I'm beginning to feel more at home here in Cape Town. At first, I wondered what the hell I was thinking. Now, I feel better. The past two days have been amazing and so beautiful. As you probably figured out by the sunburn story of the previous post, the sun here is ridiculously powerful and all of us pasty Americans have to slather their pasty skin in sunscreen. The weather changes in the blink of an eye; a large storm has rolled in off of the mountain in the past 20 minutes and looks as though it might be violent. The weather all day has been beautiful and hot, a perfect day for the V&A waterfront. More on that later.
Yesterday, a group of us took the train to Muizenberg beach.
The train is a fascinating and racially charged experience. It's what the majority of the city's black population uses for transportation through the suburbs because it's relatively cheap- 5.50 rand (less than one American dollar) for the half-hour ride. There are different classes for different fares, and some cars are dangerous and known for theft and mugging. One has to be pretty discerning when traveling around the city. There are three major ways to travel without walking, which I normally do. Why not? It's beautiful and a really great way to learn the city. Anyway, the three major modes of transportation are the train, taxis, and minibus taxis. Taxis and minibus taxis are NOT the same thing. A taxi is like a normal metered cab. To go into the city is usually about a hundred rand or so on one of these, about fifteen American dollars. A minibus taxi is a lot cheaper, about 4.50 rand to get to the further suburbs. They are usually full to the brim and will whistle to you as they drive by. It was pretty unnerving at first to be whistled at all the time, but now it's actually kind of funny. I should also mention that they drive at about 90 mph. Not exaggerating.
Muizenberg was unbelievable. It was my first time seeing the Indian ocean, and I was really excited. The water was a really pretty bluish green color, and the strip we were on was notorious for sharks. After a couple minutes sitting at Muizenberg, the sand started pelting us as the wind whipped up, and a local told us to head down the road towards St. James and Kalk Bay. Little did we know this would be a two-mile walk, in which I probably broke about three South African laws. We crossed the train tracks like vagrant hobos at one point, and even jumped off the moving train! Who knew I'd be such a rebel when I got here? I didn't mind the walk because I got to stare at the mountain the entire time, with these incredible trees mansions built on its slopes. I can't imagine waking up to a view of the Indian ocean every morning, with the mountains as a backdrop behind. It's my new retirement plan.
After walking a little longer, we came to Kalk Bay, a really bohemian and relaxed suburb in towards False Bay. We ate at what might be my favorite restaurant of all time, called the Brass Rail. We ate the best calamari and fish and chips make with hake, a meaty white fish. The walls of the restaurant were made of glass, so the big waves would come and splash up against it, only inches from you. Really cool. We lied on the beach for a couple of hours, fat and happy as the sun started to get that mid-August look and began to set. Only, it's January. January is summer- it's so weird! We took the train back, tired and sunburned. I came back to my apartment, showered and crashed on my bed for a half an hour. I've gotten an average of four hours of sleep per night, and I'm beginning to feel the effects. For dinner, my friends Bart and Evan cooked pasta and tomato sauce. Little did they know that tomato sauce is actually ketchup. Pasta with ketchup is not delicious.
We decided to go to a club for a little while and get a couple drinks. Two hours later, we're at Tin Roof, a local favorite in Rondebosch, drinking and dancing to mid-nineties classics like Smash Mouth and Blink 182. They love our music from the mid to late nineties, which was hilarious and so much fun for us Americans. It was a great night, and I came back and slept soundly.
Today was spent buying groceries and apartment necessities, and then visiting the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront in the middle of the city. It's a beautiful, albeit tourist-ridden spot. There are street performers, lots of restaurants, and souvenir shops. We ate a late lunch/ early dinner at a restaurant called Quay 4 which I think might be pretty famous. Wasn't as good as the Brass Bell. We walked around a while and then took the craziest cab I have ever been in back to Mowbray, where I now sit on my bed and blog before maybe hitting up a bar or just calling it a day.
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