New adventures soon

Tonight I am having dinner with a few friends at a well known restaurant in Cape Town called Mama Africa's. I'll try to post some pictures in a timely manner.

I'll be having some new adventures beginning in a little under two weeks. I am going on vacation (finally!) and will be posting pictures of my adventures when I can. As time gets closer to vacation, I'll post what I am doing daily in an itinerary :-)

In the meantime, enjoy the scorching heat. I wouldn't trade it for California (sunny and breezy) weather.

~Carolyn

Well that was. . .interesting

 For any Americans who decide they want to venture to South Africa (I highly recommend it) you have a 90 day visa upon arrival to the South African borders. Once those 90 days are up, you are an illegal immigrant, and they will give you a hassle at the port of exit. You will also be fined 1000 ZAR and if the officers are feeling up to it (very very small chance though) they can threaten you with prison. I being the check-in/check out sort of person I am, decided that I wanted to avoid all of that nonsense so I decided to spend a few rand and get an extension visa.

That was definitely an episode.

To do this, one must go to the Department of Home Affairs. The Department of Home Affairs is located  Downtown, in a building in desperate need of a paint job. When walking into home affairs, you first approach a counter with a saucy DHA woman who gives you a ticket number and instructs you to go to a particular level of the building to wait for your number to be called. When I went into the building, the whole place was super busy with an outstanding number of asians and Zimbabweans. I got my number and went up to the third floor, designated for visa extensions.

Sitting down, I was happy to see that I only had four people in front of me. So I chilled and read a bit, but not without doing some people watching. If you are ever in need of good people watching in Cape Town, besides the wharf area, the DHA is the best place to do so. You'll find all manner of people in the place and Wednesday was my lucky day. In front of me seated was a pimp. I kid you not. He was wearing a very brightly colored orange silk shirt, and snakeskin shoes. He also had an odd assortment of gold jewelry on, and the guy next to him looked like a bodyguard of some sort. Perhaps he was famous or something. Next to me on my far left was a middle aged woman (clearly cougar) trying the Mary J. Blige look (over 40 and feeling foxy as comedian Jeff Foxworthy would say) who was kind of flirting with the guy next to her who looked around my age. It was disturbing. On my right was a quiet but attractive American guy (California surfer type) who was also around my age. The reason I knew he was American was because of the American passport he held in his hand.

After going to the counter to hand in my documents, I was directed to another counter where an extremely ancient looking woman was doing accounting and signing off on paperwork. As I was standing in line, a woman wearing  a fuschia colored ball gown and clear plastic heels waltzed past me. Everyone seemed confused by her appearance, especially me. She looked a bit lost, but I wasn't sure what she was doing in DHA in formal wear. Perhaps she wanted some attention, but I think the type she was aiming for, she certainly wasn't getting.

After the woman who probably knew Caesar personally gave me my paperwork back I bolted out of the DHA. I can only take so much oddness in at once and that was a bit much. After going outside, I called  a very reliable taxi company I use all the time to scoop me up. Oddly enough, they were late and while I was talking to the driver, I found out why. Apparently, the South African Police (SAPS) was out trying to catch people with outstanding warrants or ticket fees. How they do this is simply by setting up computer booths on the public roads and stop everyone. After doing a fingerprint scan and a computer lookup, if you happen to owe money they will ask for it on the spot, and if you owe A LOT of money they will arrest you on the spot. Pretty effective system, except for the fact that it made all the drivers in CT super paranoid and everyone was driving as if they were drunk. It was hilarious but the morning exhausted me and it wasn't even 11:00 am.

After a nap ( I stress sleep) I got up and did work. Vacation in less than a month. Super excited.

All is well,

Carolyn

Kids, kids, kids

My friends,

I apologize for the delay. It has been far too long since I have spoken to you all, and it is shameful on my part.

The reason is that I have been SO busy with work I honestly haven't had time to sit down and blog. I have even been missing meals (and more importantly sleep) because of it.

Thankfully today, I am able to catch up a bit. I have no new pictures (since I just recharged my camera) and unfortunately can't take pictures of the kids I have been working with. I have been visiting secondary schools as part of my internship here, and it has taken me to the extremes in terms of socioeconomic status. I have visited the ultra posh private schools with waxed floors, and the schools in the townships, where children fight with each other for a desk. It's not uncommon for the children to sit two or three to a desk.

I can say this much about my visits. The children in these schools are much more disciplined than I feel they are back in the states. I don't know why, but I intend on asking around when I start interviewing school personnel. When I know I will let you all know and report back.

