My main takeaway from a visit to Cape Town: It's amazing how many amazing places there are in the world! Yeah, I should already know this, and I kind of already did, but still.... The way the city sits up against Table Top Mountain is just awesome - it is just so very striking. I'm definitely adding this to my very favorite cities in the world list, which now includes San Francisco, Paris, Barcelona, Istanbul, and Copenhagen.
The other thing I realized/remembered while visiting is that I really should live in a city that's on the water. That will be a requirement for my retirement. As it so happens, with the exception of Paris, all my faves are on the sea/ocean - and even Paris is bisected by the Seine and is a major feature of the city.
Another plus was the diversity, the history, and the architecture. The colorful houses in the Bo Kaap - the Muslim neighborhood that my hotel was in; the waterfront; the funky Woodstock area; the tony seaside villages; all very cool.
The vibe is nice, too--with the one downside being the persistence of the beggars. I've been in cities that have more, and are more "aggressive," but the ones in Cape Town pursue a little longer, and employ a more "emotional" appeal. Even then, it's interesting to note "cultural"/geographical differences in this aspect of city life.
And I do admit to still having enough of a stereotype of Africa to have thought, "Wow, who would ever think a city like THIS could exist on this continent?" A few months ago, an RPCV came to the office to collect some stuff she'd left behind after her service because she'd planned on coming back and going to grad school in Cape Town. I had asked about the city then to see what she knew, and since I was considering a visit. She said something along the lines of, "I feel kind of bad for saying this, but I remember when I first visited it after a year in Lesotho, I thought 'Wow! Civilization!'"
I'll definitely go again as there was stuff I didn't get a chance to do: Robben Island, the Cable Car up Table Top Mountain, the Monkey & Bird sanctuary, the Wine tour(!), etc. I do admit to "wasting" some of my time while there going to movies - I'm just such a movie whore and I miss that more than anything. So I saw "Pride" and "Kingsman" while I was there and highly recommend both.
I also got to have good Mexican (twice!) and for anyone who's going, I recommend El Burro for the best taquitos I've ever had and San Julian for the biggest jalapeno poppers I've ever had! Also got to have some good Thai. Yay! And although I didn't have much luck coordinating airport transports through them, the hotel I stayed in was pretty funky/cool and in a good/convenient location. The Dutch Manor Antique hotel oozed old world charm, and breakfast was not only good and filling, but there was great company from the other guests, including a mix of folks that included an Aussie currently working Fiji, some Brits currently living in S. Africa with their daughter and son-in-law (Spanish) who were visiting from Dubai, a charming older Swiss woman, etc.
The Saturday market at the Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock is one of the coolest ones I've been to with one of the most eclectic offerings of food, art, and STUFF I've ever seen. For one of the first times ever in my travels I bought a CD from the local band playing outdoors. They call themselves a swing band, but the stuff they played was like a mix of country/jazz/swing/blues/hillbilly/folk/rock. The next day, I bought another CD from an African band playing at the waterfront. They had four different types of xylophones with a guy who alternated playing the a couple of different horns. Good stuff.
I was lucky to have excellent weather during my brief stay, so I might not have been so enamored had I been forced to endure one of their famous Cape Storms! But, again, on the whole, two very big thumbs up and if anyone is interested in checking it out, let me know and I'd be happy to join you! :)
2/24/15
2/9/15
Postcard from Lesotho II
I've decided Lesotho is basically a nation of Fonzies. The Sesotho word for yes here is simply "A" - pronounced, like Fonzie, as the sound in "Hey." But they don't use it just for "yes," they also use it for "yeah" and "I agree" and "no doubt" and "word!" and "uh-huh" and so on and son on. Accordingly, you hear it a lot, and they literally pronounce it like Fonzie does on "Happy Days." Most of the time it's amusing, but sometimes it just sounds weird coz they will use it so much in a really brief span (e.g., "A!" "A! blah blah" "A!" "A! blah" "A! blah" "A!" "A!" - I am not making this up, I have heard numerous exchanges like this).
