So if you go back and look at my two previous posts you’ll find a novel new addition to the writings of “ekgoesglobal”…PHOTOS!!! Yes, I’m currently in Cape Town with extremely good internet. In accordance with the rest of my travels, it’s not just the internet that is incredible – the surroundings surpass even the fastest wi-fi connection.
48 hours ago – Thursday, March 13 – Nairobi, Kenya. I’m packing to leave Kenya and still don’t know where I’m staying when I arrive in Cape Town on Saturday. I contact numerous places but everything is full. Phil takes the attitude “it’ll be fine, you have numbers of people that can help you, it’ll all work out.” I take the attitude “I’m arriving to a new city I don’t know, full of people, with no where to sleep.” Friday comes and I leave Nairobi – still nowhere for Cape Town and full of anxiety, doubt, and straight-up fear. I spend the night in Joberg where I’m looked after by a former player from the Silverbacks – Rafique. He helped me out tremendously and gave me a quick tour of Joberg. It was an early night and in the morning I frantically resumed my search for places to stay. I say frantically because on Friday and Saturday morning it involved trying to reach places and being aware of the lack of phone credit that would eventually run out and end my search, In the morning I finally reached a really nice sounding woman at a B&B who had room. BAM! Place to stay, airport pick up, I’m all set!! So to celebrate…I checked out the closest mall. It was quite a change from Nairobi – shiny floors and fancy stores – a mix between Lenox and Phipps, but doubled both in size. I had just enough time to shower before heading off in a taxi to the airport for my flight to Cape Town.
Having never done the “B&B” thing, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I saw the place in a Greenwood Guide and they had room – not much else mattered to me. Di and Don picked me up at the airport and I first became aware of how HAPPY I was to be staying at a B&B as opposed to a hostel. The $10 a night I would have saved did not cover the hospitality of my hosts, their inside knowledge of Cape Town and genuine interest in my well being, or the beauty of their home. Luckily some woman with a wedding had cancelled so I have the whole place to myself!! It gets better and better!!
The drive from the airport to Haut Bay (the suburb where I’m staying) was beautiful!!! It reminded me of Northern California with curvy roads and HUGE evergreen trees. We traveled around Table Mountain and began descending past wine country and botanical gardens. Hout Bay stretched out before us – more beautiful than I had imagined. As we passed through Hout Bay proper – I was reminded of New England, but I think for no other reason than it was a town on an ocean. We pulled up to the house and I began to think I had heard Di wrong when she quoted me on the price. It’s fabulous. They took me up to my room – huge bed, huge bathroom, giant shower with serious hot water and serious pressure, and windows looking over the bay forming two walls of the room. My French doors lead onto a veranda which is all mine thanks to the wedding-lady. Di then showed me the “pool” which is secluded and actually a heated hot tub – so I can sit in at night or the late afternoon and also look out over the bay.
I honestly freaked and thought I had heard her wrong, so I went back down to ask Di about the price one more time – yep, I heard her right!! I also thought I’d check on internet – oh there’s wifi? Golden.
So here I am in another beautiful setting, waiting to see what tomorrow will bring me. The agenda calls for a breakfast with Di and Don, a walk through Hout Bay’s Sunday market, and a venture into the city to meet up with Phil’s friend John.
One small tidbit – as my flight was landing our pilot briefed us like always of the weather conditions in Cape Town. Sunny…blue skies…blah blah…WHAT?? Did he just say “gale-force winds”? Uh yeah – he just said gale-force winds. So the beautiful room with all the windows is wonderful, but I’m hearing every ounce of force from these winds.
Another bit of bad news – I departed Nairobi with a USB cable to take photos from my camera and put them on my computer – only it was Phil’s cord, not mine. So I’ll use my high-speed internet time to put up old photos you missed out on and hope to upload the ones from South Africa and Germany when I return to the ATL. Keep me posted on what you’re up to – I LOVE updates. ~EKY V.
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