Hectic, But Great (3:52:45) Day Today……

…..as I suspected yesterday, the travel agency got my reservation messed up and I was in the wrong hotel—wrong by about one hour’s drive. The casino was called “Grand Hotel Western” and I spent the night at the casino and got up this morning and started checking over my paperwork and something just didn’t seem right. Late morning I took a taxi into Cape Town and noticed on the motorway that the Chevron building was right beside the “Grand Westin” hotel. Give me credit—I put one and one together and came up with two. I immediately turned the taxi around and returned to the casino (remember this is $50 each way) and repacked my bags, checked out, caught the same taxi back into Cape Town, made reservations at the right hotel and now everything’s right. Just last week I told Devin the trip was going so smoothly it was scary. If you haven’t worked overseas, you may not appreciate the whole situation.

Speaking of Devin, he ran the Houston Marathon today and has been training with the hopes of doing it under four hours this year. I just got an email from him: 26.2 miles in 3 Hours; 52 Minutes; 45 Seconds---He made it!!!!! That's him on the left.

After the hotel fiasco, I had most of the afternoon in Cape Town and wow, is it a nice place. From my hotel window I can see out over the coast into the ocean and the famed waterfront is right below me. I spent about four hours wandering around it today and it is every bit as beautiful and nice as I’d heard.

Cape Town is still a “working harbor” but the old colonial sailing and steam facilities are still here and have been converted into trendy shops and restaurants. It's neat because you can walk into the stores and look at the old wooden pulleys and wenches overhead. Here is a picture of an old maintenance dock. It's not used today but was used as early as the wooden sailing ships. During the steam era they made it into a lock and the water can be raised or lowered to allow the workers access to the sides and bottom for repairs. Remember, you can click on these photos to enlarge them.

The red building to the right is the "Clock House." Today it's an information kiosk but in the early days it was the center point of the harbor and the source for firing the "noon gun" cannon above the city on Signal Hill. I've seen several Noon Guns--the one in Hong Kong is still active--but the one here is the oldest continuously fired gun in the world. They still fire it every day at precisely noon, except on religious holidays.

Above the city towers “Tabletop Mountain” and while it’s not all that tall, it is imposing and literally shadows the harbor. For some strange reason the ocean winds and temperatures cause a low-lying cloud to almost always blow across it and when it does, the cloud literally “pours” over the top of the mountain down the side facing the city. The effect is known as the “Dutch tablecloth” since the Dutch founded the city and first observed the mountain. It’s pretty neat.
Johannesburg is considered one of the most dangerous cities in the world and while Cape Town also has a high crime rate, it is noticeably more “relaxed” here. The hotel runs a half-hourly shuttle to the waterfront and back and runs until midnight which means the shops and restaurants must stay open late—something that never happens in Johannesburg.

The place is so “relaxed” in fact, that the “alternative lifestyle” is very apparent here. Cape Town evidently has a reputation as being Africa’s version of San Francisco. It is very obvious here—stores actually advertise being “friendly” and the souvenir shops have all the related tee-shirts and all. The reason I mention it is that it is such a radical departure from most of Africa. The gay lifestyle is very much taboo across most of the continent—in fact I’ve worked a couple of central African countries where they still stone them if they get caught in public.

Something I found a little strange but interesting was the music on the waterfront. There were bands everywhere and I often had a "New Orleans"feeling. Much of the street music here is unquestionably jazz--I videotaped one group and they are not "jazz" but more "African." I didn't see any today but they often have traveling "minstrels" who dress up in silk coats and top hats, dance and sing down the street, and twirl silk umbrellas. It's exactly like the New Orleans "jazz funerals" and they claim credit here for the New Orleans jazz street tradition. One difference here is that they painted their faces white whereas we tended to do the "blackface' minstrel routines. Here is a statute to the "traveling minstrels."

I splurged a little tonight for supper. Actually I went all day without eating because of the hotel mixup earlier so I had a really nice supper in a restaurant overlooking the harbor. It was very windy today but the temperature was around the mid-70s. As it got dark, however, the wind caused the temperatures to drop rapidly. I’ve been told you can experience all four seasons in one day here. Kinda like Texas—if you don’t like the weather, wait a minute…..
I’m glad to be actually in the city and I start work again tomorrow morning. All seems to be well now and things are as they should. Life is good…..here are some pictures to prove it…..