Cape Town... first impressions...

I arrived yesterday after a 11h flight... I think that it was the first time in a long time that I am not sitting next to the screaming child so that was a big plus. After waiting for my friend (hereafter refered as S) for two hours we went into town...

The hostel is ok although it is not central as mentioned on the website... We are about 10m walk from Long Street which all the guides refer has the big city centre where everything goes on... first impressions... during the day it is empty, all the stores are loocked and if you want to go in you have to be buzzed in and, during the night the only interaction I have had with the locals is when they are asking me for money (if they only new Cheap Man lararararara - you know the song you numpties all sing when you are talking about me :) or when they ask if I would like to purchase their fine colombian produce....

The first day we walked (rather than taking a taxi) all the way to the Waterfront... Cape Town no one walk - unless they are quite poor - everyone drives... so it was quite an interesting walk :P When we finally manage to arrive to the Waterfront a Marina like many others with a few restaurants a shopping centre and people performing in the streets chilled out for a while there and after went back to the hotel... this time because it was already night time S decided to take a taxi (not as cheap as me).... went back to the hostel had a few drinks during happy hour and went to bed...

My friend S.... 6 months or so ago, she told me that the friends she normally goes on holidays couldn t make this year and she didn t have anyone to go... I told her that she could come with me however, I made it very clear that a trip with me isn t your normal holiday it is more an adventure (what can I say... sh** happens to me... a lot)... she laughed and said that it is what she was looking for... I also told Pat to come with me but I guess he knows me better than her...

Today finaly she understood how adventurous my holidays really are and she already said she will never come again with me... and this was our first full day and still another 3 weks to go :P the day started with me being late, being the good portuguese that I am, and so rather than going on one of those city sight seeing buses we went to visit Bowders beach where there is a colony of penguins... we had several options to get there but the most economical one was just the local metrotrain... after finally convincing her we went in search of the train station...

Just before we actually made it to the train station as I refuse to use a map (you know the whole portuguese ancestry) she wanted to withdraw cash... we went to the ATM and this is when some random guy started trying to show us how to use the machine and ended up nicking her card... finally I noticed that he was hidding the card put my shoulders back (to pretend I was quite big) and took it back and left the bank... as we were trying to go to another ATM machine in another location I noticed that he s friend (a dodgy looking friend with a big scar on his face - and that is why I noticed him) was still following us.... we therefore ended up not getting any money (well her because I can live of 5 pounds a day) and going to the Metro.. at this point we actually realised that this was South Africa and that most people in Cape Town aren t exactly walking on the street... I think that here you end up hearing that this is the safest place in ZA that you can sometimes get a false sence of security altough I think that despite being a little of a hassle it wasn t motive to get too stressed..

The trip to Bowlers beach was fine and got to see how people who don t drive actually move about between the city and the suburbs... isn t travelling meant to give us a glimpse of how the other half live... I though it was a very enriching experience...

The beach itself was closed with a path so you couldn t mengle with the penguins anymore... this is the result of tourist coming to close with the birds with the morning suits which not only stressed them, but also they wouldn t hatch their eggs properly... innitially the colony had 3000 birds but, we only saw about 500 (estimate of course) so it is a big difference...

The ride return was even more hectic because we came back during rush hour but, because we started in the last stop (Simon s Town) we got to sit down... now I am back at the hostel and happy hour is about to begin....

This has been quite a big entry I am sorry if I bored you... by the time I noticed how big it was it was already too late to resume it... I promise the next ones will be sweeter and shorter unless you like the details... pls let me know what you reader think about the lenght of the entries... too long, too short, too boring etc..

Hope all is well... Cheerios for now

Ps the spell check isn t working so I appologise for any errors :P