Dateline 8.1.2010 – Cape Town South Africa

We have been off the grid again.  In fact, we are unsure if we will be able to be on the grid any time soon so we have decided to create our blog on Word and then cut and paste on the Kiki Goes Home site.  Here goes!

We are back in Milnerton (Cape Town) after a lovely side trip to Kenton.  We backtrack to catch you up.

Leaving Cape Town proved problematic.  We purchased a phone (pay-as-you-go) and posted our blog and then took the longest route possible through Mitchell’s Plain (one of Cape Town’s townships) in order to leave the city.  What an education. It is amazing that such clean, happy, put-together people come out of conditions that Americans would find beyond depressing.

Back to the trip.  We were so behind.  What should have been a half day trip ended up being a full day of driving.  However, the drive was magnificent.  The vistas are unbelievable and I have thousands of photos of them.  I’m not guaranteeing the quality of said photos – simply the quantity.  In what should have been a short four hour trip we went over mountains and through almost endless fields of blooming yellow mustard.  This area is called the Overberg and the highway runs inland from the geographical tip of Africa.

At any rate, we pushed through to George, a beautiful little town nestled under the mountains.  We were lucky to find a B&B (The Acorn) that had perfect accommodations for us.  A beautiful single room for Kiki and a family room replete with loft beds for the other three.  Both opened onto a pool and we were served breakfast the next morning outside by our lovely hostess, Esther.

Day two we were determined to get an early start.  We have redefined early on this trip.  Remember, we have an 11 year old boy and a 93.75 year old woman in tow!  Finally we got on the road and finally arrived in Port Elizabeth and hooked up with Toff (our cousin) in a local restaurant as his wife, Kiddy, was waiting for chemo.  When we started again on our final push to Kenton it was in the dark, on a smaller regional road, and through kilometers of massive construction.  Be proud of Dieuwke, driving on the wrong side of the road through all of this!  We tumbled into our little blue cottage (badly decorated with a sort of antique swimming theme which will come into play later. 

The first day in Kenton was a trip down memory lane for Dus who hadn’t been here for decades!  What a change, tons more homes, paved roads, laid on water and actual electricity!  None of these were in evidence the last time she was here! 

In the morning Dieuwke took Kiki over to our Ouma’s old home to visit Toff and Kiddy (our cousin and his wife) whilst Jessse and Dus went to the lagoon and beach (great pictures!).  We played and played and jumped in the waves.  In the afternoon Kiki finally slowed down and took a nap while the other three went to the dunes and Jesse was allowed to blow his vuvuzela with wild abandon (more pix).

The second day was a real treat.  We went on an abbreviated safari just outside of Port Alfred.  Initially we thought our little Nissan Tiida (a giant of a car by South African standards) could handle the bush, but we finally gave in to Jesse and went on the safari rig with our guide, Leon.  Thank God!  The Nissan would never have made it and we would not have been able to do any of the off “road” stuff.  We have tons of pix of all of this.  Early on Leon pulled off the main “road”, then stopped the rig and walked off into the bush.  In a few minutes he came back smiling, “I’ve found them – the giraffes.”  We drove around a deep “kloof” (gulley), again turned off the road, and saw the giraffes, 5 of them, looking at us over the treetops.  Leon stopped the rig asked us to wait and on his

return asked us if we wanted to “go solo”, meaning on foot.  We left Kiki in the rig as this was too much for her walker.  As we approached the giraffes, four moved away.  The fifth actually approached Leon who raised his hand and the giraffe nosed it.  Then the giraffe leaned over and nuzzled his ear.  Leon motioned for us to come forward and then had Jesse raise his had.  Jesse reached up and petted the giraffe on the nose.  Leon told us that this giraffe, known as Gambit, was raised for a short time by a veterinarian in Port Alfred.  Obviously, one doesn’t keep a giraffe in town for long.  Gambit was then released to this small heard, but he has taken a liking to Leon and will often accommodate Leon’s guests and give them a nuzzle.

After seeing plenty of other game, but no predators, we started for home.  On our way we stopped in Port Alfred at the fish market and picked up 3 K of Kob which we took in to the local pub in Kenton and the proprietor, Mattie, cooked it up for us.  It was absolutely delicious and second only to the Kingklip we had in George on the next night! 

