Cape Town! Small world!
Getting back to our car, we found a very dead battery due to lights being left on. Hey, give us a break; neither of us had driven in 11 months! ;-) Finding a car that had jumper cables was a bit difficult since most vehicles in SA are manual and thus can be jump started by rolling! A taxi did stop and help us out, and we headed back into the city. Following a self guided walking tour, which was found in our Lonely Planet travel book, we walked by many interesting sites like St. George’s Cathedral, BoKaap area, Cape of Good Hope Castle, Slavery Museum, District Six Museum, and ended at a café that was described as “delightful”. We went into said café and found a place more accurately described as “creepy” or “disturbing” or even plain “odd”. Bird’s Café had black painted crows everywhere and a recording of birds chirping in the background. We quickly realized why we were the only ones in the place.
That night I got to experience delicious Ethiopian food on Long St, and we ended the
day with a movie in a theatre called “The Labia”. Now, I know not everyone is medically trained, but still, Claire and I could not be the only ones who found that … interesting. The movie was called, “It’s Complicated” and this version of the editing had mic beams in almost every shot! Someone who has seen it in America, please tell me if this poor editing was also present in your viewing. It had been so long since we had seen a movie, we didn’t care what the name of the theatre was or if it had distracting mic booms in the film.
Day 5- (Good Groceries)
The first stop on this day was to a German Bakery (YUM), enough said. A recommendation to visit something called the Old Biscuit Mill on a Saturday, gave us our next destination. What we found was an international food market with tons of 20-somethings eating, drinking, and being merry! The decision of what to eat was definitely the hardest of the vacation. There we met a gentleman named Grandville and his family. Claire knew him from a conference/training in Pittsburg 5 years before. He recommended that we visit Kirstenbosch National Gardens and then enjoy a “sundowner” at the beautiful Camp’s Bay, which we did. A “sundowner” is a well known South African tradition which by definition is the process of enjoying a drink while watching the sun set. I like that tradition. :-) Being in a city of high culture and thus THEATRE, we went to see a show at The Artscape Center. Ballet and “Nunsense-Amen” were the only two events happening that evening, and we chose the comedy. This rendition of “Nunsense-Amen” had a completely male cast playing the nuns, and many of the American jokes were lost on both the South African audience and apparently the actors. One reference was to Lake Superior! Yay, Michigan! Although it wasn’t fantastic, I got a taste of theatre which will attempt to tide me over until the next venture outside of Swaziland.
Day 6 – (Happy Mother’s Day)
On Mother’s Day I decided to attend church. Asking the fine gentleman who attend the bar at the backpackers turned out not to be the most reliable resource for Catholic churches in Cape Town. Supposedly there was a very famous Cathedral just around the corner. Fact: St. George’s Cathedral is around the corner on Wales Street. Fact: It is a well known church. Fact: It is an Anglican Church and not Catholic. Oh well, I enjoyed the service, which was ten million times more familiar than the rural siSwati churches in my community.
After church I met back up with Claire and we perused a craft market briefly. Being a bit on the chilly side we decided it would be another great day for an indoor movie. Grandville and Andreas (a good friend we made at the backpackers) decided to join us for an Indi film and coffee at a bookstore afterward. These don’t sound like big tourist attractions, but to us they were equivalent to an amusement park! That evening we enjoyed my favorite night out on the town! Grandville suggested a restaurant called Buena Vista Social Club, which had amazing salsa dancing!! I learned a few moves and had an absolute blast. Why aren’t Americans into partner dancing anymore?!? It’s FANTASTIC!!
Last but not least, I called my Mother. Ahhhhh. :-P
Day 7- (Rain Rain Go Away)
The District Six Museum is certainly a historic and educational visit not to be missed in Cape Town. What first struck me about this museum was that it looked like any one of the many “old time” period villages we have in the States (ie Saginaw Heritage Museum, Cross Roads Village, the period photo shoots in every amusement park). This I came to realize was exactly what it was. This massive part of Cape Town could have been mistaken for any other booming inner city in America in the 50s, 60s, or 70s, and due to one incomprehensibly racist law the entire place was bulldozed and the residents evacuated. This museum was no different than the many I have seen in my home country, except that one day it was all taken away from the people who had inhabited, lived, worked, and loved their home. Discussion tangent: All the way in Africa I’m hearing about the national identification laws being passed in Arizona. There was a panel 4 feet into the door of the District Six Museum that looked remarkably similar to this situation, and they were touted as being the most racist, illegal laws made in South Africa. Food for thought.
