South African Bus Stop

Two days ago we left Cape Town to travel up the coast on what is called "The Garden Route." Our first stop is a small town called Wilderness. It is a one stop light town built for summer homes and B&B's. We got here by taking the first class bus (like a greyhound) for 110 Rand (nearly 18 dollars). The bus was a lot like busses in the US only it stopped at KFC when the driver got hungry. And also, the driver drove righ pass the bus stop in Wilderness because he forgot we were going there and instead dropped us off on the side of the highway in the middle of nowhere at 10 PM.

We had to walk to a gas station where we asked if we could call a taxi. The people laughed and said no taxi's drive this late. So we asked a guy for a ride and he was glad to help out. We were lucky cause it would have been a 3 or 4 km hike in the dark, in the cold, and it was fairly difficult to find.

Backtracking... the people on the bus were very nice. One guy tried to get Nathan to flirt with a beautiful girl right next to him. It was hilarious. I sat next to a young girl that tought me some Zulu and also Xosa (sounds like "click" c/t osa).

We also met a young man named Donovan who had come from Tanzania in search of a better life. It broke my heart to talk to him. He came up to me with the brightest smile you have ever seen. He had this happiness and optimism in his eyes. I must have looked affable because he came right to me and introduced himself. He showed me how to give a proper handshake; around the thumb, the hand, and then snap your thumbs together. I showed him the fist pound and he seemed to like it. I asked him where he was going and he said to George, a tiny city about 5 hours outside of Cape Town, where he will hopefully find a shelter before dark. It was already very cold and hopefully he wouldn't have to stay outside before looking for work in the morning. He only had a raggy suit jacket to keep him warm. I don;t write all of this to make you feel sad, but it is an interesting story of the economic climate for many Africans in cape town. Many people stand on corners hoping for someone to pick them up for a days work. Somedays they get picked up, somedays not. The going rate is 100 Rand per day.

A bit more about cape town. There are so many different groups of people who speak so many different languages. Enlgish is a common language in that most people can speak some English but it is rarely the first language. Afrikaans is a type of Dutch that is spoken by most of the whites and colored( I'll explain later) people. And then there are a majority of the black people that speak either Xosa, Zulu, or dozens of other languages. On our bus ride we were the only white people on board. But the girl next to me spoke primarily Zulu. The driver spoke Xosa along with the majority. But many other people spoke other languages. The language barrier is very strange, it obviously causes divisions among the people.

Colored people are people of mixed blood. Either back from the colonial days or whenever, they are considered colored. Blacks are the full blooded African people.

Today we are off to the beaches of Wilderness. Pictures will come soon but just think of Malibu, without Mel Gibson driving drunk through the streets, and you will know where we are. In a few days we will hitch hike to Knysa, a slightly bigger town and check it out there for a few days. One final quickie: One of the guys that works at the backpackers dorm is a german with a crazy accent and an even crazier slang. Every sentence ends with "boo" which he uses like "dude." He is a surfer, if that helps....

Jewseums, Mexican Food and Asians!

I really need to stay on top of this blog because so much happens that one day off will force me to write a painfully long blog. So be prepared...

Yesterday we went into the city again and wanted to check out a human evolution exhibit at the Jewish Museum (a Jewseum, if you will). When we arrived we were placed into a small tour that had just began with a small Jewish woman named.... drumroll.... Sheila! She was short and had dark hair (just like my Sheila), but she was 70 years old and Jewish. The tour was awesome, Sheila was a great guide and she spoke with a unique meter (like poetry) and was an encyclopedia of information. In short, Jews arrived in Cape Town to escape the Nazi's and have done fairly well for themselves out here.

We had lunch in the garden park that is in the city and listened to the same musicians as the day before. It must be where they go to write music, as they said it, their 'laboratory.' Then we heard some clapping and singing and, seeing how it was Sunday, we assumed it was church related and went to check it out. We got close and soon we were in the middle of it. Beautiful singing, all men singing, clapping their hands like a sort of gospel chant. Then we noticed a bride and groom and realized it was a wedding, and we were standing right in the middle of it. It was really awesome. Everyone seemed really happy an they sounded great. We watched it for a bit and then left.

I called Sheila and it was great because I had not heard her voice for nearly 5 days and it was a relief to get to talk to her.

We finished the night with a 5 K walk up a beautiful beach side that reminded me of San Diego. We paid a boat load to take a taxi back because the mini taxi's become very sketchy at night. For dinner we found a little Mexican restaurant and decided to check it out. I had nachos and let me tell you, the South African's really know their Tex Mex. You wouldn't guess it, especially since our waitress didn't speak English or Spanish but rather Zulu, Zutu, and other languages.

