Indian Take-Out for Xmas Dinner!
We arrive in Cape Town on Christmas day. At the Ikhaya Lodge, we get the bestaccommodation, a 2 level condo with a breathtaking view of the Table mountain from the balcony. Its very hot and very windy!
Kathleen is still under the weather and going out is not an option. After phoning a number of restaurants we discover most are closed for the holidays. So Christmas dinner ends up being take-out Indian food from a restaurant that was open and willing to take our order.
It’s the last week of my vacation and I feel I need to relax. The pace has been so intense up until now that it seems unnatural to relax. It’s a good thing we squeezed in some meetings.
South Africa is not a destination that I had ever planned for myself. It is a beautiful country with lots to see and do. However, I am not totally at ease when I consider Apartheid was only abolished some fifteen years ago. I was quite disgusted when Leon, a kind friend of a friend who escorted us around for some sight seeing, points out to me that 15 years ago I would not even be allowed to enter the beach we were just stepping into. There is much tension between the Blacks and Whites. AIDS is spreading rapidly. With all the economic advances the country has made since abolishing Apartheid, South Africa continues to have one of the highest rates on the continent. The government has its head buried in the sand!
Some highlights include, dinner at the Olympia Café at Kalk Bay with Leon. Another night Leon invites us to his flat for a lovely dinner with some of his close friends.
Dinner conversations were lively and colourful. How could they not be with Jonathan Basckin as guest, an Architect who specializes in aerial photography and shoots landscapes from his Gyrocopter!
We met Adrianna and Stephen, lovely couple and now friends, who were kind enough to drive us around to see various businesses one day concluding the evening with a dinner at Andiamos in Cape Quarters. On Kathleen’s birthday, they treated us to dinner and dancing at Mannenberg’s, a Jazz Club on the VA Waterfront, named after a town historically designated for Coloured people only. Four live bands in one night, truly a rare treat!New Year’s Eve was entertaining with Claude, a fellow guest at the Blackheath Resort, as our “personal guide” at the club we ended up partying at. The Pink City certainly has some very beautiful people!If you are headed down to Cape Town do not miss the Hands that Shape Humanity exhibition
a Desmond Tutu initiative at the Slave Lodge museum.This is where I discoverd Cesaria Evora
On the long flight home I get the opportunity to see many movies and documentaries. A couple of these are worth a mention.
Zulu Love Letter is a must see psychological drama based on a story about a woman’s brutal treatment at the hands of apartheid operatives but it is also a story about the tender love between mothers and daughters. “From Nkoko with Love” is real world documentary based on a story of a 74-year old grandmother whose mission is to teach the new generations on the Tswana tradition and explores issues of birth, coming of age, marriage, motherhood and death.
