Two become three

Our second day of wheels was shared with Ashley, a fellow Bardian, also doing student work in South Africa. She is working at the University here through a masters program at Vanderbilt. She is living in the Gardens area near the college where there is a shuttle she can ride to and from the school but no Citi-bus into town. There is a train station nearby, but it has been in the news quite a bit lately and none of it for positive things. So she gladly took a taxi to join us in our exploring in our rented car.

She looked the least like an Ashley of any Ashley I’ve ever met, but I guess it was just the year of the Ashleys. She greeted me with a hug, being a girl from Kansas despite being a graduate of  Bard and former resident of the Big Apple, roots run deep ya’ll. (Irony on this to come later.)

We would be remiss if we had started our trip any other way than by the coast of Camp’s Bay by way of Whale Rock on the way to Hout Bay. It did not disappoint. It was once again a most wondrous drive, for those of us who were seeing it for the umpteenth time and for Ashley who was having her virgin trip. We stopped at Hout Bay for breakfast (and Advil.. Ashley had recently broken her elbow while disco roller skating but forewent the cast for a brace since she was leaving the country) and I began my poor example of good nutrition before my adult daughter and her friend. While they took advantage of the more traditional offerings on the menu, I ordered the decadent chocolaty, custardy dessert with my double Americano coffee. But we all left satisfied.

Next was the Chapman’s Peak Drive which was as majestic for us our second (actually the third) time for us as the first. We stopped at a different point which was an even better stop. Being a weekend, the place was slammed with drivers, tour vans, busses, but also with cyclists and runners. These people stay in shape doing this hill, and many were my age and older. I look at them and think once again that I should be able to run again… if I just take it slow…

We headed back into the national park towards Cape Point but took a right turn toward a flatter area of a recent burn where some cyclists were headed. It wasn’t long before we came upon antelope grazing over the newly blooming ground where we got out and took pictures. Further on as we neared the beach and I was taking video of the landscape we came upon an ostrich, up close and personal. We didn’t get out, but could get great photographs by leaning out. A bit further there were more, including a female. (I do think it’s the female with the duller plumage.) There was a parking lot by the coast where the girls very patiently allowed me to strip myself of my heavy tights which were way too hot. I had dressed for winter, not autumn and was about to roast, plus I had visions of getting my toes in the water having found Ashley to be a fellow comrade in the adventuring into strange waters department. (She has recently spent four years on an island in Japan and was pretty much always game to venture into unknown water… fear not, siblings.. we didn’t) The coast was wild and beautiful with a variety of birds and I so could have traversed the rock and stuck my toes in, but out of consideration for my fearful daughter, I did not. I merely admired it from afar.

From here we headed to the main attraction.. Point Cape. After yesterday’s Planet of the Baboons experience, we were paranoidly working on our game plan trying to coordinate how to get out of our car. I nearly panicked when I realized that I had some lollipops in my vest pocket from our dinner the night before. I locked them in the glove department but didn’t expect that to keep out a determined baboon.

Imagine then, our surprise when the guards were standing around calmly with not a baboon in sight, with crazy tourist munching on snacks while getting out of their cars and headed to the shops. Unbelievably, we were not to see a wild baboon all day.  Since I had been up the funicular the day before AND taken the walk to the very end, I stayed behind while the girls went up and walked around the bottom. There were several trails that I found EXTREMELY tempting… one in particular that led to the coast where  people were getting into the water, several carrying their boards back and forth and coming to and from the toilet in the wet suits… but I resisted and behaved myself as the invalid I am supposed to be. I did walk a bit up the hill, but only when I could do so among a larger group. I followed a particularly boisterous young lady talking about how she was going to see a baboon. I shared with her my experience of yesterday and said I thought this was going to be like bears in the Smokies. Where are you from? She asked. It turns out that she was from the University of North Carolina and knew exactly what I was talking about.

The girls didn’t stay long enough. I hope it wasn’t because of worrying about me, but we did have other places to go. We set the GPS towards Gordon’s Bay to go up towards Stellenborsch and headed through more of this beautiful country. I enjoyed listening to the girls talk of Bard days and New York days. They actually got to know each other better in New York than they did while going to school at Bard.. Strange world, eh. And then, to my horror, I listened to how the genteel Southern world of Vanderbilt had treated this bright young woman. Not to go into too many details in the remote possibility that someone reading this blog would connect the dots and bring worse down upon this sweet innocent…but as one of our best and brightest…. she looked around her at her university and was disturbed by discrepancies in race relationships that she felt should not still exist in 2014 and with some other young graduate students tried to start a dialogue among other students and faculty about the situation. She was called into her advisor’s office and was told that her ideas would probably be more appreciated in the North where she came from (and should probably return to). Obviously, someone did not bother to do their homework to know that she was a Midwestern girl from a conservative background.… but in other words, Damn Yankee, go home! Now even for someone from the birthplace of the Confederacy, it seems like an academic institution of this statue should at least be more subtle than this. (Believe me there was more to the story and it was worse.) So much for the need for affirmative action being long over!

