Five Flies

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  Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Saturday, November 29, 2008

The weather was not our friend today and prevented us from climbing Table Mountain. In the morning we noticed the "table cloth" on the mountain, which is (what the locals call) the clouds covering the mountain...it looks like a table cloth. We assumed it would eventually go away but it lingered all day. When we went up to the trail base, the clouds were still hovering and the cable cars were shut down (high winds and bad weather). Apparently, 100 people a year die on the mountain because the clouds/fog come in so quickly and people get lost/separated from their paths. So we decided to wait for better weather. See Mom...we're making good choices, I promise.

After the mountain we walked around forever trying to find a place that rents scooters. After being denied at a handful of places, we finally found one that had scooters but didn't rent to us because we didn't have a scooter license. Good to know.

Then the rain started so we went to Avis and rented a car. We're going to be in the city for about 2 weeks going here and there so we eventually needed a car...and the rain gave us nothing better to do than to get it over with. We paid the premium for an automatic; driving a manual here would be a death trap (driving on the wrong side of the car, the wrong side of the rode and on steep hills). And I'm with Kent. For those of you who know how Kent drives in the states, you'd agree paying a premium for less confusion would be a wise decision.

We wanted to buy a phone to make local calls but apparently the city shuts down after 2pm on Saturdays so we drove out to the biggest mall in Africa (only 10 min outside Cape Town) called the Canal Walk. It was very weird to be in a mall that was bigger than the Mall of America and had many stores we were familiar with...so we TCOB'd and bought a phone that we're going to use during our time here and then got out of there (after we both bought a new pair of running shoes). Our phone number, by the way, is (27) 0763951543.

For dinner we went to a restaurant recommended by both travel books we're referencing; the restaurant is called Five Flies. Every entree you order comes with 5 dead flies in it....but the flies are surprisingly good. They are deep fried in duck fat and garnished with parsley and truffle oil. Crazy, but so good.

As of right now, our itinerary is as follows:
- Fart around Cape Town (literally, as Kent has been doing since we got here) until December 7.
- Drive to the Winelands and stay there for 3 days
- Come back to Cape Town December 10 - 12
- Drive to Gannsbai to go Shark Diving
- Fly near Port St. John (Wild Coast) and go on a horseback riding tour for 3 days
- Somehow get up to Qwazulu Natal(?) which is a national park. Kent talked about going on a "self-safari" there. I don't know how I feel about that. Anyone have good tips on how to make lions back away? I know for grizzly bears you should play dead....but for lions, it's hop on one foot, right?
- Krueger Nat'l Park - 5 night safari (with professionals, phew)
- Joberg - Soweto Township tour
- Fly Home

That will probably all change so I don't know why I bothered writing it down. I haven't uploaded my pictures to a CD yet but will do that soon.

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