So I took my first trip to "civilization" last week (i.e., Bloemfontein, RSA). I had to see an ophthalmologist (name a harder word to spell correctly!), so I tagged along with four Volunteers who were also being taken to specialists. As you can imagine, Lesotho is a little low on medical specialists and we have to use S. Africa for, well, almost anything outside of a head cold. "Bloem" (pronounced bloom) as everyone here calls it is not quite 2 hours away, due west (2 hours, that is, unless there's a big line at the border - which is about a mile away from the PC office). It's about twice the size of Maseru, is the capital of the Free State Province, and is one of three national capitals of South Africa (the judicial one); the other two are Pretoria (administrative) and Cape Town (legislative). Bloemfontein is Dutch/Afrikaans for "fountain of flowers" and is known as the "city of roses." The city's Sesotho name is Manguang, or "place of cheetahs."
I was told by the previous DPT here upon my arrival that I would "need" to "escape" to Bloem on a monthly basis to keep from going insane. But then he was much "needier" than me. I will say it was a bit surreal to see the difference. While not, say, a Dubai, it certainly is more modern, and "western" than Maseru. After my appt. I hit the nearby mall and was able to have Thai food for lunch - that was the definitely the high point. Otherwise, it was a bit disappointing to discover that most of the shops were, of course, RSA chains that we already have in Maseru! D'oh! But then, I was only in town for a couple of hours, and didn't get to see the other "glitzier" mall and what not.
There were A LOT of white people - I want to say it almost seemed like half and half - at least in the mall. And I'm always thrown by "Afrikaans" (a variation of Dutch) as my "default" is to always think of RSA as "British" - when it was actually a Dutch colony for just about as long as it was British - in fact, English is only the 4th most common language spoken in RSA, and they have something like 10-12 "official" languages. Talk about your melting pot!
Anyway, at the end of the day, it IS nice to know that "civilization" is a scant 2 hour drive away, but I don't feel it's worth a "day trip" as many here feel. But that's partly coz I'm just not keen on the idea of spending 4 hours in a car to then spend spend, at most, maybe 6 hours in the city. It would have to be at least an overnight trip for me - see some movies, do some shopping, eat Thai and other food I can't find here, etc. You definitely don't want to be on the road here OR in RSA after dark because...
...if I die over here it will most likely involve being involved in a motor vehicle accident. RSA has the 8th highest "road fatalities" rate in the world, and Lesotho is not far behind at around 11 or 12. I normally bitch about drivers everywhere (although they didn't seem too bad in the Nordic countries), but the thing here is the crazy ass speeding. I mean, I'm a fast driver, but to see the way people roar through residential areas, the speeds they go at down city streets, etc. It's astonishing.
And, as I think I may have already mentioned, red lights here are a mere suggestion. And that's being kind. The weird thing is, driving schools are a big industry here - if I don't see at least 5-6 "learners" (identified by the large red L on the car) in my neighborhood each morning AND each evening as I walk to/from work, it's a slow day. And ALL these learners drive PAINFULLY slowly - maybe the reason they all turn into maniacs is coz they're forced into such over-cautiousness when learning.
I don't think I mentioned that, right before Christmas, 3 Americans (including our newish DPT, Debra) were in a really bad accident coming back from Bloem. Debra and Becky (a temporary duty program manager here) were in the hospital for a month--Becky longer, before finally going home a couple weeks ago to finish recuperating in the states. So yeah, definitely need to watch out on the road here. Sigh.
If I DON'T die in a road accident, it will be due to a rage induced stroke over the stupidity of the incessant 4+1 (taxis) honking on the street, trying to snag a rider. Seriously, I've been on the job 182 days now, 154 days in country, and I STILL can not get used to this--despite everyone assuring me I would. It's just so STUPID because it's so USELESS. I have yet to see a single solitary person turn and flag the cab after hearing the stupid tooting. Yet, I've seen multiple people simply - DUH - put their hand out while standing on the curb and had a non-honking cab stop for them. Ugh.