But I digress.

After wondering among more beautiful mountains and coast, we stopped at a wonderful coastal restaurant that pulled us in with its name as well as its ambience... Excuse My French. We sat on picnic tables with a variety of chairs and benches in an open air room next to flirty boy toddlers and their wet dogs, and were waited on by a flirty long haired French guy while watching guys and birds and boats out on the water. I stuck with my bad example and had a banana and Nutella crepe while the girls had cheesy tomato lunchy kind of crepes. They were all delicious... as was the hot chocolate. We wondered briefly through some shops but it was getting late at this point so we got back in the car and headed on. It was soon apparent that we couldn’t get to the next point and needed to set the GPS back to Cape Town. We did have some pretty tense moments as we drove by a very large township. When the GPS told us to turn to the left ahead and we saw miles of township to the left, I thought that I had certainly failed my job here as protector, but it ended up that there was a major highway for us to turn onto. It was an uncomfortable place on so many levels. I hated being afraid of such poverty, and yet I knew that my fear had basis in reality and I hated that as well. Ashley had actually been working in one of the townships during the day and had felt safe and probably was, but nighttime on your own in a rental car would have been an altogether different story. This is not my country and I don’t really have any answers to its problems. My purpose in being here is  all about my daughter. The best I can do is spend my money in positive ways while I am here… and bring my daughter safely home with me.

We managed to find Ashley’s apartment and then back to ours as well. I DO love a GPS.. and fortunately we had the restaurant right down the hill from our apartment so we always put that in as our go home base. This old woman was just about tired when she hit the sack.

Have Car, Will Travel

Maura got her car for our long weekend of adventuring--an automatic VW Polo Vivo with GPS--and we headed to the bottom of the world, or in other words, the Cape of Good Hope... by way of Hout Bay which is always worth another trip down that coastal road. She first sent me for breakfast with the old lady where there was also a ATM to get cash in case there were any markets along the way. I had tried and failed to do this once before having avoided ATM machines most of my life. This time I managed to figure it out and came back with both food and money.

Poor Maura had to refrain from looking, so I looked for both of us.  

Selfie at Chapman's Peak, to the South of Hout Bay.

Having seen the Big Five 40 years ago, the animal I was most interested in seeing in the wild was the penguin. I can’t imagine that I will find myself in another place in my life where I will be able to see a penguin in its natural habitat. The African penguin lives on the beach in a place called Boulders Beach near Simon's Town. Actually, they live all along this coast but have been encouraged to nest here with plastic type nest on some parts of the beach, and more importantly, protection from invasion of the human species (without a ticket) into their habitat with building and other invasive endeavors.

It was well worth the price we paid to watch the cute little gentlemen (I do realize that at least half of them were ladies) waddle about or lay about or huddle about for warmth or put on dazzling displays of projectile excrement. There was two walkways to the beach with multiple stops along the way for still and video camera indulgence which ended at the beach where once side was reserved for the swimmers and one side for the furry and decidedly cold children… and at least one egg. There was also one, whom Maura was sure was dead but that I had definitely seen breathing, and we finally after more definitive movement decided was either a very crochety old man or woman. He or she was just lying in the sun and just leave her alone thank you very much. We didn’t find the high road until we were just about to leave. The stairs were much steeper and wetter, so Maura (who was behind me) told the old woman to be careful and not fall. I somehow managed not to… and it was worth the work. It gave us a much better view and was much, much less crowded.

All in all, it was another beautiful place. The only down side was that the whole place smelled like bird shit.

We continue to drive over some of the most beautiful landscape in the world. The Cape of Good Hope is its own floral kingdom having more flora diversity than a tropical rainforest. It has something of a western desert look and yet it is covered in such a variety of plants. Although we are in the winter season, this is the rainy season so there are puddles of water and the air is fresh and full of life (or sex as my daughter Maura would more crudely put it).

