Road Trip South Africa- Part 1

A journey with my boyfriend cross-country from Cape Town to Kruger National Park, with nothing stopping us but eventually our wallets....

MY INITIAL THOUGHTS:

            I was terrified when Joey had told me that his flight to South Africa was booked. I had invited him months before and had never put much thought into it other than how much fun it would be. Five weeks is what he said he was staying for. With me, in my apartment? I have never lived with a boyfriend and I wasn’t sure what it meant, what would happen, if I’d find myself permanently floating with joy or sinking with heartache. The scariest part of this journey was not the plummeting heights we would conquer on Bloukran’s bridge, the close encounters with wildlife, or even the psychos we might find ourselves sharing a room with in a hostel. The scariest part was him, us. We had been dating for only a month before I left for South Africa and I had not seen him for at least 5 months at this point, making our relationship about 83.3% virtual. Were we even the same people anymore? Was I completely out of my mind?

            Well I may know what love is, or I may not; but what I have learned is that following your heart is not always a bad thing as I had previously thought and been told. It may not have been the most well thought out plan to have my new boyfriend ship himself overseas to be with me, but I am so glad that he did. He made my South African adventure happen with nothing more than a, “let’s go”. I would have spent months planning where we would stay and what we would do each day but he had assured me that it would all work out, and it did. J

            I was shaking with nerves when I came to pick him up at the airport thinking, will this be awkward? Do I hug him or kiss him? Are our feelings going to be the same after 5 months? Well, they were. And after he appeared I gave him a huge hug to later be jokingly asked, “Aren’t you going to give me a kiss?” My nervousness had subsided and I was so excited to find that things were going to work out just fine. J

THE FIRST TWO WEEKS:

            Joey had proved his patience to me when he endured long nights of me trying desperately to finish my final papers before their due dates so that we could get a jump start to our adventures. Sometimes he would look up places for us to go and modes of travel, but clearly he couldn’t sit still forever. So, he made it a goal to explore Cape Town by foot, minibus, and train, alone on the hours I was working on my papers. He discovered the only hippos in Cape Town (that I did not know existed) at a wetlands reservation a few-mile walk from the train station in Retreat. He discovered a reservation of mountain zebras on Table Mountain and mistook them for horses in his silhouetted sunset photos. He even made a few friends at a local pub and hostel called Obviously Armchair.

            After venturing off on his own one too many times, Joey felt it necessary for me to experience the minibus. I had seen them every day before but have been terrified to just hop right into one. Everyone would think I was lost, and they would probably be right. The minibuses are white vans that are often personalized with signs on the front, back, and side saying things like, “Untouchable” or “The Big Dogz.” Most of the time there is a driver and a coin-collector. The coin collector’s job is to obviously collect money from the passengers, but also to scream the direction of which they are headed, loudly out the window or the open car door. For example, if the minibus is heading toward Wynberg the coin-collector may scream out, “Wynberg, Wynberg, Wynberg, Wyn Wyn Wyn Wyn Wyn beeeeeeerg!” or, for Cape Town “Cape TEEEEOWWN, Capety Capety Capety Capety Cape Teeeown!” in an attempt to collect people off the street who are headed in that direction.  If they are successful they will slam on their breaks to stop dead in their tracks and scoop the person up, screeching away before the door even closes. Customers must pay anywhere from .50 cents to about a dollar depending on the route and can get off anywhere along the way. Minibuses do not turn off the main road they simply pick up and drop off conveniently in their route. My first experience on the minibus was an interesting one and they continue to amaze me. The seats inside are handmade and the coin collectors often sit on plastic crates, OR if the minibus is full to capacity they will slide the door open and simply stand up holding on tight. It is not uncommon for strangers to make their way onto your lap if there are no available seats in the van, and even at this point the coin collectors will still shout out the window to collect some more passengers….

            We took the minibus to the Wynberg train station and Joey got to ride his first train. It was my first time on a South African train and it was a real treat. About $1 each way we took the train 25 minutes all the way to Simon’s Town, riding the tracks along the coast line to where it appeared we were literally gliding on the beach. When we arrived in Simon’s Town we had some coffee and breakfast and headed straight to Boulder’s Beach to see the African Penguins.

            Our first spotting of the penguins was shocking. There was one sleeping right by our foot path. We stopped and stared for some time but as we walked on we noticed that there were dozens all along the path and on the boulders. We watched in amazement as they waddled in all different directions and even flopped on their bellies. When we got close to a couple that had laid in what looked like a nest on the walking path they vigorously tilted their heads back and forth as if to show confusion. It made me laugh uncontrollably.

