Progress: What to do While We Wait

While the days have become weeks and the weeks have become months, we have been making the most of our time here in South Africa. Table Mountain and the Beach are daily visual reminders of this beautiful country.

Regular walks to the beach provide a change of scenery each day. Some days foggy, others crystal clear, while some things don’t change – the water remains cold. The kind of icy cold that most water sports are done with head to toe thick neoprene wetsuits or temporary hypothermia by tourists tempting the water in nothing more than a bathing suit.

For me the pins and needles from standing on the shore is enough for me to stick to admiring the view from a dry distance. It also brings memories of standing in the waters of Lake Michigan – also too cold to be tolerated for very long.

There is a lot to admire too. The area is well-known for Kite Surfing where students and pros abound. It is mesmerizing watching them work their way up and down the beach, while avoiding collisions with each other, as well as surf and sand. It reminds me of the hot air balloons in New Mexico, and just as picturesque.

Sailors and ships dart the coastline as well. Ships at anchor waiting patiently to drop cargo in the port. Sailboats, commercial and personal, cruising the coastline in spirited play with the incredible wind and waves. It seems to be a rare day that the whitecaps and swell lay down to make life on the water smooth, although if it were smooth – for some – that would remove the excitement.

A couple of trips up Table Mountain have also provided vastly different experiences of the iconic rock. The first in spring with blooming flowers and, a less traveled pathway, provided a glance into a surprising oasis. Filled with shifting sand and a deep lake reservoir, it was a completely unexpected find at the top of the mountain. The mountain view was obscured by the high winds, cold air, and cloud cover, but the weather provided an almost imaginary step into a hidden scene similar to Alice In Wonderland. Adding to the wonderment was the isolation, as the number of other people we met could be counted on one hand.

Hely-Hutchinson Reservoir Table Mountain

Our second trip up Table Mountain could not have been more different from the first. Every bit of the excursion was so different it would have been easy to believe it was a completely different place as opposed to the opposite side of the same mountain. This trip, though during the workweek, a month after ‘holiday season’, was filled with tourists, hot and humid weather, terrible ant infestations, and devoid of flowery color except for a rare bright red flower that occasionally dotted the hillside.

Usually the view from the top of the mountain makes it well worth the strenuous journey to get to the top, but once there, the landscape was almost completely burned. The smell of ash permeated the air, and because this section of the mountain is accessible by cable car, every view was full of people.

A good time was had by all as their laughing, conversations, and instructions for picture after picture were shared for all to hear. The disappointment of reaching the top was only mildly recovered by the clear sky that allowed pictures of the horizon - when patient timing could capture moments without strangers in the background. I did not recall the Grand Canyon being this crowded, but that visit was several decades ago and in the cold of winter.

Burned brush that covered the top.

Marks the shipwrecks lying under the water below the peak.

We had planned to stay at the top, have a picnic, walk the ridge; however, the vast number of people made it difficult to even walk the paths without standing in line. A truly surprising experience! If solitude is what you seek in your arrival at a mountaintop destination, this would not be the place to become one with nature. We rode a very crowded cable car to the bottom and went home – just a little defeated.

Most of our Cape Town experiences have been amazing. The people are, by and large, genuinely friendly. Most have not met an American but have had their view of America shaped by the media – I hate to say it. One person asked, “do you believe in killing babies?” Most seem to expect a rude-impatience, self-absorbed, and blatant racism – WOW! However, the most interesting revelation is that people are people – no matter where we go. There are rude people, kind people, obnoxious people, humble people. Those that feel entitled to more than what they get, those willing to work hard to make a way no matter what the circumstance, and those equally convinced that the situation they are in is unique and no one could possibly understand. People are people everywhere.

We have learned so much about South Africa and Cape Town while visiting here. The opportunity to spend so much time here, as landlubbers, was not our plan and we have really focused to take in as much as possible and find the positive. However, as the months drag on here, we grow more and more impatient and honestly, concerned that our boat will not be completed prior to our visa expiration. The next four weeks will see our dream finally come to fruition or end before it really begins.

More to come . . .