The guilty party shortly after her eviction

There were many paths we could have taken, but as Maura intended for us to traverse the entire South African Cape in our one day (That is an only mildly hyperbolic statement.) we went straight to the Point. We had seen signs for baboons all along the way but were not expecting the sight that greeted us in the parking lot. There were baboons on top of cars and walking around the parking lot. It reminded me of the Smoky Mountains National Park in October. Men in florescent vests with sticks were shooing them away. (Something my students research said you weren’t supposed to do.) We watched a minute and they appeared to have things under control so Maura and I got out of the car. To my surprise, as I got out and went to the back of the car to meet Maura, a baboon opened my door and got in. To my greater surprise, Maura was in the driver’s side. I thought she was out. She says she got back in when the baboons appeared. When I got out and saw the baboon opening my door, I started fiddling with my iphone to take a video. When I realized that Maura was in the car, I may have lost focus. I did manage to get a bit of video, including the baboon tapping Maura on the leg as he was leaving.. nonverbally assuring her to chill, s/he was only looking for a snack

Maura was a bit frazzled.

.

As we walked up the hill, we saw baboon everywhere. There was one coming off the hill over the shop. They were to the side of the parking lot. They were in the picnic area. It was early afternoon and we had not eaten, but when the snack shop had no place to sit down and eat, we decided to go in the fancy restaurant with INDOOR, no baboon seating. They did not have much in the way of vegetarian choices so it’s a good thing I eat fish. Most of all, it was free of baboons looking for a handout… which actually I totally would have given them one if I had had a wild-friendly one and it wouldn’t have messed them up. They were actually quite adorable in a very kinda scary way. (That was a total Gan-gan adjective for those of you who knew my mother.)

My giant shrimp (prawn as they say here) looked close to being able to scuttle right off my plate

Having fortified ourselves we took the funicular (a rail car) up the hill to the top. We could have hiked our way up, but being invalid and afeared of the wild life we chose to pay for a round trip. We took the leisurely smaller walk to the lighthouse where the baboons seemed to realize was not filled with snack toting tourist and were taking many photographic memories when Maura amazed me by suggesting we walk the path to the very tip. Did I think I could make it? I could not believe my ears. There was nothing I would rather do but did not think I would be given the opportunity. Hell yes!!! Was my thought. Sure was probably what I said.  The last little bit I walked with the video on wanting to share with those that had to stay behind. It was just so so incredible. There is just not a thesaurus adequate. There was a sign at the end that said Do not throw stones. It was a mind reader I guess because it really was in my first thought to throw some down and watch them fall into the water, or not. But as I always try to do, and teach my students to do, I think about the reasons behind the rules. What if EVERYBODY gave into that impulse? It could do some real damage to this place… and this place is much much too beautiful for that… and I am not the one exception. What I do matters!. So I just imagined, and enjoyed and left it for the next person, and the next, and the next.

At the top of the funicular near the lighthouse. 

Making Maura nervous as usual. 

Maura not being afraid at the edge of Cape Point

The view at the end of the hike.  

It was getting late as we left. Having read about all the carjackings, I had wanted us to be in our apartment by dark every night but the sunset on Chapman’s Peak drive was not to be missed. I neglected to mention this outstanding toll drive on the way. It is free to locals and tourists to just drive up and back to enjoy the views but if you want to drive through to get to the other side, you must pay. Again, I will let the picture do the talking.

As we came into Hout Bay, we stopped at Thai’s Café, our franchise staple… not the best Thai food ever, but consistent and decent, and with safe parking. We hit it just in time. There was very limited indoor seating (and it was pretty chilly at this point besides being dark) but the take out crowd was hopping right after our arrival, too. I branched out and had fish with my penang curry which meant I had to eat it all with no leftovers but after our adventurous day, I managed to do that with no problems.

We followed supper with another beautiful drive over Camp’s Bay where I really enjoyed not being the driver.  We really didn’t get home very late, but I don’t think I made it an hour after my medicine before I went to sleep. Maura said I was snoring loudly before she even thought about sleeping so that she had to pull out the ear plugs.

Altogether a good day.

the adventures begin...

.. another cloudy day begins and we call Table Mountain without much hope and they say.. We're OPEN!.. we drop everything and get ready to go.. We were cleaning up as our guys were coming to bring us the remote for the car gate and we had not got an early start.. but the cable car was running so everything was DROPPED.

We met the guys on the way out fortuitously, laughed with them about the popcorn tub in the bathroom (they finally figured out that it was for our hair) and found that one of their guests had stolen their plug-in heater... That is particularly rude today (Saturday) when we woke up to a temperature of 39F). They asked us how we liked the apartment and what we missed. Obviously the shower was the biggie, but the location really made up for anything. Nowhere else we had been would I have felt comfortable walking down the street for breakfast or dinner alone.

So actually that was Tuesday.. Wednesday we ordered a cab to Table Mountain.. you'll just have to forgive some errors in sequence. It was amazingly clear.. something all weather services had failed to predict. (We were not fooled however and were properly dressed in many layers.)
We fortified ourselves properly with decadent pastries and coffees, and a stocking hat for me (which will probably be a gift for someone) because I did rush out of the apartment without mine and climbed aboard the cable car next to a window.

