The best thing about traveling is experiencing new things each day. Now that we are on the road again, those experiences are coming fast and furious again. It’s awesome. Today I got a chance to ride my dinner. This doesn’t happen at home. Cows, pigs, and chickens are pretty darn tough to ride. Ostrichs on the other hand, are a blast.

But let me back up for a minute. Our first stop on the Garden Route is a town called Oudsthoorn. It’s a cute little town with lots of shops and stores in the city. People don’t come here for shopping. They come for what is outside the city. Ostrich Farms. Lots and lots of ostrich farms. Picture rolling hills covered in big ass, black and white feathered creatures. Most of the ostrich’s in Africa are breed in and around Oudsthoorn. Today we learned all sorts of facts about these non-flying birds.

If you want a cheap Sunday morning brunch idea, get yourself one ostrich egg. One ostrich egg can feed a whole family and then some. It is the equivalent of 24 chicken eggs. It is higher in cholesterol than chicken eggs because of their diet. Ostrich eggs are also very strong. They can even hold me!

Ostrich meat on the other hand, is leaner than the best cut of filet. It has a similar taste and texture to filet mignon. Dinner for tonight for sure. If mad cow hits the US we can all switch to ostrich.

Our tour guide taught us lots of interesting tidbits. Store these for dinner party conversations, as the topic is sure to arise. Male ostrichs have black bodies and white necks and heads. They are the pretty ones. Female ostrichs are gray all over, not as interesting. An ostrich eye weighs 60 grams. An ostrich brain weighs 40 grams. Let’s just say they aren’t the sharpest tool in the shed. An ostrich has a finger and a thumb, complete with nails, tucked underneath its huge wings that it never uses.

The best part of the tour today was riding an ostrich. Yep, you read correctly. As long as you don’t weigh more than 75 kilos, or for the metrically impaired, 160 lbs, you can ride one. They put a bag over it’s eyes while you climb on it’s back. It figures if it can’t see you, you can’t see him. Must have to do with that small brain. You climb on the ostrich’s back as the wings are lifted up and out of your way. The wings get laid back down and cover your legs. The wings are your handles or bridle. You hold on to the finger and thumb under the wing. We humans knew they were there for something. After the trainers take the bag off the ostrich’s eyes, it bolts. Hang on and lean back, it’s a choppy ride, but a heck of a lot of fun. You’ll have to check out the video section for this one. It’s a riot.

Maybe the ostrich is squawlking about my weight. Who knows. I guess the ostrich riding should be left to the professionals.

Two of the handlers jumped on the backs of two ostriches for a race down a 50m. track straight towards us. It was a race between “Hopeless” and “No Chance”. Hopeless won. Touristy, you bet. But a heck of a lot of fun.

Our next stop was the Cango Caves. It was time for some serious education in the form of stalagtites and stalagmites. We have to get that geogology check in the home school block. The most interesting fact of the day was that these formations grow at the speed of 5-6mm every 100 years. You can do the math to figure out how long these have been forming.

We head back to our backpacker for dinner. Guess what was on the menu for tonight? You guessed it, ostrich.

The sun is directly overhead but it is cold. Since it has been warm all day, I don’t have my fleece on and the sweat on my back is giving me a chill. We are at an elevation of 4,000 feet. The wind is blowing at around 15 mph in a consistent southerly direction. The earth is red and rocky. There is no sound except for the wind blowing through the little vegetation that exists. Scrub in my laymen’s eyes. Dust is in the air and is making my throat dry. The mountainous landscape stretches like brain coral in all directions. We didn’t expect to find ourselves in this environment today. We have arrived in hell.

To be more exact we have arrived in “Die Hel” which in Afrikaans translates to The Hell. Let’s back up for a moment.

After having a month at The Manor Cottage in Hout Bay, I think we are all ready to hit the road again. Well maybe not Alexa. She still likes her own bed and friends and some sort of routine. That is fine, but she isn’t going to have much of that this year. The kids did make some good friends with other kids in the neighborhood. That was great for them and gave them some base in their lives here in Cape Town. They spent many an afternoon running around our little neighborhood and often we had to drag them in for dinner and showers.

Debbie and I also enjoyed our down time. We have spent a lot of time on our web-site and hopefully you have seen and like the improvements. We are quickly learning that web-sites are never done and we will have to pace ourselves when it comes to all the things we have in mind for it. We are still learning too so everything takes us much longer. But overall, we are very pleased with the look and functionality of our site. It has already proven to be a great way to keep in touch with friends and family. The site also gives us some structure to our days, as we have to remember to write the blogs, edit them, prepare the pictures and now add video as well. The writing also serves as the childrens’ writing lesson and we are working hard to make them better writers.

So now that we have had a month to re-charge and catch up on chores and other self induced work we are now at the beginning of a six week whirlwind tour from the Garden Route here in South Africa, Munich for Oktoberfest, Cairo, Dubai and India. Wow. To make it more challenging, Debbie will at the end of this stretch, fly home to Florida to do fifteen portrait sittings only to return to the rest of us in Thailand. Yes, we have decided to move through Dubai and not make this one of our ‘Home’ destinations. This decision is based mostly on business reasons and some budgetary as well. Therefore the same day that Debbie flies to Florida, the kids and I will fly to Chiang Mai, Thailand. This is a city we have been to many times and are very comfortable in. We have found a beautiful apartment with WiFi Internet access, a gym and more. It is also walking distance to everything in the city, so we will not need a car. All nice.

