Today was absolutely gorgeous. I don't know why they call this season winter! Since I have been here, it's been sunny and in the 60s or higher. Today, I woke up very late (10:40)! I didn't pack a clock because I am planning on buying one here, except I don't have a plug near my bed in my hostel and I don't want to wake up my roommates. So, I can arrange for a wake up call, which is when the man who works the night shift comes into your room and taps your shoulder, or let my sleep cycle work itself out. So far, I have done both and had lovely days each way. Right now, I'm on vacation!
When I left the hostel, it was too late to eat breakfast, so I had a very traditional South African lunch of tomato and mozzarella bruschetta! After that, I walked along a pedestrian street and finally got a camera charger and memory card reader. I even bargained for them! Originally, the man wanted to sell me the charger for 150 rand and 40 rand for the reader. Somehow, I walked out of there with the charger and reader for 150. I felt very proud of myself. Except when I got home and the memory card reader doesn't work with my version of Mac..
But, the Waterfront was amazing. There are some condos and apartments that make me forget I'm in Africa and instead put me in Florida or something. There are palm trees and canals. It's hard to imagine that barely over 20 years ago, Cape Town was home to apartheid. Which, yesterday when I was driving out of the city, I saw some of the worst poverty I have ever seen. When I was in Ecuador, I saw people living on the sides of mountains with tin roofs, but this was much worse. The houses were the size of people's yard sheds and there were thousands of them. There didnt' seem to be space between them. And this was all from driving on the highway, so I can't imagine what it looks like up close.
As I was walking around the waterfront, it was funny to watch the kids jumping on trampolines, people lounging in restaurants, girls making cotton candy (yes, I got some) and guys twisting their bodies in ways that make me believe bones and spines are optional. It felt like going to Faneuil Hall in the middle of summer. I walked into one of the stores because my camera battery had died and was hoping to borrow a plug of theirs to test out my new purchase and the lady was so nice about it. We began chatting and I found out all about her niece and nephew. Her niece works at University of Cape Town and travels all over the world promoting women in the workforce. I got her card. And her nephew is an urban architect and helped design and build the World Cup Stadium! She also had tons to say about living under apartheid. She's of Indian descent, which made her "coloured" under the apartheid system. She's not college educated because she didn't know she could be. She was taught to go into the hard labor force and said that's why so many store keepers are coloured and workers are black and businessmen are white. She invited me to come back and ask her anything, so I am definitely going to take her up on that.
Tonight for dinner, I went to Mama Africa, a restaurant right down the street that everyone talks about. I may pick the onions and cucumbers out of salads and I might refuse to eat anything that has been near a raisin, but I can now say that I have eaten ostrich, crocodile, springbok, and kudo. Springbok and kudo are both in the gazelle family and springbok are South Africa's national animal. The first few bites were hard because I could really only taste the name. "I'm eating ostrich?!?!?!" "Gazelles and those deer in my backyard look too much alike.." Eventually, I got over that and liked most of it. Except for the crocodile, they were all red meat. It was a good experience and I can now say that I don't really like kudu or crocodile and that springbok and ostrich really just taste like steak.
I'm not sure what my plans are tomorrow. Most things are closed here on Sundays. I'll be drinking hot chocolate because, as usual, it tastes so much better here than at home. And I'll hopefully find a store that sells a card reader that works with my computer. I'm sure Thomson can't stand reading this much without pictures.
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