Standing in front of all the various warnings in Xhosa, Afrikaans, and English.  Basically it said: If you hear the "hooter", run like mad or we'll leave your ass on the mountain.  

Maura, of course, had to take a picture of the rescue gear.

I was holding tightly to Maura who was holding tightly to the rails when the rails began to move. You see, the car rotates as it goes up the mountain. I decided then and there that this is the job I want to have when I retire. Needless to say it was beyond words.. so I will let the pictures do the talking... and my daughter and I became even closer.. have I mentioned that she has a fear of heights

According to Maura, here I am dangling off a cliff while she whimpered and told me to get back from there.  

Here's the half bridge over the cliff that Maura refused to accompany me on.  

Being the protective mama and having read all the scary internet, I thought we should wait on the guided walk, not wanting to get mugged for our meager cash and our more lucrative camera and iphone valuables; but after looking around at the multitude of people and more expensive looking stuff, I decided we could walk on our own if we didn't go far. It was a good call. We certainly didn't get far from the madding crowd... I know that doesn't mean what most people think but I've now forgotten what it means though I once looked it up. I did not read that book.... Once again, the views were beyond words... sunshine and clouds, reflections that made what you were looking at change within the minute... I took videos as well. The weather also proved itself to be capable of the four seasons in on day.. maybe even in one minute. I do believe we had hail/sleet and sunshine within a minute of each other.

Smiling even though the mountain seems to have caught a cloud.  This is right before it started sleeting.  

Right before we left, the sun broke out over the "City Bowl" and was just stunning.  

And here's Maura, cautiously approaching the edge for a photo.  

We did go on one walk, rock rather than a paved path that took us on a quieter path, not isolated, but less traveled. I took a video of Maura walking ahead and there was only one other person in the distance. I was also able to get some flora shots. Perhaps that was my problem. I got a bit off to take a shot of a flower and when I got back on (no where near a cliff let me add for my siblings) I slipped on a wet rock and fell on my left (of course) side. Actually, it's probably a good thing my arm was in a sling or I would have naturally reached out to break my fall and probably broken something, As it was, I landed on my left arm and rolled onto my back, injuring my pride rather severely. A woman who had just passed me returned to help me up using my good arm.

The weather changed from moment to moment. 

Maura walking into a cloud.

Maura did quite a lot of "botanizing" with the beautiful, but subtle, Cape flora. 

Lovely views from the edge.  

Another great Mother/Daughter selfie.  

After I convinced my daughter that a trip to the hospital was probably not necessary, we continued on our hike. But as the cloud moved in and visibility grew less and less, we did turn around and take a different turn on a less rocky path. Again, the pictures speak for themselves, and every turn was another majestic view. After many stops and pauses for photographic indulgences, we came upon a water fountain where I did partake in some advil as preventative for the soreness that was bound to be mine from the fall. I had invariably fallen on the tender skin of my knee that had only just shed its last scab a week or so before our trip.
Another spectacular cable car trip down the mountain and we caught a taxi back to our apartment where I took a much needed, very hot tub bath... this time yelping instead of singing as the water hit my skinned knee. I must admit that it did sting quit a bit.. owie.. owie owie... that's my brain spelling warp.. i can't think how you spell that onomatopoeia... and yet I can spell that... go figure!

After we came down from the Mountain, we took a little stroll of Queens Beach.  

So refreshed a bit, we got on a bus and headed to Queens Beach where I had wanted to walk by  the beach and also to get something to eat. Everything but the waves themselves were a bit of a disappointment at Queens Beach. Not much of a walk and all residential areas completely closed off. There was barely even a road to get back to where the restaurants, etc. were.... but once we got there we discovered Craft Burger.. or they discovered us.. two very nice young men practically pulled us inside telling us what wonderful burgers they had.. and they didn't lie. I had a great vegetarian burger made with all kinds of wonderful stuff with more great stuff on top of it.. and some really hot chili paste, too.. and deep fried yams with a sweet chutney to mix with my hot chili paste.. WONDERFUL... I have managed to enjoy all of my hot food with not very cold tap water and lemon.. but I would not be telling the truth if I did not say that I have not yearned for a cold beer once or twice... this food just cries tears for one on occasion.


Then, like a good old woman, I went home and read my book and went to bed early in preparation for tomorrow's adventure.. which I may or may not get on this blog... it has been eating my words as well as my pictures and making me need to scream on occasion...

