Down! In Capetown

I forgot to mention the weekend we were in Saint Louie, before Thom and Robin headed out, there was an International Jazz Festival with a few major headliners like Herbie Hancock.  People from Europe flew in for the concerts and the arts community.  Many restaurants and bars had performances to accompany dining.  So my previous descriptions didn’t capture the pockets of the music and art scene buried in the dust, grime, and crime.

In addition to attending a couple of performances, I bought a 4’ x 4’ painting by Zeus!  Hope Holt likes it.

Jazz singer in Saint Louie

Zeus and his art

Robin Holt arrived in Capetown on the morning of April 29 after 18 hours from Vienna to Capetown via a layover in London.  Thom, Robin Johnson (hereafter called Johnson to differentiate from Robin Holt) and I arrived that evening after 12 hours from Dakar through Jo’burg.  I started feeling kind of punky and went to bed after skipping dinner with the group.

On the 30th I was down and out: high fever, chills, body aches, and a nagging dry cough.  I couldn’t get out of bed in the morning so Thom, Johnson and Robin went out to walk around the ‘hood. By the afternoon I agreed to see a Dr because the clinic was just a block from the hotel.  After being interviewed I confessed I didn’t take the malaria meds for Senegal (neither did Thom or Johnson). The Dr admonished me, but also agreed the incubation period seemed way to short to be that.  Never the less I had to get a blood test for malaria (but you can’t prove a negative on the test).  I also had spots on my throat that seemed the likely cause.  The best I could conclude is that three days before, at the Jamm hotel in Saint Louie, I didn’t see bottled water in the room and drank from the tap.  When I asked Yves the next day he said the water wasn’t good, and there was bottled water in a cabinet I didn’t see.  The Dr said I should take the Azithromyacin antibiotics I carried with me.  I powered through dinner with the group that night, but quickly crashed again.  Totally without energy. 

The next morning I had arranged a driver and car to take the four of us south along the Cape Peninsula to Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point, neither of which is the Southern most point of the continent nor the dividing line between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. But Cape of Good Hope has the geographic reputation because it is the SW most point of the continent and it was the most difficult transit rounding the tip of Africa.  Sailors called it Cape of Storms. It was clear for us, but even then, the crashing waves were impressive.  I was still feeling stormy inside.

Cape of Good Hope 

When we started our trip around the peninsula the Cape fog was in.  Our hotel room had a great view of Lions Head, but we couldn’t see it, and Table Mountain was totally covered in clouds.  We wondered if we’d even see Table mountain, let alone hike or ride the tram to the summit.  But as we passed Camp Bay about a half hour outside of Capetown we broke into the clear. 

Fog over the Atlantic  

On the way we stopped at the Boulders to see one of the few places outside of Antarctica that has penguins; the others are Chile, Argentina, and in the Galapagos, Ecuador.  Oddly, these penguins didn’t migrate from the closest land in Antarctica, but from South America across the Atlantic. 

The African Penguin 

It is truly a spectacular setting with the city nestled in The Bowl surrounded by the mountains.  The tram to the summit closed at 5:00 pm and the last tram down was at 6:00 pm.  It was 4:45 and we asked our driver to drop us off at the ticket office.  Without a line we got one of the last trams up.  It is a stunning and iconic view.  

View of the Cape Peninsula from Table Mountain 

Sunset on Table Mountain 

Cape Town from Table Mountain 

Cape Town in the Bowl. 

Still feeling punky, the next day we explored Capetown and Robbin Island.