We returned to the cottage and on Jesse’s urging pushed our twin beds together for comfort and warmth.  This involved moving the bedside tables out of the way.  Dus carefully removed the lamp and her glass of water and moved the heavy-as-lead piece of beach themed furniture.  Dieuwke removed the lamp but left the “darling” little statuette of a 1920’s bathing beauty which began to slip precariously.  There was no saving her and she crashed to the tile flood and suffered a rather clean decapitation.  There was no way to undo the damage so D left a few rand (what we thought the lady was worth) with a note of apology.

The next morning we intended to get an early start (again) on our homeward trip.  Again we were slow in starting.  We stopped to say goodbye to Kiddy and Toff and to get some pix of the old house.  We left some of Oumie’s ashes under the bougainvillea by the front door. 

Then we went for a last goodbye to the lagoon and left a bit of her there as well.  As we were saying our last goodbyes the phone rang.  It was Hettie, the caretaker of the cottage and ultimately of the decapitated lady.  She was in a dither!  The decapitated lady was a treasure and our paltry offering was just that (an insult!) and we must return and give R100 in order to make things right!  Somehow this seemed out of step with the scattering of our mother’s ashes but Hettie didn’t know that.  We returned and paid the enormous sum of R100 which didn’t seem so bad once we realized that the expensive figurine was only worth $13 in US currency.  I am confident in stating that she was still over-priced!

On our way out to the N1 (the main road) we stopped at the pineapple lady’s stand and bought the best fresh pineapple juice ever!  Then we drove, drove, drove, drove, drove, drove, drove, drove, drove (Jesse’s description) until we reached George again.  We ended up at The Acorn (www.acornguesthousehouse.co.za) again and had another wonderful night with our hosts, Esther and Colin.  We went to dinner at the Kingfisher and enjoyed the kingklip mentioned earlier.  We had a beer and started back to the Acorn with Dieuwke at the wheel of our trusty Tiida.  As usual we were guided out of the parking spot by a gentleman whom we tipped and then we nosed our way onto the main highway that runs through George.  It was deserted and we laughed and talked as we headed home.  Suddenly horns began hooting, lights which were heading right at us swerved around us.  Dieuwke froze (like a deer in the headlights), applied the brakes and took her hands off the wheel as the final vehicle refused to give up in this deadly game of chicken.  Finally, with a last blast of the horn, he went around us.  D slowly came back to life and got us back over to the correct side of the road.

During the night the wind was howling – both of us thought we were going to wake up to rain and cold.  Not so; it was wonderfully warm and sunny.  We were experiencing a “berg wind” which blows over the mountains from the Karoo desert warming the more coastal areas.  We were treated to another delicious omelet and some great conversation.  The Acorn is now our official stop in George.  Esther had noticed Liz’s bag with all the pins on our first trip through and she, without knowing that we would be back, had taken it upon herself to pull a pin from her own collection to add to the bag.  It is on its way to you, Liz!  Esther also gave us a great recommendation to stop at Witsand, the whale nursery of S.A.  She didn’t promise that we would see whales, but she thought that there might be a good chance of it.  There were at least 20 and we watched them roll, wave and poke their noses up.  We went into the tiny local pub for some lunch (the best calamari ever!) as we continued to view whales and breakers through the windows.  Jesse was enjoying himself so much that he stayed on the beach with some new friends while we ate.  We finally tore ourselves away and pushed through to Cape Town.  The picture shows Kiki whale watching and if you look carefully you can see a whale waving at her!

There is still no internet here at Lagoon Lodge and we hope to cut and paste this into the blog later.  We shall see.  First we must hose everyone off in anticipation of tea with Johann and Janice and do a bit of food shopping as we are self catering again.

Sunday was a day of rest.  Kiki slept like a baby and we just took it easy.  We did go to tea at Johann and Janice’s lovely apartment.  It is at Moulee point, the home of South Africa’s oldest lighthouse which is right outside their balcony as is the beautiful new stadium.  Janice served a lovely tea.  And we sat on the balcony with the propane heater going.  Jesse ran across the road to the grassy area by the sea and played as we watched.  As the sun set we walked across the street to the park with J & J and Blue (their border collie) to meet Jesse. 