            The sun was beginning to set when we hopped back on the train and we were beginning to feel nervous. I had made Joey watch the South African movie Tsotsi the night before to get a feel for the culture and to see what real township life was like… unfortunately there is a scene where a man gets stabbed on a crowded train and no one even notices. It was probably not the best movie to watch before riding a train. Just a few stops later we were joined by a dozen Americans. We felt safe again. They were so loud that no one even wanted to join our cart and the few that were stuck there, slid as far to the sides as they could. Good ol’ Americans!

            During my break times in between writing we had a few dates. We went to a pub for dinner called Obz Café, but were harassed by the drunkest man in town who thought it would be appropriate to lean all over our table to tell us about his life growing up in Cape Town and his mother’s death. Then he proceeded to stumble backwards into an angry seated man and get kicked out for the third time. Later that night we ran into him at an upstairs pool hall, he just couldn’t get enough of us.

            One especially romantic night Joey decided to take me out to a high end Mexican restaurant called Panchos which was just down the street from my residence. We arrived to find that it is a reservation-only restaurant but we left our numbers and waited for an opening while having a few drinks down the road at The Scrumpy Jack. My favorite part about eating at Panchos was that it reminded me of our first “unofficial” date in Guatemala. We were talking and laughing the entire time as we ordered our Naked Mexican beers. The Naked Mexicans were all we needed to build the courage to bar hop down Lower Main road and venture to the unknown.

            Our first stop was Cozy. A tiny hole-in-the-wall bar with not a single person with a skin tone lighter than dark chocolate. We proceeded to order our $1.25 2L beers and break in the empty dance floor. I couldn’t tell if the man sitting alone in the corner was giving me dirty looks for my moves of about to be sick from excess alcohol. We thought it was time to move to the next door down, Groovy Lounge. Again, I felt that Joey and I were walking glow sticks with the stares that we received. But we were going to make our mark and were not going to be intimidated. I sat on a stool and when I finished my drink a homeless man who clearly did not work there took my empty glass and wiped the table in front of me with a dirty rag. Joey and I see the man whisper to the bartender/manager/only-employee that then proceeded to charge to the bathroom with a cane in hand, open the bathroom door, shake it purposefully in the air and drag a woman out of the bathroom and kick her out of the bar. People around us said that she was doing drugs and he did not tolerate drugs in his bar…. which I thought was very clear by the paper sign he had taped on the wall saying, “No illegal drugs allowed!”

            Comedy night. When I read that the pub down the street from me, Obviouzly Armchair, was having a comedy night I knew we had to go. A person can learn so much from a local culture by hearing their local humor. The comedians were mostly beginners and we were told to hold our cell phone lights in the air if we want the comedian off the stage, and it worked quite well for the awkward few. Of course when one comedian asked if there were any foreigners in the crowd Joey had to raise his hand. We were the butt of quite a few jokes. Many of the comedian’s jokes went over our American heads as they made fun of politicians and cultural groups, but I had been here long enough to find humor in the jokes about local lingo and various South African accents. (More on Obviouzly Armchair http://obviouzlyarmchair.com/ )

             The Waterfront. We also had a night out at the waterfront and we saw our first cape fur seals! We were both the screaming tourists  that no one ever wants to be, pointing out into the moving mammal under the water, trying to guess what it could possibly be and wondering why no one else was turning their heads… until we turned around and saw about a dozen of these blubbery creatures lounging on the docks.  We laughed as we analyzed their facial expressions and narrated their lives like a seal version of Meerkat Manor.

            Rhodes Memorial. Joey and I had one miniature hiking experience while he was here and that was to Rhodes Memorial where he had previously ventured alone and saw zebras. We went all the way to the top for an amazing view of all of Cape Town and even had a rabbit hop by up there. To treat ourselves for a hike well done we had tea at the Rhodes Memorial Café. 

(More on Rhodes Memorial http://www.rhodesmemorial.co.za/memorial.aspx)

            Another few nights I introduced Joey to a few friends I have met here by taking him to Pig and Swizzle to watch the game, and who can forget wonderful Kaz’s birthday! Besides Kaz herself of course…. Then finally I was finished with all of my papers, handed them in, and we were ready to start the real adventure! 

... To be continued on next blog post...