Days 94 thru 96

(Dan’s comments are italicized)

‘The time has come,’ the Walrus said,

‘To talk of many things:

Of shoes — and ships — and sealing-wax —

Of cabbages — and kings —

I have had no idea why these lines from the nonsense poem, The Walrus and The Carpenter (Lewis Carroll), have been going through my mind so much recently. So, today I looked up the poem. Apparently, it warns us not to believe everything we hear and subtly critiques entitlement, the abuse of power, and greed! And, for me, that was an aha-moment! There’s something about S. Africa that has me unsettled; the country is certainly the most beautiful African country I’ve been to but there’s an undercurrent here. And I think it’s entitlement, power (I can’t speak to the abuse of power as I’ve not seen enough), and greed. In other words, perhaps it’s a bit too ‘western’ and not what I’ve come to expect of Africa? I’ve dearly loved the location of our little flat and falling asleep to the sound of crashing waves; but the other side of that reality is this…

It is really quite the conundrum that I face. I am standing on a balcony of a place named Prince Edward’s Mansions literally eating cake and I am watching people picking through the trash. The current unemployment rate for South Africa is 32.9%, so giving everyone my money won’t even make a dent. But I see the same people on almost every street corner in Tucson, AZ as well. Ultimately, I give my time in charity, and though the people I see may not directly benefit from that, I need to feel that it is enough.

But to our itinerary…

For our last day, we went back to the V and A Waterfront. It’s so beautiful there!

We ate at the Timeout Market, Cape Town, a collection of different types of restaurants; some of you may be wondering why I’m telling you this as food isn’t my ‘thing’. It still isn’t BUT I wanted to show you the toilet at this place… Whoa, don’t rush to the bathroom without describing the culinary delights from which we both partook. The building had been transformed into something similar to the food court of a mall, but with a consistent theme. They take their food to the next level! I had the best fish tacos I had ever tasted!

Of course, we watched our final sunset 😢…

…and then, in the morning, it was time to leave.

We weren’t looking forward to three consecutive days of 6 hours of travel, but we’re currently 2 days into it and it’s been okay. Of course, it helps that S. Africa’s so beautiful! Because I am tall, my head gets tucked up into the ceiling of the car so I only get to see most of the scenery in these pictures.

Our journey took us through mountains where the temperature dropped to around 1°c (33°f)! I’m not a fan of the cold so am glad that this afternoon, the temperature is around 28°c (82°f)! We’re staying right on a river in a little town called Christiana…now this is more my speed!

I don’t think I’ve ever used the expression ‘more my speed’ before and it made me grin; I think my ‘speed’ is ‘stalled’!!!!  😂 Tomorrow we shall arrive where we’ll be spending the next five nights and I can’t wait!