Monday we went to Worcester, the town where our Kiki and our mother grew up and where their parents and grandfather are buried.  The original plan was to go to Table Mountain but it was socked in so we decided to go inland.  The drive to Worcester from Cape Town is through beautiful dramatic mountains.  When we arrived there we thought it would be best to go to the cemetery first and then top that off with a lovely lunch and some wine.   It all sounded so easy as both Dieuwke and Kiki had been there within the last 10 years.  Our search led us through the less affluent although terribly busy side of town.  It was colorful, interesting, full of people (all of whom seemed to be alive).  Our search for the cemetery was taking us nowhere fast!  Finally we gave in and went to the other side of town and went to the Information Center.  The lovely young woman who helped us did mention that we were the first people from the States to ask for the cemetery!  It is amazing how easy it is to find once you have directions.  It is also amazing how dry and unkempt it is.  After much searching we found our grandparents graves.  Kiki mentioned that she thought her grandfather was buried there as well and I was able to find his grave.  We also found the marker for the artist who did the portrait of our mother. 

After the cemetery, it was back to the very put-together, neat-as-a-pin Afrikaaner side of town to visit the old family home which is now the Church Street Lodge (www.churchst.co.za).  It was fun to see Kiki just light up as we walked in and saw the sunlight streaming into what was the old sitting room / dining area.  The space was comfortably set with couches and several tables for the bed and breakfast business that is now there.  Dieuwke spoke with the woman working the desk who was very gracious and indicated that the current owner was there doing some work.  He was delightful and more than a little surprised to learn that he was visiting with a resident from over 90 years ago.  Kiki gave him a history lesson on his B & B explaining how in addition to a private residence the building was also a clinic that served predominantly the coloured population – yes, on the Afrikaaner side of town no less.

Tuesday, 3 August brought the much anticipated luncheon with faculty from the University of Cape Town economics department.  Our uncle Bill, Kiki’s late husband, was an economist of some renown who spent most of his career at UCT.  With Johann’s help, we had offered all of uncle Bill’s papers and writings to the university and they were thrilled.  When the university learned Kiki was in Cape Town, they arranged a luncheon to honor and thank her, and we were all invited along.  It was delightful.  Kiki was treated like royalty.  The faculty members and archivist were all very personable which confirmed, especially for Kiki, the decision to donate all papers to UCT.  The event was not too pretentious – even Jesse enjoyed it.  The campus, located on the slopes of Table Mountain is gorgeous (except for the particularly ugly, 1960’s atrocity of a building where the luncheon was held – the Dean of the School of Commerce actually apologized for the building).  Below are pictures of the campus and luncheon.

After lunch we were back to the lawyer’s office to wrap things up.  Papers were signed, Jesse ate cookies and more cookies and we said our final farewell to Johann. 

Wednesday August 4^th we woke up to a beautiful day.  It was actually hot!!!  We went up Table Mountain.  Again, we have tons of pictures.  It was lovely. 

We negotiated the rather rough terrain (Table Mountain is NOT flat!) with Kiki and her walker to find the spot where she had scattered Uncle Bill’s ashes years ago.  It took some doing but we found a lovely spot and scattered some of Mom’s ashes there as well.  The day was relatively clear.  Desmion (Dassie) wanted to find a dassie – a little rock rabbit and the creature she was nicknamed for.  A couple of loops around the walks of Table Mountain turned up nothing and Desmion (Dassie) was sad.  Suddenly Jesse came running up to announce a dassie sighting.  He said I MIGHT be able to see it if I hurried and so I did.  There was the dassie, glossy, sassy, beautiful.  As the shutters snapped the dassie posed.  Ahhhh, what a beautiful creature.  And then we realized that they were everywhere!  And we took photos of them all! 

We wrapped up the day at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront with some of the best fish and chips of the trip.  It is evident that the trip is taking its toll on Kiki – she was very tired last night. 

With our limited internet access (Lagoon Lodge is not on our list of recommendations!) this will probably be our last post.  Today, Thursday 5 August 2010, is overcast and very windy.  Needless to say, we will not be taking the boat out to Robben Island today.  Unfortunate, because that really is a moving and thought provoking experience.  Though he has been there before, Jesse is at an age where it may have made quite an impression on him.

All in all, the trip has been successful.  Amazingly, Kike is already talking about her next trip to Africa.  I suppose this is what keeps her going and active – she is always looking forward to something.

