Today is the second day we've designated to exploring Cape Town. It's also our last full day in South Africa & the continent of Africa. A crazy thought after spending 2 amazing months here.
We've got plans to post our souvenirs today before doing an off & on red bus tour on a different route & a boat cruise either through the canals or the harbour. We're both keen on the harbour where there is a better chance of seeing whales & seals.
After We've cooked & eaten another vegetable packed breakfast. We set off with a backpack full of wood carvings & my arms full of baskets & the paintings rolled & stored in a tube. We think from previous experience & success that a courier is our best bet & find DHL stores online. We have all their locations pinned on a map & start walking the 30 minute distance down Long Street & the centre of town.
Initially it's quiet & we don't see many people or get harassed.
We walk past dozens of quant cafe's & hipster coffee shops, restaurants & bars. We wish we had more time here, or ideally more money & time to try them all! In between the various eateries are African antique stores, traditiinal art's & craft & homewares to die for. I am obsessed with woven baskets! I already have a total of 10 on my arms, which doesn't feel like enough. I've got plans to collect quite a few in Varying weave designs, patterns, colours & sizes to display on a wall.
We eventually reach the closest DHL, which also looks to be the biggest & walk into the office. The heater is blasting & instantly we shed our jackets & scarves, assuming we would be in here for some time sorting it out. The woman behind the counter is not dramatically helpful & has the aloof/semi preoccupied attitude we have encountered a lot in Africa. Postage at DHL is extortionate & would of cost $500+ without insurance for 8 kilo's.
We start to walk back down to the VA Waterfront to do one of the cruise options & as we hit Long street again, I can hear distant yelling, whistles & beeping. It's a protest marching straight for us. This is really not good. We've been watching the news & yesterday there was a street protest that the police had to forcefully break up.
We pretty much start jogging to avoid this.
Once down at the waterfront we go to the same coffee shop as yesterday & order coffee & a piece of carrot cake. Though today we sit inside because of the weather. As we leave we bump into Simon & Leah at Nobel square with their parents & as we quickly debrief about Cape Town's interesting citizens, we are joined by Noria.
There is one last round of goodbyes before we head off to catch our boat.
We've got plans to post our souvenirs today before doing an off & on red bus tour on a different route & a boat cruise either through the canals or the harbour. We're both keen on the harbour where there is a better chance of seeing whales & seals.
After We've cooked & eaten another vegetable packed breakfast. We set off with a backpack full of wood carvings & my arms full of baskets & the paintings rolled & stored in a tube. We think from previous experience & success that a courier is our best bet & find DHL stores online. We have all their locations pinned on a map & start walking the 30 minute distance down Long Street & the centre of town.
Initially it's quiet & we don't see many people or get harassed.
We walk past dozens of quant cafe's & hipster coffee shops, restaurants & bars. We wish we had more time here, or ideally more money & time to try them all! In between the various eateries are African antique stores, traditiinal art's & craft & homewares to die for. I am obsessed with woven baskets! I already have a total of 10 on my arms, which doesn't feel like enough. I've got plans to collect quite a few in Varying weave designs, patterns, colours & sizes to display on a wall.
We eventually reach the closest DHL, which also looks to be the biggest & walk into the office. The heater is blasting & instantly we shed our jackets & scarves, assuming we would be in here for some time sorting it out. The woman behind the counter is not dramatically helpful & has the aloof/semi preoccupied attitude we have encountered a lot in Africa. Postage at DHL is extortionate & would of cost $500+ without insurance for 8 kilo's.
We decided to find another option & instead asked about just posting back the papyrus in the document cylinder with DHL. This alone based on weight & dimensions was quoted at $250. The woman at DHL insinuated that we should say goodbye to our souvenirs now if we send them via standard post, because they won't make it. This really unnerved me & we decided to keep the papyrus in it's document cylinder & I'll just carry it with me around the world.
However it's not practical to carry all the wood, baskets & wine around with us. We will take our chances & post it back.
