I’m an old white guy

It’s our last full day in “Plett” as the locals call Plettenberg Bay. We’ve had 4 nights at this place which was supposed to be, on paper at least, the nicest one on the Garden Route that we’ve been traveling on since Cape Town. The room itself is quite nice with view of Bitou River from deck.

Food is quite good too but there’s a vibe here that is very different from other places. Everyone’s pleasant but cool. The manager is the only one who will try to strike a conversation but I find it’s quite superficial. Seems like he wants it to end even before it’s started. Other places have bent over backward to be warm and welcoming; enquiring about where we’re from, travel plans, any arrangements they can make. Over the top, really. This place wins the “most easily forgotten “ award.

Although not a golfing trip, we thought we’d have 2 or 3 games and our last was yesterday. We actually managed a few good hits but the most striking thing to me was my whiteness. Both at the golf course and here at the lodge, all patrons are white and, like me, generally older. All clerks, waiters, caddies, ground crew, etc are black and, I’m telling you, it feels really strange. Even in Vietnam where ancestry is quite different from mine, I did not really think about this at all. Here, it’s constantly in your face.

Today’s hiking trip at Robberg Nature Reserve was a bust as Nancy has described although very beautiful area.

We bailed and headed a few km east to another National Park to enjoy a pretty well deserted and magnificent beach with huge breakers rolling in.

Vancouver City Council Take Note

Today we went to Robberg Nature Reserve in Plettenberg Bay. Think of a loaf of bread. The park sits on top of the loaf and tiny paths are carved into the sides going around and down. At the base is the ocean. The pathways are made of rocks largely , so in parts you scramble up and down. All paths force you to cling to the loaf. One step off and well..... Now I have vertigo so this may as well have been a morning bungee jumping for the total terror I endured! At the peak of this loaf you could look down and see beautiful shores with no people at all on them. How perfect. Clearly a housing community backed onto the shores. In other words these are private ocean front properties. So how do the houses prevent  the great unwashed from treading on their preserve? They erect electrified fences with cameras. The signs promise an armed response to trespassers. I bet Vancouver City didn’t think of this for keeping unwanted off ocean shores.😁

It is hard to see but at the top of this fence is electrical wiring. Now Dad told me his story of how angry their driver got when he saw blacks in the ocean. He was here 25 years ago.

Today we fed orphaned elephants

We went to an elephant sanctuary today. We were given buckets of cut up fruit and vegetables to feed them. Their trunk works like a hand. It was well, weird. They fought a bit to get vegetables from me. I was to hold my hand flat while the elephant grabbed the piece of food out of my hand. While I had food they crowded round. Once the food was gone they couldn’t remember my name!

Shanty poverty

Beside every beautiful town and resort are shanty towns. It is extreme poverty. We have been warned to stay away. Apparently with the influx of Africans, there is also not enough food.

The shanty towns go on for as far as the eye can see in some places. The towns provide the cheap labor so they must be near the luxury accommodations. In Capetown children from these townships were out begging for food and learning the streets.

Surf’s Up!

We have to check out in a few hours’ time from this idyllic location on the Indian Ocean. For some stupid reason, I had imagined the Indian Ocean as a warm body of water - it ain’t! A few nut jobs actually go swimming- quite dangerous as there are warnings about strong undertow. We’ve both found it mesmerizing to simply sit here and watch the surf roll in. Our lack of ambition finally got to us yesterday, though, so we went for a hike in a National Park that’s just a few minutes drive away. The trail was quite gnarly versus what we are used to; many roots, rocks to trip on. A number of buff looking millennials blew by us geezers without breaking a sweat.

Seemed like we worked quite hard before arriving at the 1 km signpost! Had to cross the river at one point using their raft which definitely sapped our enthuse for continuing to a waterfall.

Beautiful bird songs but we couldn’t see one bird due to thick foliage.

Many German tourists here - about 60% according to the restaurant manager we spoke with last night. Most of the rest are Brits, then a mix of Aussies and Americans. Very few Canadians he says but perhaps Canadians are on tour buses which this area isn’t set up to serve as near as I can see.