Totsiens.  See you soon.

We will travel up the coast this morning and arrive in Kenton this afternoon.  More later.

Stymied by technology!  Well, where to begin.  Dus and Dieuwke both thought, “Wonderful, no cell phones.  Internet connection every day or so – it will be marvelous (which, did we mention was the name, Marvelous, of the very kind, fit and robust young man who helped us at the storage unit the other day?)  Not so, Johann (attorney) very  much needs us to be connected via phone, as does Toff (cousin).   We had every expectation of easy internet access, at least in Cape Town – denied! 

We got up early wanting to leave to Kenton.  Betty was right there telling us that we could finally access internet across the street.  Imagine our combined technological excitement; we were practically quivering.  We dashed across the street and parked ourselves in front of the computer; we whipped out our flash drive…the only USB port was occupied by the wireless router!  Ahrg!  We sent a couple of emails to our spouses and then managed the blog (still unable to cut and paste our missives and without time to add).

Getting a SIM card or pay-as-you-go phone was not as simple as one might think.  In the States, they do not require passports for these transactions and every phone “store” is equipped to provide every available service.  Not to mention that pay-as-you-go phone were in quite high demand during World Cup and consequently more difficult to find right now. 

Finally, after a few scenic loops of Cape Town, we made it on to N2, the road which will take us almost all of the way to Kenton and drove…and drove (we saw baboons on the highway and enough sheep to knit fishermen sweaters for the entire Welsh fleet.  It was beautiful!)…and drove…we finally got to George and found a wonderful B&B.  Kiki is holding up really well and we are trying to make sure that she is treated like a queen.  This is a trip of a lifetime of memories for her and we want to make sure that they are lovely.

We have realized that our days are quite short.  Kiki is knackered and needs to sleep.  That coupled with the amount of time it takes for her to get ready to go and then for us all to actually get underway, makes for noon start on most days.  And by 2:00 it is time to stop for lunch. 

Today Johann and his wife Janice graciously came by (at noon) and took Kiki to lunch and to spend the afternoon with them in the city.  It sounds as though she had a wonderful time.

Jesse, Dus, and Dieuwke took on some errands which included a trip to a mall (yikes!).  We were successful in finding some swimming trunks that will stay on the thinly sliced Jesse (even the safety pins were not doing the job on the old pair).  The second success was finding a cricket bat and a tube of tennis balls.  Dieuwke tried to find a sim card to help alleviate our electronic woes, but was not successful in this.  Hopefully, tomorrow.  Dieuwke and Ted have been more connected in the bush of Botswana than we are in the modern urbanscape of Cape Town. 

After the mall, it was off to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront.  All was well until Dieuwke turned too soon right at the first major intersection down town.  Not to be intimidated, she made a few turns, recognized the area and wheeled around the traffic circle at the dead end of the street (we had been there about two days previous).  After recovering from that, Dieuwke handily wheeled right into a massive parking garage that oddly enough also contained a carwash.  She managed to avoid the car wash (narrowly), went up a few floors and found an exit directly into the fast lane of the N-1 highway exiting the city.  After that, there was no turning back – it was straight to the beach and a cold beer.

The beach was great!  There is nothing better than pulling out a ball and a stick and having the kids just show up to play.  Jesse spent hours playing pick-up cricket and splashing in the surf with a great variety of kids.  All-in-all, it was not very “African” except for watching Dieuwke trying to drive on the left.

Tomorrow, we head out and up the coast to Kenton-on-Sea.  We expect to take two days to drive there, spend two days there and then return in two days.  It seems like a lot for a two day visit.  Our cousin Toff is currently there and because the house there was so much a part of the family for years, it is important to get Kiki there.

The internet troubles persist and we soldier on, writing our blog on Word, ready to cut, paste and publish and a moment’s notice!

On to today.  We rose with the intention of going to the tope of Table Mountain.  However, we were thwarted by the “Tablecloth” of clouds and a surprise visit from the lawyer.  Thank God all of us were dressed and the only embarrassment was the untidy state of our kitchenette.  The good news from the lawyer is that the University of Cape Town is VERY interested in Uncle Bill’s papers!  We are thrilled in that this is really where they should be.  They are SO interested that they are hosting a luncheon for Kiki on the 3^rd.  Lovely but the date is playing havoc with our itinerary!  We will adjust.

