Cape Town
SOUTH AFRICA
Oh, Expensive Cape Town...
By AARON
Monday, May 2, 2011
As the saying goes, “All good things must come to an end”, and in this case, it ended in Cape Town and the good thing was our Tucan tour.
Weighing the pros and cons of touring with a company and doing it on your own came out pretty even, and as our big yellow truck named “Peeky” slowly rolled to a halt on Main Street in Cape Town, we couldn’t help but feel a bit sad. Oh well, back on our own again.
First order of business was enjoying the surrounding sights, which included a stop at the waterfront, where tourists can ride a ferris wheel for about $14USD, or get this, get the “VIP package” where you go around twice and get to split a cheap bottle of champagne. Price for that tourist trap? $1,000 Rand (about $180USD).
So as Lyndi and I strolled around the waterfront, at times pausing to window shop and also check out the waterfront mall, a revelation dawned on us that would prove to be our bane for the next 15 days: South Africa is expensive. It kind of makes sense, seeing that it is one of – if not the most well off – country in Africa, but wow… this was really going to eat into our budget. Thank God India and Southeast Asia are cheap.
That first night we went out for our last group dinner at a place called Mama Africas, and although the food was a bit overpriced, the live band there was outstanding. I recommend going there just for drinks and to listen to a real African style band rock out.
Day two was dubbed “Table Mountain Day”, since it was really nice outside, so Lyndi, Nicole, Marina, Jordan and I all climbed into a cab and proceeded to climb one of the trails up to the top. Although we were all out of shape due to our past month’s regime of riding on a bus, drinking and eating, I’m happy to say that we all made it up to the top in less than the recommended time.
At the top on a clear day, you are rewarded with amazing views of Cape Town, the Atlantic Ocean, and the surrounding hillsides. So after snapping some photos and also laughing at the local Dussies (tail-less beaver looking things with what seems to be buck teeth and a hair-lip) we headed back down the trail and back to the hostel. The rest of the day was spent catching up on e-mail and relaxing in the hostel.
Day three was spent looking for a rental car, but overachiever Lyndi has already written the next blog and has mentioned this in more detail, so I will let you read about it there. Oh, we also visited the “District 6” museum which unfortunately turned out to be a bit of a disappointment as it didn’t really expand on what exactly happened, but more so on personal testimonies and newspaper clippings. Good nonetheless, but it could have been better.
Day three was to be our final night in Cape Town, and since it was also the Tucan tour’s final night as well, all of us met up at a bar on the waterfront and enjoyed some farewell cocktails as we reminisced about the past 2 weeks and shared stories and all-organic baking recipes.
Okay, not the recipes, but I’m just seeing if you’re still paying attention, because I’ve just re-read through this blog and I must say, I’ve written better. I promise to give you something good in my next blog- shouldn’t be too hard, because we cage dive with great white sharks. Oh yeah!