In the meantime, I hope that you all are enjoying your summer. I have been hearing about the heat  wave in the States, and to those in the midwest and east coast, I really do sympathize. I guess I got lucky when I decided to leave the country for the summer. Cape Town has been in the 70's lately and sunny.

Take Care,
Carolyn

Simplicity

I didn't do anything exciting this weekend except grocery shop, clean, and do work. Therefore you aren't missing out on anything. This weekend however, I have been invited to do something lovely--something that is considered a right of passage in Cape Town.

I'll share once I've done it.

Tah Tah

Carolyn

Will report tomorrow

Perhaps I will have an exciting event to report to you all tomorrow. I'd rather share my experiences of doing interesting things then not. . . .

I'll try to take some photos. My batteries are currently recharging.

Bon soir,

Carolyn

Somewhere over the rainbow

way up high. .

I'm busy as ever. More pictures of my evening adventures below. Dominic felt it necessary to show off to his buddies Travolta and Tinoshe how good he was at pool. (Epic eye rolling)

Dominic and Tinoshe. 

Tinoshe and Travolta

We did this a very peculiar bar which had very dirty names for their vodka drinks which I am not going to repeat here. The bar was called "Bob's" and it is located on Long street.

Good food and good people. What more could you ask for on a Tuesday evening?

Carolyn

The Cape of Good Hope, Simon's Town, and Stellenbosch

My newest Saturday adventure began way to early in the morning. At 8:30. You have to understand that this is painful for me on the weekends, as Saturdays are the only days in which I usually can catch up on my sleep. However, it is worth waking up early here in this mountainous paradise because it is so scenic.

 This mountain range you see here is along Camp's Bay-the equivalent of Beverly Hills, California. It is very expensive here but very scenic and pretty. It's on the backside of Table Mountain. The Mountain range was named the 12 apostles, because some Dutch guy named it so, after this place was established. The town has grown drastically and none of the buildings you see here were there 100 years ago. This town also had a resident donkey and horse (named Donkey and Philly respectively) who used to roam around the town begging for food. They became so well known, local wives started baking them carrot cakes daily.

 If you keep driving along the coast you will eventually reach Simon's Town-where the penguins live. The one's in the photo above are baby penguins who haven't developed their proper tuxedo like attire. They are called "baby blues" because they look bluish in the light. South African penguins are on the endangered list unfortunately because there are less than 10,000 of them left due to predators and people.

Cute and cuddly. They are about to go fishing for the young.

Isn't he cute trying to cool off a bit? 

The coast nearing the nature reserve at the Cape of Good Hope. The nature reserve is home to all sorts of wild animals, shrubs, and educational centers.

The Nature reserve-at the edge of the coast.

Ice plant! (Technical name is sour fig)

I got excited when I saw this because these are also located in California!! I used to play with this as a young girl when I was living in California. Proof that pangea existed!!

African Ostriches. Very dumb. The size of their brain is so small you can fit their brains on a tea spoon.

Baboon (female who also happens to be pregnant)

They're mischievous. Be aware.

Cape of Good Hope Peninsula (at the top of the lighthouse tower) walking up was so exhausting.

Stellenbosch!

A large university is here where they only speak Afrikaans. Afrikaans for those of you who don't know is a language that is a form of Dutch. Dutch of course was brought here by the Dutch sailors who forced the people to speak Dutch, however, over time the people modified the language a bit (similarly to how French is different in different francophone countries around the world) and it became known as Afrikaans. It's a very interesting language to hear. This is a shop along a quaint little street in Stellenbosch.

Anura Vineyards. Excellent wine here. Better than Groot Constantia, and much younger too. Anura is a latin derivative meaning "Frog" so naturally their mascot is the frog.

Natural Cheese from the local cows.

Anura Interior.

For those of you who asked-some photos of me. More to come from my friends who also took some (my camera died in the middle of the day :( )

Me at the penguin colony

Me at the nature preserve

Me at the vineyard. It was such a beautiful day out we opted to sit out in the sun and drink. Perfection in my opinion :-) 

A dinner meeting with an old friend

So it's Friday and another beginning to my adventures.

For those of you who didn't know, I was a bit sick yesterday and this morning. I really was a hot mess, but I am getting better and decided I should have some fresh air. As a result, I decided a meeting with an old friend for dinner was in order, as I felt that sometimes a good remedy is seeing a familiar face.

