More Capertown Capers

Once Round the Cape of Good Hope

Nice shorts dude... where's your cane?.... Oh my Gosh - my father has these same shorts ...and he's 75!!!!

Cape town, capricious and whimsical, is a travelers dream. A surprising smorgasbord of natural beauty and cultural curiosities, the city seems to have it all. Well -- other than water I guess -- as Cape Town may be the first major city in the world to run out of water. It's anticipated to occur in March of this year and will be a real surprise for all when the reality hits. As it is --  the measures the city is going to are extraordinary. After 3 years of drought --- it's not so surprising I guess. What is surprising is the sheer number of cataclysmal weather related events shaking our world. Climate change was a joke 20 years ago ... not so funny these day with the unanticipated events we are now seeing.

I took this opportunity to visit the newest, largest and most exciting museum to ever come to Africa. Freshly minted, the Zeitz museum of Modern Art  is an architectural marvel given that as it was originally a series of 47 grain silos that has now been freshly re-purposed. As you wander about -- it's with a constant sense of amazement and appreciation for this architectural marvel.

The only thing missing is Modern Art 😉 While I enjoyed the unique and indulgent facility -- the lack of interesting exhibits was a bit disappointing. In addition, I was expecting a more African inspired series of works but that is likely an unreasonable expectation; something I am often prone to having.

All that said -- many others were enjoying the museum and there were a few pieces that caught my attention, inspired my thinking and took me to that magical place where thought and visual stimuli conspire to take me to unexpected and rarely visited corners of my mind.

This stark and powerful piece caught my attention conjuring up images of war death and violence. Needs to be said I guess..

One of the wonderful things about Hostel travel -- is a built in friend group that comes as part of the package. I went on two tours arranged by the hostel and with more or less the same clan.

The first, a cape tour was serene yet lively and exceeded expectations. Between Ostriches, Baboons and Penguins there was more than enough wildlife along the way to satisfy my need to see cool living things. We stopped one bay or village after another enjoying both the quaint village scenes and remoteness alike.

Stopping to visit a colony on penguins was special. We stayed seduced and mesmerized watching the awkward land animals as they entered the water only to jet off  with grace speed and a smoothness that defies logic and reason.

This big baboon munching contently on the national flower of South Africa, the King Protea, eventually had enough of us looking at him and started moving in our direction. Thankfully our very capable tour guy extraordinaire Vaughan scared the big bugger off with a couple rocks tossed accurately in his direction. 

Without reservation, the wild chaos that greeted us at the Southernmost point of South Africa was the highlight on the day. Point Good Hope is windy and dramatic; the cliffs tower majestically as great waves of the deepest greens and blues crash angrily against the rocks far far below. Seabird soaring speedily screeching in the wind that blasts up the slopes created from the meeting of the mighty Indian and Atlantic oceans. Like two giants fighting to the finish  - the wind howls and the sea spray lifts coldly against your skin to remind you of the power and dominance of this great place. It's a must-see if in Cape town!!!

See that light house on the rocks... yup -- had to climb down there.

Ok -so a word on Vaughn the tour director and very capable driver. As with any good tour guy, he was able to put the group at ease and drive with a high level of skill making us feel safe enough that we could watch this beautiful part of the world revealing itself one window framed exotic picture after another.

More important though -- and what sets Vaughn apart from most tour guys is his humanity and rich environmental spirit. It becomes clear from first meeting that he loves this land and anything in it. Great job man!!!! What a time we had!!!





We were fortunate to have Vaughn the following day as well as we went on a wine tour of the area. Well -- more specifically it was 4 wineries in the Stellenbosch region. I dutifully studied up the evening before -- trying my best get a sense of what we would see and learn given the subtle distinction between the grape varieties, weather patterns and other wine nuances that distinguish the casual observer from the true connoisseur.





Well fuck that -- by noon we were all fabulously drunk with the rest of the day a blur of laughter and stumbling into and out of the van again and again. Varieties, weather and subtlety made way for a fantastic day of fun and surprising comradery given the "throw-together" nature of this intrepid wine sipping/ guzzling team.


Kevin on the left looks pretty pleased and cool in glasses and gracing the moment with a even cooler fist pump -- where as I -- on the other hand, have this maniacal wine induced shit-eating grin of sheer stupidity. Ahhhh what the hell. It was a fine day.

Maybe a group of strangers meeting is just as good in many ways as they are people meeting with a kindred spirit and open to a good time in whatever form that may come in. My thanks to that group for a truly fun day.

Prior to the anesthetic taking over -- I vaguely recall a wine called block 5 from Spier winery that was truly exceptional.

The happy group shares one of the day last laughs before the contented and sleepy drive home.

Jake looking even cooler

Jake looking cool

Yesterday I was lucky enough to have Jake and his Mom come by to chat and hang out. Jake was on his best behavior sporting a cool outfit and many smiles.



They both asked (well maybe not so much Jake ... but he was thinking it) that I take a moment and thank the following for their very generous donations...

Mom says cool -- thanks!!

Cliff Cyr  and family - Thanks bud!
The Travers-Smith family
Barry Bieller - very generous sir
Rod Knox - Cool Rod!!!
Carolyn --- many thanks to you!!!!


Your generosity and thoughtful contributions will be well used in the coming year helping Jake and Mom

Thank for reading....... Layno!!!