Sunday, December 7, 2008

What a nice day we had! We also now have internet access. Yay!

We slept in a bit today and aren’t meeting up with Gareth and Bons until 10a. Of course, I still wake up at 7a and after flipping through some magazines, fall asleep again for an hour before waking up at 8:45a.

Today we are going to Franschhoek to the Champagne Festival. Bons secured us tickets the night before. As we head past the spot where I hit the curb the day before, Liza spots my hubcap still sitting there! We thought it would have been taken by now. I jump out and reclaim it. As I head back to the car, trusty Roger is standing there taking pictures of me as if I were Britney Spears, panty-less and high on something. That picture is worth a lot of money to him and Liza!

We drive up for about 45 minutes to Franschhoek and arrive at a quaint town. At the end of the main road through town are tents set up for the festival. There is a band playing jazz. We get in line and meet some friends of Bons. One of them lends me sunscreen for my uncovered meat head. I’m so thankful. It’s really hot and the sun is beating down strongly.

Here’s how the festival works. You present you ticket and they give you a glass and like 10 token tickets, along with a wristband and a pamphlet of all the wineries presenting their champagnes and sparking wines. Once inside both ends of the tents are lined with tables of each presenter. There are also tables with food. After a few minutes of trying to figure out where to start (I have no clue about champagnes) we just hit one that Bons says is good. After a bit Roger, Liza and I just venture around, sometimes together, sometimes apart, and try different ones. I try to stick with the rose´ champagnes, as they’re less dry and prone to give me a headache. Some are pretty good, some aren’t.

The food was nice. I had some oysters with Roger and they were delicious—the best I’ve ever had! But the good food and champagne (I think I only had 5 tastings) aren’t enough to salvage us from the heat. It was rough. I head over to stand under the tents and find Liza talking to some guys running a raffle. It turns out they’re an organization that works with children in the Franschhoek township. They’re great guys from England and the US. Liza donates some money and we get their information so that we can go up later in the week to do some volunteer work. I can’t wait! The funny part is that as I was standing there in conversation with those guys, another guy is exiting, looks at me and smiles and hands me about 25 token tickets! Karma! I’m done tasting anyway so I hand them off to Bons, Gareth and their friends.

On the way back we go a different route (longer, but more scenic). On the way up it looked like Napa some. On the way back it looks like the Rocky Mountains! We’re going up these steep passes overlooking the entire valley. Wow! We turn a corner and see cars stopped ahead. There are baboons in the road. Bons warns us not to lower the windows all the way. We’re snapping shot after shot. They just sit in the middle of the road as cars pass and pick bugs off the asphalt. How cool is it to see them?!

The ride back is fairly long, but the one interesting thing is that we drive past a huge township named K?? It goes on and on and is just a collection of rundown shacks almost right on top of each other. It looks like a horrible place to live. The thing is that this is like 10-15 minutes drive from the exclusive neighborhood in which we’re staying. I don’t get how that can happen.

Because we want to have a day of doing nothing tomorrow, Bons drives us to the VA Waterfront. It’s a large mall. We are looking for two things—a device that we can plug into our laptops to get internet connectivity and for me to be able to exchange traveler’s checks for Rand. We find the mobile store and I head off with Bons to find the American Express office. Everyone we ask tells us to go a different way. It’s like we’re being punked! Finally we find it and I can’t make the transaction because I didn’t have my passport with me. Grr! We go back and find Roger and Liza and with the portable modem in hand, head to the Radisson hotel for cocktails.

We’re seated outside, right on the ocean. The weather is beautiful and we can see the clouds rolling over the Table Mountains. They call those clouds the Table Cloth. It’s impressive to see it pouring over the cliffs. We all have drinks that are too weak and have fun laughing and telling stories. Afterward we head back to the VA and go to a restaurant named Baia. It’s a seafood restaurant. Liza, Roger and Gareth order a sample platter for their mains and out comes a car hood sized plate with prawns, langoustines, lobster and chips. The fish I order (king klip) isn’t a small cut. It’s practically the length of my forearm. Are these people insane? Plenty of glasses of wine and too much food later, the table orders desserts. I pass because I can’t fit anything else in my stomach, but also because I startlingly have no desire to eat sugar! Everyone rants and raves about the desserts. I know tomorrow I’m going to regret not trying them.

We head back to our place after dinner. I’m excited because not only will I get to sleep in and chillax tomorrow, but I can access the internet (after Roger is done) and can post what I’ve been doing for the past few days. Love you all!