October 4 2010 / Cape Town, South Africa

So have I mentioned how much I LOVE South Africa? 

After the kind of crazy night last night, I woke up at 8AM and promptly stared at my clock drowsily until I forced myself to get out of bed, as I’d agreed to meet Julie at 9AM.  I actually finished getting ready before her, though I didn’t go to breakfast and ended up munching on some Corn Pops or whatever they’re called.  Then we split, and finally wandered off into the wonderful world of Cape Town—or rather, into the Victoria and Alfred Wharf district, which is kind of a gigantic mall and riddled with touristy things.  I wanted to look for a Desmond Tutu book, and Julie needed a bra and socks, so we went into the mall and poked around for a while.  There was this Desmond Tutu children’s bible stories book that I kind of want to get and donate to my church—the art in it is absolutely superb, every story with a different artist, and it’s just… adorable.  :)  There were some pretty neat tee-shirts, but nothing is worth 180 rand to me yet (that’s like twenty bucks, I think). 

When we finally got to the information center, we asked how long it would take/how expensive a cab to Boulder Beach would be.  The lady at the desk kind of winced and told us that as it was about 40 minutes away, it would be a TON of money for just the two of us to get there by cab, and we would be better off going on a half-day trip to Simon’s Town/Cape of Good Hope/Boulder Beach/etc for like 480 rand each—no thanks.  We decided to wander off to see the Malay quarter, also known as Bo-Kaap, which is I guess a kind of township, known for its incredibly colorful houses.  Most of the residents were Muslim and Christian.  Our taxi driver was really nice—he was a paraplegic who had been shot a little over a year over and was still recovering, and was paying off his modified taxi.  He was actually really cool and told us all about the restaurants we should go to. 

Anyway, we got to the Bo-Kaap Museum and paid 10 rand to go inside.  We actually lucked out because at that moment a tour guide led some folks inside, so we got to tag along on a tour that was really informative and interesting about the history of the people in the Malay district and their struggle today, as their property now is worth a LOT of money due to its location but they don’t make very much money themselves and the community itself is incredibly strong and close-knit.  It was really interesting.  After that Julie and I walked up the street for a little while—the houses are beautiful, all purple, pink, bright green, bright blue, just these incredible rainbow houses.  South Africa is known as the Rainbow Nation, and if this is the only reason, it makes sense to me. 

We walked town a couple of blocks to Long Street, which we’d heard is the awesome street that has all the restaurants/bars/clubs on it, because Julie had heard of this awesome and authentic restaurant called Mama Africa, and we really wanted to check it out.  On the way there we witnessed some white guy absolutely screaming at this black street officer in what I can only assume was Afrikaans (I thought it was German first, but Afrikaans is Dutch in origin).  It was awkward.  First we stopped into an African trade market, which was an indoor place with lots of little stands of people selling their wares—the walls were covered in necklaces and purses, and it was two stories.  I bartered down a patchwork purse that I saw and really liked, because I don’t have a purse and have been meaning to buy one—am definitely happy with my purchase.  Then we walked up the street and finally got to Mama Africa, which had a really cool graffiti art outside of it.  However, when we went inside, no one was there—like Europe, it seems as though places don’t open regularly on Mondays.  We walked back down the street until we passed this place I had actually made fun of on the way to Mama Africa—a place called Food Inn, that looked like a cafeteria on the inside, complete with metal trays and all.  However, it smelled incredible from the outside, and it had the Bunny Chow that Julie was looking for, so we decided to throw caution to the winds and go inside. 

The restaurant was a combination of Middle Eastern ,Greek, and Indian.  I ordered something called “Butter Chicken,” which was a dish that had been recommended during pre-port, and a fried triangular pastry stuffed with chicken—a samosa.  And oh my gosh, it was SO GOOD.  The butter chicken was like a spicy, delicious orange curry with pieces of chicken, with rice on the side.  Julie got her bunny chow, which is like a fried loaf of bread with curry inside the hollowed out area (we called it the castle).  She also bought garlic naan, but because wasn’t expecting it to be so huge, gave most of it to me.  SCORE!  It was an incredible meal—spicy but didn’t destroy my stomach like most Indian food does.  Best yet, it was only about four American dollars, and I was absolutely stuffed. 

After that, Julie and I decided to go off to the Two Oceans Aquarium, because as we weren’t going shark cage diving, we thought it would be neat to see what kinds of creatures we would be sailing over, especially since Two Oceans has two different exhibits for Indian and Atlantic Oceans.  We took a cab over and were really excited over the jellyfish (some of my favorites), massive eels, tutles, gigantic crabs… it was just really interesting to see.  One of the best parts was seeing a shark embryo and you could actually see the shark fetus moving around inside the sack.  But what took the cake was at the tide pool—I was touching an anemone when the lady told me to turn around slowly.  I did, and what did I see?  Four penguins (an Emperor and three rockhoppers) just wandering down the aisle, closely followed by a keeper.  We followed behind them and were literally a couple steps away the entire time as they waddled up the carpet and back into their exhibit—apparently it was their exercise of the day.  It was incredibly neat.  Jared and a couple of his friends were there at the same time, so we joined up with their group for a while.  We then watched the African penguins be fed (gulping down whole fish), as well as going to the “Predator Exhibit” and watching divers feed the rays and a gigantic turtle.  The rays were so intelligent—they were nuzzling the “lunchbox” they had, trying to get some squid out of it.  It was so awesome.  I love stingrays.  <3 

After that, we decided that we’d had enough fish, and so Julie and I started walking back to the ship.  We passed through a building that was I think called the African Cultural and Wellness Center, where there was an assortment of cool things INCLUDING lots of painting stands!  It took me a long while, but I finally found a perfect painting for my mom and dad.  I really wanted to get them this awesome jazz scene, but the best one was frame and would cost an extra 2000 rand to ship, but I found a landscape that is very much in their style, I think, and is also very beautiful and a good representation of Africa.  I think they’ll like it very much.  The canvas (it’s oil on canvas) is rolled up and securely under my bed.