So back to the Garden Route and our trip today to Hell. We were up at a normal 0800 and packed this morning like the old pros that we became thanks to our travels last month. No pain here. We checked out with Chris, our landlord, who is a great guy and said our goodbyes. Somehow, we managed to get 99% of our things into our Opel go-cart. One third of the back seat had to be dropped forward, so the kids are a bit cramped, but it works. What do you expect for a rental car that only costs us $15 a day? From Hertz no less.

Our plan was to drive to the far eastern side of the Garden Route and work our way slowly west, back towards Cape Town, over the coming week. Our draw to this week’s adventure is the Garden Route that stretches along the central southern coast of South Africa for a few hundred miles. Lightly inhabited, and totally wild and beautiful, we plan on taking thousands of pictures.

We figured the morning drive to Oudtshoorn, our first destination, would only take four hours or so. It took almost seven. Our route took us on the national highway, the N1, to the east. It was our intention to take a smaller road back to the south to Oudtshoorn through the Swartzberg Pass. We heard the drive was beautiful. The drive was uneventful, though much longer than we expected, until we got to the turn onto the Swartzberg Pass road.

The sign said Oudtshoorn, thataway. We turned. Can’t be. It was a one and half lane dirt road headed towards what seemed to be right at the sheer side of a mountain. We did turn. We proceeded. Half mile we stopped. This can’t be right, let’s turn back to the proper road, look at the map, take another peek at the road signs and make sure. We did this. Confirmation, Oudtshoorn, thataway.

The road went from a one and half lane dirt, to one lane dirt. The angle went from flat, to not so flat, to steep. The road went from looking like a challenge for our Opel go-cart, to looking impossible for our Opel go-cart. Did we turn back? NO. Of course not. With me at the wheel (remember I am the guy who ran with the bulls in Pampalona a few years ago!). We pressed on.

Okay, this is not the diary of a teenage drama queen. The drive was not expected, but beautiful. We laughed together and stopped often to admire the scenery. Halfway through we came across, Die Hel. I had read about this place in a magazine a few months ago before we came on this trip. Only one woman lives in Die Hel. It is a valley in the middle of the Swartberg Pass and it is REMOTE. I can’t think of anywhere in the US that is as remote as Die Hel. From the point that we came across the sign to the place, it was another 30 miles the valley floor. The sign said 50km=2hours. Most people say you can only achieve that in a top notch 4×4. I wanted to go and stay with this lady, Debbie rejected this overture. Probably smart, but I won’t admit it, not even here in this blog.

We crested the top of the pass and were welcomed with a sign that said simply, “Die Top”. No shit, thanks. As soon as we passed this point (Die Top) the wind picked up and started to howl. The temperature got darn cold. Amazing. No more than 50 yards and totally different climate. Coming down the back-side was steeper but simpler. Before we knew it, we were in the valley and speeding towards Oudtshoorn.

We found our backpacker hostel, “Backpackers Paradise”. It is certainly at the high end of backpackers that we have stayed at and we recommend it to any and all comers. Oudtshoorn is Ostrich central. Just like you think of Nebraska for beef, California for wine, Maine for Lobster, Florida for championship college football and New England for Championship Football Professional Football (YEAH BABY!!). This is why we have come here.

Our time in Cape Town is getting short. At least our time in the Western Cape, as we are heading out to do the Garden Route next week. So today we headed north-east out of town for a drive that last just over an hour and a half. This is the heart of wine country here in the Cape. We have already visited Franschoek and Stellenbosch so today we go to Paarl.

None of these towns are very far apart and Paarl sits on the far north-east side of the region in a wide valley. This whole region looks much like the Pacific Northwest of the US or the Loire Valley in France. We were lucky to have another sunny and warm day. There was a light wind blowing the length of the valley which kept us comfortable in short sleeves.

Our first stop was Fairview Winery. We were greeted with the coolest goat barn/house/shed you could imagine. A three story, silo shaped building with a spiraling staircase around the outside so that the goats can walk up. This has become the symbol of the winery itself and is somewhat famous in the region. Besides wine, Fairview is also noted for it’s goat cheese. Every good winery needs a hook.

Wonderful. We had eight glasses of wine and cheese for a minimal tasting charge of five dollars. The people at the winery were very pleasant, and even insisted we try a ninth wine, one that we had not chosen to taste, because they were very proud of it. The cheese was more amazing. We had more than eight different types. The goat cheese melted on the tongue with no need for chewing. Debbie said that you could spread it on cardboard and it would still be good.

After buying a loaf of bread and a lot of cheese, with a picnic in mind, we ended up sitting down at their restaurant and eating lunch there. We figured that the cheese and bread could be snacks for later. The setting for the restaurant, the warm air, cold white wine and food were too much to just walk away.