Our last day at the national archives

Considering that Maura came her uncertain that she would find anything, this has been a very successful trip. If no-one else has written it yet (and I can't imagine that anyone has.. but we are talking about the academic world of the British empire so I could certainly be wrong), she has found enough information for a paper to write and present on this Englishman who spent a fortune as a failed farmer here on the Cape, which she can of course include in her dissertation information as well. The archives proved much richer in material that she even hoped for and she was able to document the sometimes very fragile material for further work later. I am also pleased to note that i was able to make that work go more efficiently because it really is true most of the time that two is better than one for most jobs in life. Learning how to work as a team may be one of the most important skills my students learn. Too bad that isn't easily scored on a quantitative test to be presented to the public.

As has been true most of the days, Maura orders the documents she wants, tells me the numbers and I find them when it's easy.. today it was not.. there were sometimes three numbers on the documents... she checks and makes sure it is indeed what it is what is supposed to be.. I take the pictures with her holding down the pages when the book makes the margins hard to see .. she writes it in her excel document (after I tell her the picture number on the camera)... just in case ya'll were interested in our system. So ya'll can easily see that this would have been much more tedious, and hard on Maura's back, if she had been doing this alone, getting up and down out of her chair to find the pages, take the pictures, document on excel, etc. I say this for those siblings.. not to mention any names.. who really didn't want me to come.. that I really wasn't just coming for the adventure...
And as long as we are venturing into the personal, I think I'll go back to the morning bus ride. Unlike most people, I don't think there is anyone on my Facebook, that I don't know in real life.. that I don't have a relationship with.. so if you are reading this blog.. you probably know me... if somehow you are reading this and don't .. well.. move on....

There was this precious little girl sitting beside her mama, holding on to her arm like she was not going to let her go; and for the first time in a long time, I missed my own mama fiercely. My mama and I had a complicated relationship. She was a wonderful mama, especially to young children. Strange children would come sit in her lap. Storytelling runs strong in my family and she may have been one of the best story tellers ever. I can still hear her voice as she read to my children in her soft, vibrant, ever-expressive voice. But she was a fearful woman, and she feared for me. And Lord knows I gave her reasons to be afraid. But I'm not sure that she was able to love me easily from the time I hit puberty until her Alzheimer's took her fear away at the end of her life. And being off my zoloft, seeing this child clinging so to her mother sent me straight back to mine and even now had me grieving in a way I haven't been able to for years. I remember how I used to snuggle in her arms and think that I would take on the world and everyone in it if they tried to come between me and my mommy or tried to hurt her in any way. She was my mommy and I loved her with all the fierceness that I now reserve for my own children. I had not remembered being on the other side until this beautiful little girl opened that door for me, a beautiful black angel. Charles Bedenbaugh, a close friend of my father's and a friend of all my family once told me, there are no accidents in life...

So.. now I will try to recreate our actual work week. Monday we went to the national library. I walked up the street to find the postal box I had seen the day before so that I could mail the handful of postcards I had. (We have been very good at both writing and mailing! However, due to my wreck and not knowing until the last minute if I was coming, I have a random selection of addresses so if you did not get one, that is the reason) I found the box where I thought it was but I walked all around it and there was no slit. I looked around to see if anyone was watching me trying to vandalize this box as I did try to open various parts that did not open then casually walked back the way I came. On the way back, I also took a picture of the whites and non-whites only benches in front of the government building. In tiny print, it said something about it being historical, but you couldn't tell from just looking. It was quite disconcerting.

I went back to the library, but no Maura. I went back out thinking someone had kidnapped her for her kidneys and met her at the gate. She had been distracted by the bric a brac store at the St. George's Cathedral (The Church of England church I couldn't remember the name of). I sent her off to the library and went back to check it out myself. I didn't find much to buy but I did find a delightful gentlemen to converse with. He told me many stories of working with Desmond Tutu as he was sure any American tourist would want to hear. On his first day as bishop, he came into this man's office spending an hour getting to know him asking him about him, his birthday, his wife's birthday.. I had already learned that this man did not have a wife and probably never wanted one.. but Tutu had said there was always hope.. until he asked his age and then he said that maybe for this man there was no hope.. His name was John.... I have it written down... Actually I have it on a program for the dedication of a picture window along with a CD of the dedication which he signed for me after much begging. He commiserated with me about my wreck but was not going to stop riding his motor bike after 50 years. We both discussed how much we enjoyed riding, and the there are just risks associated with living. His birthday is May 23, and if I remember I hope to send him a card for his 78th birthday next year. Maura and I took a short break for an overpriced pasta for me and a spinach pie and fries for her and then returned to the library and worked until they closed.

