Here is another airport that changed since my last arrival. As we exit the plane and enter the airport, we walk along a corridor with huge windows looking down to the arrival area. I wasn’t wearing my glasses or contacts so I couldn’t make out any familiar faces right away. Lucky for me my friends have better vision so once they started waiving, I could see who was who: Amy, Pearleen and Meshach. The passport/immigration line went smooth, took forever for my bag to come out, and then I got stopped by customs. Fortunately the customs agent only checked my carry-on, which had no food items.
When I finally made it out, I was greeted with huge hugs from Amy, Pearleen and Meshach. It was somewhat of a celebrity moment because they were taking photos as I exited – funny folks. Leo and Wesley were waiting near some seats where Hannah had fallen asleep. I am told she was excited for my arrival but the 30 minute flight delay was a little too long.
During my last visit, I stayed with Pearleen’s family because Amy was living in Durban. And the day we went to visit Amy’s mom Isabel at Helderberg College, where she is the girls’ dean, was the day of her car accident. Amy’s mom is better but still has some lingering liver issues and a herniated disc. This time around, with Amy back in Cape Town, Amy’s mom arranged a guest room in the girls’ dorm for my two nights in CPT. With all the excitement of finally arriving in CPT and unpacking, I didn’t get to bed till after 2am.
Needless to say we got off to a slow start Monday morning, Amy’s birthday. She’d talked about going to Table Mountain because it is free on your birthday so we left the house around noon to grab lunch and exchange money before heading to Table Mountain. Summer is in full swing in South Africa but it was a warm overcast day in CPT. On the drive to the Waterfront, Table Mountain was completely covered with clouds – it appeared someone had put the table cloth on the table. The Waterfront is a shopping mall on the water. It’s a popular area with many places to shop and eat, and not too far from Cape Town’s World Cup stadium.
Lunch was a cute café in the mall called Myatt. Amy suggested this place after seeing the photo of the French macarons from Schiphol because they also have French mararons and other desserts. If you haven’t already seen my facebook post of my meal, I enjoyed a veggie salad with grilled vegetables and hummus. For dessert I tried the rose, honey & saffron and passion fruit macarons. The macarons weren’t too bad - nice flavors and texture. The only part I didn’t like was the crème center – I think one had alcohol in it and the others were very tart.
By the time I changed money and had lunch it was already 3 in the afternoon, and with Amy’s birthday dinner appointment at 5, that didn’t give us much time for Table Mountain so instead we stayed at the Waterfront, walked around and took a ride on the Wheel of Excellence, i.e. a big ferris wheel. The ride itself was cool because of the views of Table Mountain, Lion’s Head, Signal Hill, the stadium, the harbour and Robben Island. Unfortunately, the combination of fatigue and having just eaten left me a little motion sick half way through the ride – it circled 4 times.
One thing I forgot to mention – When I went to exchange money, the guy at the counter asked if we were in town for the Lady Gaga concert that evening. Really? Fly all the way from America to see Lady Gaga in Cape Town? Her concert that night explained all oddly dressed people walking around the Waterfront.
Dinner was at one of my favourite places in Cape Town – Eastern Food Bazaar. It’s a type of Indian food food court. They have everything from curries to briyanis to dosas to chaat. I ate at this place twice during my last trip. I don’t know if my expectations were too high or I wasn’t as hungry but the food didn’t taste as good. My veggie samosas were cold and the masala dosa was extra oily. I think everyone else enjoyed their food so maybe it was just me. Another big plus about this place, though – it’s cheap! The Petersens, Leo and Amy’s friend Khadeeja from university joined us.
After dinner we went over to the Petersens for ice cream, which allowed me to surprise Beulah with a visit. Beulah, cousin to Wesley and also their neighbour, was another friend I made in Korea. During my last trip, she took me on a couple drives through scenic areas of Cape Town and the botanical gardens. Unfortunately she wasn’t feeling so well on Monday so I found her in bed. Hopefully I’ll get to see her on Thursday, when we return from our roadtrip. She said she knows some good vegetarian/vegan restaurants so hopefully we can try one of them out.
Amy and I both being so tired, we didn’t stay too long at Pearleen’s. We did need to finish packing for our roadtrip/flight to Joburg in the morning.
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