After taking much more time at Fairview than we intended, we bolted for the next. This time Seidelberg. This winery was only two miles down the road. It was a long two miles because we drove by a local school and stopped to let Connor and Alexa take pictures. It is amazing, once a camera is produced the kids here flock to it like tourists to a leopard sitting. Connor and Alexa did very well handling both the complexity of the camera and the over eagerness of their subjects. They each captured at least one image that is book material from this impromptu stop. Bravo.

Seidelberg wineries’ hook is glass blowing. They have one of only four operating artistic glass studios in all of South Africa. Their work is very reminiscent of Chiluly, which is very beautiful. Since we had hit the wine pretty hard at Fairview, we passed on the opportunity to taste Seidelberg’s wine. So can’t give any reviews on this one.

Our next and last stop was Warwick. This small and very un-pretentious winery is the only South African winery to have it’s wine served on board the Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 cruise ship. Quite an honor. We had a bottle of this their ‘Trilogy’ one evening at a steak house and had purchased another for our house. So we already knew about this winery and today we made it a point to visit.

Warwick is great. Unlike most other wineries, they do not charge for tasting. They also don’t stand you up at a bar and give you small pours. Instead, we were seated at a long nice table and a young lady began to pour generous portions of four wines. Starting from the lightest and driest white she moved through five wines explaining each in detail. Very impressive. We did not love everything they made, but did purchase a bottle before we departed. While we were there we also took the opportunity to pull both of the girls who were working there and did some portraits of them. We are always looking for an opportunity to capture the people around us and the setting was too perfect. We really appreciated their good nature with such a crazy request.

The kids are also enjoying the wine. We keep them limited, of course, but are making it a point to teach them about the different varietals of wine and how it is produced. Though you have to be eighteen to drink in South Africa, no winery has had an issue with the children tasting the wine and asking questions. This has made the whole experience that much richer for all of us.

By the time we were done with Warwick it was late afternoon. We had considered heading over to Franshoek to have dinner at a winery in this beautiful village but decided to press back to our home in Hout Bay which was still almost an hour and a half away.

Days like this are rewarding and make us cringe at the idea of having to ever ‘work’ again. We had a good family day, we learned new things, we were surrounded by beautiful scenery, photographed amazing children by the road-side and discovered some great food and wine. What more can you ask for?

This is our last full week in Cape Town. Where the heck has the time gone? So it’s the week to catch up on all the little activities we told ourselves we were going to do while we are here. On the menu this week are birds, wine and walls.

Birds is the “World of Birds”. Before coming to Africa I never would have thought we’d go to a bird place. But we all fell in love with all the different colors and beauty of the wild birds here. After spending a couple hours winding our way through the “zoo” we decided it is the wild part about birds that is interesting. Birds in cages are not exciting. While there were some with gorgeous colors, they were all in cages. No excitement factor here. I suppose it’s not unlike seeing any animal in a zoo. Yes, you do see it, but it’s in a cage, where is the fun in that? Kruger spoiled us all. No hunt, no fun.

The best part about the “World of Birds” was the monkeys. Yep, squirrel monkeys. The zoo lets the people into this giant monkey cage twice a day for a few hours at a pop. They warn you not to take in any valuables or food. “Remove your sunglasses as monkeys have been known to steal” says the entry sign. Soon after entering the cage we all found out why.

As you walk into the cage a few brave little guys come jump on you. I was wearing the backpack, so they picked me first. Guess they figured out backpacks carry food and other yummies. The monkeys swarmed whoever had the backpack. After about 3 minutes in the cage, Alexa bagged it and waited outside.

The rest of us walked around the cage for a good long time. It was a blast. Each of us took turns with the backpack. Carl had a chance to get peed on by one monkey. Good thing we waterproofed the camera bag!

Our next short trip was wine, at the Groot Constantia vineyard. It is the oldest winery in the Cape. It opened in 1685. The place has gone through lots of ownership changes and now is owned by the state. They make some great wines there. We had a cellar tour where the kids got a chance to learn some chemistry. We learned the differences between French and American Oak barrels. We learned you only put wine in a barrel three times and then you have to pitch it. We learned wine is very particular about temperature, especially with the yeast involved. If it gets too hot, you get grape juice and not wine. Lots of good stuff. And all you thought we wouldn’t be able to teach the kids science.

The vineyard has great examples of Cape Dutch architecture. Cape Dutch is a very popular building style in the 1700-1800’s. The roofline gables all have special significance. Some are fancier than others. Groot Constantia has a beautiful pediment on the scale of the Parthenon on one of the buildings.

Our third stop of the week is City Rock. City Rock is an indoor rock climbing jungle. The place is massive. There are over 24 surfaces of wall to climb, all with a varying degree of difficulty. The hard ones are on the ceiling. Crazy. Picture a three- story wall with lots of multicolored bumps on it. You use the bumps to climb up the wall. Some bumps are big, others are very small, only sticking out an inch or so. It’s a blast.

It has been years since I’ve climbed, so we had to hire a belay helper for an hour. Nestis was a big help getting all our gear on and ensuring no one fell off the wall and smacked the ground. Handy guy to have around.

The kids did great. They both managed to get to the top of two walls, and halfway up on a third. They key for everyone was to not look down. Another key is to use your legs, not your arms. Carl did a great job scurrying up the wall like spiderman. He also looked pretty cute from below.

