Day 43
Liquid Sunshine
Rain! It was a little refreshing, actually, as we’d just been through 42 straight days with only an occasional shower, and those were on sea days. To wake up and see the “liquid sunshine” was kinda nice. It did make seeing Table Mountain impossible, at least in the morning.
It’s not what’s in that picture that’s important, it’s what’s NOT in that picture. Here’s the same shot, taken yesterday:
Freaky, right? Table Mountain just isn’t there. We hit up the Starbucks right around the corner for a coffee and a muffin. I had a “milk tart” flavoured muffin, which is a white cake muffin with a creamy filling similar to condensed milk. Strange, but delicious. Magda and Ernest picked us up early and we headed to a nice little coffee shop for late brekkie/early lunch. I went full Asian with a báhn mi and a cà phê sữa đá (Vietnamese sandwich and iced coffee) both of which were excellent. With the constant rain, activities would be limited today, which is just fine with us, as we’re both absolutely knackered. The only way I’m even still upright and functional enough to write this entry is I’ve got my earbuds in and I’m jamming to “Stepped Into the Building”. Fair warning if you click on this… it’s an ear worm and it will live rent-free in your head for awhile.
That was fun, yes? Mad respect from me, anyone who can legitimately rhyme “Mozambique” without it feeling forced. Anyway…
After brunch, we headed over to a shopping centre for a quick look around.
They had a nice grocery store there, which reminded me a lot of Urban Fare, a grocery store near our house that’s no longer there. It’s a Sav-On Foods now. Regardless, it had much the same feel.
I love poking around a grocery store in a foreign country. You never know what you’ll find. I noticed a nice selection of biltong (dried meat, similar to jerky) and droewors (dried sausage) in this store.
Rob and I both scored nice stuff in the shopping centre. Rob found some dinner napkins he’d been searching for in every shop since we got here and in the course of me looking for a shirt similar to one I saw a guy wearing earlier, I instead found a toque(!) It’s stretchier and more comfy than any of the toques I have now, so I’m pretty happy. Plus, it’s got the South African flag on it, which I love. Canada and South Africa both knocked it out of the park when they redesigned their flags.
We had a short drive through the Malay neighbourhood with the colourful houses, but the rain kept the tour a window-shopping adventure. (We saw the neighbourhood on foot the last time we were in town, 2019)
Headed back to Magda and Ernest’s house for a bit, for some visiting and a nice glass of wine. This was a good one!
Back to the hotel early afternoon. We were both absolutely exhausted and there’s much to be done when packing up for the trip home, not the least is finding all the receipts for things we’ve bought so we can fill out the customs paperwork. Separating laundry from the clean clothes, wrapping up the bottles of wine we bought, etc etc etc. Rob started packing up his stuff while I walked back to Mama Africa restaurant.
That picture is from our dinner there a few nights ago. I include it so you can see the t-shirt on the guy on the right. It says “Mama Africa” on it and has a nice shape of Africa in African patterns. Nice! I asked them at the time if they sold them. Now, some conversation happened, but with the live music, the other noise, and unfamiliar accents (both theirs and mine), there were some seriously crossed wires and misunderstandings. I did finally get across to them that I wanted one of those shirts. They sent the manager over, so the whole conversation started again.
Eventually, I was told that they didn’t have any in my size. Ok, at least I tried.
But they said that they could get some, if I could come back in a couple of days. At the time, I didn’t know that our new hotel would be so close, so I got excited. We went back yesterday and they still didn’t have one, but they took my email and said they’d let me know.
Got the email last night, went back over there this afternoon right after Magda and Ernest dropped us at the hotel. Here’s where it gets interesting.
They don’t sell t-shirts. The shirt I had indicated on the marimba player was actually an employee shirt - and an old version. So the shirt they got for me was a current employee shirt (!) They had me pose with the manager with it, presumably for their social media channels, and then had several conversations amongst themselves to figure out how much to charge me for it. So while the shirt is very different than the one I originally wanted, I love the one I got, as it’s not a souvenir shirt, but an actual employee uniform shirt. Very cool!
Geez, I look tired in that picture. We went to our little tapas bar for dinner, since it was very close. Had a really nice pasta dish with beef short ribs and an interesting cream sauce.
Back to the hotel, dragging ourselves up the stairs to our room. Rob’s almost done packing and I’m almost done with this post. That’s a good thing, as I’m struggling to stay upright while finishing this up. I think I’m going to save my packing for tomorrow. Off to bed….