The restaurant the night before wasn’t particularly busy at the time we went so we gabbed a bit with the waiter whose mastery of English was excellent. He told us he had come from Zimbabwe about 3 years ago for a one year gig in a marketing role for Unilever. Not sure exactly what happened after that but he’s not going back due to lack of meaningful employment opportunities and high inflation - about 300% according to the IMF. He said there was hope things would be different following the demise of the Mugabe regime but this hasn’t been the case. New president simply puts friends, family and other sycophants on the government payroll, apparently. (Sounds like America these days but I digress.) He struck me as a responsible person; far more so than many of his countrymen who populate the army of panhandlers in Cape Town.

Golf gods are making it up to me

Apology accepted!!

Okay so we have reached paradise. Who knew? It is summertime hot. We are right now parked on chaise lounges in shade right on the Indian Ocean. (We dipped our toes in.) The ocean breeze makes it totally comfortable. Our suite is right on the ocean and the whole unit looks out on this white sand beach. Think Tofino like or even better China beach.

Unlike Mexico where you pay to be on a premium lounge (which almost touches other premium lounges) there is no status thing attached to what lounger you are in.Next door to ours is the honeymoon suite. The honeymoon couple is currently on the beach beside us. Oh to be twenty again. Rats. The name of this place is Haus am strand if you want to google it. It is in a place called Wilderness.

The one thing that worries so many here is the beautiful rich country that has many more blacks living in horrible shanty squalor right next door. Unemployment is at 42%. Blacks from Nigeria are still coming in as are many from Zimbabwe and other parts of Africa. It is unnerving. Shanty communities are everywhere. There are those here who rage against economic unbalance. They are called the EFF and they represent a party that wants to throw whites out. They say Africa is for blacks. We truly have it good in Canada.

 Oh one other thing. Even a year ago when Doug and I went places and people asked us where we were from. We would  say Vancouver Canada and people would draw a blank look.  Now we say we are where Harry and Meghan moved to and everyone knows instantly.😁

On the road again!

We've had a very enjoyable 2 nights in Swellendam, a long established community of 15,000. Perhaps that should be Swelterdam as it's supposed to hit 40 degrees here tomorrow.

Anyhow, quite a few of the historic Cape Dutch style homes (200+ years old) have been converted to small restaurants and inns such as the 6 room/3 building property we are at.

And inside our space:

And patio:

A few zebra and springbok in a fenced backyard. 

This town is inland a bit so we head back to the coast and a bit cooler temps today.

Cape Town to Hermanus

We left Cape Town two mornings ago after a six night stay; probably 1-2 too many nights but there it is. That said, we very much enjoyed the hotel and connecting with Ursula the owner - a lively and positive spirit. She has seen a lot over her 70 years; the last 20 as a widow. Nancy asked about the circumstances of her husband’s passing and it was quite shocking to learn that he had shot himself. She said she didn’t feel guilt or remorse about anything she did or might have done to prevent this tragedy. She explained that he suffered hearing loss, felt isolated as a result and, in turn, had the black dog of depression as a constant companion. This scared the bejesus out of me so I will have hearing tested as soon as I get home.

The road to Hermanus was a good quality mostly 2 lane track. Road grade going over a pass was quite steep versus what we are used to. I can say that the driving is going better than expected. Back home, I’m used to looking at my lane from a certain perspective so here have to guard against a tendency to drift to the left in an effort to restore what I’m used to seeing. (Hope this makes sense.)

Have used offline Google maps thus far. Best to enter a specific destination versus simply putting in a town name. In the latter case, Google lady will bring you to the centre of town and then declare her work done. I was left driving around in circles in Stellenbosch.

Hermanus was once prominent as a fishing village but now more of a vacation spot, as I understand. Whale and shark watching, hiking and golf are the main activities. We managed a golf game yesterday and enjoyed the company of Gina and Michael, a couple that spends six months here and six at home in the U.K. Golf experience was very much like home although scenery here quite dramatic wedged as we are between mountains and sea. 30 or so Springbok frolic on the course so unusual sight. (Apparently they have to cull them periodically as no predators in the area.)

