The Divinely Delicious Cape Town!
I am officially smitten.
The city of Cape Town has swept me off my feet and I am certain that this love affair is no one-night stand. But let's go back to the beginning, shall we?
I caught a shuttle out to the Ezeiza International Airport in Buenos Aires, arriving a tedious 3.5 hours before my flight. Unfortunately, the airport didn't have free WiFi so I had to pass the time twiddling my thumbs playing Angry Birds and other mindless yet addictive games on my iPad. When I finally checked in to my flight, I discovered, much to my egregious dismay, that my fellow passengers included a young Argentinian rugby club headed to Johannesburg for some sort of international tournament. Immediately my mind went to a very dark place as I had recently read, "Miracle in the Andes", the memoirs of Nando Parrado, which recounts the ill-fated tale of the Uruguayan rugby team which crashed in the Andes and was forced to eat the flesh of their dead teammates in order to survive. Yikes! I took a hasty look around at some of the plumper passengers boarding and decided they would make a tastier treat than me. Did I mention how very much I hate to fly? Gulp. Anyhoo...seeing that I am writing this entry well after the fact, it should be clear that we survived the flight without resorting to cannibalism.
But I simply must say a few words about how awesome the South African Airways flight was! First of all, the seats were spectacularly spacious, frankly more like Business Class than Economy. AND....the flight was underbooked so no one was seated next to me, allowing me to stretch out my limbs comfortably. Furthermore, I had my very own video screen with over 100 movies to choose between (But please do NOT ask what I chose to watch for it was a highly embarrassing choice! No, scratch that. Instead, I am seriously willing to pay $50 to the first person who correctly guesses what film I ended up watching. Email me ASAP!). Finally, although my booking agent had failed to put through my request for a vegetarian meal, the South African Airways flight attendant went ALL OUT in procuring me a plate of vegetarian-friendly edibles which included cheese ravioli and a juicy pile of tropical fruit. Kudos!!
We landed in Johannesburg on time at roughly 8 AM and, even though I was due to catch an onward flight to Cape Town, I had to go through customs and reclaim my bag there and then. But no big whoop as I whisked through customs in about 15 minutes flat, which was pretty much a record really. My domestic flight was thankfully uneventful and took just under 2 hours, landing at 1PM. I had arranged for an airport pickup through the accommodation I had booked on www.hostelworld.com so I was met by a young man holding up a sign with my name correctly spelled in big BOLD letters -always a reassuring sign of competence.
Driving from the airport to my hostel gave me my first glorous glimpse at the city. And I swear it sparkled! Heck, even the township we passed by looked remarkably clean when compared to the projects of Chicago (Appearances, in this case, were deceiving as I later learned upon actually visiting the township). But the best thing of all was pulling up to the Amber Tree Lodge, hands down my favorite hostel of my RTW trip thus far! The hostel had tree house style bunk beds with mattresses so soft I felt like a princess (without the pesky pea). There was a fantabulously comfy living room with cushion-bedecked sofas and a big flat-screen TV. Plus there was a balcony on the second floor which had a hammock as well as a picnic table where one could chill out in the morning with a mug of freshly brewed coffee or wind down in the evening with a glass of red wine, all the while enjoying the mind-blowing view of Table Mountain. Simply a stunning location! But you know what? The absolute biggest selling point of Amber Tree Lodge had to be, without a sliver of doubt, its two proprietors, Wayne and Stephen. They went above and beyond time and time again to help the guests who needed it and showed infinite patience no matter how busy or hog wild crazy things got. To repeat then - Stephen and Wayne are like the Fantastic
Upon my arrival, I was overjoyed to discover that FedEx had delivered my replacement ATM debit card to the hostel that morning (long story short- I mislaid the original damn card while in Buenos Aires) so I swiftly set about getting the thing activated so I could replenish my cash supply. That first evening I met some of my fellow travelers staying at Amber Tree and was graciously invited to tag along with them to dinner at Mama Africa's Restaurant on Long Street. My dinner companions included 2 Norwegian fellows whose secret identities cannot be divulged (Yep, those who correctly ascertained that I never actually bothered to learn their names deserve a cookie!) 2 American gals one of whom was named Wi-Ming (pronounced like the state of Wyoming minus the "Oh!"). Wi-Ming worked as a professional makeup artist in the entertainment industry in New York, but I resolutely refrained from asking her what famous faces she'd made up as I was sure she had to be sick and tired of being asked that very question ad nauseum. Doesn't mean I didn't wonder if it was an acne-scarred Cameron Diaz though! Last but not least, I dined with an unforgettable 74-year-old Canadian lady from Toronto named Marilyn. Over the next few days I spent quite a bit of time strolling the streets of Cape Town with her. Like everyone else who entered her celestial orbit, I was captivated by her youthful spirit and tales of her adventurous life, like the one about giving birth to her 2 children while in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. To be that age and still swingin'?! You go girl!