For those of you who don't know this is my friend Dominic. Dominic hails from Zimbabwe. He goes to Brown, however has decided very recently to take time off from Brown to take part in an internship as well as explore some of Southern Africa. He had just arrived into Cape Town from Providence about two days before. I decided to meet Dominic and an old school friend of his named Tinashe for dinner for a bit for dinner and drinks to talk about anything.

I took the boys to a nice restaurant on Kloof Street called DaVinci's which serves excellent pizzas. They also have fabulous cocktails there. We opted to sit outside since the weather was quite decent and like many restaurants in Cape Town, in outdoor settings they have heaters on the lamp posts. We talked for about 3 hours about all sorts of great and terrible things. Politics, religion, and most importantly my experience with South Africa.

It was a good dinner and it was good to see Dominic again and to meet someone new (Tinashe). I am disappointed that he won't be at Brown this fall, but it's for the best. I understand that sometimes getting away from Brown is good for some people. I can completely relate. Although I do miss Brown at times, I think that leaving Brown (and the States for that matter) was the best decision I could've made for myself in the transition from my junior year to my senior year.

I will reflect more on this in the days to come. For now I will just leave this be.

Tomorrow I have another adventure on the way. I'll post about it soon :-) In the meantime keep checkin on me ;-)

Carolyn

Package deal

I am visiting the Department of home affairs tomorrow because my visa expires before I leave and I don't wish to be illegal for various purposes, the main one being I don't wish to get put into a South African Prison.

I'll write about that as well as any other things I have going on.

For now, nothing is new. I am the victim of my own power, in that my colleagues have placed more work on me.

Carolyn

It's still all good

Nothing new.

C

It's all good

Today was a beautiful day.

I went to work this morning for a meeting. The meeting was long and draining, but afterward I got to go on break for lunch and have some coffee so it was well worth it.

After work I went to the grocery store and the pharmacy to pick up some things. Interestingly enough, the pharmacist who was ringing up my order asked me where I got my Aum pendant from. He was a man in his early sixties with very kind eyes.

"I got it from an old friend of mine as a gift"

"Do you know what it means?"

"I have heard different versions of things in regards to it's meaning-I never actually thought to ask what it's real meaning is though. I really liked the design and my favorite metal is silver, so when I saw it in a shop once, the person I was with decided to give it to me as a gift. Is it some form of good luck?"

He chuckled. "Well yes and no. It is a blessing, such as Bless you. It is also the symbol representing the essence of the universe. Whoever gave it to you gave you a very precious gift." With that he smiled and told me to come back again.

That definitely gives me something to think about. Why are all the older men I meet around here always saying mystical or spiritual comments to me?

Actually that's not true. Apparently some do say other less pleasant things to people. A taxi driver my friends once had was depressed and launched into a sad story about how he loved his ex-girlfriend, but she was cheating on him with his best friend so she left him (kind of backwards if you ask me) and then he got a new girlfriend but apparently she has a severe drinking problem, and while he was telling them all of this he decided to put a particular song called "Fantasy" on repeat which is a song about a guy who's girlfriend is cheating on him and how is reminiscing about the days when things between them were at their glory.

Honestly, I'd rather have the taxi guy's story because at least it gives me insight into other people's minds. Everything I got is completely abstract and thought provoking. I don't mind being intellectually stimulated, but at the end of the day after a long day's work I just want to not think and relax. . .sigh. . . .

After I went to the pharmacy, I bought electricity. As some of you may not know, in South Africa you have to buy your electricity in the same manner as you would prepaid minutes on a phone. So I bought quite a bit of electricity at the grocery store which should last us about three weeks.

I'm not sure what I am going to do tomorrow. I'll take pictures if I do something interesting. It's supposed to be raining so I might stay home and do something productive like clean the house :-)

Tah tah for now,
Carolyn

New Diet

I'll write about my doctor in the next post. He was a terribly comical fellow.

I feel like a walrus. So I'm on a new diet here.

No sugar, or bad carbs.

This basically cuts out nearly everything I eat. Oh well more steamed vegetables (and wine!) for me. :-)

Went grocery shopping today, and bought stuff for my new diet.

This is going to be an interesting next few weeks.

Carolyn

Nothing exciting

I haven't done much except work from Sunday until today, hence the lack of new posts.

Don't be alarmed. If anything interesting comes up I'll post. 

Until then-enjoy the week.