Gina has lived all her adult life in South Africa and their marriage is Michael’s second following the passing of his first wife. There’s a sizeable expat community of U.K. snow birds here and, like our snow birds, have to watch dates for tax reasons and to avoid being cut off by the National Health Service.  We had refreshments with them afterwards and I found Gina just a tad contemptuous of African servers. “They’re dumb as stumps.”, she offered although acknowledged blacks are very poorly served by the education system. They’ve been members at Hermanus Golf Club for some years so when a server addressed her as Gina a while back, he was suitably admonished. She was to be addressed as “Mam”, “Ms. Gina”, etc.

Today we are back on the road and will stop tonight in Swellendam, another old Dutch community.

Gone With The Wind esque

Attached to this amazing bird rescue was this equally amazing winery property. It went on for acres and acres. They had beautiful gardens, art everywhere. It was Disney like. You could hop a segway to get around or a little golf cart. Or god forbid, you could use 2 legs. Wine and ice cream flowed everywhere. They had a spa and the staff said to me “yes maam”. Even the weather was perfect.
For a while Doug and I cursed that we chose Capetown over this perfect plantation estate. Hundreds of slaves used to work this property and clearly its wealth multiplied. We sipped lemonades under the shade of a several hundred year old tree. Eventually we drove to Hermanus (stay tuned).

Baboons have big teeth

So we arrived in the parking lot to march to the top of Cape Point and look what was strolling through. What I didn’t know was that she  was playing me. As I focused on her and her baby her partner had snuck up behind me. Now I had no food so he left but not before I exercised huge control to not start screaming.

I then watched the same play be made on another woman. At first he snuck up on her and then violently slapped her bag with food in it out of her hand. I managed to video what happened next.

Penguin working to impress wife

You can see sand flying up into penguin. That is her partner digging a hole for her.

She has to agree to the nest. He comes out, raises his wings asking how about this and she sticks her beak up into the air. He never complains. He returns to the hole and continues digging. The hole was actually getting quite deep.

Never complain, never explain.

Cape Town sights

We have been active over these last few days and managed a gondola ride to the top of Table Mountain which dominates the landscape here.

In the left centre, you may be able to make out Robben Island which has been used for several centuries for various purposes: leper colony, asylum and, most famously, as a prison. It was here that Mandela was incarcerated for 18 or so of his 27 years in prison. We visited it yesterday- about a 45 minute boat ride over choppy seas as quite windy that day. It was a bit tough to photograph his former cell, which, as you look at it from the hall has small window on the right and door on the left. The pic below shot through the window shows small bench and waste bucket.

And below is shot through the door showing same bench and bed roll (i.e. no actual bed).

Today we just stuck to the local Bo-Kaap neighbourhood which is quite colourful with its Cape Malay heritage. Malay people originally brought in by Dutch settlers to work as slaves as required on local farms, etc. apparently. Their foods are quite unique to the area as we found out in a walking tour and cooking class that we took today in a home just up the street. Nice also to connect with fellow travellers at the class: large multi generation family from Montana, British and German couples. Ian (one of the Americans) was encouraging with his experience with car hire. He’s only had a couple of harmless screw ups driving on the left. Wish me luck as we will leave soon to pick up our car!

Finally, I can report that our security situation has improved. While still quite vigilant, we now use Uber to go anywhere. Quite efficient and cheap.

You’ve Got To Read This

Doug and I are now competing for who gets the most reads. If you clicked on this post I now get a point. 😁

Today we joined a cooking class. The “interesting thing” is that both of us struggled to hear the teacher. Now Doug tells me I mumble but I have found myself straining to hear him. It is funny that neither he nor I really thought the problem lay at our ears. It was always the speaker talking softly. It is so embarrassing to be standing there and the whole class is waiting for you to respond and you haven’t a clue what the question was. We try to cover for each other. I am getting this dealt with as soon as we get home to Abbotsford. Doug is coming with me if I have to drag him by his ears.

I now can make samosas and a couple of other deep fried dishes! Taking my statins now.

