On my last stop in Africa, I could finally relax.
Cape Town was stunning in ways I hadn’t imagined before. What made it particularly memorable was the backdrop of a flat tabletop, like someone had sliced off the forehead of a creature, and the splashes of lime greens amid grays in layers of texture on the mountain. The city lay at the bottom like a child curled up next to a big stuffed animal.
Cape Town comfort: I could finally let go because convenience was back, probably due to the number of Western tourists and the white communities that stayed there since colonial times. But the edge of Africa, the feeling of a pulsing source of energy, was gone, at least in the city center. (Another sign that life and tourism here was easier here than other places I’d gone to: The abundance of Americans, the likes of whom I hadn’t seen for the rougher part of my travels throughout Southeast Asia and Africa.) The downtown has some nice buildings but overall is not that pretty, and it reminded me of dodgy parts of San Francisco. At least it was relatively clean. Million-dollar estates in posh neighborhoods of minimalist modern mansions in SeaPoint, Clifton and Camps Bay perched on the cliff sides near the Seapoint Promenade like barnacles on a coral reef. This was a 180-degree turn from the waterfront of Dakar, Senegal.
Curing boredom while traveling: By now I was nearing halfway through my journey, but I never felt lonely, not in the aching sense of the word. It was boredom that threatened to dull my days, and a restless impatience to make decisions, to get out and explore, to try to do it all. I didn’t think I’d get bored while traveling, because I was constantly on the go and seeing new things, but when you’re by yourself, there is also a lot of downtime, at the airport, waiting for an Uber, sitting in your Airbnb figuring out what to do for the day. I realized I was both much less introverted than I thought, as I enjoyed being among people, and much more so than I expected. Sometimes I wanted peace from other humans and their opinions. No matter the situation, however, a good story, whether a book or TV show, could always cure the boredom.
Skipped the wine tasting for nature: In Cape Town, I headed for nature instead. I was looking for an expanse of cliffs and shrubs and formations that would make me feel like I was at the tip of a flat world looking down into an abyss. Indeed, at some points I was so high up, when I took pictures you could see the curvature of the earth.
Table Mountain
Cape Point
Cape of Good Hope (the most southwestern tip of the continent):
V&A Waterfront, Gardens area, city center
Bo-Kaap neighborhood