City Rock is a great place to spend a few hours on a rainy day. We all wish there was something similar at home…

I have been looking forward to today for a week now. Today we got a chance to photograph our cleaning lady Angelina and her two beautiful daughters aged 7 and 12. Most of our portraits on the road haven’t been prearranged by any stretch of the imagination, so this was a first since leaving the US. While Angelina was thrilled to have a chance to have some portraits made, I honestly don’t think she realized what she said yes to.

To back up a bit, our house here in Hout Bay comes with daily housekeeping. Angelina is the housekeeper. She is absolutely wonderful. She has worked for the owner of our property, Chris, for three years. It took us about 2 days to figure out why she is still here. Not only does she take care of the obvious things, like picking up the dishes, or wiping down the bathrooms, but all the little things as well. After we left the house one day, Alexa came back to find her stuffed animal all safely tucked into her newly made bed. Angelina’s work ethic is phenomenal. I wish we could bring her back to the States with us, but I know Chris would have our heads.

Anyway, we want to do something unique for Angelina to say thank you. We decided the best way for her not to forget our family is to create portraits of her family for her. We packed a small printer and paper for just this purpose. Families in the townships don’t have the money to have portraits of their families created. Most don’t own a camera. We figured it would be a great gift.

Fast forward to today. We arranged to meet Angelina near the road leading up to the township. I guess we didn’t understand her directions and we ended up driving through most of the township on our own looking for her. Now when we first arrived in Africa the idea of driving around a township by ourselves would have seemed just plain crazy. Maybe it still is. We were definitely the only white faces in the place. Driving our Opel probably helped not draw attention to ourselves. It’s not exactly a fancy car. Thankfully a couple of nice people helped us find our way to her after about 15 minutes of driving in circles.

Angelina walked us through the township to her home. It was a three-room shack with no running water. She does however have power. The lines run zig zag from house to house. They wouldn’t exactly meet codes in the US, but we have seen equally good power solutions in Greece when we lived there. Her home, like all the homes we have seen in the townships, was immaculate. She may not have a lot, but what she does have is extremely well taken care of and orderly. There are no toys or items littered around her place, as in so many homes in our country. Every shack here had a source of music. Music of all kinds filled the air.

We got a chance to meet not only her children, but her sister and her kids as well. She has a close family and they all stay together. Everyone in the townships knows one another. They are all one big family. The men help each other with building and moving large objects, like the side of a house.

Everyone hangs out outside their homes, socializing with the neighbors. They think it is funny that white people hang out in their homes and don’t interact with their neighbors. They may have a good point there. Why is that?

The opportunity to photograph in the townships is a photography dream come true. There are so many colors, textures and patterns. The shiny tin siding, the colors of the walls, the bright smiles of the kid’s faces, and the laundry hanging out to dry in the sun all make an interesting landscape. Everywhere I looked there was an image waiting to be captured. The faces of the children were stunning. Black children’s eyes just pop.

Angelina and her daughters got a chance to feel like a rock star for their 15 minutes of fame. All the neighbors and their kids came out to watch us photograph.

Working with Angelina and her family allowed us unlimited access to all her friends as well. This was very different than the Cultural Tour we were on earlier in the week. We were not just the next group of white tourists parading through. Going local is absolutely the best way to photograph.

We got into a discussion with one of her friends over America and what it was like to live there. She wondered if life was as “fast” as they see on TV? She was inquisitive over schooling for our kids. She was pleasantly surprised to find out part of our kids school was the camera and creating images of her kids for her. She asked if Carl supported the ANC when he lived in Africa years ago. We asked many questions in return and learned a lot about her kids and their schools as well.

Today was a highlight of our trip thus far. I can’t wait to give them their portraits. If they are happy maybe we can go back…..

Table Mountain is probably the best named hunk of rock in the world. It is a 3,000 foot high mountain that towers above Cape Town, with smaller arms that reach out and hug the city from two sides. Thus the center of the city is often referred to as the city bowl. Most appropriately, given the name, the entire top of the mountain climbs straight up and stops flat. Table top flat. It is unmistakable and beautiful.

Last week we drove over to the cable car to take a trip to the top. A photo opportunity in the making. The cable car, as mentioned earlier, starts from a road that is almost halfway up and photography from this point is already nice. Once we got to the cable car we decided it would be a sham for us not to make the ascent under our own power. So we turned and left. Only to return today.

We set an alarm today for 0630 to get an early start. The motivation was predicated mostly around football. Last night the new NFL season began with my beloved Three Time World Champion, Team of the New Millenium, New England Patriots beating the Raiders from the Left Coast. (I didn’t know the score before the climb as I avoided the Internet and TV but knew in my heart that they had won anyway). ESPN had a taped replay of the game set for 1600 our time. Therefore, we had to be up the mountain and back down prior. With our priorities straight, we were off.