Today we hired a tour guide to take us to Cape of Good Hope. It was by far the most 'tourist' I have felt but it was worth it. Our guide was a white man named Warren who was just a cool guy. He has lived in Cape Town for 40 years and he knew his stuff as well as just letting me and Rootbeer be ourselves.

To start, Warren suggested that we take a short boat ride to see some seals and stuff. It sounded lame but we did it because we felt like he wanted us to. First I should mention that his Mercedes van was built for 8 but we were the only ones who booked for today. So we boarded the boat thinking we might be the only ones on it. Enter Asians. About 30 of them, all women. It was like an episode of MXE. We sent out and the Asains started going crazy. Giggling, and taking photos of the silliest things. Each other, the boat, the water, it didn't matter, they were hilarious. Nathan and I watched them for the majority of the 20 minute tour and at the end I asked if I could take a picture with them. They went nuts. Immediately they all wanted individual photos with us. One on each side. Nathan and I posed for about 100 photos. I am not sure why they were so excited about us but they loved it. Everyone was gathered around for about 15 minutes. It was hilarious. Somewhere in China there will be about 100 photos of us circulating. I really wish I knew why we were such an attraction.

Finally, we saw the cape and it was beautiful. Steep cliffs, crashing waves, and clear water. But in an instant, the sunshine turned to pouring rain and we became drenched as we walked the quarter mile back to the tour van.

This tour also marked a couple of firsts for me. First monkey, a baboon, first African ungulate, a BantoBak, and also the mighty Eland, a giant antelope about the size of a moose. It has been an expensive week but we only have one day left in Cape Town. Tomorrow we will go wine tasting and check out the wine country, supposedly very green and beautiful. Thank you for the comments and to let you know, there are plenty more pictures online now. The uploading process is very slow but today has been the first major break we have had since arriving.

Love,

Adam

Singing and Dancing

Yesterday was another great day. Beautiful weather! Nathan and I decided to go to the Waterfront and check out what was going on there. The waterfront is a lot like 3rd street in Santa Monica with performers and shops.

We spent most of the day in silence with our jaws dropped. The city can have a very strong vibe to it. One group of performers in particular were amazing. They were young Zulu dancers. They sang in Afrikaans (dutch mixed with native African languages) and danced like I've never seen. I kept this part in there even though it makes me sound like an idiot. The dancers were actually Xhosas and the language that they speak is Xhosa. It is amazing to me how little I knew about South Africa before I went there. Afrikaans is spoken by the Afrikaners and the so called coloured people. What an idiot, huh? Their voices were not perfect but they sounded great anyway, they sang with such power, belting out every word. Their dancing was even more energetic. 6 or 7 women and 7 or 8 guys, each dancing together in a sort of traditional dance that looked like freak dancing mixed with tap dancing, mixed with drumming dancing, mixed with 1000 grams of caffeine. It was amazing.

In fact, dancing and singing seems to be a large part of South African culture. people seem very free to dance and it seems to bring them such joy. We saw many people dancing in the city and all over the city parks.

We left the wharf after about 3 hours. 2 mini highlights, I saw about 10 jellyfish and now I am terrified to go in the water, and also the Nike store is the only store that is equally as expensive as the US.

Back at Cape Town city we walked around some more. The city is just fun to walk around. We spent some time in a giant garden in the middle of the city where they have 1,000 of exotic plants and trees and also some amazing birds. People just go to the park to relax and unwind. One group of guys must have been a musical group cause they were sitting around a guitar playing a song and just singing whatever came to mind. One guy had a paper and pen and would write down the words that came out. And they were amazing! Beautiful voices, in perfect harmony, singing in Afrikaans and it just sounded so good. I sat and listened to them for maybe 20 minutes. I really wish music and dancing were a larger part of American culture. As I write this, I can hear singing from outside where church has started. It sounds like gospel music.

Today we are off to Cape Town again for museums and apparently here is live music at the wharf tonight.

Love,

Adam

Planes, trains and minibuses

So, I'm in Africa! A ten hour flight to London felt like 5 minutes. I boarded the plane, fell asleep, had a dream that I was in a plane crash and then woke up as we were flying over Ireland. It was strange. Moral of the story, 2x the does of sleeping pills will really knock you out.

Rootbeer was waiting for me in London and after 3 hours of hanging out in the airport we boarded for another 10 hour flight. Oddly enough, the time change worked out so that my second flight took off at exactly the same time as the first flight, 9:00 PM. We were serve a meal and everyone fell asleep. I had only been awake for about 4 hours so sleep was out of the question, even with 2 more sleeping pills. Fortunately, for yours truly, Nathan only slept for about 4 hours and the rest of the 6 hours were spent giving each other high fives and pumping ourselves up for the trip.

