Training and Touring in South Africa
Trip Start
Jan 10, 2006
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Trip End
Feb 17, 2006
Capetown, South Africa
Friday, January 13, 2006
We finally made it to Polokwane -which is 2.5 hours North of Johannesburg. Never will I again attend a training seminar for 3 weeks -way too long. I did learn a lot and met people from all over Africa and in other countries like Afghanistan, Kosovo, and the Philippines. Evening entertainment took place in the Holiday Inn bar where we learned the traditional Afghan wedding dance and peoples thoughts on free markets /democracy. I must say after a few drinks these conversations got a little deep. I ran a lot until I busted an already hurt toe (from whitewater rafting) so the running stopped. I got some free passes to the local gym but only went once. The queue to the treadmills was long and the gym was fool of what looked like bleached blond "steroid user" men. I even managed to check out Kruger National Park and Blyde River Canyon, supposedly the 3rd largest canyon in the world. I saw the same animals in Kruger as I did in the Masai Mara but most of their markings were a little different - the giraffes were darker and the zebra's stripes were of different patterns. The Kenyan safari was much better than Kruger with Kruger being too commercialized and touristy. The end of the training could not have come any sooner so Tom and I headed a little earlier to Johannesburg before our flight the next day to Capetown. Johannesburg was a little freaky. Without having a suitable map, we managed to find our way to a suburb called Mellville. Melville is a college town so the strip had some very fun stores and restaurants. The problem was that it was a Friday night and nobody was around. We ate at a place called Chaplins and asked our waiter where everyone was - he commented that not many people ventured out because of security. It seemed fine to me but then again we didn't spend much time walking around that evening. The next day we headed to Capetown to explore the city, peninsula and wine country for 1 week. As if I was not already missing San Francisco, it was a reminder of what I miss the most - water, mountains, good food and good wine. We went to Robin Island, where Mandela was held; table mountain via the cable car; shopping on the Waterfront; drove down to Cape Point and around to Boulders Beach where we eyed the African Penguins; and spent 2 days in the wine country with the help of John Platter's book on SA wines. We would have been in deep trouble without it because the options were endless. Both enjoying Cabernets mostly, we went down his list of favorites. They became our favorites too. My favorite stop had to be a paring of red wines with Belgium chocolate. Holy cow- I did not know there could be so much variety in chocolate- So 12 bottles later and with a new set of hub caps because of my tiny accident in the rental car, we were on our way back to the airport heading to Kampala.