Tuesday was Maura's last day at the archives. She takes home more days of work that the hours she spent there but the information was preserved. The people there were so nice. There was one man who just kept looking at us and smiling. It was a little disconcerting at first but I think he was just so pleased to watch us work. We left there and checked out a few Indian clothing places but didn't really buy anything. Then we hit upon the Middle Eastern Fast food place (The Eastern Bazaar) where I had a falafel and Maura had Chicken Tikka. It wasn't the best I'd ever had, but the fixin's were great and it was definitely authentic. Neither of us got dysentery!

Wednesday Maura finished at the National Library with the exception of one document that they couldn't find. They are still looking for it, but unless they do, we will not be back. I did not take my notebook but just wrote postcards and read from my kindle. Carrying around two computers is just really hard on Maura's back when it isn't necessary.

From there we went to the District Six Museum. District Six was a truly international place in Cape Town full of Black, Indian, "colored" Jewish, and others who were ordered out in 1966 when apartheid made it a whites only area. It is so strange to me that at a time in my country when we were breaking down the walls of segregation, this place was building them up. Here again, I struck up a conversation with an older man and got a signature on a book he had written of his life in this district.  The most powerful piece of art for me was in this room upstairs that was in itself a conceptual art piece. It was a cloth book of Bible pages with one word on each page. I made Maura take a video of it as I turned the pages.

The museum had been converted from the old Buitenkamp Methodist Church.

One of many curiosities in the museum:  this was a circumcision kit that midwives carried around.  The knife was rusty.  Maura informed us that she would not be having any of that for her babies, rusty knife or no.

This was a really cool art/history installation in a small room to the right of the balcony. Little everyday items from District 6 wreckage had been cemented into the walls.  

Maura was very nervous and vertigo-y on the creaky balcony.

Another piece made from District 6 debris.

We took a bus to the Waterfront and checked out the crafts. The upper floor in this one place was really incredible with some awesome figures and some terrifying skins. I turned my head at one point and looked directly into the fangs of a lion that I was definitely not expecting. We picked up a few trinkets but are saving any big shopping for last minute, not wanting to carry anything around and wanting to just pack everything the day before we leave. I'm not usually a procrastinator like that and hope I don't regret it, but we really didn't come here to shop anyway.

Sunday... our day of rest

I gave Maura a little lay - in by heading down the hill to pick up our egg and cheese sandwiches from the little old lady in the corner shop. When a Africaaner man struck up a conversation with her about his grandmother from_______, I didn't quite catch the name, and said she might have known her, that she lived there from 36 to 48 before coming to Cape Town and later teasing that they might be cousins, missing teasingly that they might be cousins, I realized that this woman was at least in her late 80's maybe older. I knew she was old. And then I felt a little teary for how few of the greatest generation was left and started missing my daddy. It was my parents' anniversary yesterday. Their generation had gifts that we will miss. They had faults, as we all do, that were part of their culture; but they had a strength and a courage that I think we could use about now. And even though, they willingly participated in segregation, which I then and now have a hard time reconciling, they had a compassion that is conspicuously missing in today's conservatives. She smiled at me today when she took my order. I think she has a hard time with new orders and mine has never varied. It is always the same and that makes things easy. I'm understanding that more these days.
As I waited for our order I looked at the newspaper stand, particularly South Africa's version of National Enquirer - Would You Share Your Wife?  Some soccer player's dreams of marrying some woman shattered my her father saying over my dead body... Some things are the same all over the world, aren't they? The sad part is how the headlines of these tabloids and the supposedly real newspapers have come closer and closer together. I think I may buy some of next Sunday's issues to take back to my students for next year... because I'm always really thinking about ways in which I can stretch their world and educate them beyond the textbooks and the classroom mode. I'm already thinking about having them research how students are educated in other countries. Hell, most of them can't even name four other countries.... Africa... that's one, right? One of the things I definitely want to do more of is to use research to combine English with history and science. What most people don't know about the evil common core is that it just uses practical application more than anything... really thinking and applying skills... It's just that so many children, including me - I was one of those children, do not expect what you do in school do make any sense with what happens in the real world. I'd like to bridge that gap whenever possible. When I decided I was going to South Africa with Maura, I had my students research different aspects of South Africa that they were interested in... one of them being the baboons. When they found out that sometimes they drifted into the neighborhoods they were all big and bad how I should scare them away... and then they did more research and it was No, Mrs. Capps... you shouldn't do that. You might get hurt..... I loved it.!
But I digress... often....
I took our sandwiches back and as we ate them we discussed our options. The sun was actually shining so we looked on the internet to see if the Cable car to Table Mountain was open... It was closed due to rain and gale strength winds. We looked out our window and said, "WHAT?" But it was as our driver Richard had told us yesterday, That's Cape Town weather... four seasons in one day.
We finally decided to take a bus downtown and walk around, get something to eat and maybe go to eventide at the Church of England church downtown and then get a taxi home.
The buses only run once an hour on Saturdays and Sundays so we had about a 10-15 minute wait as I am notoriously early for everything. I watched across the street as a man hobbled on his one leg and crutches from one trash can to another to see what he could find. Everyone else ignored him.  There were at least 7-8 people waiting at our bus stop across the street and many more people on the other side. He finally crossed the street and it seemed like he knew to come to me. He just stood there with his hand out and I struggled with myself that this was surely one of those times to break the rules. What if he did go out and spend whatever I gave him on alcohol. If I man ever needed a drink, it was this one. Before I could reach for my money, my daughter told him to leave me alone and he hobbled away. He has haunted me ever since (as she knew he would).
Downtown was pretty much deserted. Almost all of the shops were closed and very few venders were on the streets. We did actually end up making a few purchases... a beautiful zebra sun dress for a friend of mine's granddaughter... I was looking for my twin nieces but the prettiest ones were not in the right sizes or at least I wasn't sure enough... and I hated not to get one for someone's beautiful girl child.... plus I had to do what i could for the local economy, right?