Since we could not go up the mountain we decided to go around it and over to Hout Bay and on down the peninsula and down to the Cape of Good Hope.  We were fairly certain we would see penguins (yes, Cute and tiny African penguins).  Not a ‘guin was to be seen.  Little buggers!

We had a wonderful lunch at Penguin beach (again, NO penguins!) but lots of tour busses! Yipppeeeeee!  Once in the park we promptly saw a troop of baboons at the side of the road looking lazily over the cliff and False Bay.  It was a tiny pull out and another car tried to cram in with us.  What an erratic driver.  After they had their fill of baboon life they tried a 3 point turn which came amazingly close to the cliff’s edge.  As we held our collective breath and awaited the tumble we felt sure was to happen, a tour bus (perhaps we had eaten lunch with them) also tried to join us on the tiny pull out.  Did I mention that the pull out was on a curve?  We simply waited as the tiny blue Citroen challenged the bus.  Finally it all came to an end (with all vehicles still on the road) and we wended on our way.

Next up, Jesse’s eagle eye spotted some buck.  Turns out he had managed to differentiate four elands from all of the rock.  They were gorgeous with the Atlantic Ocean behind them.  And then, ostriches at the barren Cape of Good Hope.  There are few things that seem more out of place than an ostrich at the ocean. 

When we came to the end of the road and were watching the waves crash about we sent Jesse scampering up the precipice to see what he could see…and what he could see was dassies, a.k.a. rock Hyrax’!  Now, this is of particular interest to some of us but may be of at least passing interest to the rest of you so I shall explain.  Desmion/Dussie really started with the nickname Dassie as her father noted that the originals had no tail and neither did she. 

It was a gorgeous day, but it took its toll on Tante Kiki.  She has been a trooper, but the long days are difficult for her.  Tomorrow, Johann, the attorney, is coming to take Kiki to lunch and that will be about it for her.  Jesse, I am sure, will be heading to the beach.

We have met with internet difficulties so we are now typing in Word in hopes of cutting and pasting into the blog at a later time.  Wish us luck with that!

Today we went to the storage unit.  It was a bit overwhelming – materially for us and emotionally for Kiki.  Two units stuffed full; I mean FULL, from top to bottom, side to side, and front to back within a foot of the door.  Kiki immediately glommed onto the taped together lamps that had likely seen better days with an owner PRIOR to Kiki!  It was evident that this was going to be a mountainous job.  We will consider our options keeping in mind that our first duty is to do no harm.  Our second is for Kiki to have a fun trip.

So we were of to the giant Pick and Pay to search for swim trunks for one slim boy.  His succumb to gravity and waves at the slightest provocation.  No luck.  We couldn’t even find safety pins! 

Back to Dolphin Beach (without swim trunks).  No matter, we went anyway…and Jesse got wet anyway.  The water was frigid.  No matter.  Rather than spray we were ducking crushed ice.  Okay, I exaggerate but it was darn cold!  The Afrikaans boy from two days prior was gone but some charming Asians were there in his stead. 

We are still having difficulty with photos but the weather was clear but cooler with a lovely “tablecloth” draped over Table Mountain.

Today was spent in down town Cape Town – in a lawyer’s office…there was a lovely view but it didn’t make up for the fact it was a lawyer’s office!  Yes, it was business but the lawyer is delightful.

Tomorrow we tackle a storage unit replete with 94 years of life – insured, gaurded – yes…accessible – soon to be determined.  Work first.  We should be back to fun by Sunday.

Niether “team” (Dieuwke and Jesse or Dussie and Kiki) had any trouble on the first leg.  So lovely…you knew something would go awry!  That something was WDC!  The Dallas team arrived with no trouble, but trouble was lurking!!!!! First, our options for offloading were limited to either falling or rolling down a steeply banked incline to the tarmac.  Nothing fancy!!! Kiki couldn’t do this with her walker…go figure.  The minutes ticked away as the “certified” workers debated the merits of the aisle chair versus the more traditional wheelchair.  The aisle chair won out…after a good deal of daylight was burned!  We toddled on and halfway down the concourse (to a tight connection to Dakar, Senegal – you’ve been there, you know!)  I realized that we were sans walker.  Yikes!!!! I turned in horror only to see the comic-book good looking pilot (mmmmmm…..) who “volunteered” to retrieve said device for us.  “Wait here,” he said as his teeth glinted in the sun only known by those who live in EST, and we did.  Moments later he returned triumphantly carrrying the object of our desire (the walker – in case you you have gotten off track).  Thank God!  With the help of a lovely young man we found the other team than the adventure was about to begin!

