Welcome to Cape Town it's beautiful here.

The Grand Daddy Hotel 

That is what is painted on the wall in gold leading up to my room. This is a true statement. I woke up this morning at 4 something which I was pretty pleased with it being close enough to my usual 5 am. The sunrises here at 540 so it wasn't long before I got out of bed. There is something magical about waking up in a new city after arriving in the dark. It is surprise and discovery in a really wonderful way. 

I am staying on Long St which is one of the oldest streets in Cape Town. It is 300 years old, 3.8 km long, and years ago was the longest street in town (clever). My hotel was built in 1894 and has the oldest elevator in town, which had I known that last night at midnight would have definitely changed how I got to my room. 

My first order of business was to go to the front desk and ask where to run. They told me to go down to the convention center and back. That suggestion took less than 5 minutes so I decided just to keep going and I ended up on the water front. It is striking how visually similar the landscape is to San Diego. They even have some of the same succulents (and I heart succulents). Extra bonus they are in full bloom here because it is their spring time. After running away from town and as far west as I could without changing this outing into a duathlon (the water is cold here), I turned around and saw Table Mountain for the first time. I don't know what I expected but certainly not what I saw. Sadly I couldn't get a picture that did it justice. It is bigger, more beautiful, imposing and prominent than I had imagined when I had initially read about it. I figured the two hour estimation for hiking was likely because most people are slower than I would be. 

After a quick breakfast and a shower I ran to the store to buy a bottle of water before my tour to the Cape of Good Hope. My tour guide's name was Leslie and throughout the day he was only once at a loss for conversation or tidbits. The tour included visits to Camp's Bay, the 12 apostles, Hout Bay, Simon's town, Kalk's Bay in addition to all that is written below. 

Driving down the Atlantic side is one of the most beautiful drives I have ever done. Crystal clear blue water, oceanside cliffs, white sandy beaches... Wait a minute did I just describe San Diego? No I am not that sleep deprived. I am definitely still in SA. 

As we drove Leslie told me about himself and his town and country. He started with tourism and its importance to South Africa then transitioned to domestic issues including that laws in SA favor the women. He told me that if a woman calls the cops on her husband that man will almost always without question spend two days in jail. He then said that if a man were to call the cops on a woman they would be laughed at and hung up on. Shortly after this story we were paying a toll and he began making kissing sounds and clicking his tongue at the toll woman. I briefly wondered if he was trying to demonstrate the 48 hours of jail to me, hoping that someone would be available to drive me the rest of the way to the Cape of Good Hope if he was in fact incarcerated. Thankfully she started kissing and clicking back. As it turns out she is a member of the khoisan tribe and that is their language. As we drove on he instructed me to practice. I didn't even care that he was likely using me for his amusement I really enjoy making clicking noises with my tongue, so everyone won. 

Soon we arrived at Chapmans Peak drive. Its construction was begun in the late 1800s early 1900s by Sir Ryan Chapman. It is 9 km long and has 114 curves. It is known as one of the most beautiful drives in the world. On a scale from 1 to beautiful, it gets a "breathtakingly beautiful". 

After this we stopped at an ostrich farm and immediately found a male that was ready to mate. How did we know this? Well "there was blood in his legs" (his legs were a red color just like his beak). He also told me that the males in ostrich society are the ones that take care of the babies. 

Just before the ostriches and just after I had started noticing baboon signs. My favorite one saying:  "Baboons!!" Now if that doesn't say it all, I don't know what does. These signs prompted another story from Leslie. He told me that the baboons were not scared of the women, only the the men. So if they were ever looking in a window which they often do and saw a woman alone they would break in to pester them. I did not enquire further as to what pester meant. To be honest I am a little scared of the answer remembering the guide in Tanzania telling us to be careful if we were having our "woman's time" because the baboons would try to mate us. In the National Park of the Cape of Good Hope there are currently 8 baboon families. 

The Cape of Good Hope has tons of hiking and beautiful views. It also has a lot a of history. There are two monuments that mark the two gentlemen who famously landed there, Dias and De Gama. They were both from Portugal and landed ten years apart. Dias was first and came during winter and because of the weather he was almost shipwrecked. He named it the Cape of Storms. King John II of Portugal, however, disagreed recognizing that this was likely the long sought after passage to India and named it the Cape of Good Hope. 10 years later the more famous Vascular De Gama would arrive during summer and beautiful weather. From there he went on to Goa and became the first man to find an all see route to India, thus founding commercial shipping for Europe. 

