Cape town

Travel weary, and well, weary, we tucked our tail between our legs and purchased a Malawi Air flight to Cape town. Never heard of Malawi Air? Neither had we. Our plane ticket cost 80,000 kwacha (about $280) payable in cash. Sound suspect? The next day we got a call: flight cancelled. Then I pick up a paper, Malawi Air files bankruptcy, planes grounded. At this point I’m certain of two things: I just lost 280 bucks and I need another way out of here. Just when things are looking pretty grim an email arrives from my favorite airline. Sticking with their country’s motto, the warm heart of Africa, Air Malawi will drive us 3 hours to another airport where we’ll board a South African Airlines flight..

In light of said travel weariness, we decided to stay in Cape town for a month. On the official worlds-most- radical-cities website, Cape town is deservedly awarded gold medal status; Amazing beaches, big mountains, wine, great food, and gorgeous drives all within stones throw of the city… luckily for us, our apartment came with a 2 person scooter to see them all. As if that wasn’t enough, we reunited with some long lost friends we met in Bolivia 5 months ago.

Our first field trip was to the top of Cape town’s Everest: Table Mountain. The cities natural growth boundary rises steeply 2000 meters above the Mother City below. A late morning start virtually guaranteed the summit would be covered by the “table cloth,” but fortunately the clouds cleared from time to time. Later that week, we met up with Nic and Caroline, our two friends from Bolivia and drove to Cape Point, meeting place of the Atlantic and Indian oceans. It is not only amazingly picturesque, as many car commercials can attest, but also home to the endangered Prada Baboon.

Baboons are mean critters. I double dog dare you to try to get that bag (the owner thought throwing rocks would scare off the baboon. It did, he ran into the shrubs with the purse).

After a few solid days of scooter driving on the left side of the road, I felt ready to drive a real car, which is much more difficult than English films let on. Steering wheel (right side), shifting (left hand), seat belt (right shoulder)… Damn Brits.

We managed to scurry west a few hours to Montagu, where everyone speaks Africaans and some people speak English. Perhaps if the hotel owner spoke English, he could have informed me of this snake

which I nearly stepped on. In fact, I would have had it not been standing up, tongue out, ready to strike. Later inquiries identified the dude as a Cape Cobra... Sixty percent of bites are lethal.

Our final little excursion was a full moon hike to the top of Lions Head, which is basically a lower summit of Table Mountain. The locals do this every full moon, and since Lion’s Head is at our doorstep it was a no brainer. We missed the sunset, but got up in time to snap a few pictures and enjoy dinner and wine. All told, Cape town is a fantastic city. Where else can you feast on Springbok steak or warthog ribs (hands down, the most delicious thing I have eaten), swim with great white sharks, and explore different cultures. Sure, it has some problems, most of which seem rooted in racism. But remember, Apartheid ended in 1994, only fourteen years ago. And while that seems crazy at first thought, recall that southern schools integrated only 35 years before that and look how much things have changed.

Final boarding for flight 8637 to Morocco, better run.... oops, don't forget to check out the new uploaded pictures!