From Canada Day to Cape Town
Trip Start
Mar 27, 2008
1
16
21
Trip End
Oct 01, 2008
Cape Town,
South Africa
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
I spent a day and a night in Accra before leaving for South Africa so I could attend the Canadian High Commission's Canada Day celebration. I wasn't sure what to expect, but had thought the affair would be relatively laid back- why I'm not sure. The party ended up being invite only (I was attending as Gislain's spouse and was therefore covered) and was on the Canadian Ambassador's private residence
Funky bathroom
. Thank goodness I had the good sense to dress formally, and was thankful for it once I arrived at the party. A huge tent had been erected on the grounds of the residence and there were hundreds of red lanterns to illuminate the night time party. I wasted no time in tucking into the free bar and canapés and began to survey the party. The crowd consisted of diplomats, Ghanaian ministers and dignitaries, employees of CIDA and the Canadian university students involved in an 8 week exchange programme. Marc-Andre was also in attendance, as he is the programme coordinator for the CIDA exchange and was busy supervising his 'kids'. The party was nice and I ended meeting some very interesting people, including the Political Officer for the US Embassy in Accra. We spent some time discussing human rights in Ghana and CHRAJ and he gave me his card and said to get in touch next time I was in town. He seemed like a great contact so I happily took the card and made a graceful exit back towards the bar and the friend security of Gislain and Marc-Andre. The rest of the night was a fun one and was highlighted by Gislain introducing me to the Ambassador's wife as his 'rent-a-spouse' (to which she very politely managed a smile) and me trying to convince the Ambassador that he should come to a gay bar in town with me and Gislain and Marc-Andre. Oh dear, great first impressions!
The next day I left for Cape Town, flying South African Airways from Accra to Johannesburg, and then from Johannesburg to Cape Town. I was spending a night on my own in town before meeting Eric and Carol the next day at their lovely hotel further down the coast. I teemed with excitement on the plane at the prospect of finally visiting the country I did my Master's degree on, and on a more gluttonous level for the food and wine I was going to consume
My cell at Daddy Long Legs
. As we touched down in Johannesburg I was surprised how modern the airport was; it's not that I had thought we were going to arrive in some backwater bush, but this was arguably one of the nicest airports I had transited through. Cape Town airport was less impressive, but there was tons of construction underway for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Once out of the airport I grabbed a cab and headed into town to my hotel Daddy Long Legs. My taxi driver was very friendly and offered up lots of information about the history and geography of Cape Town, how much of it was true I did not know. I asked him about the recent xenophobic violence that had been so widely publicised in the news recently and he shrugged his shoulders and said it would not be problem for me. When I probed deeper he said that the mobs were only targeting 'black' Africans, and that most of them got what they deserved, especially the Nigerians. This did not shock me as most Ghanaians I have come in contact with have a shared distrust and dislike of Nigerians, who they believe to be only thieves and crooks. I couldn't help but think that he also appeared to be a 'black' African (and by that I mean not 'Cape Coloured') and wondered about the extent to which South Africans thought of themselves as being distinct from the rest of their African neighbours.
I didn't have much time to ponder these concepts before I was dropped off at my hotel, which had been described by reviewers as the most original boutique hotel in Cape Town. It was a small hotel, where each room had been designed and decorated by a different local artist. I was put into room 'Do not disturb', which could be best described as a psychiatric hospital room meets a recording studio
Cute Cafe in Cape Town
. It was a bit cold, but very unique. I quickly showered and headed off to walk around the streets of downtown Cape Town. After a couple hours of much needed retail therapy and general consumerism I bought a Time Out Cape Town and set to work in a local café of figuring out where I was going to have my solitary dinner. After much deliberation and consultation with the hip-enough looking staff at Daddy Long Legs I decided on Mesopotamia, a Kurdish restaurant just a few blocks from my hotel. The restaurant had a Moroccan feel with pillow seating and houkas in the corner. The food was cheap and good, and I enjoyed eating on my own and peeling over my new magazines. Earlier that day I had received an email from Carol saying that her mother had been unexpectedly admitted to hospital and that she was going to Vancouver to be with her, so I made preliminary plans for the week ahead with Eric. The next day I took a taxi along the beautiful coastline to the hotel Eric and I were to stay in for the next week, the very luxurious Twelve Apostles Hotel.
We spent the next week eating in amazing restaurants, shopping and doing a spot of sightseeing. I did manage to visit the Grande Kirk of the Dutch Reformed Church (Afrikaner church) and St. Georges, the Anglican Church where Desmond Tutu became the first black Bishop of Cape Town
My deck at Twelve Apostles
. It was amazing to see these places where so much of the apartheid movement and countermovement had taken place, and it was poignant to me that they faced each other on opposite corners of the square in town. The weather was not cooperating and reminded me too much of winter in Scotland for my liking, with horizontal rain and all. But we made the most of it and went on some wine tours and found other creative ways of staying out of the rain. One vineyard in particular, Grand Provence, was not only set in breathtaking surroundings but had a great restaurant with a modern art gallery attached. In fact, the architecture and interior design of all of the vineyard compounds I visited had employed a wonderful mix of new and old, and had a freshness about them that was inspirational. But security is always a problem in Cape Town and South Africa in general, and the ever present 3 metre walls with barbed wire and security perimeters were a constant reminder of this. This meant that the rich communities made a real effort to keep outsiders out, and it left these areas looking a bit like the suburban sprawl so popular in the United States. Actually I felt safer in Accra than in Cape Town, but this was part in parcel of the trip and I decided it was a fair price to pay for the amazing wine, food and natural beauty of the Western Cape.