We walked back through town to the post office for a quote there. After queuing in 2 different lines for 40 minutes, we got a quote and had a plan. The second person who served us was really helpful & explained what we had to do & where to go.
We walked back out of the post office & across the road, where we paid a company called postnet to package it for us, because the post office didn't sell postage box's or packaging.
Postnet offered to post it for us, but again quoted a ridiculous amount & heavily insinuated we wouldn't get our stuff if we send it by standard post. We later found out they are affiliated with DHL. We then walked the box back across the road & sent it with the standard post, via a boat for a total of $60, including the maximum level of insurance & tracking.
Fingers crossed! I feel better sending it from Africa than I did from India.
We start walking back down Long street heading for the VA Waterfront, Trying to avoid the junkies in the park near the train station. Earlier on we had seen multiple people in broad daylight with needles sticking out their arms & vacant expressions. We successfully avoided the junkies however from across the street we saw a rambling man with his pants down, bending over & exposing his bare bum to traffic. The charming razzle dazzle of the city is being leeched out of the day very quickly by these sightings, the 4 hours of wasted time organising postage & the heavy rain clouds.
Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, we walk up a street where a coloured women standing against a wall is eyeing me off. As we get closer, she looks me straight in the eyes & says
"You better get out of my country or I'll kill you". I pretend like I haven't heard her & continue talking to Tom & walking. We are already at a brisk speed which if increased would be jogging. I'm sure she has just said it to try bait a reaction, which I'm determined not to give her, although my heart is racing out of my chest.
At the next corner I pull Tom into an art shop. It is a store I have seen from the 2nd storey of the red bus yesterday & had thought to visit. It specialises exclusively in African tribal portraits done by African artists.
They are wow!
We walked back through town to the post office for a quote there. After queuing in 2 different lines for 40 minutes, we got a quote and had a plan. The second person who served us was really helpful & explained what we had to do & where to go.
We walked back out of the post office & across the road, where we paid a company called postnet to package it for us, because the post office didn't sell postage box's or packaging.
Postnet offered to post it for us, but again quoted a ridiculous amount & heavily insinuated we wouldn't get our stuff if we send it by standard post. We later found out they are affiliated with DHL. We then walked the box back across the road & sent it with the standard post, via a boat for a total of $60, including the maximum level of insurance & tracking.
Fingers crossed! I feel better sending it from Africa than I did from India.
We start walking back down Long street heading for the VA Waterfront, Trying to avoid the junkies in the park near the train station. Earlier on we had seen multiple people in broad daylight with needles sticking out their arms & vacant expressions. We successfully avoided the junkies however from across the street we saw a rambling man with his pants down, bending over & exposing his bare bum to traffic. The charming razzle dazzle of the city is being leeched out of the day very quickly by these sightings, the 4 hours of wasted time organising postage & the heavy rain clouds.
Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, we walk up a street where a coloured women standing against a wall is eyeing me off. As we get closer, she looks me straight in the eyes & says
"You better get out of my country or I'll kill you". I pretend like I haven't heard her & continue talking to Tom & walking. We are already at a brisk speed which if increased would be jogging. I'm sure she has just said it to try bait a reaction, which I'm determined not to give her, although my heart is racing out of my chest.
At the next corner I pull Tom into an art shop. It is a store I have seen from the 2nd storey of the red bus yesterday & had thought to visit. It specialises exclusively in African tribal portraits done by African artists.
They are wow!
We start looking at the prints on canvas & make a pile of 10 or so which we both like. After this we lay them all out on the floor & go through an elimination process to find the one. We eventually have 2 left, Tom's favourite & mine. The shop assistant is really helpful & gives us information on who painted them & what tribe the people are from.
After reading more, I relent on my favourite when I realise we have a better connection with the one Tom picked. She is an elderly lady from the San society, also known & introduced to us as the Bushman.
Tom spent a few hours with the Bushman of Botswana & described them as gentle, kind & with a strong family bond, which is very different to the interaction's we have had with other tribes.