We decided to take a direct and very steep trail to the top. We parked the Opel go-cart at 0830 and started up at 0837. I know this number because I was curious how long it would take. Climbing Table Mountain is not for the faint of heart. It is not an easy climb and people are rescued from its steep face all the time. Besides the steep climb, the weather can change very quickly leaving you lost and stranded. When we got up this morning the sky was overcast, which means the mountain is under clouds. Not a great scenario. But the weather said today was supposed to be nice, so I figured it would burn off. Furthermore, even in the cloudy weather it was warmer than usual and it wasn’t raining. In order to check myself one more time, I called up an aviation weather report, which as an aviator myself, I will always trust more than your television weather man. I was comfortable it would burn off. So with food in a pack on Debbie’s back and camera gear in a pack on mine we headed up at previously stated 0837 towards the bottom of the clouds that loomed not far above our heads.

We were out of breath in the first fifty yards. This might actually be challenging. Hadn’t really considered that one! For every three feet we moved forward we climbed one. We ultimately climbed 3,000 feet in 1.8 miles.

We were into the clouds in no time. The bottom of the cloud deck was as flat as the top of the mountain itself. One moment we were underneath and the next we were in them. This in the end was a good thing because we had no true sense of the distance or height that lay in front of us. On our descent down we were in awe of just looking back over our shoulder and in denial that we had actually been able to successfully climb it.

The climb was a cardiovascular challenge. We are in good shape overall and run often as a family, but we had to stop to catch our breath a fair number of times. When we were just about half way up we broke out of the clouds to be greeted with a flat cloud deck below us and the mountain peek above us. It was like we were on the top of the world and we were all alone. It was beautiful. The only drawback was that we now could see how much more we had to go and what it might entail.

The trail is well marked. Because of the angle of the climb, the stones laid out form very large steps. Some steps raise more than two feet from one stone to the next and they seemingly never end. Many of the plants that we encountered on the trail are found and grow only on the slopes of Table Mountain. It was a privilege to make this ascent with nobody else on the trail, as it felt that we had the mountain to ourselves. The cool mist of the cloud cover blew through the low shrubs and bushes hydrating beautiful yellow flowers as sunbirds chirped and flew impossibly fast around us. It was magical, as well as exhausting.

We made the top in two and one-half hours. Not bad. We were all out of breath and very sweaty but in overall good shape. We found a nice perch looking over the city, which at this point was still under the cloud cover, and had our lunch of juice, bread and cheese, doritos and smashed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We cooled down fast after we settled in to eat and found ourselves putting our coats back on. It was probably in the low 60’s at the top.

With lunch now out of Debbie’s backpack and distributed amongst our bellies, and knowing we had a football game to catch we reversed course. Relieved we didn’t have to do any more climbing we naively headed back down. If the climb up was a cardiovascular challenge, the climb down was a muscular challenge. Trying to support your weight and stop yourself from rolling down the hill the fast way with every step gets very tiring when it lasts for one and one-half hours. We stopped a number of times to allow our wobbly legs to recover this time instead of our lungs. By the time we reached our car it was nearly impossible to walk a straight line. The clutch in the car was real interesting for the drive home.

The climb was great. The kids did amazing. They actually were running up and down the hill in front of our home within an hour of getting home! The only bummer of the experience is that the cloud layer finally did burn off, just as we were coming off the mountain. No big deal in the end. Climbing up through a cloud bank to see a perfect blue sky above was pretty special in itself and harder to catch anyway. We may yet take the cable car up on a clear day in order to see the city from this vantage point, now that we have made the ascent under our own power.

Our new friends Anne and Ryan, who are also traveling around the world, joined us later in the afternoon. They have been on the road for a little longer than us, have been married for one year and are from California. We met while staying at a backpack hostel here in the city on our first day. We all enjoyed watching my Patriots beat the Raiders and having pizza delivered at half time. It was almost like we were back home in States for opening day. A great end to a great day.

P.S.

I am writing this blog two days after the climb and my legs still hurt. I can walk upstairs no problem but coming down is still nearly impossible!

It is amazing how much work we create for ourselves. We find ourselves spending time keeping up with accounting, filing and keywording our images, web-site building and upkeep as well as this web log. This does not even consider school work. It seems we are always behind in something. To be fair to ourselves, much of this routine is new to us and we are still finding the most efficient way to get it all done.

Today we got off to a slow start as we spent some extra time working on the web-site and taking care of accounting. The trip of choice for this afternoon is Cape Point and The Cape of Good Hope. The southern most tip of Africa, as we are taught in school. Don’t believe everything you are taught. Especially when it involves geography and is being taught by an American.

The infamous Cape of Good Hope is actually a few hundred feet shorter than her neighbor Cape Point which is a few hundred yards to the east across a small bay and beach. I know because I stood on the tip with a compass and was livid when I figured out that I had been fooled all these years! Furthermore, Cape Point does not hold the record either, it is actually Cape Argus which is further east from Cape Town and a destination we will visit in two weeks.

At our home in Hout Bay we actually are on the top portion of the Cape Point peninsula. The drive down to the point is not that far. It took a while as the road winds like a spaghetti noodle south. Another stomach masher of a drive for Alexa (we didn’t know she got motion sickness this bad). As we drove south we watched very brave (shark infested waters) surfers catching some breakers coming in from the Atlantic and pulled over to photograph some wild Calla Lilies that grow wild on the side of the road.

The tip of the Cape is a wild life refuge as well as notable geographic point on the continent. There were lots of sunbirds darting to and fro and reportedly this area is home to numerous baboon, zebra, and other antelope. It is very beautiful and rugged land.