Carolyn

The Gold Museum Restaurant

So as you all can see from my title, the place I went to Saturday was the Gold Restaurant. This restaurant is part of the Africa Gold museum which features a large exhibition of some African artifacts (all in gold of course). I went with my friends to the restaurant because I thought a nice night out enjoying some local food was in order. This restaurant features a menu which consists of different dishes from different regions of South Africa which you sample each and every one. Before eating, I also partook in a Malian drumming session which I forgot to take pictures of myself doing :-( The instructor was from Guinea, but was absolutely outstanding at drumming.

Dish #1, 2: Spiced Tomato Soup

a local dish which was inspired by a similar indian dish. Served with a special type of bread called South African Roostekoek.

African Puppets

Part of eating at the restaurant includes african cultural shows and costumes. :-)

Dish #3, 4, and 5

Cape Malay potato and pea samoosas, Masala grilled sweet potatoes, and South African Smoked Fish Cakes topped with apple and mint relish. The samoosas are a derivative of an ancient persian dish, and can be found mainly in Northern africa as well as the middle east. The Fish cakes (also known as Frikkadels) are a common South African dish as well. 

Dish #6 and 7

Namibian Venison Pie and complimentary bread. This pie consists of Springbok. It tasted really good which makes me want to figure out how to effectively cook Springbok at home :-)

Entertainment

The man in the top picture is wearing a cultural outfit, and was doing west African dances really really fast and jumping around. The lady in the picture below that was singing songs in Xhosa, Sotho, and Afrikkans. All of her songs were either about love or about how wonderful South Africa is which was really nice. She had a very rich voice and a very colorful and lively dance number. 

Dish #8, 9, 10 and 11

(From the bottom left going clockwise): Africa Spinach with Tomato and Pumpkin Seed, Basmati White Rice, East African Braised Spicy Butternut with Tomato and Coconut Cream, West African Peanut Chicken. All were great. I especially loved the West African Peanut chicken. The sauce for it was rich and tasty. 

Dish #12

And for Dessert, South African Pumpkin Fritters with Gold dust, a side of cinnamon and Amarula Mascapone. Amarula is an african drink which is similar in texture to Bailey's Irish creme. Yes they sprinkled 24 carat gold dust onto the top of the fritter. I ate gold.

For Entertainment at the End

A Springbok puppet. Huge, colorful, and creepy enough that it sent a young child into a hysteria of crying fits three tables down.

A king and queen african mask costume. They were pretty cool looking up close. 

More pics to come soon!

Carolyn

Work at home person

Yes ladies and gentlemen, for the past few days I have been working at home.

Nothing new to report.

Tomorrow I have something planned in the evening. It's going to be quite lovely and to give you all a hint think of Austin Powers III. . . .

'Til then,

Carolyn

For those of you who asked: Yes, the darkness still lingers here

I have received many questions a particular aspect of Cape Town  (and South Africa in general) that I promised I would answer at some point in time in my blog. I feel that since I have been in South Africa for a few weeks now, right now is the best time for me to express my personal views on the topic as well as what I have experienced being here. This entry in no way is trying to force any sort of particular opinion on anyone, and it's sole purpose is to give readers an insight into a part of South African history, and the current culture which I am having the privilege of experiencing.

The topic is the abolishment of the Apartheid.

For those of you who don't know about the Apartheid, I am going to give you a brief history here about it.

"Apartheid" is an afrikaans word meaning "apart ness" and officially was implemented in 1948. As many of us know, racial segregation and classification has been a part of South African history as well as American history for many centuries, ever since both nations have been colonized by the europeans. In South Africa, however, 1948 was the year in which the national party government of South Africa implemented the Apartheid, and with it came strict enforcements in which people were classified as "white, coloured, bantus (black) or asian". These classifications forced people to live and work in segregated areas, sometimes by sheer force. Bantus (blacks) were considered the most inferior of all the different races, and were therefore the most harshly segregated of all. It wasn't until 1994 with the election of Nelson Mandela to the presidency of South Africa, that the Apartheid was abolished.


As you can see from my brief and depressing history lesson above, the apartheid divided this beautiful nation for 46 years. It didn't become evident to me how much evidence of the apartheid still lingers until about the second day I got here. If you go back in my blog to a few days in, you will notice that I went to a particular restaurant named "Cafe Sofia" on Kloof street which I adore to pieces (it has a cheap yet very yummy breakfast special for about 3 dollars). Well what I didn't put in that particular blog post (on purpose) was that when I sat down in Cafe Sofia and was just nursing my coffee and looking at the news paper I noticed something peculiar about the cafe. There were about 30 or 40 people in the cafe. Of all the people sitting down, none were black. All were white. All the servers were all black. I honestly didn't think much of it, until  I left and was walking down the street. Looking at the maintenance people, the custodians cleaning, the waiters and waitresses in the restaurants and cafes. . they were all black. It bothered me so much that when I got home, I started reading about the Apartheid a bit before I went to bed that night. Ever since I noticed these things though, I have been disturbed in regards to it.