Tom spent a few hours with the Bushman of Botswana & described them as gentle, kind & with a strong family bond, which is very different to the interaction's we have had with other tribes.
The society is built around close family bonds & a deep sense of respect for the elders. They have no chief & no competitiveness for power, instead the elders make important decisions for the tribe, collectively as equals. They are a diverse group of hunter gatherers that still live in South Africa, Namibia & Botswana. There is evidence of them being some of the oldest people of South Africa, dating back 20,000 years. We also learn about the artist who is a local from Cape Town & grew up in district 6. I'm sure this will not be the only portrait we buy from this shop, they are so powerful & emotional.
The elderly San lady is art piece number 8 we have brought on our trip. She is rolled up tightly & put inside the same document canister as the papyrus, where I will guard her with my life & carry her safely around the world!
We can't wait to hang all our art up on the wall & have it as a part of our every day life, reminding us of where we have been & what we have seen.
We can't wait to hang all our art up on the wall & have it as a part of our every day life, reminding us of where we have been & what we have seen.
After leaving the art shop feeling significantly better than when we walked in, Tom instantly catches a man unzipping his backpack. Bloody hell Cape Town!
We start to walk back down to the VA Waterfront to do one of the cruise options & as we hit Long street again, I can hear distant yelling, whistles & beeping. It's a protest marching straight for us. This is really not good. We've been watching the news & yesterday there was a street protest that the police had to forcefully break up.
We pretty much start jogging to avoid this.
Once down at the waterfront we go to the same coffee shop as yesterday & order coffee & a piece of carrot cake. Though today we sit inside because of the weather. As we leave we bump into Simon & Leah at Nobel square with their parents & as we quickly debrief about Cape Town's interesting citizens, we are joined by Noria.
There is one last round of goodbyes before we head off to catch our boat.
Sadly the harbour tour scheduled to depart at 2.30pm & the ones following this have all been cancelled due to a strong wind. A bit of a bummer! We walked further down the harbour & hopped on the boat that does the canal tour. It was easily something we could have gone without seeing! It was basically just a sight seeing tour of where the rich & famous live & the whole thing sounded like a pompous real estate selling pitch.
It was interesting to learn that 194 hectares of the waterfront & CBD was under water till the 1940's when the biggest land reclamation project in South Africa happened.
Once off the canal boat we saw 7 seals on a wooden dock platform! They are so bloody cute & in conjunction with the waterfront security guard's, lifted my mood again.
We got on the red hop on & hop off bus taking the blue route at 3.25pm, straight after the canal boat ride.
The blue route does a very large loop around Cape Town, Camps Bay & Stellenbosch. The weather is very gloomy & before too long starts raining.
We actually did 1.5 loops of the blue route, arriving at the closest bus stop to our accommodation just before 7pm & ran through the bitterly cold rain.
It's our last night here & the mood is resigned. After 42 days of camping & being on tour, having the Air BnB, our privacy & our own time has been blissful.
With time a factor on hand we make dinner & go through our changing countries check list, before packing, showering, cleaning & getting into bed for a 5 hour sleep.
Neither of us are looking forward to the travel between continents that starts tomorrow at 4am.
- Alli
We got on the red hop on & hop off bus taking the blue route at 3.25pm, straight after the canal boat ride.
The blue route does a very large loop around Cape Town, Camps Bay & Stellenbosch. The weather is very gloomy & before too long starts raining.
We actually did 1.5 loops of the blue route, arriving at the closest bus stop to our accommodation just before 7pm & ran through the bitterly cold rain.
It's our last night here & the mood is resigned. After 42 days of camping & being on tour, having the Air BnB, our privacy & our own time has been blissful.
With time a factor on hand we make dinner & go through our changing countries check list, before packing, showering, cleaning & getting into bed for a 5 hour sleep.
Neither of us are looking forward to the travel between continents that starts tomorrow at 4am.
- Alli
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