Touristy Stuff

We are doing the touristy stuff now. We went to visit the prison on Robben Island that held Nelson Mandela. The island is a short distance off the Capetown coast. They had docents as tour guides. Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in this prison. The prison housed political prisoners of the apartheid government. Prior to this passing ships would drop off mutinous  sailors and societies sent lepers here to live out their days.

We spent several hours at the botanical gardens. We enjoyed seeing the variety of indigenous plants.

We went to the top of table mountain. I was unaware this mountain is considered one of the 7 wonders of the world. It is visible from a great distance so for centuries sailors would look for the mountain that signaled they had reached the cape.

The weather is warm and sunny. It is so odd to go from wet and cold to real summer. The warm ocean breezes and Ocean scenery has attracted considerable wealth. Leonardo DiCaprio has a home here as does Diana’s brother to name just a couple of the rich and famous.

We have taken a couple of days worth of hop on hop off buses that has really helped to get the lay of the land.

Tomorrow Doug has signed me up for a cooking lesson (as if I need that).Stay tuned....

Dorothy, You’re not in Kansas Anymore

There is a definite edge here, a hostility. People here say things have gotten so much worse over the past decade. One problem is hydro. I gather when the blacks took over the country they were in a hurry to get rid of whites in high paying jobs. The problem was they didn’t have the knowledge to run hydro. So the maintenance required on the equipment was never done. Now ten years later the equipment is not working and too expensive to replace. The government is addressing this problem with rolling blackouts. The previous night we were warned there would be a city blackout. As we lay in our bed in the night a large mob came marching down the street. They were really angry and we were quite scared. They were making a lot of noise. Our hotel here has a gate and a couple of guards. We had our imaginations. I could here a pop pop pop. I was trembling. The mob moved past our hotel but it took me a while to get back to sleep.

Crocodile tastes kinda like pork

We arrived in Cape Town yesterday after a long overnight flight to Johannesburg followed by a 2 hour flight here. Quite bagged, of course, and we do wonder if we can do a trip requiring this level of exertion in the future. Anyhow, best not to make any decisions when so tired!

The hotel is quite small (9 rooms) and run by 70 year old Ursula and her son Michel; both very warm and welcoming people. After a short walk, we had a nice chat - probably an hour and a half - with Ursula as she described her life in South Africa (she was 5 years old when family moved here) as well as giving us tips on what to do and how to be safe. Crime is a huge issue here and it’s been made worse by the more or less open border that S.A. has had with other African countries. Many homeless economic migrants from Nigeria, Ethiopia, etc. They all have to eat, of course, so robberies, mugging and much worse is the result. Very high murder rate here and can often involve children and infants. Interestingly, she said police were almost useless so one sees many private security guards all over the place. There’s one right outside the hotel that the neighbourhood has hired.

Unemployment and especially youth unemployment can approach 50%. Life expectancy is quite short - 62 years or so for men - as a result of AIDS and related conditions, tuberculosis,etc.

As terrible as the Apartheid regime was, she said at least they kept the lights on as rotating power outages are the norm. There’s one scheduled in about 20 minutes’ time. So, S.A. is a huge work in progress. Nevertheless, it was clear she loves the country and is hoping she will live out her days here. She will move to Europe if it gets worse.

We went to Marcos African Place for dinner which is one block from the hotel. Very lively with African band (3 xylophones, drums and singers) and very good food. I had their African platter featuring eland, springbok and crocodile. The latter tasted a bit like pork! Also, it looked like potato but not certain what it was as the server had, to my ear, very thick accent. Getting home to the hotel? Not so easy as Nancy described in her post. Ursula as well as restaurant staff said do not walk home on your own (one block!). And they were right as Nancy tells you.

Ursula offered the opinion that we’re quite spoiled in Canada and I have to agree with her. When I think about it, there are only a handful of countries that offer a good and safe situation; where most things work (e.g. democracy, the rule of law) and corruption is not a big problem. It’s my dumb luck that Canada is one of them.