We parked the Opel go-cart and decided to make the forty-five minute hike out to the point itself. The majority of the trail is along a three hundred foot sheer cliff face. There are few if any railings. Awesome. Most of the trail is built on a three-foot wide boardwalk type of walkway and kept very nice. We did not see one rotten board in the entire forty-five minute stretch. We came across a few wild ostrich and sunbirds but no baboons and zebra. Darn.

The view from the point itself is stunning. This is the best type of geography lesson the children could ever learn. I bet when they are sitting in some American classroom one day and the teacher tells them that the Cape of Good Hope is the southern most point, they raise their hand in challenge!

When we headed home, we took a different route which brought us back near Boulders, which is the penguin colony. A place we visited, and wrote about, when we first came to Cape Town. Debbie has decided to take pictures of funny African road signs, so as we passed the penguin crossing she couldn’t resist. With a camera full of images to download, catagorize and take care of and a blog for today to write we complete yet another day of fun and create more work to figure the best way to handle efficiently.

After photographing animals and landscapes for so long, it was time to add to our collection of Faces of Africa for the book. Today we woke up early and headed to town to meet Sam for a Township Tour. After Soweto, this would be our third venture into the townships since arriving in Africa and we were excited.

It may seem strange to visit townships. It’s not exactly like Home-a-Rama in the States. You don’t go looking for decorating ideas. It is however a chance to peek into normal, everyday life of some of the citizens of this country. You can learn a lot about people and cultures by seeing how they live.

Today’s tour would take us to a museum and to four different townships. What is a township? A township is basically a group of shacks all thrown together by families who have nowhere else to live. Usually the reasons the people select the location is economic. For instance, there is township not far from our rental home here (more on that one later). We live near a bay where the daily fishing boats go out for squid and kingclip. The boat workers got tired of trudging over 15 miles to work every day on public transport and took over an abandoned building on a hill nearby the wharf. More and more families joined them and now close to 15,000 people live on the hill spilling down to the road. The area covers only about 2 square miles.

Our first stop on our tour is the District 6 Museum. During the 1950’s Cape Town was divided into a number of districts. District 6 was a thriving community of blacks, coloreds, Asians, and Malays. Everyone got along well and the area was vibrant. In 1958 the white government decided they wanted to “clean up” parts of the city. They forcibly evicted all the families living in District 6 and forced them out of the city. The men were taken out first, leaving the wives and kids in the city to fend for themselves. They razed the homes and businesses except for a few buildings. The museum is housed in one of those structures, an old church. The Museum workers are all men who used to live in the area. Families can come in to the museum and record their names on a huge 30’x50’ map of the area on the ground. Photos and personal stories line the walls.

Our next stop is the Langa township to see a “shabeen.” A shabeen is a men’s only bar. The only woman allowed in is the lady making the beer. Men sit around a small fire built in a metal can and pass around a gallon-sized jug of beer. No individual glasses here. Hope you like the guy next to you. White tourists are the exception. Our group of 7 was invited in to try the beer. Not too bad actually, a little sour, but not bad.

Our next stop is a traditional healer. Healers are men who are born into the profession. If your grandfather was a healer, you will be as well. Healers skip a generation as a new healer isn’t recognized until the previous one dies. Traditional healers use plants and animals to heal the body. They do not use any pills or medications. Many Africans of all races use these healers.

The next stop was what used to be a men only hostel. Now this building of about 1000 sq. feet houses 16 families. When I asked how many people that was, he couldn’t answer. The family members come and go depending on work. There was running water for the kitchen in the home. They shared one burner for a stove. Each family cooks for themselves. I can only imagine the lines to cook in the evenings. They must not eat hot food very often, or take turns. The bedrooms were small but clean. Two people share a twin mattress. You rent the mattress for 18 Rand a month, which is about $3. There are not nearly enough beds for everyone, so those that don’t have sleep on rolled mats on the floor.

When the families first moved to the townships there was no power or running water. Since 1994 the living conditions have improved. Power lines have been added. Running water is more available. Outhouses are placed in rows along the roads. While the conditions in the townships are bad, they used to be much, much worse. Slowly the govt. is building more small houses for the families. Your name goes on a waiting list and houses are built in order. Sam said after you get your house, you usually keep your shack as well for extra living space. It’s free, so I guess no harm done there. Some families prefer the shack life to the homes and chose to sell their homes and move back into the shacks.

One of the reasons we chose Sam is that 25% of the cost of the tour goes to a preschool. He started raising money in 1999. In 2003 the school was built using cement and stones. It is the only proper building in the township. When we arrived the kids literally jumped up and grabbed us all. They wanted to be picked up and held. They went crazy feeling our hair.

At times I would have 4 kids on me. One little boy grabbed on for dear life and wouldn’t let me put him down as his tiny legs were wrapped around mine so tightly. The kids were smiling, had clean clothes, a regular school schedule and generally were the lucky ones in the townships. It was great to see.

Our last stop was a township of over 500,000. Yes, you read that number correctly. The place goes on for miles. It is near the airport so it is one of the first things you see when landing in Cape Town. You can see it from the air. One of the things women need here is to learn how to feed and care for their children nutritionally on not a lot of money. The Woman’s Workshop was started to teach these skills. The women spend most of their days weaving beautiful rugs. They sell the rugs in the town and the money goes towards funding the school and directly to them. 75/25. It is empowering for these ladies to be able to support themselves.

