Capetown - Like being at home again - wk1

We landed late evening on Sept 28, and drove (in our massive SUV) in darkness to our new home in Hout Bay, a suburb of Cape Town nestled in a valley of the Table Mountain National Park. We awoke the following morning unaware that we had driven through, and are living in, a stunning snippet of the world. It was the first time I have drawn the drapes of a room and actually took my breath. "Woah!"

We are spending a full four weeks here in Capetown, and after a week, this was a great place to take a breather from our adventures. It reminds us so very much of the Bay Area in spring. The weather, the landscape, the water, the food, the diversity, and the shear number of things to do is just like being at home. If this place wasn't clear on the opposite side of the world, it would be an American tourist mecca.

I hadn't planned on writing a blog post every day, because frankly, our stay in Cape Town is highly "domesticated". Our daily pattern is as follows: leisurely wake up, sit around with a cup of coffee and get caught up on social media stuff, have breakfast (toast, fruit, cereal, etc), do a couple hours of home school, eat lunch at home, go on an afternoon excursion, occasionally eat out, stoke up a fire (it's still fairly chilly here), and go to bed by 22:00 (getting used to military time). It's really quite boring and not the stuff of interesting blog content. But we're loving it!

The beauty of a four week stint is that we can ebb and flow based upon weather, crowds, school, and most importantly, mood.

For the sake of simplicity, we'll just throw a series of chronological photos with some comments. OK?

Leaving Zanzibar

Goodbye Stonetown

Our morning welcome to Cape Town. 

View from our Master Bedroom window. We lucked out again. Amazing AirBnb, and totally awesome host. He is constantly checking to make sure we are happy and giving us all kinds of ideas on where to go, and what to see. 

Making cookies! That's how domesticated we have become. (BTW, mixing cookie dough without a mixer is painful)

Pool time. Not exactly warm, but hey, it's a pool. Oh, and a heavy bag in the background to work out some aggression.

We went to a sporting good store and bought a Volleyball. Front yard is perfect for peppering (passing the ball back and forth)

Typical morning.

The following pics are from World of Birds, a bird and monkey sanctuary just down the road from our place. It was surprisingly good.

Black capped spider monkeys. Outside of the USA, things are a little more.... loose. You actually enter the monkey cage and let them jump all over you.

The monkeys are in constant search of goodies to eat. 

A Cassowary, prehistoric bird.

We thought it had a sort of Trump look about it....

Again, outside of the U.S., you can enter the bird cages... Could have patted this guy on the head if we wanted.

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Celebrating our 17th Anniversary! The 41 in Camps Bay (Posh coastal town reminiscent of Santa Monica)

Went for a morning run up Table Mountain. Turns out it's pretty tall, and it's a bit of effort (2,500 ft, and they don't believe in switchbacks)

When we leave, we ask each other, "do you have the boxes?". While we haven't seen evidence of it, apparently Cape Town can be dangerous. Our home is protected by two automatic gates, electric wire, and a security alarm system. It's a series of button pushes to leave for the day. Again, from our limited perspective, Cape Town is no more dangerous than San Francisco, or Oakland, and actually feels more like our beloved East Bay. Sure, there are plenty of areas of poverty and low income housing, but everyone seems to mind their own business and looks pretty happy. 

Cheers! First international BBQ (kabobs). Yummy!

The following is from a day trip to Boulders Beach (penguins), and along the False Bay coast.

Boulders Beach. Home of a gaggle(?) of African Penguins.

As you walk along the boardwalk, the Penguins are everywhere hidden in the bushes. Again, if you were so inclined, you could pet them. We didn't of course.

Interesting to see penguins lying on branches and using trees for shade.

All along the coastal road there are signs that say, "Baboons!". We were skeptical until we happen upon a family of Baboons!

I sort of felt like Endeni, pointing out the wildlife. 

Why are these construction workers staring at the ocean? 

Whales. Southern Right Whales, is why. There was a pod swimming about 100yds off shore. 

When we told our host (who happens to be in construction management), that we were amazed at how an entire construction site shut down to watch whales, he chuckled and said that is the state of construction in Capetown. Productivity is terrible and things take way to long to build. 

Train tracks are fun to photograph.

See, they're right there! Who needs to go on a boat when you can just sit in your car and see the same thing.

Coastal drive along the Atlantic. The roadway is tucked along a steep cliff and requires a couple of three-sided tunnels to navigate. Very pretty indeed.

A view back in to Hout Bay.

Morning view from Autumn's bedroom window. We actually had two days of stormy (mostly windy) weather. Boy it was windy. Strangely, the wind came in short bursts, that you could hear coming like a freight train. You would hear it coming about 15 seconds away, the house would rattle as the wind pulse screamed through for about 5 seconds, then it was gone. This happened all night long and made for restless sleep for a couple nights. 

Another morning run. This time out to the coast.

Hout Bay is the epicenter of horseback riding as it turns out. Too bad our family doesn't much care for riding. This is a shot looking back in to Hout Bay.

The following is from a day trip to V&A Waterfront, Cape Town's equivalent to Pier 39, or Navy Pier.

Compulsory stop at the indoor mini golf course.

A stop at the Gem Stone store. But this was more fun than usual. They had this giant pit of stones, you bought an empty bag, and filled it with whatever you could find. Was quite fun really.

The LONG Way Around The World

Cape Town is pretty much pretty from every angle.

Fun Marimba band playing on the pier. Couldn't help but bop along to the beat.

View from atop the ferris wheel.

These are the 12 Apostles. It's tough to feel the scale of this, but suffice it to say, it's stunning. It has the feel of a one sided Yosemite Valley, with El Cap and Half Dome on one side, and the ocean on the other. 

Full Moon Fever (R.I.P. Mr Petty). This picture also shows the Township of Imizamo Yethu that is right across the way from our place. Capetown is an interesting juxtaposition of wealth and poverty.

I found this stack of Tanzanian Shillings in my luggage. (Not to fret, it's only about $100). Darn! Oh well, I'll just go to a currency exchange and get some Rand. Double Darn! Apparently, given the sorry state of African economics, South Africa will not accept Tanzanian currency. Truly a shame considering Tanzania, a peaceful country with abundant resources, cannot even trade as much as a bunch of bananas with a neighbor (and the bananas here are sort of gross).