We went back to the mall with our laptops in hopes of internet, but of course that was a falsity—internet here you have to pay for, which is a huge pain, and the free internet is just brutal to try to get.  I uploaded like.. 11 random pictures from Canada on my facebook—I think ya’ll will have to wait until I get home for a mass upload.  But I did get a little Desmond Tutu book that was quotes on various things, so I’m pretty excited for that.  And a man from South Africa came up to me in front of Michell’s and asked if I’d been over the equator recently—didn’t understand what he was talking about until he gestured to my shaved head! :)  He said it suited me well.  :D

Around 6:30PM we nommed some dinner on this ship and collected everyone who wanted to go to the poetry reading—there was Jared, Julie, Caroline, Aaron, Brian and I.  After a little bit of mayhem in getting ready, we piled into two cabs after haggling a little with the cabbies and drove off to the Woodstock district, which is what I feel is kind of the creative side of the city.  The place we pulled up in front of was a little called A Touch of Madness.  There was a tiny bar to the right, a small room to the left filled with chairs, and to the back, a dining room—almost like someone’s house were they charged people to eat dinner.  I got a glass of wine and sat down in the poetry reading room—it was so small, far smaller than imagined, with a high ceiling, dark green walls, and very medieval paintings and tapestries around.  It reminded me a lot of a room in San Francisco, actually.  The room slowly began to fill up as we sat there, mostly with South Africans, which we were happy about because we really wanted to get away from annoying SAS students. 

The poetry reading was INCREDIBLE.  The first man who went up, his name I think was Mwalo, and had a giant drum with him.  And he didn’t just read his poetry—he sang it, occasionally explaining what words he was using (as he was speaking in a language native to the Congo, where he was from).  The drumming was so rhythmic and incredible, and he spoke on a variety of subjects, from failure to poverty and financial issues to xenophobia.  It was truly incredible listening to the music.  Apparently he has a CD out at a place we walked by on Long Street, so I might try to pick it up.  After a short intermission, people went up to say their own poems.  I wish I had brought something to share, because the amount of culture and diversity was absolutely incredible and staggering.  There was the white South African who talked about feeling like an outsider in her own country because of her skin, the American student who raged about ignorance and not seeing pain of people in different cultures, the Irishman who sang a lament about a man who shot his lover, thinking she was a swan, the man who read an essay in Spanish about finding compromises within different aspects of your personality, and a man with a drum and an incredible instrument—it was a single string that he played on a long stick.  He told us to close our eyes as we listened and to just feel it, and I’m not even going to lie, it actually put me in a hypnotized state, just breathing deeply and listening to him click into the microphone as he shook a rainstick and played this incredible instrument.  The only bad thing about it was that a group of SAS kids came in and were extremely rude the entire time, getting up and going out the door and coming back and making a ruckus when people were performing—just rude.  But aside from that?  It was truly an incredible night—I didn’t expect the atmosphere to be so intimate and for so many cultures to be represented. 

Jared, Julie, Brian and I headed back while Caroline and Aaron stayed a little longer.  We headed over to The Green Dolphin, a jazz restaurant that was on the wharf, and was thankfully not overcrowded with SASers (a note: people have started referring to them as “SASholes” and I kind of think the term is appropriate to some people. :|).  It was two stories, darkly lit with candles on the tables and green light lighting the stage, where there was a piano, a drum set, and a cello.  I was feeling peckish, so I got a salad with all kinds of delightful things (sundried tomatoes, onions, mozerella, avocados, and salmon!) while the boys got brownie deserts.  Julie and I tried a drink called a “Truth or Dare,” which was basically a desert anyway—it was a mixed drink with vanilla vodka, kaluha, amaretto, cream, and chocolate sauce.  It was pretty good, but I have really discovered that I don’t like vodka too much, so I’ll have to bare that in mind the next time I order a cocktail. 

The jazz was fun to listen to, but what was even better was the conversation.  We talked about the laws currently passed in Arizona (I’m sure you all know the one), various bar stories, travel experiences and how grumpy we were about Americans not being respectful, and assorted other things.  Brian and I both defended Christianity against Jared and Julie when we got on the topic of religion, which I really don’t like going into anyway, because people tend to be ignorant no matter what side of the argument they’re on.  But it was still a great time, and we left around midnight-and a quarter, after Brian and I had finished our coffees.  I don’t have any plans for tomorrow, so I might try to join Brian on going on a Cycling in the Winelands SAS tour, which sounds really fun—it’s in Stallensbosch (I think that’s how you spell it?) and is like a 12 mile ride, which sounds awesome.  I’ll just have to get there and hope that there’ll be a place for me in the morning. 

I love this country so far—the people are incredibly friendly but not the “in your personal space” way that the Ghanaian people were, and the city and landscapes are just beautiful and stunning.  I can’t wait to see what tomorrow has in store for me!