One thing I noticed on all the townships is that women do most of all the housework. They cook, clean and mind the kids. The men seem to be hanging out, chatting and drinking beer. Supposedly the men do the building and the heavy lifting. I didn’t see much of that, but that’s the story Sam was sticking to.

Sam was a wonderful tour guide. You could ask him anything. He had a generally positive spin on the direction the country is headed. He admits there is a lot of work that needs to be done, but he feels progress is being made.

I left feeling very fortunate to live in America. Even the poorest of Americans live better than they do here. Having said that, overall the townships were not as bad as I expected. There were no big bellied, emaciated children around. The families here have food and very basic necessities. They all seem relatively happy and content with their lives. There was no huge feeling of despair.

Once again we were off like a heard of turtles this morning. It wasn’t much before noon before the gang was together and we headed east once again. As I eluded to in yesterday’s blog, today is wine day.

The primary wine making land in the Western Cape runs from Constantia, which is ten minutes from our house, all the way to Paarl which is 200 km northeast. In between the major wine making towns are Stellenbosch (also a small University town) and Franshoek, which is more a village than a town.

Carl took the lead today and we navigated a route that would see us heading far south of the wine district and coming back at it from the south through a series of spectacular mountain passes. The long way to be certain but worth every extra kilometer. These drives in the Western Cape are events all by themselves so we didn’t mind the extra hours in our Opel go-cart.

The oohs and aahs began immediately after we pulled off the highway and started into the mountains. Not only is this wine country but apple country as well. Apple orchards cover the mountains everywhere in this region. The South African’s make some very good hard apple cider with these apples, unfortunately we didn’t nip into any of this today.

We stopped a number of times to pull out the camera and capture the amazing landscape. Once we stopped because baboons blocked our way. Beyond the commercial motivation of carrying our camera around the world, I am so pleased that even if we do not sell a thing, we will have some amazing images to look at and remember this trip with.

Franshoek, translates to French Corner in Afrikaans. It was settled by, guess who? The French silly. They do know good wine land when they see it. I felt as if I were in a small French village in the mountains. I have also been to Napa and felt as if I could be there too.

Carl had a number of places in mind to visit, but since the clock was unwinding faster than we had hoped we settled on one. Moreson winery was a few kilometers outside of the village itself down a long dirt road. A cluster of white Cape Dutch buildings were nestled in between a vineyard on one side and a citrus orchid on the other. Marvelous. They had a table on their terrace set and waiting for us as we walked into their restaurant. Great service considering that we had only called them ten minutes prior to arriving.

When we sat down, we intended on eating a light lunch, as we had plans to eat at a famous Indian restaurant back in Cape Town only a few hours later. Once we opened the menu and spoke with the staff, we forgot those plans. We ordered two antipasto plates with bread. Simple enough and light enough, except for the fact that the platters were full of a dozen different dried meats, olives, bread, yoghurt cheese balls and rocket salad. Thinking this would not be enough we also ordered a stuff focacia loaf that Joan had read was a must to try. The food was a delight. Each piece of salami, dried duck breast, olive, whatever was superlative in it’s own right. All of this great food was washed down with a good bottle of red wine the lunch saw the clock accelerate towards the back side of the afternoon before we finally got up to walk the fifty feet to the wine tasting center. The reason we had come all this way in the first place.

The Morenson wines were very good and the lady from the winery that was pouring us glasses for tasting was very nice. Considering that we had to drive back to Cape Town and attack another meal soon, we didn’t go overboard at the tasting. Everyone got to taste a few varieties including the kids. We did end up buying a bottle of champagne (sorry, sparkling wine for my French friends) that was outstanding and cost only $7.50, Connor’s favorite and he approved of the choice. Very nice.

While we tasted, the kids ventured out into the lemon trees with a bag that the winery gave them to pick very large and juicy lemons. The picking season is now over and they encouraged the kids to pick and take home whatever they wanted. They really enjoyed running around amongst the trees and they picked many more lemons than we could ever use. Being the entrepreneurs that we are teaching them to become, they were giddy with plans to sell them when we have a down day in Hout Bay.

Carl and Joan headed back to Cape Town two hours before us in order to make a spa appointment, so we split up and drove to Stellenbosch. We didn’t expect to stop and see anything but we wanted to get a feel for the area for our next trip out this way. We like Stellenbosch but prefer the small quaint feeling of Franshoek better. The wine that this region is producing is world class and a real jewel of an industry for South Africa.

We arrived in Cape Town with almost an hour and a half to kill before our dinner reservations at Bukhara, a famous Indian restaurant in town. To take up the extra time we drove up the side of Table Mountain, to the base of the cable car. The cable car is for those less adventurous or physically unable (I give credit to the later only) who want to make the ascent to the table top without walking. The view even from the base of the cable car is great and still halfway up the mountain-side. We sat in our car here for almost an hour as we waited for the sun to set. Getting a great night shot of Cape Town is a must and this vantage point is perfect. When the light was right, or gone in this instance, I pulled out the tri-pod and shot a series of panoramic shots that had the shutter open for over twenty seconds at a time. Like I said, it was dark.

