Cape Town Adventures

     I believe I mentioned in a previous post that Aly and I were planning to spend a week in Cape Town after Christmas.  Well, these plans certainly came to fruition and on December 27th our friend Michelle drove us to the airport and we began our journey!

    On our first flight, I managed to somehow secure an entire row to myself. There were three seats and I was the only one there. It was pretty excellent. Aside from that little blessing, there was also CHEESE on this flight. SA airlines apparently serve a meal on basically every flight. I wasn't overly hungry, but I decided to see what airline food was like in Africa, and was overjoyed to see a nice little block of cheese on my tray. Now, you can get cheese in Malawi, but generally it's quite expensive and relatively tasteless. I'm not sure how or why this is true, but it is. So- first thrill of our short venture back into the "Western world": Cheese!

     The rest of our day went very smoothly and we found ourselves being shuttled from the airport to our hotel by a wonderfully entertaining little bus company we stumbled upon and arrived at our hotel with no problems! We were pretty tired from a day of travel, so we basically stumbled into our 11th floor room of the Capetonian Hotel (google it, Dad...it was very safe!), turned the AC as cold as we could bear, and snuggled into bed. 

   Our hotel had a beautiful complementary breakfast each morning, and a shuttle every hour to the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, which is the location of a GIGANTIC mall- two stories, various restaurants and a food court, several department stores, a grocery store, and 2 movie theatres. Needless to say, we took advantage of this and spent our first day shopping at the mall and at the surrounding shops that were a little more boutique-esque or incredibly touristy. We resolved not to buy anything that first day, but (I'm sure this will come as no surprise) our resolve was weakened by the discovery of a Build-A-Bear Workshop! So we made adorable little bears and gave them South Africa shirts, and they now enjoy a position of honor on our beds in Malawi. The other highlight of this day was the discovery of McDonalds and Subway in the mall. We ate at one of these two restaurants every day for the rest of the week. 

    We decided to do a bus tour of Cape Town that went through the city, up to Table Mountain, and down to the beach. This was an excellent choice.  Let me just say- Cape Town hit the geographical jackpot. It's incredible. The beauty is just beyond belief. Table mountain has recently been declared a natural wonder of the world, and it's majesty certainly proves that this position is merited. It's surrounded by other mountains as well, and the whole scene just takes your breath away. Additionally, the city has some of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen! The water is clearest blue (and from what I understand, frigid!), and the beach has a combination of sands and rocks that seems perfect. Apparently all the South African celebrities hit up the clubs along the beachfront, as do various American and European stars. We just enjoyed the beauty from the bus. We took pictures, but I'm afraid they really don't even come close to the rapture of actually seeing this place in person. The tour also took us through some historic parts of town, such as the renowned District 6, which was actively involved in opposing apartheid and was later demolished by the government. Much of it is still in ruins, but what has been restored stands as a testimony to the strong will of the citizens of this area and the ruins remind us of the deathly and destructive nature of racism. 

    The other big event for us during the week was the opportunity to see Phantom of the Opera performed. It was absolutely fantastic. Many of the cast had studied in Cape Town, and most were South African.  They were fantastic. I told Aly that the Phantom was my first love, and always will be. I saw the play performed in Birmingham when I was in 6th grade, and have loved the story ever since. I still firmly believe that Christine made a mistake in choosing that pretty boy Raoul.  But I digress...  The point is- this was definitely a highlight of the week- I absolutely recommend it and thoroughly enjoyed it. 

    The rest of our week was spent in various ways- watching movies, shopping, wandering the streets. Aly got a haircut, we got our nails done, we bought some fun jewelry and clothes, and we enjoyed all of it. As a side note- we watched The Help while we were there, which was really interesting. Fantastic movie, for sure. It was strange sitting in a theater in Cape Town watching Jackson, MS on the screen. It was also interesting looking at the movie in light of apartheid and all that did to the country of SA.
    Overall, our trip was fantastic. We enjoyed our time there and enjoyed the beautiful weather. Simple comforts we would've taken for granted in the U.S. were all of a sudden luxuries. Air conditioning, drinkable tap water, no power outages, traffic lights, road signs, shopping malls, television, and fast food...ahh...such wonderful things! At the end of the week, though, we were glad to come home to Lilongwe.  It's nice to be with friends again, to speak at least a tiny bit of the language, and to enjoy the familiarity of our current home. Thanks very much to those of you who were praying for safety and who are still praying for us as we're here. We appreciate it and need it every day. Happiest of new years to you and yours, and thank you for sharing in this journey!