Day 1 in Cape Town

The 11-hour flight from Germany was a bit grueling (good food, Lufthansa, but we were a bit squished!). When we arrived at the Cape Town airport, I was detained at the passport check because I did not have a printed copy of my return flight information. (note, this did NOT happen to my friends!) I had to sit on a bench while they called the airlines... the worst part of this was that they took my passport with them (rule #1: never let your passport out of sight!). This made me nervous - my friends had already disappeared, and the official had casually put my passport in his pocket! It was finally resolved, and I rejoined my friends at baggage claim.

There was another American waiting on the detention bench with me who was being detained because he didn't have a FULL page left in his passport for their 2 stamps! They refused to use a half page, even though the two stamps would fit. Apparently in South Africa, Beaurocracy is King!  They finally agreed to do it; no reason given, but he finally got on his way.

We are staying at 33 Backpackers Hostel (see link below), which is a funky place in the "Observatory" section of the city (there is an ancient Observatory nearby). There are loads of bars, clubs, funky shops, etc in the neighborhood; it's close to the University of Cape Town. We spent most of the afternoon walking around, trying to get our phones to work, getting money from the machines, and just seeing the neighborhood. (saw a couple of GREAT shops we spotted which we'll need to return to!)


A toast to Cape Town! (Barb, Larry, Ken, Karyn)

One of the women in Reception at the hostel recommended we go to a bar nearby which has 1/2 price drinks from 5 to 6; we went there, each had a Volcano (1/2 pina colada, 1/2 daquiri), and ended up staying for supper.  The food was Jamaican in influence; I had a "burger" which was jerk chicken, a huge slice of camembert, and cranberry sauce. Great!

We're going to bed fairly early; we're all jet-lagged, but I'm happy to be here; Cape Town is a mishmash of styles and wealth; we saw shanties on the drive from the airport, and our neighborhood is quite a mix. The architecture in this neighborhood is interesting; I'll take some pictures tomorrow to upload.

We don't have concrete plans for tomorrow yet; it was HOT today (97!), so it will depend on the temperature tomorrow. Yikes! I had thought it would only be in the 80's! What a shock!