I do have to constantly remind myself to keep things in perspective. It has only been 17 years since the Apartheid has been abolished. Joy reminds me whenever I ask her a question in regards to race issues here, because she has a good way of expressing to me things that are just "accepted" here. For example, when I was in the grocery store the other day, I noticed a lot of couples in the store (yes I noticed this because being female and being single is apparently an impending sign of spinsterhood for a 21 year old, (see robben island entry)). I asked Joy (these was during our lunch break) if there were any interracial couples around here. I had noticed that all the couples in the store were the same race (white with white or black with black) and she gave me a funny look and said "That is unheard of here. You will never see a couple like that here."

Of course, me being a product of an interracial marriage ( my father is black and my mother is european) had me disturbed yet again. Had my parents been South African their union would've been unheard of, and I would've probably been an abomination.

Funny enough, during tea break Joy asked me if I would ever consider marrying an African man. I told her the same thing that someone once told me.

"Joy, for me, love knows no color"

She seemed very pleased with my answer for whatever reason, and then we started discussing Kenyan tribes, and the naming scheme behind the tribes. Funny enough, Joy is from the same tribe as my friend Mark, and now I know the secret behind his middle and surname. .

Of course I wish the best for this country. I hope that someday that invisible divide that still exists here between whites and blacks can be completely rid of. I don't know when that will happen or how that will happen, but I hope that it does eventually happen. This country has the capacity to do so. I believe it really does, but for some unknown reason it is crawling to achieve this. A nation can be at it's strongest when it is completely united, and I hope that South Africa will eventually become completely united.

Rainy day

Didn't feel like driving old crap car in the rain to work considering it's older than me (83'). So I opted to work from home today which allowed me to work in my pajamas for as long as I wanted and indulge in the wonderful South African Tea that is currently taking residence in my kitchen cupboard (next to the goodies cupboard). I do need to go grocery shopping though. I'm a habitual creature, but having the same foods everyday for about three weeks (mainly fruits, vegetables, and pasta) can get quite tiresome. Perhaps I will try my hand at cooking meat sometime in the near future.

I got quite a bit of work today, however, I still have more to do. Deadlines coming up so I have to get my bottom in gear.

Still talking with the American girls about weekend activities, so we will see. . . perhaps I will go on the red bus tour, which gives you a full tour of the city, as well as a bus tour up table mountain and around lion's head.

We will see. .

Carolyn

At some point, I'll catch up

It's exhausting trying to juggle daily life activities folks, so I'll catch up by this weekend. This means I will put captions on all of the pictures I posted from Saturday so you know what the picture signifies and what it's history is, etc.,

In the meantime, working a lot. Nothing new to report. I keep forgetting my camera when going to work, so I keep forgetting to take pictures of my little office in the toolshed. Hopefully I will get around to it this week when the hustle and bustle of the workplace has calmed down. . .

Below I have created a South African Word Pronounce Guide for common words which people here said I mispronounced or had no idea what I was talking about, and therefore had to translate it for me.

Word / How I pronounce it or call it / How South Africans pronounce or call it
Zebra                 "Zee-bra"                                                  "Zeh-bra"

Tomato               "Toe-may-toe"                                         "Toe-mah-toe"

Hub Cap               "Hub Cap"                                              "Bob Cap"

Pickle                    "Pickle"                                                   "Gherkin"

Status                     "Stah-tus"                                                  "Stay-tus"

Hours of             "Hours of Operation"                              "Trading Hours"
Operation

Odd, disturbing    "Sketchy" "Shady"                                    "Dodgy"
or weird

Mail box                "Mail box"                                           "Pigeon Hole"



If I think of anymore, I'll update the list. I think my favorite one is gherkin. I just learned what it meant this past weekend :-)

Enjoy~
Carolyn







Carolyn

Sights of Cape Town, the wharf and the peninsula

Sights of Cape Town: An epic Saturday filled with good company, pretty sights, and most importantly good wine :)

Enjoy!

