Table Mountain

I hope that you are all enjoying your 4th of July celebrations. Our hostel is doing so with a beer pong tournament. Ah well. If only it was ping pong.

Our personal celebration involved hiking to the top of Table Mountain, the peak that looms over Cape Town. If you're unfamiliar, think a much higher, flatter version of Sugar Loaf in Rio or the Santa Monica mountains in LA (if you swapped them with Century City).

The trail started in the botanical gardens, which were easily the best that I've experienced. Really lovely stuff. I could have spent the entire day just there and if I lived here I'd be a regular visitor. As it was, we took our time heading to the base of the trail and wandered through the gardens for an hour or so.

The hike itself took us about 3 hours, the first half of which was spent climbing up a waterfall, albeit one with a very low water flow. The trail is actually well-maintained and alternates between steps and rocks, though this is not to indicate there was any shortage of rocks to scramble over. It made for a long an exhausting day, but also a myriad of spectacular views. Shortly after peaking the waterfall portion, the trail opens to the air and we beheld beautiful vistas of the Cape of Good Hope and the Atlantic Ocean. Every few feet of the trail presented a new vantage point and it was hard to keep a good pace going. The trail wound its way through a variety of cactus and scrub brush, all very beautiful itself.

All of this would have made for a terrific day , but there was more to come. When we peaked the mountain itself, we saw on the far side a nearly 180 degree view of Cape Town and its surrounds. The city itself is lovely from above, but the view extended out onto Robben Island (if you're unfamilar, a bit like Alcatraz, an island prison and Nelson Mandela's very same for 27 years) and the bay sparkling in the sun.

There's actually a funicular that runs from the city up to the top, and boatloads of tourists take that way up the mountain. To our benefit, the peak is about a 45 minute walk from it, so most of the day visitors didn't wander our way (maybe a couple of dozen did) and we were able to enjoy a nice quite lunch on the peak. The walk back to the funicular (the trail we took is very hard to descend and probably not much fun in a pair of sneakers with the treads worn off) was also spectacular and at one point the cliffs fall off straight down nearly to the city level. We had a bit of fun leaning our heads over the ledge, but it blew my mind a little to take in the entirety of 3400 feet all at once.

It's hard to rank all of the great things we've experienced here so far. They all have been incredible in their own right. This one was another such experience. If you are ever in Cape Town, I'd highly recommend doing the hike. It's a bit strenuous, but you can do it in casual gear and the views are better knowing that you earned them.

All in all, Cape Town has been great and is a city worth visiting on its own. The only one in SA, I'd say, though we didn't make it out to Durban and maybe that's the only other one.

Tomorrow we're off to the Southern tip of Africa, hopefully we'll see some penguins and maybe some sharks (we may go Shark Cage Diving, but we didn't book so it might not come off). Tuesday we do some wine tasting, Wednesday we undertake the day long drive back to Jo'Burg!

Happy 4th of July everyone!

RE: Pictures

Thought I should share that I will be posting pictures to match many of my posts. To date I have not done so, due in large part to the fact that in SA internet usage is often based on MB and not on time. If you're not familiar, blog text takes only a few bytes, but the HQ pics that we've taken on this trip take quite a lot. Once we get to Spain or back to the States (i.e. by 7/10 or 7/17) I'll upload pics to go along (animals, soccer, wild fires, etc.).

That said, I just uploaded a couple attached to my Kruger posts. Not the best -- still have to sort through hundreds for that -- but they give you the idea. The elephants did try to eat us and the Zebra pictured are the actual ones that made my paralyze in fear as I was learning to drive a standard.

The Indian Ocean's not such a bad place

After rolling out of Graff-Reinet we spent a couple of days on the south coast. We spent a night each in Jeffrey's Bay and Buffalo Bay, there's some irony in that last one somewhere. J-Bay as it's known was pleasant enough, but also quite the famous surf spot. It's always a bit akward to be an outsider, J-Bay was no different. We were the posers in their surfer world. We stayed at a surf hostel to boot. To be fair, they were indifferent enough and paid no attention to us as we passed through their world. But we scored a room in the adjacent cottage and, well, it's nice to set your alarm, roll over and watch the sun rise over the Indian Ocean, or any ocean for that matter.

Our next destination blew J-Bay away. Buffalo Bay - again, there's irony in there somewhere - was spectacular. We stayed at a little backpackers on a deserted stretch of beach about 1K down the beach from the village itself. If you make it down to this part of South Africa I highly recommend a stop here. We spent the day on the rocks watching gargantuan waves crash just beyond us (hence the surfers paradise, the tubes are long and high), played cards as the sun set over the water and, as it was my birthday, partied into the night. This trip hasn't been one for partying, but on one's birthday I think it's fair to indulge.