We walked down the gardens where the government buildings are (including the national library) and took pictures. There were many people out, including a political rally that was mostly just speeches where we sat and listened for a while. We made our way to the museum which was mostly animals and geology and ancient history more than any modern history... giving some "native" history but very little and fairly paternalistic. There is a region here that our geologists Nicholas and Lydia would like... and being brain damaged.. the name just left me... Karoo????  anyway.. there was a whole section on that and its significance to the history of the Earth. Perhaps later my brain will regroup that information.  It was much more of a natural history museum which I really liked although we didn't realize it was going to be that way when we entered.

We were pretty tired after all that and took a taxi back to the hamburger joint at the bottom of our hill. Maura's back just will not stand up to a lot of walking combined with safari bouncing and hours of hardback chairs in the library. This restaurant is actually the whitest place in Cape Town and I'm embarrassed to say that we've now eaten there 3 times. And the service is really pretty terrible. But they have the best vegetarian sloppy joe (it's actually supposed to be a burger) that I've ever had. Very spicy with a generous amount of jalapenos and spicy sauces with chickpeas and lentils and then fries with more great spices and cheese.. and I'm ready to go again as I write about it... and still in the shadows is that poor man with his hand out....


I will add pictures later

40 years later, i wake up and say to myself, damn woman, you old!

Even though I took half a oxycodon in anticipation... I searched all over this morning to find a place on my body that didn't ache and couldn't find one. Did I climb a mountain yesterday? No, I just rode in a land rover on a safari.

This blog will not be sequential because even before the drug my brain was feeling more scrambled, the effects of the concussion seeming to come and go on its own random schedule with memory being its favorite ride (with spelling a close second) First, let me say that while it was deeply satisfying, my second safari was nothing like the first... a place where they can number the lions and elephants and rhinoceros, etc. is nothing like the Serengeti where you can not count the number within your sight. I know how amazingly fortunate I was to have been on safari in the early 70's and to have witnessed what I did, but at the same time, what I witnessed yesterday was pretty impressive as well, and is certainly worth supporting. In 1996 a fruit farm bit the dust after years of drought, and the land became Inverdoorn Game Reserve & Safari Lodge www.inverdoom.com or at least that is its name now.

A spot of coffee at the lodge. 

Ready to go.

The important thing is that it became a place of safety where the flora and fauna could return to its natural state. In 2001, a cheetah project began to reestablish the endangered cheetahs into the world. Cheetahs have many enemies and are basically loners so what we saw yesterday is far from natural.. five cheetahs lounging together some within a few feet of each other would never be seen in the wild. But in the wild they are dying out. Romance is difficult in the cheetah world, and survival even harder. In the first place, the female cheetah must be hot to be fertile while the male's sperm will burn up if he gets overheated. Secondly, she actually has to like the guy to allow him to mate with her... what a radical thought! The way they get around the first issue is to feed the males while they tempt the females with a game of tag with colorful t-shirts on a string. It appears that cheetahs have more than non-detractable claws in common with dogs.... For the second challenge, the guys are on their own.

AAAAAARRRGGGGG!   

Our computers combined with the internet have determined to stress me out by not only randomly moving my cursor to odd places while I am typing and eating Maura’s safari movies and photos, but now they have eaten the last five to six paragraphs of this blog… and any of you that have done any amount of writing in your lifetime and lost it know that it is so much harder to recreate something you have already written that to simply start over… so I’m obviously just starting over… fortified by a piece of milk tort pie.. South Africa’s version of buttermilk pie, and this particular version not nearly as good as any I’ve had yet, coming from the Checkers and a mere grocery store version.. but still.. some slight conciliation to my computer tragedy.

