Tuesday, January 19th - Cape Town, South Africa

We had breakfast on the patio at the hotel/hostel and there were lots of tour folks around, all heading in different directions to see what they could of Cape Town before we leave tomorrow morning.

We went out to do some shopping as we needed to buy some sheets or something that would serve as sleeping bags for some of our camping experiences and some Perfect Sleep bug spray.  We were told where to go but we walked right past it.  Eventually we asked someone and they sent us back and this time we did see because it had a pretty big sign that we obviously just missed.  Unfortunately, that store didn't have everything we needed so we had to go on to another place.  

We took a taxi to the next spot, Game, and found what we needed.  The taxi driver waited for us and we then went up to Kirstenbosch Gardens to do some touring.   By the time we got there it was almost lunch time.  Fran and Randy went to have lunch (carrying all our purchases with them) while I decided to take the shuttle tour first and have lunch later.  That meant no one really had to carry the bag around at all.  I'm kind of glad I didn't join the two of them for lunch because they decided to try the local worms.  I guess when the order came it was huge and they really only ate a few of them just to say that they tried.  I'm not sorry that I missed that experience.

Kirstenbosch Gardens was formed in 1913 and is 36 hectares in size.  It is set in Table Mountain National Park and Table Mountain is the backdrop to many of the scenes within the garden.  The shuttle tour was to cover the highlights of the garden and then return me to the entrance gate so I could continue on with the rest of my tour.  I never did figure out quite why but for some reason the driver decided he couldn't go back to the entrance gate at the end of the tour so he let us all out at one point and said we could just walk down that path and follow the signs to get to the main area.  Well, that didn't work so well.  A lot of us wandered around for quite a while and didn't get any closer to where we were expecting to be.  And because of the dense foliage in many places in the park, it was impossible to actually see where you wanted to be.  It was hot and I was tired and I definitely was not impressed with being dumped in the middle of the garden with no clear direction.  I eventually made my way back after several wrong turns and some backtracking and also asking park workers for direction.  By the time I got back Randy and Fran were definitely done their lunch and glad to get rid of the bags so they could go do their exploring.  I no longer remember what I had for lunch.  The setting was very nice but the food was very expensive and not really all that great.

The park, however, was absolutely beautiful with tree-lined paths where branches overlapped so it was like being in a tunnel.  Other pathways were equally as shaded and relaxing and there were benches along the way so you could sit and relax and enjoy the wonderful views.  There were Incredible shades of green in the trees and shrubs and grass and all against the backdrop of green hills and mountains.  And yes, the hills all looked very lush and green from the view of the park.  Obviously this is the wetter side of Table Mountain.  There were lush green lawns with various levels of flowers, bushes, shrubs  and trees.  There were ponds and water flows throughout the park and even some canopy walks so you could enjoy the view from above.

There were flowers of all types and sizes and colours: purple, mauve, yellow, white, pink, red, orange and so on, and I finally saw some proteas, which are the national flower of South Africa but apparently very hard to find at this time of year.  They are really quite lovely.  The proteas were discovered and named in 1735 by a Swedish botanist who named them after the Greek God Proteus who was able to change his form and shape.  They are normally red shades ranging from a cream colour with red edges to a deep Crimson overall.  I've never seen another flower like them and they really are quite beautiful.  There were also beautiful birds of all colours and sizes including hummingbirds that just seemed to stand still as they gathered nectar from the various plants.

It was a beautiful and restful park to spend time in so a very enjoyable afternoon.  It was also the day of an evening concert so the traffic was quite amazing.  I guess their summer concerts are very popular and this one (someone we didn't know) was sold out weeks in advance.  As it was an evening concert it shouldn't have bothered us much but the traffic was unbelievable even when we came in shortly after noon.  As we left there was a steady stream of cars and people coming in.

We went back to the hostel to clean up and to get organized for the next day.  At 6:45 we met in the lobby and all got on a bus to go out for dinner in a local home that was about half an hour away given the traffic.  Hazel was our host and she is a journalist.  We met her sister who was helping her with the evening and her kids who were really quite adorable.  Hazel was very talkative about all kinds of topics.  One of our group asked some pretty personal questions but she didn't seem to mind.  I should remember more of the conversation because it really was quite interesting but no, many months later as I write this) I really can't remember what was said at all.  I do know that the meal was great with meat and potatoes and vegetables mixed together in a stew/soup-like dish.  The deserts were like squares and the others seemed to like them.  I wasn't too excited by them.

The home looked like a good-sized home from the street and it was on a very nice street.  Inside, the house seemed a bit more chopped up than ours would be.  The room we ate in had two tables set up and we could just barely fit around them (18 of us though!).  There was a couch back against the wall on the one side and that's where the kids sat to eat.  There weren't a lot of pictures or extra decorations around the house - just the basic essentials.  Off of this main room there were doors to bedrooms, the bathroom and the kitchen.  The kitchen was a long galley style kitchen that you might find in an apartment except that it was open at both ends.  Hazel and her husband both work so this is not a poor household by African standards.  I would guess that they are lower middle class but I really don't know that for sure.  Perhaps they are upper class blacks if you divided the races.  

After dinner we went back to the hostel for our last night in Cape Town and most of us just went to our room to get ready to start our next adventure in the morning - meaning packing up yet again and then getting some sleep.