After we left Capetown and before we got to the winery we stopped at a mall to get some snacks, and our guide and driver had to buy groceries for the upcoming night of camping where they cook dinner for us. The mall was beautiful and could have been in Anywhere USA.
I sort of felt bad about myself for being surprised that everything was so modern. As North Americans we often forget that there are other developed countries...when one thinks “Africa”, one tends to think “3rd world”. We can be a very narrow minded bunch of people.
Anyhow, we wandered through the stores while we waited for our fellows to finish their shopping and then continued on our way. These stops are also most welcomed as bathroom breaks. We are all a bunch of middle aged women who have to pee a lot. My middle aged peeps know what I mean. Wellington, our guide, is more than willing to have the driver pull over to the side of the road for a “bushie-bushie” stop, but there are no bushes. And there are snakes. So there’s that.
There are miles and miles of vineyards and fruit trees. The trees are mainly apricot, and some peach, but mostly apricot....and the results are everywhere...apricot jam, apricot juice, apricot chutney, apricot marinade, apricot glazes, good thing I like apricots.
We are seeing a lot of ostriches in the fields, herds (flocks? I need to look that up) and they look so silly. Their heads are always down (eating, not hiding in the sand, which I’m sure everyone knows is an urban myth) but when hear a vehicle they look up and seem so startled and surprised. They must see thousands of vehicles a day, so you’d think they’d learn, but they are apparently a really stupid bird.
We stopped at lunch time at a funky little place in the tiny town of Barrydale. I had a cappuccino to die for since all the coffee in all the hotels is instant Nescafé. Seriously. South Africa exports some of the best coffee beans in the world, yet they serve Nescafé? It was the same in Peru and Tanzania also. I don’t get it. And never, ever is there cream...only milk or Coffee-Mate. It’s extremely sad.
I also had a butternut squash quiche. The waitress had such a heavy accent that I wasn’t sure if I was getting butternut or buffalo, but I like both so it was ok either way.
The whole meal was R100, which is about $10. Food is very reasonably priced.
I’m not sure how long it will take to download these pictures, so I am posting this now, even though it’S short.
No comments:
Post a Comment