Armed with great new night shots of the city, we descended back down into said city to find Bukhara. It was harder to find than we expected but we arrived on time in the end. Carl and Joan finally arrived after getting lost again, and calling for directions, again. Dinner lived up to the hype if not beyond. Everything was done to perfection. I have had a lot of Indian food in my day, much of it in India itself, but cannot remember having anything this good. With no room left in my stomach to eat when I sat down at the table, I found myself in a Thanksgiving, my eyes are bigger than my stomach, mode and dove in. We rolled out two hours later and ten pounds heavier. An outstanding meal. One of the top two of the entire trip.

Another day with Carl and Joan complete. They leave tomorrow. Carl back to work in Johannesburg and Joan to Louisiana. It has been great seeing them both, we have enjoyed sharing some of our touring together. What we won’t miss the budget killing prices associated with all the great meals we have had together. We have done well on the budget front for the entire trip but have spent too much on food in the past few days. No worries, all worth it and we can always eat pancakes and sandwiches for a few days to get back on track.

With Carl and his mom, Joan in town we got up early and got math behind us so we could join them on a day along the coast. We had been putting off a few things we have wanted to do so that we could do them with Carl. So with a rough plan for the next few days we go to it.

We met up with Carl late morning. The plan was max flex. We would go to the coast and go east. That should be an easy goal to achieve! Off we went, we were in the lead with our awesome silver Opel with Carl in tow. I was a good lead and managed not to force him through any red lights or loose him. (We did loose him once, but that was because I wasn’t driving after too many beers at lunch). More on that later.

We quickly headed south over Chapman’s Peak drive which we wrote about earlier. It is a winding road over the large mountain to our south. If you are the type of person that gets car sick, or gets vertigo from sheer cliffs next to the road, this drive is your ultimate nightmare. We stopped a few times to marvel at the view and to let Alexa walk around a little so we could avoid the smell of her filling the car with pre-digested breakfast.

Since we got off to a relatively late morning start, we all got hungry early in the trip. By chance, certainly not by design, we drove up to a restaurant we had on our list of places to try. One that Carl had eaten at a few years back on an earlier trip to South Africa. All agreed, we parked and headed for some good eats.

A little back story. The guy who works at the dealership that services Debbie’s car is from Cape Town. When she figured this out prior to our departure she pumped him for restaurant and other such recommendations. One place he said was a can’t miss was a place called the Brass Bell, a restaurant that sits right on the ocean behind a break-wall. They have glass to protect you from the spray as huge waves crash around you. The seafood is fresh and the beers cold. It was this restaurant we found today.

The food was very good but not great. I have to give them a mulligan on this one however. Evidently a winter storm had come through recently and the restaurant, being on the ocean, was pummeled. Much of the place was destroyed. The day we arrived was their first day open and they were running on a backup kitchen on a limited menu. No worries the beer was good and it was cold. It was so good and the service so slow that I managed to drink enough to pass the car keys on to Debbie.

Filled up (and ready for a nap in my case) we pointed east and followed the coast. We drove for another two plus hours around the perimeter of False Bay. This bay is huge and most famous for migrating whales. Navigating today was easy as we kept the ocean as close to our right shoulder as we could without getting wet and kept going east.

We didn’t see any whales but did enjoy the drive. Eventually we arrived at a small town named Hermanus. This little town is famous for whales and is a cute little town built on a cliff side with a traditional Cape Dutch look to it. The surrounding waters are said to be the most dangerous in the world as they have the highest concentration of great white sharks in the world. These man-eaters are drawn to the area due to the high numbers of seal, which the sharks enjoy as much as I enjoy beer. We are planning a return trip to try and photograph the sharks in a few weeks.

It was in Hermanus we found our whales. The ocean is so deep here that the whales were only a few hundred yards away. From our vantage point fifty feet up on the side of the cliff we could see them quite well. As great as the view was, it was not a prime spot for photography so we mainly shot pictures for family purposes.

We spent an hour huddled on the cliff side. The wind cut through our jackets from time to time and the errant wave threatened to spray us but we had a good spot. Connor disappeared a few times in search of yet another rock face he could climb. He just can’t seem to understand why we get mad at him for climbing around on steep rock faces above the ocean out of our vision. Explaining that he could fall and get hurt , and we wouldn’t know, just doesn’t seem to be reason enough to heed our complaints. Not sure this will change anytime soon.

We stayed put on our perch watching somewhere around half dozen whales until sunset. Once the sun disappeared the temperature dropped faster than President Bush’s approval ratings. It had taken us almost five hours to meander our way to this point but fortunately there was a faster way home. We backtracked a few miles and shot out onto the highway. The highway system here in South Africa is world class and the speed limit is 120 kmph (75 mph). The only worry is going this speed in our glorified Opel go-cart.

Today was a long day of driving but a good one. We spent a lot of time marveling at the majesty of the mountains and sea that this area of South Africa is blessed to have. We constantly have to remind ourselves that we really are in Africa. Tomorrow promises to much of the same as we head inland this time with Carl and Joan to the Wine District.