 

First Stop: Two Oceans Aquarium

As you can see here, this is a giant red bus. It is modeled after the famous London style multi-story buses where you can sit on the open top. I (naturally loving adrenaline rushes) opted to sit at the top part of the bus. This is how the bus system works: there are two types of buses Red and Blue. The Red bus takes you around Cape Town (the city only) and takes you to 17 stops, one of which is the table mountain cable car. The Blue bus takes you around the entire peninsula and to two vineyards. My friends and I opted to take the blue bus because we wanted to do a bit of wine tasting :-).

Next stop: Long Street

Cape Town is known for it's party scene. The city boasts one of the most world renown party scenes. I'm not surprised. With how many bars and lively people this place has to offer, it's no wonder CT has that reputation-especially in the summer. 

Mount Nelson Hotel

One of the few five star hotels in the city. Extremely expensive. John Lennon stayed here once. It's a ten minute walk from my flat :-)

UCT ( University of Cape Town)

I work for UCT. No, I don't work on the main campus, but I do work for a division of this school. It has a stunning campus and is considered to be the best university in sub-Saharan Africa. It looks nearly carved into the mountains from a distance, so I hope to visit sometime to explore.

3rd Stop: Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

One of the most scenic places I have been to so far. The gardens are homes to thousands of different flowers, trees, and various other shrubs. Artist's (local and international) display their work in the gardens (predominantly sculptures) to sell. 

Statue of Nelson Mandela

Mandela's Gold

The botanical gardens have a type of flower you won't find anywhere else in the world (pictured above). It's called Mandela's Gold and it looks like a flower of the iris family. It's quite odd and pointy looking, but I took a few pictures anyway. It took twenty years to develop, and because of Mr. Mandela's contribution to humanity, and to the betterment of South Africa, the country awarded him the honor of having the flower named after him, and having a miniature sculpture in his honor in the gardens right next to where the flowers are planted.

It doesn't smell like anything either. 

Groot Constantia Winery

As many of you know (and have seen with your own eyes) I am a wine enthusiast. I love wine, especially good wine. Bad wine makes the best sangria, but that is another story for another day. As I have said earlier, this tour takes you to wine country, which Cape Town is world renown for. Today I visited the oldest winery in Africa called Groot Constantia. It was established by some Dutch dude in 1685. If you want to visit the site here it is: www.grootconstantia.co.za. It explains everything and more about the wines they make here. They specialize in white wines and are home to baboons.

Baboons

I saw two while at the winery. They were waltzing around looking for something to entertain themselves. The tour bus warns of feeding or trying to play with them as they are vicious creatures who are terribly intelligent. They have learned how to break into cars and homes, steal purses at lightning speed, and bit small animals and people. People who are designated "baboon watchers" walk around the winery (as well as other parts of the city) with sticks or bicycle tires cut on one side, and twirl them if baboons get too near. The baboons are the size of small children and extremely hairy. 

The Cellar. Isn't it beautiful? :)

Each barrel costs about a thousand dollars each and have a life span of 12 years. They are made of french oak, although (apparently) Portugal has the best wine oak in the world.

The Barrel on the left can hold enough wine for you to have a bottle everyday for 36 years!

Wine Tasting!

Wine making is serious business and it takes many years of practice and skill to be able to develop the necessary tools to really know how to make good wine. I obviously opted to taste the wine, and I have to say my favorite are the 1st, 2nd, and last glass from the left (white, cabernet sauvignon, and the constantia port). We learned not only how to distinguish between different types of wine, but also "proper" wine etiquette, as in how to hold the glass, how to drink wine properly, how to "smell" the wine, and why the glass is shaped the way it is. My favorite overall was the constantia port because it is a dessert wine and very sweet.

Wine Country!!

Hout Bay, and Mariner's Wharf

This is on the other wide of the peninsula. Nearby is a township, and the world of birds sanctuary, but my friends and I opted to do those another day when we had more time.

Clifton beach heading to Camp's Bay

Camp's Bay

Dubbed the "Venice Beach, California" of South Africa. It has numerous bars, bistros, restaurants, and beachside entertainment for all. It is also quite scenic as you can see here.

Robben island in the distance

The little black square in the middle of the water is the remains of an old dutch ship that crashed in the late 17th century. 

FIFA Stadium

You know what it is. Good year for Spain that's all I gotta say :-)

Marimba

A type of African Music, which consists of tamborines, xylophones, and drums. Such a pleasant sound, and it makes you want to dance. . . 

The best way to end a day. Good drinks with good company :)

I had more than just this, because it was a two for one special. These are strawberry daquiri's btw. My friends and I went to Long street to a bar/lounge called "The Neighborhood". 

I hope you enjoyed these.

Stay tuned as always.

Carolyn