Day 31 – Winelands

Sept 28th

Morning on the Warf
Christina and I passed the morning walking around the Victoria waterfront. We admired Table Mountain over a breakfast of yogurt, muesli (like granola), fruit and roobios tea. Afterward, we meandered around to see the iconic Clock Tower, the Craft Market and the Two Oceans Aquarium. The warf is a particularly lively place with shops, restaurants and activities all around. There were multiple singing group dressed in colorful, woven clothes singing in Xhosa or other African languages. The drums of music and buzz of people on the streets made it quite an exciting place to kill a few hours.

Tour and Constantia
After grabbing to-go lunches at Kauai, Christina and I hopped in Terrances’ (Christina’s friend from high school who studies here) car to get a local’s tour of the area with Sara, Brittany and Goldie. He took us the district called the Observatory, where Cape Town University is located and most students live. Then we passed through Claremont, where we were the other night, to Wynberg Park to see the sudden forest of pine trees spring out of nowhere. After passing the Kirstenboasch Botantical Gardens, we made our way further south to Constantia for a wine tasting at Groot Constantia. After a round of sipping whites, reds and desert wines, we toured the Groot Constantia Estate, which is also known as the birthplace of South African wine. Along the way, we spotted wild bamboos among the vines and observed the Cape Dutch architecture of the Cloete Cellar and Manor House, which were built in 1685. On the way home, Terrance insisted we stop at a local grocery store to try milk tart and biltong (like beef jerky). We didn’t complain.

Dinner with Danie
Despite a heavy study schedule, Danie came to Cape Town from Stellenbosch (about 40 mins northeast) to hang out and have dinner! (A good friend of mine through the Scarsdale school system, Danie moved back to South Africa in 10th grade with his family.) Somehow, he found his way right to Aton’s (Goldie’s cousin) house by his mentioning of the “tampon towers.” Catching up with him was as if we had never been apart and it was so nice to bridge the gap after two whole years apart! Later the whole group of us went to ‘India in Cape’ on Kloof Street for dinner. We split a round of nan and roti (breads) and lentil stews, while I had my first encounter with pineapple Fanta. Brittany and I ended up sharing two Chinese dishes at this Indian restaurant, but everyone passed around the dishes to taste a little of everything. Per Danie’s request we went out to Bob’s on Long Street for ‘vodkas with passion fruit’ and ‘Stroth shots.’ (Unfortunately, Danie had to go back to Stellenbosch to study for exams for the rest of the night.) The first drink was sweet and delicious, but the latter shot burned the whole way down. We settled our soar throats over a causal round of pool, while we watched the rugby match on the bar’s big screen.

Highs and Lows
My “high” was giving Danie a hug from everyone at home. My “low” was falling for the trick to ‘try anything at least once.’