Camps Bay

What a gorgeous drive we took this morning. Travelled north-west to downtown, took a wrong turn and headed up the mountainside…pictures posted. Then went back and drove along the western coast (atlantic side) and down towards the beaches. The kids managed to completely soak their pants. I had to fill up gas after our frigid walk into the water and found out unfortunately the gas station didn’t take credit cards and I hadn’t brought any cash along. Fine you say, take your bank card and visit the local ATM to get cash. Well there were cash machines all over the place, and I did have my bank card…but you’d think I’d remember my pin code on my new account? You’re right if you say no. SO…I tried my credit cards too, still no luck…went to an American Express depot, but they wouldn’t/couldn’t help either. I finally gave up, had the gas station attendant call the manager and he said that they would ring it up inside the convenience store…whew! This saved me from doing party tricks naked on the beach for money.

The beaches were incredible, tons of people out, and the apartments/condos/houses on the coast were luxurious. Maybe we can visit there for a weekend at some point. From there we drove down and inland a little to Hout Bay. Here they advertised Bird World and tours of the townships. We’d like to tour one at some point, but perhaps with a larger group. We’ve seen some great birds as well, my favourite being the red-winged starling. We’ve also seen ibises (ibii?). Hout Bay is famous for seafood as well, but we didn’t stop since we were on our way (scenic route) to visit Marion and Ricardo who used to attend FGMF. They just moved to Cape Town this year as well and she is working at University of Cape Town. We drove to their place through Constantia, the vinyards that are very close to the city…amazing to see, the grapes are almost ready for harvest.

Marion and Ricardo just had a baby boy, they have a delightful apartment in Newlands, quite close to us. Ricardo is still learning English, but he enjoys joking nonetheless. Marion showed us the proper way to cut a mango. The mangoes are fantastic, all the fruit is great, and cheap too. I’m not sure how we’ll adjust to the expensive, tasteless fruit when we get back to Winnipeg.

Carla is now equipped with a little cell phone. I’ve activated mine. Numbers available on request. I think SMS’s will be economical.

Tomorrow we will attempt a church visit in the morning, and are hoping to make our first visit to Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens. This is one place we’ll get a year-long membership and bring all our visitors.

From 2007-01-13 Ca...