Couple of fun conincidences on this night too. The hostel holds around 20 people. There were maybe 15 of us on this night. One of the others, Richard from outside Norwich England, also was born on the 2nd of July. I've never run into someone with the same birthday as me, ever, until this group of 15. I read that Jose Cansenco was born on July 2, but I've yet to run into him. The second conincidence -- one of the guests was a nurse from California Hospital. The same fine establishment that removed my appendix. And also my one and only hospital stay to date.

Maybe it's just a trick of human life, but I like to believe in cosmic meeting points. I think this is one. Check it out for yourself and let me know...

From Jo'Burg to the Indian Ocean

I was knocked out of action for a few days last week - first we pulled a 10 hour drive from Jo'Burg to Graff-Reinet. I didn't get to see too much of Graff-Reinet, I came down with a little bug after the drive and spent most of the next 2 days sleeping. It was meant to be a bit of a slow down, but I barely made it out of bed. From what I did see, it was a pretty and charming town. The thing about South Africa though, with the exception of Cape Town, is that the towns aren't much of an attraction. The architecture and the city planning are not considerable reasons for visiting. The rugged landscape, the wild animals, the generous people. They're all great reasons. The cities and towns? I wouldn't recommend them on their own.

There's Nothing Quite Like a Huge Gasoline Fire

I couldn't post about how great the South African countryside is without mentioning the huge controlled burns that take place across the east and center of the country. Their smoke make for great sunsets. But it's also quite odd to see groups of men, sometimes in protective gear, sometimes in short pants, shooting flames of burning gasoline into the savannah. We even ran into them in the national parks. They have their own type of beauty, and apparently the reason for them is a wildfire a few years back that damaged a large portion of South Africa's "green" gold -- pine forests.

If you visit in the winter (the dry season for most of South Africa) you'll get to see and smell for yourself.

Have I mentioned that I hate Peter Jackson?

First he turned my beloved Lord of the Rings into an Australian Soap. Then he filmed the blasted thing in New Zealand. Having seen a good swath of South Africa, I can confidently say that the dolt should have filmed them here. Tolkien grew up here. Surely it's terrain inspired much of what he wrote. I think the least Jackson could have done in photographed his films here. Of course this probably wouldn't have prevented his turning the defining adventure tale of my childhood into weepy melodramas...

We've now travelled the entire width of the country and some of it's length. The country is never at a shortage for breathtaking views. It wasn't difficult for us to plot a driving course covering mostly phenomenal views of mountains, sweeping hills, rolling savannah's, and ocean cliffs as we moved 3000 kilometers west to east. The views from our car windows are often stunning and if you come here, I'd wager you'd think it was a shame, too, that Mr. Jackson snubbed its scenery.

Back to Algerians

Algerian fans are phenomenal. Nothing on this trip has compared to the warmth of spirit and heart shown by the Algerians I encountered after the US - Algeria game. I had the pleasure of talking with about 8 or so and had a brief exchange with about a further dozen. All 20 said some version of great game, good luck, I hope you win. The 8 each gave me a handshake, smile, and firm embrace. The outpouring of universal brotherhood moved me quite a bit. I'm not sure I thought it was possible in such a pure form. There has been, in my experience, always some hitch, some group of fans with sour grapes or some who ignore you. This for me was pure the display of brotherhood.

Since this time the experience has not been the same. I mentioned it briefly in my post about the Ghana - US game, but as the crowds have become mixed with many more impartial observers the tone has gone out. The exchanges are more convivial than at a US sporting event, but the feeling of warmth and brotherhood of man has gone away. Perhaps it has something to do with expectation - both the US and Algerian fans fall into the category of lucky to be here kinds. Perhaps its because there is generally less tension in the group stages. I don't know. What I can do, is tip my hat to all the wonderful Algerian fans that I met, and to the US fans as well, who were, I am amazed to admit, gracious winners. At the end of the day life may be no matter how we try or do, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short, but we can, from time to time, find something good and pure.

Back to my list

I've been mulling over my top 5 favorite guilty pleasure movies from time to time on this trip. I've got a go at it. Version 2.o may come before I leave the dark continent.

1. Hackers
2. Super Troopers
3. Over the Top
4. Showdown in Little Tokyo
5. The Prophecy 3

Responding to comments I've had - Mr. Qualls, I'm looking in your direction - the Big Lebowski and Big Trouble in Little China do not qualify. I think both are legitimate slapstick / parody / farce. Dumb and Dumber too. I think to make this list, I have to be somewhat ashamed to like these films. I'm not at all ashamed about those 3.