Arrived in Capetown

We are staying in a highly rated trip advisor hotel. It is not a “bubble hotel” where everything is well the same as everywhere. Here we are definitely getting immersed into the culture here - the good and the bad.
The good - we went out to a local restaurant. It was valentines night and the little restaurant was really alive. There was a band and the whole restaurant was throwing itself into the night. They were all thrilled to be there and there was lots of singing about Africa. Doug ordered crocodile for dinner. I had cat ( kidding Teri- but Doug really had crocodile.
The bad - Getting home was as scary as it gets. The hotel owner told us Do Not Walk The Block And AHalf Home. You will not make it. Doug had forgotten his phone to get an Uber so we were stuck. I asked the restaurant lady to call us a cab. She did but it never came. The restaurant lady told us not to go out alone as it is so dangerous. Long time passes and finally one woman at the restaurant gets a security guy to escort us. Now he had a big chain that he clearly knew how to use. We leave the restaurant and round the corner. There are 2 “ugly” guys waiting in the shadows as predicted. One guy was obviously at the final stage of AIDS and one guy had a gun. As we walked past them they came up and started asking us for money. The security guy moved his chain out and right then two other security guys appeared. The ugly guys crossed the street but I was shaking.
Now this is all the local Color I need.

Life in a plane

Four hours into marathon flight. Baby is screaming blue murder and has been at it for sometime. Parents must be feeding her the same malaria meds Doug and I are on. Major side effects Doug and I are having a hell of a time getting in sleep. The old man ahead is coughing his lungs out. (Coronavirus anyone?...) Someone around me is gradually releasing gas. Absolute Peeeeeuuuuu! Oh yeah it is also 2:30 am. Anyone jealous yet? Doug has given up on sleep and is watching a movie. Should be crossing the equator soon. We get to Johannesburg then wait for a while then fly to Capetown. The only thing that makes it comparatively better is reading about the hell Stanley and Livingstone endured exploring Africa.

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Leaving London

After a pleasant 2 night stay, we are feeling a bit more adjusted to time change. Hotel was a smaller one which we prefer, very quiet and right across the street from the British Museum. Apparently this is Europe's largest museum and we spent about an hour and a half there yesterday before getting "museumed out". Ancient civilizations is their bag and they only exhibit a small percentage of their massive collection. Lots of sculpture, artifacts and a fair number of mummies including this poor sod who expired roughly 5000 years ago.

Went to the upbeat musical Come From Away last night. Loads of fun and quite creative in telling the story of 38 planeloads of folks and the townspeople of Gander, Nfld coming together on 9/11. 

Inventive use of minimal props to simulate a Tim Hortons, inside a jumbo jet, air control tower, community centre, etc. Great music and energy from the cast. 

Back at the airport now waiting on flight to Cape Town (via Johannesburg).

First full day in London. We are tired. We toured the British History Museum today and are going to see the play Come From Away tonight. Trying to get into this time zone we awoke at 1:30 am Abbotsford time to start our day. We compounded body stress by also starting our malaria meds. Side effects from this pill are not especially pleasant.

Doug had the great idea of downloading Rick Steves tour guide for the museum. A museum tour can be deadly but Rick brought it to life and made it fun. The guides are free and he always does a great job.

We arrived today in London. Doug is soooooo organized. He had already downloaded my ticket to get on the Heathrow Express. I simply scanned it in and viola we were whizzing along from Heathrow to the Montague. It is a delightful old hotel. It is quite old, beautifully decorated with several small restaurants, a pub, a tea room and a large room to get all the hot chocolate you want.Doug gets full credit again as he found this place on trip advisor.  We are right across the street from the British Museum.
FYI we (as in I) are travelling with only carryon luggage. Now this meant that I layered for the flight. No one said boo as I went through security in 4 tops and several socks. If push had come to shove I would have put my hat on.

Hi. We are now at the airport. Our flight on British airways was leaving London to come here. It was struck by lightening and now needs a thorough review so we are delayed until just before 11 tonight. We are right now eating away in the British Airways lounge. I am reading Stanley and Livingstone. It is a very scary read. It is a real life Indiana Jones.

My first blog. We are getting packed now and we are quite excited. A big storm has hit the UK and our flight should be leaving Heathrow tonight. Hopefully there are no delays.
Here is a picture of the wildlife in Abbotsford.

Here she has spotted a chocolate cake.