Reflections from just another traveler: Cape Town!

Just past customs was a sight for sore eyes - Meg! Her flight to Boston was delayed - so much that she missed her flight to Istanbul. She was re-routed on British Airways via Hethrow. Despite that, she arrived before us! Still, it was quite a relief to catch up with her. Unfortunately, our luggage has not been as fortunate. It was last seen in Minneapolis. Meg had both of our bags - a large one with Meg and Wendy’s clothes, and a duffle with mine. The airline has been straining us along. Mine might be found - and might be delivered today. Might. Wendy and I had several changes of clothes, but Meg didn’t think she needed them. We’re trying to take it in stride, and keep faith that we WILL get our things back. And truthfully, if it comes down to luggage or Meg, I’ll take Meg any day!

We’re staying in a cute apartment in the Gardens, a neighborhood up the hill toward Table Mountain. The first morning, we took an Uber (we’ve taken a lot of Uber!) to visit some people Meg has been working with for 12 years. She had a blast. In the afternoon, we walked the 3 miles downhill from our apartment to the waterfront, past various wildlife, familiar and unfamiliar:

Some sort of duck

The squirrels are fat and tame - but very cute!

Cape Town Fur Seals

Hopefully you all known that Cape Town is having a drought. Between drought and immigration, which has tripled the population of Cape Town in the last 20 years, the city was slated to run out of water in March. The city launched a massive campaign to get residents to cut down on water use - and it’s working! There are signs everywhere, from the jetways at the airport (Don’t waste a drop, help us save water) to buses (saving water one dirty bus at a time) to public bathrooms (The faucets have been turned off to save water). We are doing our part - and I think we’re coming in way under our allotted 50 liters per day. I’ve still taken two minuscule showers a day, but we have saved all the water for clothes washing and toilet flushing. We’re putting our toilet paper in the bin and flushing only when it’s brown. Public bathrooms only have hand sanitizer. It works.

We planned to take the boat to Robbin island yesterday, and our bicycle tour of Cape Good Hope today, but high winds and rain (RAIN!) postponed both. Bad for us, but so good for Cape Town. So we walked down to the farmer’s market and the waterfront again today.