On Friday, I opted to go on a winery tour with the African Story Company (545 rand).The tour included stops at 4 different vineyards where we tasted a smorgasbord of dry, sweet and sparkling wines. Regretfully, I didn't learn much of anything about the history of the South African wine industry (as I did while on my wine tour in Mendoza, Argentina) but I did come away with the absolute certainty that I am NOT partial to sweet desert wines. Please pass the port...NOT.
On Saturday I bought a ticket for the Hop (Skip, Jump) On-Hop Off double decker tour bus which travels all around Cape Town, following a route which takes one through various neighborhoods such as Camp Bay, where I made a brief pit stop in order to photograph its pristine public beach, Clifton with the most expensive waterfront property in town, Green Point (home to a spanking-new soccer stadium built for the 2010 World Cup Championship) and District 6, a predominantly barren wasteland with a heart-breaking past (more on that later). The one-day bus ticket cost only 140 Rand, but was well worth it for it is akin to an all-access VIP pass to the city!
That Saturday evening I was over-the-moon lucky to get the chance to attend Cape Town's 3rd Annual Carnival. Along for the ride were Canadian Marilyn, a duo of Democrats from D.C. named Alex and Sital, a young (c)hunk of Swiss cheese named Lucio, and an ageless Sikh who went by the name of Marron. Having never been to Rio de Janiero or New Orleans' respective carnivals, I cannot say whether this one came anywhere close in terms of sheer grandeur BUT I will say that I was absolutely floored by the spectacularly colorful costumes of those who paraded past me shaking their groove thang ! And the floats?!!? They could have given Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade a real run for their money...
The following day (Sunday) I went on an all-day excursion around the Cape Peninsula courtesy of Baz Bus Tours. This too was a fantastic trip, not only due to the incredibly gorgeous scenery on display but also largely thanks to the personality of our guide and bus driver who were constantly cracking jokes and busting at the seams with contagious enthusiasm. We first visited the fishing port, Hout's Bay, where many on the bus (but not me!) chose to take an optional boat ride out to Duiker Island, home to a large seal colony. After that we drove along Chapman's Peak Drive, a 9km route which is one of the world's finest and most thrilling coastal drives. I can definitely vouch for its incredible beauty but believe that California's Highway 1 takes the scenic cake and (Pabst) blue ribbon.
Next up on the Cape Peninsula Tour was a brief stop at the penguin colony on Boulders Beach near Simon's (Not Cowell) Town. The penguins, although not nearly as plentiful as those found on Isla Magdalena near Puntas Arenas in Chile, were indubitably cute and thus photogenic. However, the wind was absolutely wicked, causing the sand to stick like Elmer's Glue to my face due to the sunscreen I had applied previously. How do those perky penguins put up with it!??! After (Mr. Popper's) penguins, we forged onwards to Cape Point, a treacherous rocky promontory where many an ill-fated sailor has found a shallow grave due to how often the point is dangerously shrouded in cloud. Our last stop was at the Cape of Good Hope, supposedly Africa's southernmost point. However, upon browsing though my handy Rough Guide to South Africa, I discovered that the true southern tip lies 300km southeast of there at Cape Agulhas. Hmmm, I call foul on false advertising!
On the following day (Monday), I had to check out of Amber Tree Lodge as they were full (SOB!), and transfer to Ashanti Lodge Hostel, only a short walk from there. I hooked up with Marilyn as well and we visited 2 museums together, the District 6 Museum followed by the Gold of Africa Museum. Of the 2, I definitely preferred the Gold of Africa, because the District 6 Museum is mostly full of dense textual displays. Personally, I can only read so much at a museum before it overwhelms me. And yet, I still highly recommend a visit to District 6 so one can learn about the despicable displacement of the impoverished but lively "colored" community which lived there. In short, the apartheid government essentially bull-dozed the area starting in 1966 and declared that the area would henceforth be a "White Group Area", but due to the public outcry, both domestically and internationally, over the demolition, the area was never developed leaving it full of vacant lots today.
So much for my first few delightful days in Cape Town, which is now in my Top 5 Favorite Cities of the World (the others being San Francisco, Prague, Istanbul and Rome).
************************************************************************************
After chatting with a few people who had visited Namibia, I decided to book an 11-day overland holiday there with ACACIA Adventure Tours. Stay tuned for my next entry when (Extra! Extra!) you can read all about it!!
Comments
Post a Comment