So… the Inverdoorn safari was a place of  few wild animals in comparison to my experience of 40 years ago, and in fact, when it comes to most of the BIG 5, while not tame, not the wild animals of my experience because they had been raised in human captivity. In the case of the lions, they had been raised and fed  with steroid enhanced food for the sole purpose of allowing some rich white guy to shoot it “on safari” often while sedated so he could mount it as a trophy on his wall  and brag to his friends how big his… uh.. gun is..

 One of the elephants had been a movie star. Only one day, he got pissed off and started to destroy the set at which point the humans felt like they had the right to destroy him. He joins another, much smaller but equally abused but much shyer male on this beautiful preserve where they have created  a little family for themselves. The movie star takes care of his shy young brother, giving us and show and then going over to assure the other that it is only these crazy humans with their small cameras.

His left tusk was not taken by poachers, but was a result of the set destruction

The  male lion has two sterilized females with him that don’t hunt. They are fed daily. They doesn’t make them tame.. but it does mean that our driver pulls way closer to them than my driver in the Serengeti ever would. It was a good job that fed his family.. but not if he fed the lion’s family. BTW, the women do most of the hunting and bring the meat back to the males. They mostly just sit around looking fierce. I must admit that as we were driving away, he looked a bit too interested in us. He certainly could have taken us on in a skinny minute if he got the least bit interested.

Also of limited quantity were the rhinoceros and we definitely got closer than I ever got to one in the Serengeti. Their eyesight is very poor but their hearing is excellent and they are exciting by flashes… such as glasses reflected by the sun or camera flashes and they are amazingly quick for their size and flipping our land rover would be nothing for them… so we were told to sit quietly and put our cameras away… which we did. And we discussed the possibility of drawing closer, I might have mentioned that I had recently had a concussion and a second one would really not be a very good idea for my brain.

Of course, the highlight for me were the giraffe, what I consider to be the most beautiful animals on Earth. Even though I did not see them racing across the plains in a herd, I did see them up close and personal nibbling on trees which I would never have been able to do 40 years ago.  The giraffe were not numbered. They were, of course, not as numerous as in the Serengeti; but they were not counted as they were naturally occurring in the setting and not brought there as rescues. Neither of course were the various antelope or the ostriches, or the Egyptian geese or other various avian, or the zebra (who are black<or brown> with white stripes)

It was a good place. And it will be a better place. It is not completely natural. The water holes are man-made and are not allowed to run dry.  The cheetahs and lions do not yet hunt for themselves… but man has done much to undo the natural ways that once supported them. I think it is okay to resupport them for a while.

Speaking of support… Maura’s back and my everything could have used a little more over the bumps. We shared our land rover with only two other people, a couple who had just been on a shark dive. He has just finished his masters degree in marine biology from College of Charleston. How random is that!!! So we all had really good seats and views. They had these really cool video cameras that they strapped on their heads and she used her binoculars with her iphone and got some really amazing shots. Needless to say, they were more tech savvy than us.

We almost missed our trip altogether. Maura called for pizza delivery the night before because neither of us felt like going out but it took them almost two hours to deliver. I was feeling pretty stressed because of the computer issues and then worrying about sleeping because we needed to get up early and then the food never coming… but I managed to sleep fine.. very fine as a matter of fact because I was sleeping soundly when Maura said it’s six thirty. The driver will be here in 15 minutes.

An early morning start after missing the alarm.

We made it. Dressed and ready to go and had all that extra sleep time that we thought we needed to get ready to go. Our driver was Richard from Cameroon and we ended up being his only passengers. It was great. He took us over the mountains and gave us so much information and it was so incredibly beautiful. We stopped in Ceres, which is a little apple growing town where everyone was going to market for the week and I went to the toilet and got some water and the best milk tart I’ve had yet J

And on the way back, we went a different route and saw a different set of mountains, that looked more like New Mexico and went through a river valley where we twice saw baboons, and then went through a tunnel under the mountain, which I admit was just a little bit claustrophobic and then once again through country that was more like where more average South Africans (if there is such a thing) lived before Richard dropped a completely exhausted two passengers at their door.

Actually, after a brief rest, we rallied enough to go to Green Point and buy a disappointing milk tart  pie along with bread and other food supplies and get a taxi home with a Russian/East European guy named Sasha drinking coffee and listening to classical music (He’s probably a doctor or college professor in his own country) who thought we were locals because of our hats and the fact that we were shopping at checkers on a Saturday night.