The Boise Team fared well.  We arrived at Dulles with no problems.   A four hour lay over gave us time to wander the intenational terminal (photos attached — Jesse thought this would be great for long boarding!).  We hooked up with the Dallas contingency with no problems.  We boarded and were promptly served South African wines to soothe our nerves.   Yes, both my sister a accepted without hesitation. 

Oh, yes.  There are some who are probably wondering about the players in this adventure and why it matters.  First, the players:

• First, and and the star of this production, Margaretha (Grethe)  Louisa Schonken-Hutt (a.k.a.. Kiki) – Kiki is auntie to Dus, Dieuwke and great aunt to Jesse. 
• Dussie — a.k.a. Desmion sister to Dieuwke, niece to Kiki, aunt (Tanne) to Jesse
• Jesse — Youngest member of the adventure (age 11 and world traveler — 4th African adventurre)
• Dieuwke — Mother to Jesse, sister to Diussie, niece to Tante Kiki

There you have it.  Story proceeds.  We connected in DC with no problems.  Onward to Dakar.  Which, by the way, looks like a Star Wars Movie set.  Unfortunately, that is where we ran into our first delay.  For those of  you have traveled in Africa, this will be no surprise.   It took took forever to fuel!  Once landing in our Johannesburg, the adventure and run, (literally)  began.  In Jo’berg, we landed with basically no time to the next flight, due to our long refule stop in Dakar.  A very kind young man looked at us, two “middle aged women” , an 11 year old amped  up guy, and a 94 year old Afrikaans woman in a wheelchair and said “You can make your flight!  I will help you $$$$!”

We ran.  And ran.  Pushing wheelchair and luggage carts and hauling ass (my sister tells me she blogs this word to her high school freshman — and they already know it).  We caught the the plane to Cape Town, at a cost mind you.  On to Cape Town and a second in flight dinner, and a missed pick-up.

By pick-up Dieuwke means  “trusted driver” to deliver us to our lodging.  What a nightmare.  He was supposed to be there when we arrived.  We expected a man/woman with a sign that said Dizney/Spencer.  No such luck.  We waited.  We called.  We were told that he had left and would be right back for us.  We waited… we waited…we waited!  He arrived and asked “where have you been?”  Let me interject at this moment that we had been at the same spot the whole time and that we hate him!  An hour later we met him.  We were freezing (it’s winter here) and he was a ____ (insert what you will).  Finally we made it to Lagoon Lodge (pictures to be posted)  It was the middle of the night!  Cold!  Yet the best place we had been in over 24 hours!  Brandon, our driver, is like water off a duck’s back.

So, after much ado we went to bed and slept the sleep of the innocent?  We awoke, not for the first time mind you, and began the day, Wednesday the 20th (we think).  Ahhhhhh….coffee, Kiki slept until a million o’clock (poor Kiki needed to get up a couple of times – time change you know), went foraging for food, had a great afternoon at the beach, (pix to be attatched, we hope!) and back to the lodge to cook!  Tomorrow we meet with the lawyer and check out Victoria Water Front. 

Our accommodationos are lovely.  We left Kiki drinking tea on the veranda and waited for the rental car (they forgot about us until the maid at Lagoon Lodge kindly put a call in for us).   Once Irene and Isidore brought us the car, they remembered Jesse and Dieuwke from previous rentals and all was well in that relm.  Things calmed down and a trip to the grocery, and Dolphin Beach wound down a long day.

Tomorrow,  Thursday, will test  Dieuwke’s driving skills as we head into downtown Cape Town to take care of some business for Kiki.  For those of you wo don’t know, S.A. drive left.  I do fairly well, but usually don’t head downtown after only half a day of practise.  Hope to be posting after this adventure!  We have made it (tattered though we may be).  Tomorrow is another day.  We will try to post sans alcohol…no promises….