South Africa - Cape town

Folks,

Took a trip around the mountains here - very close to the city, stunningly beautiful. Weather is very variable here - it has a tendency to blow pretty hard - after all the winds go practically around the world at this latitude.

Three years ago the city decided rebuild the harbour area, following successful examples in places like Baltimore.

The result is indistinguishable from efforts further north - glitzy, fast-foody, pleasant malls. It is big. There is also a crafts section, with jewellery, T-shirts, and local artists work. They made the decision to keep rents low for 5 years, so there are even supermarkets there - with cheap prices because of the enormous popularity of the place. There is even a Imax theatre.

The locally brewed bitter is from Mitchells brewery, also at the waterfront, which meets Andy’s exacting specifications of a good bitter beer, though I keep going back to check.

I am staying in a very nice airy backpackers lodge, with dorms of 4 people, though they have double rooms also. Cost - 30Rand - about $8US per night. It has a kitchen, sitting room, pool room, and beer out of a coke machine.

Getting around is via an excellent bus system, or, for further distances, VW minibuses that leave when they are full. Still chasing a motorcycle - looking for a 250cc Japanese machine - after deciding that my ideas of a 650cc or bigger machine were more based on my ego than necessity.

Coming up - a township tour of the black ghettos.

Remember - to (un)subscribe to this list send mail to za-request@wizzy.com

thank you Melissa for stoking the boilers.

Cheers, Andy!