First Full Day in Cape Town

Had a great first full day in Cape Town...slept until 10:45 a.m. (When was the last time we did that...ok, it was only 4:45 a.m. back home!) The first challenge was figuring out the shower knobs...turns out that only the cold water knob is used to control the water flow. All the hot water knob does is to control the amount of hot water in the cold water flow, but no water comes out if you just turn the hot water knob. Thus the call to housekeeping to tell them the hot water wasn't working, and the repairman to determine that he had another dumb American family visiting. Another highlight was frying an electricity converter...still don't know why that happened.

The rest of the day went much better. Our guide, Acilia, met us at 1:00 p.m., and showed us a little of the city and several galleries. Still can't get used to driving on the wrong side of the street! The most interesting gallery was the Michael Stevenson Gallery, which featured some really great African emerging artists.

A late lunch was at a small tapas restaurant...really tasty small portions, and a good rest in the day! Dinner was at a great seafood restaurant in a shopping center next to our hotel. The waterfront (including our hotel) is a very active area, with lots of tourists and great views of the harbor and surrounding mountains.

Haven't quite gotten used to the exchange rates...dinner was 925 rands per couple (including tip)...which translates to approximately $130...not too bad for a great meal in a touristy area!

The weather today was typical spring weather back home...high in the mid 60s, mostly sunny. The rest of our stay in Cape Town is supposed to be sunny and a little warmer...although Acilia says it is difficult to predict weather here. (Well duh...isn't it everywhere??)

Interesting observation...there were virtually no blacks on our flight from Amsterdam to Cape Town, and we have not seen as many in Cape Town as in the population of South Africa in general. Our guide said that Cape Town has a small black African population because, during Apartheid, they were not permitted to live here. Also, the tourist activity makes the area look more "white" than it actually is.

One of Chuck's observations is that the South Africans we have met will readily discuss race issues, as opposed to the US, where they are often difficult to broach. I'm guessing that's because of the draconian Apartheid laws that were only elimianted in the 1990s...everyone had to deal with race, which tends to eliminate any angst in discussing race once the laws were eliminated. The problem seems to be that equality here is only under the law, while educational equality effectively blunts that. I am happy to note that we have heard of many educational endeavors for Africans which should help the population to achieve true equality, and that we will be visiting two of these efforts during our stay.

Another observation...there are no parking meters in Cape Town. Our guide said that, because the unemployment rate was high, the meters were taken out, and replaced with live people to collect the parking fees! After seeing these people in operation, I'm wondering how much ends up in city coffers. I'm thinking about retiring here and getting one of these jobs!

Photos to come in a later blog!