An African Adventure - Part the iii

I've left you waiting long enough. Time for the next instalment.

Tuesday 14th March

We arrived back in Capies around 6pm, strolled along the beach, moved into our temporary abode (our cousin's place), refreshed, then out for dinner to the area of town known as the Waterkant (my mother never gets tired of mispronouncing that word), for a delicious Italian dinner. Then back to the flat, where I made a quick call to Rachel. Yay, I got to speak to Rachel! Great!

Wednesday 15th March

The rest of the family (my baby brother and a-father-to-be Adam, cousins Ben and Anna, and aunt and uncle Rhoda and Baruch) arrived from London (although Anna had only been in London for a day, having come over from Brazil – the jetsetter). After catching up, we went to the supermarket to stock up. After lunch, the cousins went for a coastal drive, followed by a walk and a scramble along Llandudno Beach (not the one in Wales, obviously). In the evening, the family gathered at Arthur(the groom, and the very essence of a mobster don – cigar, belly, husky voice, expensive gadgets, generous to friends)’s very large home. Dinner was delicious, saw a lot of people I recognised but couldn’t quite place (ah, large family gatherings…), Adam fell asleep. That was pretty much that.

Thursday 16th March

Day trip with cousins and parents and aunt and uncle. First stop was Moizenburg (sp?) my mother’s childhood holiday beach. Then onto Kalk Bay for lunch in a restaurant overlooking the sea, before driving on to Boulder to stare at penguins. Hehehehe – they are small and cute! And they get under your car! Then we drove up to Cape Point, where there was many a baboon (bobbejanes in Afrikaans). Caught a funicular up to the top, walked around looking at the picturesque scenery and views, before walking back down to the car park, where a large alpha-male baboon came bolting out of the undergrowth next to me and shot straight over to a car with an open boot. The owner of the car was alert enough to slam the boot shut and jump back before the baboon arrived and jumped up onto the roof of the car. He sat there for a few moments, posing for photos, before dashing off again.

Meanwhile, some Israelis were taking photos of a nearby baboon, and foolishly left their car doors open. The alpha male re-appeared and jumped into their car, rummaging around for food. It drew a large crowd, including us, and at one point, the baboon emerged from the car, made a lunge at Ben and one of the Israelis, before getting back into the car. We took this as a good sign that we should be on our way, so we climbed into our cars and were on our way. We drove back via the stunning Chapman’s Peak Drive (Cape Town’s version of the Great Ocean Road, only shorter), stopping frequently for photo opportunities of the sun setting over the ocean.

We went out for dinner that night to a nearby Kosher restaurant, then for drinks at the Buena Vista Social Café – nice, trendy, cool, smokey.

I’ll save the final 5 days for the next entry. Until then…