Day 2, CapeTown with friends

We woke up after eight solid hours in those lovely cloud beds, feeling much closer to "normal", after the narcoleptic fog of yesterday evening.  Mom's friend David picked us up at 8:45, and had the entire day mapped out for us! What a wonderful treat to have a local experience.  This will be our last taste of local flair on the cruise.

 We started off on a leisurely drive through the city, past high rises, a Dutch windmill, other traditional gable architecture, through suburbs, and over to the Indian Ocean coast. We climbed zigzag style up cliff sides, passed through quaint coastal beach towns, with the constant informative chatter of our tour host!  beaches are gorgeous, but there are shark issues! They have shark watchers who are paid to sit high on cliffs and monitor and report shark sightings. They have expansive Shark nets that they lower and raise daily to protect swimmers.

Table Mountain National Park is expansive over the Cape. David took us to the Boulders, where the African Penguins live. What a complete treat! The temps today were 77 degrees F, partly cloudy,  but super super windy, again. So the penguins were sort of holed up around the boulders, all facing away from the wind. Lots and lots of them! They're so funny to watch waddle around, and deciding to try and slide down boulders, or go for a swim, or just get warm in the summer sun. Many were hiding from the wind in their burrows.

From there we drove over the mountain, breathtaking views, back over to the Atlantic side. Inlets with incredible surf breaks, and windy inlets with kitesurfing were just breathtaking. The seas pray from the offshore winds made for super dramatic sights. 

David took us past squatter camps, where immigrants land and stay, living in shacks and squalor.

 We visited David's church in Masephumelele, one of the Townships. This is the place where I desperately wanted to get out of the car, and wander amongst the alleys, nooks, shacks, and really see the people up close. Feel the textures, hear the sounds, smell the smells. But it was apparent that this was not part of the plan, whether for safety reasons, or imposition from foreign white americans...I "shot from the hip" mostly out the car window as we zipped quickly around the Township and out again. Immediately out of poverty, back into middle class suburbia. Just outside the Township walls. 

Next stop was David's flat in Fishhoek for lunch with friends. His daughter Marian had spent the morning roasting chicken, sausages, making bean salad, carrot and pineapple salad, new potatoes...it was a lovely meal and sweet visit with friends, especially Bongali and his family. There is a kinship amongst this mix of friends which transcends oceans, time zones, cultures and ethnicities.  I'm so happy that Mom makes this kind of connection a priority in her life, and that she is sharing it with me.

Bongale and his sweet family

a Fishoek kitty

David's backyard courtyard