Capetown

I flew from Nairobi to Capetown today to begin my next adventure:  a ten day bike ride through the Western Cape area of South Africa.  It was raining when my guide picked me up at the airport so we almost had to cancel our first ride.  It turns out that Capetown is in the middle of a terrible drought and they were thrilled to have even a little rain.  Sound familiar, Californians?  But the rain quickly stopped so we went for a short ride to try out the bikes.  We rode up Table Mountain, the flat mountain that dominates the view in Capetown.  Well, not all the way up; just from the parking lot at the bottom to the cable car station.  It was no more than two miles, but did I mention that it was up?  I was willing to bag it, but with my new attitude towards hills, I went into granny gear (the lowest gear on a bike) and pedaled slowly.  I was the last one, but I made it.  We turned around because the wind was too strong further up the mountain.  It turns out that this was a test.  Even though this is a bike tour, a lot of people don't make it up the short climb, and then the guide knows what to plan for the rest of the week.

My group is very small:  a couple from Australia, a man from England, and me.  In a first for me, both the guide, Maria, and driver, Bianca, are female.  So the five of them talk with those funny accents and are used to riding on the left.  I am at a severe disadvantage.  We went to dinner together at a Portuguese restaurant to discuss the plans for the week.  Apparently there is a large Portuguese community here.  I tried the espetada which was described as a skewer of grilled chicken, so I expected a skewer on my plate.  Wrong.

Today we drove in our van down to the Cape of Good Hope, which is over forty miles from Capetown, stopping on the way for a quick boat ride to see seals.  (I am seeing every animal in Africa.) The Cape is still on the western side of South Africa and the coast continues to the southeast, but for some reason that I could not understand, this is considered the southern tip of Africa and the place with the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet.  If so, I think this is another first for me as I don't think I have ever seen the Indian Ocean before.

After lunch, we finally got on the bikes and rode from the lighthouse on the point to the cape which is further north.  Go figure.

It was not all that cold but it is WINDY here.  It turns out that Capetown is really the Windy City.  It was also hilly.  I always say that I am a Sacramento fair weather rider and don't ride in the cold, wind, or rain.  Well, at least there was no rain today.  And did I mention that they ride on the left side of the road here?  I had all my excuses ready - haven't ridden in a month, not used to the bike, long uphills, cold, windy, trying to remember to stay on the left and not get killed.  I am definitely the slowest one in our small group, but I rode it all and enjoyed it.

We rode through some lovely beach towns, ending in Simon's Town where there is a penguin center.  I didn't have my camera with me on the bike, so I was unable to take a picture of the sign that said:  Caution.  Penguins on the road in 50 meters.  The cape penguin, the only penguin in Africa, lives here.

 I am seeing every animal in Africa.