Bons and Gareth show up to lead us to Lion’s Head, but they decide they’re not joining us. I’m disappointed, but the fact that we’re doing it is in itself what is valuable. I decide that I should drive the car and follow them. After just one brush against a bush (Bon’s did it the night before!) and hitting the curb slightly at the beginning of the drive we’re on our way. Let me tell you, driving on the other side of the road in and of itself is not that difficult. Only when I get to intersections do I have to think twice. Shifting and steering with the opposite hands is not natural, but it isn’t difficult. Gauging what’s happening on the left side of the car is tough. Bons told me later she was afraid for me the whole time because she saw how far over I was driving. Nevertheless, we make it safely to Lion’s Head.
There we meet with German (pronounced herr-mawn), who is from Peru, but has spent ten years coming to Cape Town at 4 to 6 month stretches, Franc (from Barcelona) and Morne´ (who is originally from Namibia, but has lived in Cape Town for a while). They are going to be taking us up Lion’s Head. Initially I’m a bit unsure. Not only am I thinking this is going to be insanely difficult (even though I was assured to the contrary), but the guys we have just met are beautiful and gym-toned gay guys. I don’t typically hang out with those kinds of guys because they are usually a bit arrogant and unfriendly. But more importantly, I’m thinking that they’re all in great shape and I’m totally out of shape. An easy hike to them is not an easy hike for me. Here I was encouraging Liza last night and before arriving that she was tougher than she gave herself credit for and that she could do the hike and now I was feeling a major lull in confidence in myself. Gareth and Bons said they would meet us for breakfast later and the group of us head up the mountain.
Pretty quickly I realize this is going to be tough. Less than 5 minutes into the hike I’m already breathing a bit heavily. I don’t talk much to anyone because I can’t. Saying two words costs me one pant (which I try to heavily disguise). The interesting part is that the first part of the hike is fairly easy, with not much incline on a dirt path. After about one loop up the mountain it starts getting steeper and requires large steps up on the rocks. Didn’t my orthopedic surgeon tell me not to do stairs? Had I known I would be needing to do this, I would have done legs at the gym! Okay, maybe I wouldn’t have, but I would have thought that I should be doing legs at the gym! The path at points gets narrow and you have maybe (generously) two feet across of walking space. Then we get to the ladders and chain ropes. I said CHAIN ROPES. Try using loose, thick chains as ropes when your hands are covered in sweat and scale a wall with random footholds that are at times way too far apart. I seriously tweak something in my hamstring, but still have to try to mask that I can’t breath anymore and that my legs are not happy. Why? Well, I’m with three studs I just met, Roger who is older yet looks 20x’s better than me and is carrying a backpack with two large waters and seems to be struggling less, and finally with Ms. I Don’t Know If I Can Do It Liza who, while sweating, is still climbing up the mountain with less effort and at a much faster pace. Damn it!
After the chain ropes I stop under the guise that I’m letting a few people come down the path since it’s too narrow to both be moving at the same time. It doesn’t help much. Right after that we get to the part where it’s like doing stairs for someone who is 12 feet tall. Seriously, stepping up on rocks by having your knee at face level for more than one or two times just doesn’t work for me. I have to stop once again and Roger hangs back with me. He offers me water, which I gladly take, but have a hard time drinking because it requires me to stop breathing for a few seconds. I want to throw up. Is this really what I should be feeling on my birthday? Is this what 40 feels like? Will I want to throw up every day from now on? We head up again. We have passed an Asian guy who looks like he’s about to die. I’m so better off than he is, right? We climb a little more (Liza, German, Franc and Morne´ have made it to the top) and I need to stop again. I tell Roger to go on without me. He should save himself. In my head I hear Patsy (from Ab Fab) tell Edina as they’re running out of a French chateau, “Leave her! Leave her!” in regards to Edina’s daughter. How sad. I used to be so fit! I prided myself on being able to excel at challenges like this. I didn’t give up. I didn’t show weakness. Instead, here I was, sitting on a rock, unable to breathe and watching the Asian guy pass me as he was making little I’m dying but I’m going to get to the top noises. Sigh.
After a couple of minutes, even though I still couldn’t breath, I get up and make it to the top. Once I get up there, the group is all smiling at me and German is holding up a bottle of champagne and cups. They say happy birthday. If I hadn’t sweated out all of my fluids and had any energy beyond what I needed to breath and stand, I would have probably become a bit emotional. I mean, during the climb I came to like the three I had just met, but now it was clear that they are good guys. We all drink champagne and many pictures are taken. The view is spectacular. This is so wonderful. We stay up there for about 20 minutes, enjoying the view, having places pointed out to us, taking more pictures and just appreciating the moment before we head down.