The Cape of Good Hope has been long known as the "southernmost tip of Africa" which it is not. The real tip is Cape Agulhas which is approximately 300km southeast. It was explained to me that the Cape of Good Hope is historical, beautiful and much much easier to get to, besides who instagrams from #capealgulhas? At the Cape I visited Dias's monument, the lighthouse which is no longer in use, and did several 30-45 minute hikes. At the point marker for the Cape there was a dead and decomposing whale. Leslie remarked that he was hoping we would see live ones but that he sees dead whales from time to to time. I asked if they knew why they died for the most part. He said maybe the whale was old or maybe it committed suicide. I asked why did he think whales committed suicide? His response, "I don't know. Global warming?" I don't think he was being funny, maybe I missed the sarcasm.

On our ride to Boulder's Beach the topic of conversation was how the 2010 the World Cup changed everything for Cape Town. He says he thinks it improved the city in many ways and increased jobs via the new tourism. Apparently among other things the neighborhood I am staying in was upgraded tremendously with bars and restaurants and is safer. This is is also when Leslie became a tour guide. 

Next up Penguins!!! Sadly you are no longer allowed to get on the beach with them and never were when they were breeding. The African Penguin was formerly known as the jackass penguin due to their highly inquisitive natures. Apparently they have been known to visit people. They reserve at Boulder's is one of two mainland colonies in the world and is the only place where this endangered species is actually increasing in numbers. There were several babies there today. 

They were just great to watch. Many of them were frolicking in and out of the water. It made me want to walk around like them, at least back to the car. I watched them for quite a while and could go back. 

For lunch Leslie first took me to a fish and chips stand. I think I lowered considerably in his estimation when I told him I didn't eat fried food. He looked at me incredulously and asked if I was a vegetarian. I said no. 

"What do you eat then? Salad?" 

"I do eat salad but also a bunch of other things." He said he didn't know where someone like me could find food but that he would try. I assured him it wasn't an emergency that I had a snack with me. After this he became less chatty until our next stop which was Kalk's bay to see the beach and the changing houses. In the summer these brightly colored changing rooms apparently are a hot commodity and even fought over by some families. They attempt to "own" them for the day. I can see it as they are very cute however they are also tiny and there is really only room for changing. 

The final stop on our day was Muizenberg, which is the famous surfing spot and also the site of most shark attacks, which he said was approximately 1 a year. He followed this with saying that almost all of the victims were still alive only losing a limb which was not that big of a deal. Umm... He followed this with encouraging me to go cage diving with the great whites again highlighting that the worst that would happen is for me to lose a limb, no big deal. 

The break of the waves today wasn't good and it was really choppy so there were only boogie borders and those playing in the white wash. There were a ton of shark education signs on the beach and the "Shark Watch" flag was flying in the increasing wind. Leslie said that this was a warning flag to pay attention to one's surroundings because a shark had been sighted. I don't know how that would be possible as choppy as the water was. In Muizenberg I found the perfect restaurant.  I walked in and saw first thing that they served acai bowls and kombucha. BOOM! Lunch! The latter I ordered in green tea flavor. I also got a pressed sandwich of local trout, avocado (called avo here) and a spice called rocket and a date ball. Delicious! Leslie's conclusion to my order after my apparent sheer joy was, "Well if I ever meet another one like you I will know where to take them."

On the way back to the hotel we discussed South African wine as we drove by vineyards. He told me that the first winery in Cape Town opened in the 1600s and sent wine to Napoleon. This particular type of wine is still made and remains in the barrel for 5 years. They call it the "wine of history". And it is 800 Rand which is around 60 dollars a bottle. 

At the hotel I had time to change and then I was off again this time walking to the waterfront to meet my friend Paula who I met in Vietnam 5 years ago (we were roommates on a tour in the Mekong Delta) and haven't seen each other since.  There are people you meet in life who you just have a fantastic connection with from the moment you meet them. Paula is one of those people. Having the chance to spend time with her completed this absolutely fabulous day. 

I am starting to get my bearings here thanks to the run plus this walk. We met at a the red and white lighthouse on the waterfront and took a wonderful sunset walk. After the walk it was peach cider and meat for dinner. We were both starving and I told her to take me to a place she thought was South African which she said equals fish or meat. It was excellent. Afterwards to the hotel and to sleep at my normal bedtime. Jet lag had been officially conquered.

*I apologize for the lack of editing this blog took me over 3 hours to post. So when it finally loaded I just published.