So I took my first trip to "civilization" last week (i.e., Bloemfontein, RSA). I had to see an ophthalmologist (name a harder word to spell correctly!), so I tagged along with four Volunteers who were also being taken to specialists. As you can imagine, Lesotho is a little low on medical specialists and we have to use S. Africa for, well, almost anything outside of a head cold. "Bloem" (pronounced bloom) as everyone here calls it is not quite 2 hours away, due west (2 hours, that is, unless there's a big line at the border - which is about a mile away from the PC office). It's about twice the size of Maseru, is the capital of the Free State Province, and is one of three national capitals of South Africa (the judicial one); the other two are Pretoria (administrative) and Cape Town (legislative). Bloemfontein is Dutch/Afrikaans for "fountain of flowers" and is known as the "city of roses." The city's Sesotho name is Manguang, or "place of cheetahs."
I was told by the previous DPT here upon my arrival that I would "need" to "escape" to Bloem on a monthly basis to keep from going insane. But then he was much "needier" than me. I will say it was a bit surreal to see the difference. While not, say, a Dubai, it certainly is more modern, and "western" than Maseru. After my appt. I hit the nearby mall and was able to have Thai food for lunch - that was the definitely the high point. Otherwise, it was a bit disappointing to discover that most of the shops were, of course, RSA chains that we already have in Maseru! D'oh! But then, I was only in town for a couple of hours, and didn't get to see the other "glitzier" mall and what not.
There were A LOT of white people - I want to say it almost seemed like half and half - at least in the mall. And I'm always thrown by "Afrikaans" (a variation of Dutch) as my "default" is to always think of RSA as "British" - when it was actually a Dutch colony for just about as long as it was British - in fact, English is only the 4th most common language spoken in RSA, and they have something like 10-12 "official" languages. Talk about your melting pot!
Anyway, at the end of the day, it IS nice to know that "civilization" is a scant 2 hour drive away, but I don't feel it's worth a "day trip" as many here feel. But that's partly coz I'm just not keen on the idea of spending 4 hours in a car to then spend spend, at most, maybe 6 hours in the city. It would have to be at least an overnight trip for me - see some movies, do some shopping, eat Thai and other food I can't find here, etc. You definitely don't want to be on the road here OR in RSA after dark because...
...if I die over here it will most likely involve being involved in a motor vehicle accident. RSA has the 8th highest "road fatalities" rate in the world, and Lesotho is not far behind at around 11 or 12. I normally bitch about drivers everywhere (although they didn't seem too bad in the Nordic countries), but the thing here is the crazy ass speeding. I mean, I'm a fast driver, but to see the way people roar through residential areas, the speeds they go at down city streets, etc. It's astonishing.
And, as I think I may have already mentioned, red lights here are a mere suggestion. And that's being kind. The weird thing is, driving schools are a big industry here - if I don't see at least 5-6 "learners" (identified by the large red L on the car) in my neighborhood each morning AND each evening as I walk to/from work, it's a slow day. And ALL these learners drive PAINFULLY slowly - maybe the reason they all turn into maniacs is coz they're forced into such over-cautiousness when learning.
I don't think I mentioned that, right before Christmas, 3 Americans (including our newish DPT, Debra) were in a really bad accident coming back from Bloem. Debra and Becky (a temporary duty program manager here) were in the hospital for a month--Becky longer, before finally going home a couple weeks ago to finish recuperating in the states. So yeah, definitely need to watch out on the road here. Sigh.
If I DON'T die in a road accident, it will be due to a rage induced stroke over the stupidity of the incessant 4+1 (taxis) honking on the street, trying to snag a rider. Seriously, I've been on the job 182 days now, 154 days in country, and I STILL can not get used to this--despite everyone assuring me I would. It's just so STUPID because it's so USELESS. I have yet to see a single solitary person turn and flag the cab after hearing the stupid tooting. Yet, I've seen multiple people simply - DUH - put their hand out while standing on the curb and had a non-honking cab stop for them. Ugh.
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