Finally, the arrival.

At first Cape Town looks like any other city. But not long after we left the airport (by a private taxi, 10 miles, 20 US dollars) you start to see the townships. They are mixed into the developed parts of the town, kind of like L.A., where rich and poor neighborhoods are separated by only a few yards. But besides the very clear presence of slums and shanty towns, Cape Town is a very gorgeous city.

We arrived with our host, Van Zijl (Fan Sale), a fellow couchsurfer who is hosting us for this first week in Cape Town. He is a very neat guy, fellow film maker, and a great host. Gave us a key to his house and has made us feel at home. We were pumped to "experience Africa" right away so we took off to catch a taxi into the city center. Van had advised us to take the minibus taxi's as they were the cheapest mode of transport.

So we walked to the street and a minibus (looks like an old VW hippie van) skidded across the busy traffic street to see if we wanted to go to Cape Town. The van already had 8 or so people in it, including a breast feeding mother, but for 6 Rand (about .90 US dollars) both Nathan and I could ride the 4 km's or so to the city. The ride was awesome! Packed into the bus like sardines, going 50 mph through traffic. Of course, we were the only white people on the van and we had tourists written all over us (camera's, backpacks, lost look on our faces) so the people on the bus started asking us where we were from. The 10 minute ride to the city was filled with friendly chit chat. our immediate thought was, people here are so nice.

When we arrived downtown, an old woman, about 60, overheard us talking about going to table mountain. For no reason at all she offered to show us where to catch the right minibus that would take us to the top. I could only understand about half of the words she said and we followed her for 5 minutes o so and I thought, "this must be a scam," but sure enough she arrived us at a minibus that took us up to the top. The minibus, once again overcrowded, cost a steep 15 Rand (2 bucks) and the woman just took off after helping us. We couldn't believe how helpful people were, for no reason at all!

Table mountain is amazing. Cape Town is between the ocean and the foot of Table Mountain, a giant rocky flat top shielding the city from the rest of the continent. Once at the top you can see for miles. The pictures don't do it justice (because I suck as photographer).

Back in the city Rootbeer asked what time it was. I said, "probably around 4 or 5, we should head back." He said, "I bet it's closer to 1 or 2." Turns out it was 11:45. Neither of us had a clue. So we stopped at a delicious pizza parlor and split a nice big pizza, 28 Rand (4 bucks).

The rest of the day was spent walking around the city. The city really lively. Hundreds of people line the streets, doing business, hanging out, doing whatever. It is awesome. We walked around for nearly 4 hours before really hitting the wall and nearly passing out. A coffee shop employee gave us a few pointers (everyone was so helpful and nice) and then we went t catch a minibus back to Observatory, a small suburb where we wil be staying.

Again, the bus was packed, this time with about a dozen people, and this time the driver was insane. He honked the horn 4,596 times in 23 minutes flat. A new world record. The horn meant: 1)get out of the way, 2)I'm not stopping' 3)anyone else want on? and ) screw you. He drove on the shoulder just to pass cars at a red light. It was unbelievable. We would approach a red light behind 6 cars and somehow be the first ones to cross once it turned green.

You should also know that minibus driving is a team sport. One driver and one guy on crowd control and promotion. The driver drives and doesn't talk to anyone while the backseat guy hangs out the side yelling at people to get on the bus, collects money, and pushes people out when they approach their stop. It is hustling at it's finest.

Unfortunately, we were the ones getting hustled. Not knowing our way around, we asked to be taken to UCT (univ. of Cape Town) where we could find our way to Van's house. The guys said okay and drove us for 30 minutes. then demanded more payment because it was so far away. Payment meant 1 more dollar so I said whatever. 20 minutes later we were in the middle of nowhere and I said how much further to UCT and he said not far. I turned around and asked a fellow passenger if they knew where UCT was and they said, "about 4 km's behind us, we passed it a long time ago."

I asked the driver if it was behind us and he just said, "yeah, way back there." We got out, hopped on another minibus, it got dark and eventually we got dropped off on campus. Unfortunately, it was the wrong campus and we ran around asking people if they knew how to get to the medical campus. We had to pose as UCT students and hop on the free shuttle which took us 4 km's to Van's house. It was... awesome!

Rootbeer and I laughed, came home and nearly passed out right then and there. We shot the breeze with Van for a while and now we are exhausted. Anyway, sorry for the rant but it was such a funny day that I felt the need to share. Tomorrow we are going to a few museums and probably explore Cape Town some more. XO to Sheila.

Love, Adam PS - note to Tiff, British Airways is the nicest airline and the flights were both the nicest flights I've ever been on.