I’m expecting the worst on the way down because having bad knees, I’m thinking it’s going to be 40 minutes of pain. Going down hurts more than going up. I don’t know if it’s because I have been trying to take care of my knees, because my legs were numb with exhaustion or because I was in the moment, but they didn’t hurt. I actually keep up with Franc and Morne´ as German stays back with Liza and Roger. Franc is dying to eat so he’s pushing the pace. It’s such a nice feeling of accomplishment that I don’t mind. At the bottom of the mountain we follow the three guys to the restaurant for breakfast. My left-side blind spot hits it pinnacle when I catch a curb hard and lose my front hubcap. Roger sees it roll off behind the car. Oops! Thankfully I don’t have to parallel park on the other side of the road and we park and go in for breakfast.
At breakfast we meet one more person, Antonio. He’s from Chile and has lived in Cape Town for I think three years. He’s an architect and a really nice guy. We all eat (too much for me) and head with Gareth to the Pick and Pay to buy a few groceries. We head back home, meet Bons and German, and lay out by the pool. It gets really hot so we all, at one point or another, get into the cold pool. The view is amazing and it’s just great to be in Cape Town. Later on Jonathan and Kim, friends of Bons, show up with some beer, wine and vodka. We have a little party for a while and eventually everyone takes off to either head to other pool parties or to meet other friends. Liza and Roger had been blogging part of the party and start up again after everyone leaves. I head to my room and do the same. I also take a 5-minute nap.
Bons and Gareth meet up with us at 8p to head to the Showroom for my birthday dinner. The place is done in all white and glass and sits next to an actual car showroom. We start off with an amuse bouche of potato, leek and onion soup. Then we order a bottle of wine, Chocolate Block, which is a South African varietal that has strong flavors of chocolate and cherry to it. For starters I order crocodile and Camembert. It’s a nice dish and sets a good tone. My main course is a duck confit with kaffir lime koeksister (fried dough with the lime flavor to it). It’s good enough, but not amazing. We order a second wine, which is a South African pinot noir. Upon first taste I’m not impressed, but it opens up to a nice, but simple wine. After our mains I receive a dessert plate from the chef for my birthday—very nice. On it is written Happy Birthday in chocolate sauce. It includes things like a Middle Eastern style gelatin, frozen lychee balls, some cake-like mini cookies that were a bit minty and a gold-covered strawberry. Being as full as I am, I only pick at it and encourage others to help. We receive this shortly after we ordered a vanilla soufflé with a three-alcohol pour (Bailey’s, Amarula and something else) and then covered with a flaming Sambuca. I can’ remember the details. We are all supposed to suck the alcohol out through straws as the flaming Sambuca is poured over the soufflé. It didn’t work so well and was a rough shot of alcohol to drink. After the too-complicated process (with the too complicated menu) the soufflé is actually good.
I receive a nice gift of a shirt and South Africa book from Gareth and Bons. It’s very sweet of them to do that as well as to take time out of their schedules to show us around and hang out with us. I think we’ll have to find out own way going forward so they can do the things they want to do without having to cart us along. There’s so much to do here that I’m sure we’ll be fine. I plan to tell them tomorrow.
After dinner we go to a club called Bronx. It’s a typical gay bar—music too loud, attitude, guys with a false sense of how attractive they are, etc. I guess things don’t change regardless of the culture. We have too many mini-shots (some were downright nasty) and confirm that no one looks good standing under black lights. No one but Liza seems too thrilled to be there and by midnight I ask to bow out. Liza keeps saying, “One more!” with regard to having shots. We all leave, but plan to meet up for the Champagne Festival tomorrow.
It is decided that we will find out own way home. Gareth has lent us the Garmin (a GPS system). We turn it on and start to head out. Gareth and Bons are gone. We quickly get lost. Roger is driving now (he drank the least) and is making turns up one-way streets going in the wrong direction, we’re going in circles, we have no clue where we are. Why? All because the Garmin wasn’t locating us properly and gave us the wrong directions. When we drive on a few sketchy streets, we decide it’s time to call Bons. We end up on the correct road and eventually make it home. Phew!
It’s now almost 2a and we are getting picked up by Gareth and Bonita at 10a. I need to sleep. My birthday is over and hopefully now we can focus on what we are going to do rather than my birthday day and the activities around it.
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