Leavin' Las Cape Town

Tomorrow I enter a new phase of my trip, leaving the relative prosperity and familiarity of South Africa to discover what will surely be a very different, more impoverished Africa that is less affected by the 'West' and more traditional. I've signed up for a 7 day tour of Southern and Central Namibia. Although I'm loathe to be on camper with other tourists for that long, the itinerary matched almost exactly what I wanted to get out of this leg of the trip; and having everything arranged for you is a hell of a lot easier and cheaper than renting a car. Not to mention having a knowledgeable guide will allow me to get more out of this.

So what have I been up to in Cape Town for the last few days? After the penguins, Lesley and I spent a day on a wine tour. The region around Cape Town and neighbouring Stellenbosch is very hospitable for making wine. It also one of the most gorgeous landscapes I've ever seen (anyone seeing a trend here?) For a total cost of about $50 each, our very knowledgeable guide took us to 5 architecturally impressive wineries to taste a total of about 35 champagnes, wines and ports. It was just Les and I, which was nice, and we had perfect weather that day. We started by walking through the bowels of the area where they process the grapes, glass of champagne in hand at 9:30 am, which was bizarre, learning how wine is made. I felt incredibly posh. By the end of the day I was enveloped in a cloud of absolute blissful oblivion - what I imagine taking Soma would be like.

We had a great pasta lunch overlooking one of the vineyards. At the next winery, owned by the 5th richest man in S. Africa, we enjoyed some fresh olives in a building so beautiful that Lesley has decided she will buy at the earliest opportunity. We ended off, slightly tanked, at a spot where they not only allow you to choose your last 6 wines from a list of about 40, but they let you sample their local cheeses, from Blue to Parmesan to Havarti to Sundried Tomato Goat's cheese. Complete Heaven. I managed to get away with trying each one about 9 times before they stopped me. In my defense, we did end up buying half of everything they sold including some amazing sweet chilli spread that I'm still having on fresh bread every morning. Seriously I'm way too spoiled and need to get out of here. Despite being very drunk, we got the guide to drop us off at a restaurant he recommended, 'Jimmy's Killer Prawns' (Prawn = large shrimp), where we kept the party alive with another bottle of wine, a helping of oysters, and my main course of Hake (a white fish), Queen Prawns and the best calamari I've ever had. Have i mentioned that the seafood here is out of this world? Oh, and they put this spice on all the french fries which makes them taste 10 times better than normal. I'll have to figure out what that is.

So the next day we woke up late (obviously) and took the cable car up to the top of Table Mountain (about 1,000 m high). The result was a 360 degree view of the city and some pretty amazing pictures. We attempted to hike to the highest point of the mountain but that was cut short as Les wasn't feeling well so we headed home.

The next day was my turn to be sick as a dog. Not literally - that would be weird - but ya I really don't have my sea legs. We signed up for a shark dive that took us to 'Shark Alley' about 2 hours north of Cape Town. After only 20 minutes on the boat, we arrive at a very small rocky outcropping, an atoll, if you will, that was home to 60,000 seals. Yes, sixty thousand. And the island was so small that we could have boated around it in 5 minutes flat. So, check out the pictures of the seal throng. Shortly after leaving this area to search for Great White sharks, I started getting a little queasy on account of the gigantic waves. Although I didn't throw up (even when a German guy puked right in front of me), I was straddling the border for a good hour. So I didn't make it into the diving cage and now you know why I don't have any shark pictures (but Lesley does! to be posted soon!).

Hmm, I've been here for over a week, what else can I tell you? Today I went to the District 6 Museum. District 6 was an area of Cape Town that in decades past was a model of ethnic cooperation and harmony that the South African government should have learned something from. Instead they demolished the entire area in the early '80s, displacing 60,000 people, to remodel it as a 'white only' community. Despite the Lonely Planet travel guide's positive review, I got virtually nothing out of the museum itself, which is a disorganized collection of kitsch in my opinion. However, the trip was far from being a waste. I'll discuss that in my next post.

Later in the day I stumbled across the 'Company's Gardens' founded by the Dutch East India Company centuries ago. What a beautiful spot. I also wandered across some beautiful buildings set against the backdrop of my favourite Table Mountain.

For those of you that noticed my 'we' switched to 'I' halfway through this post, well spotted. It's true, Lesley's vacation has run out and she flew back to Canada on Sunday. Without getting too emotional, I will say that I miss her like crazy already. Although it was totally unexpected for me, I fell completely in love with her and wish she was still here. The next 4 months will not be the same without her. Lesley, I will be counting the days... Thank you for making the last 3 weeks the best of my life.

And now, time to shift gears with a different kind of post.