The rest of the day unfolded in more amazingly non-touristy but completely yearned for “American experiences”. First a milkshake at the Mug and Bean coffee shop, then a movie called “Date Night”, Thai food enjoyed with friends, and lastly a visit with another of Claire’s long lost Capetonian friends named Vanessa. This visit took place at a fantastic restaurant called the Green Dolphin which has live jazz music 7 nights a week! Great day.
Day 8 – (Wineries!)
Paarl, Franshoek, and Stellenbosh are the most well know surrounding areas of Cape Town and are more commonly referred to as “wine country”. Our guide book informed us that there were more than 200 wineries within a day’s drive of the city! Sounds like my kind of country! :-) Our first stop was just outside of Paarl and was recommended as the place to find the best cheese… um, hell yeah! Fairview Winery had a welcoming group of billy goats on a tower, Italian villa charm, and more CHEESE than my little cheese deprived heart could handle! It was beautiful, and I brought more perishable souvenirs back to Swaziland from there than anything else. :-P
The next winery we were pointed to was also highly acclaimed for its brandy. Clarie and I, begin clueless to the world of brandy, decided to expand our high cultured horizons and taste brandy. When we informed the gentlemen around the counter that this was our intention, we were laughed at quite strongly and proclaimed to be “going to the dark side”. Then we were quite frightened and alarmed at what we had gotten ourselves into, when the gentleman pouring our drinks warned us “to do EXACTLY as I [he] say[s]”. Yikes. Who knew there was a process to drinking brandy, which if not precisely followed procured the results akin to an Indiana Jones ending I recall?!? Curious now to what we were taught? Drinking Brandy 101: warm the glass slightly, place glass at chin to smell, take a small sip, tilt head down, slightly “chew”, swallow, click tongue behind front teeth, with pursed lips breath cool air in and release through the nose. I’m not sure if it was the taste or the process we enjoyed more, but we both left with a little 50mL bottle of the 5year brandy. :-)
Our plan was to make it to a third winery, which sounded like the most popular and well known out of the 200, but we became entranced by the little town of Franshoek (Afrikaans for “French Corner”), oh, and we got a little lost. Ha. Instead we had coffee at a cute bistro, walked amongst the artsy shops, and put off visiting Spier until we had more time the following day. I’m not ashamed to say we attempted to see yet another movie on the big screen, but arrived a bit too late. Instead we played cards in a restaurant outside the cinema and enjoyed a couple drinks. Yeah, we live it up on vacations. Haha.
Day 9- (Andreas’s B-day)
In the morning we did our last minute grocery shopping, which included all of the things that were nowhere to be found in Swaziland. For me that included a bag of bagels from a shop called New York Bagels. After our 3 month supply of carbohydrates were secured, we ventured out to the winery we had missed the day before, Spier. Andreas and his friend David joined us, and our winery visit quickly turned into a mini birthday party. Over a wine tasting we discussed everything from the power of smell to British politics (David was from the UK). After wine we saw many kinds of large African cats and birds in Spier’s wildlife rehabilitation and awareness center. We were even allowed to help in the feeding training of a small raptor bird. He was a cutie.
Muisenburg is a small coastal town on the eastern side of the peninsula. There we stopped to watch an amazing sunset, while surfers road, what can only be considered ice cold waves, into shore. I stuck my little piggys into the water to say that I’ve been in that side of the ocean, but it was FREEZING and my little piggys were quite unhappy at that adventure. Continuing with Andreas’s birthday celebration we went out to a place that was surprisingly bedecked in Casablanca memorabilia and was named “Rics”. Andreas’s friends from the hospital he is studying medicine at also joined us, and we proceeded to a very dingy club called Marvel. A game of foosball was the only positive thing I can say about that bar. Yuck.
Day 10– (Back to Reality)
Our trip home was much less eventful than the trip there. We did come back to Swaziland with a million inside jokes, wonderful memories and pictures, cheese and bagels, and new friendships. Other than a MASSIVE mosh pit-like line at the border and a minor disagreement with the tax refund people, we got back into our little country unscathed. I’ll miss you Cape Town!
Epilogue:
Andreas may be coming out to Swaziland after his studies to visit Claire in Mbabane and then they will travel south to help me paint a few more bus waiting rooms. I found a position open in the classified section of the Cape Town Newspaper for a Professional Nurse with a specialty in Theatre. Really hoping that is not a typo and that the position is open at the end of 2011. I cut it out just in case. ;-)
Groot Constantia
Beautiful Sunset coming back from Cape Point
Penguin at Simon's Town. "On guard!" :-P
Cable car up to the top of Table Mountain
Claire and I enjoying the views from the top of Table Mountain
