And another thing…

Not to sound like the people I distain, but damn it why don’t you a t least work for your twenty cents? In Grahamstown the streets were filled with young children in face paint miming on the street for money. The children would be frozen in a pose on the street like a mannequin, when they heard the clink of change in their donation cup they would begin to move like robots into a new pose. There were dozens of child mimes, and each had his/her own flavor. I appreciate the heart and art behind that hustle. Get an empty box and beat the top of it like a drum, sing a song off key, but work for it. A teenage boy begging doesn’t cut it.

Can I get 20 cents?

So after that amazing meal at Nyoni’s Kraal, Marcus and I head out down the street in search an internet café. We crossed the main street and had started to pass a Russell furniture store (kind of like Rent – a – center) when a young colored man/child approached Marcus and asked for some change. There was an older man on the corner and as Marcus was telling the boy he didn’t have any money, another boy crossed the street and walked up on the side of Marcus. From behind Marcus I could see the black boy pull back his sleeve to flash a knife, as the colored boy asked Marcus again for money. The boy with the knife told Marcus to "just give up the money," and we started to pull away and walk back toward the main road. The kid with the knife broke out, but the colored boy continued to follow us begging for money. He said, "look it’s just a torch, it’s a torch" as he pulled back his sleeve to display his flashlight. I said, " yeah, but your friend pulled a knife on us." He replied, " oh come on can I get 20 cents? I wasn’t going to let him stab you!"

What!?! "Can I get 20 cents?" Even on the streets of Cape Town 20 cents won’t get you a hit of whatever it is your smoking that makes you think someone is going to give you money after your botched attempted armed robbery goes bad.

Lesson Learned: follow the guidebook’s instructions and hop a cab after dark in downtown Cape Town.

Side note: I am extremely proud of Marcus, because he didn’t panic, kept his composure, and ultimately kept both of us safe. Love you Babe.

Happy Ending: we walked back to the restaurant and had a bartender hail us a cab. When we got back to the B&B we found out that one of the men staying at Blencathra was approached by a duo matching the description of our would-be- robbers who threatened to stab him as well we he declined to give them money.

Nyoni’s Kraal….

We had dinner tonight at Nyoni’s Kraal, which is a beautiful restaurant and shabeen "bar" that serves traditional African food. The restaurant had soapstone floors and wooden pillars designed like trees spread throughout the restaurant. The centerpiece of the room was a stunning large stone fireplace. Determined to try something new, Marcus ordered Mopane Worms Salad. These worms are found on the underside of tree stumps and logs. And yes, he was thinking of Timon & Pumba when he ordered them. Not to be left out I tasted the Mopane Worms, which were small, grubby worms with short legs and fat black heads. The salad was covered with these crispy whole worms. Texturally, the worms were crunchy on the outside and tough, chewy on the inside (a little like overcooked meat.) They had a strange aftertaste, not particularly bad, but not particularly tasty either. I order the game special, which happened to be Condu, which is similar to a spring bok or an antelope. It was very tasty and reminded me of venison. We also had Samps (beans similar to black eyed peas), Mealie Pap (similar to bland congealed grits), creamed spinach, butternut squash, and an EXCELLENT chicken stew. Every bite of the chicken stew was like a flavor explosion. Hands down it was my favorite dish of the evening. We ended our meal with a special dessert, Malvale, which was a chocolate sponge cake with ice cream and coffee. The entire meal was delicious, and despite the restaurant gift shop, the atmosphere managed feel authentic rather than theme parkish.

Table Mountain….

Nelson Mandela said, "Table Mountain is a Gift to the World." There really are no words to describe the majesty of the view from Table Mountain. Walking the cliffs I found myself whispering over and over again "How beautiful." I walked until I came to a place where I needed to sit and breathe. Trying to take it all in.

Sitting on a stone at the summit of Table Mountain, staring down at Robben Island, I became intensely aware of the beautiful of God’s grace. There were no other words or thoughts. I just sat there staring out, feeling full for the first time in a very long time. There was a tinge of sadness too, when I turned to Marcus and said there are so many people in the world that don’t know that a place like this even exists. This clarity, this beauty, this radiance is beyond the imagination. I wish I could bottle the joy and gratitude I felt on the top of that mountain. I told Marcus looking out at the city beneath a brilliant varied hued sky, "This is a place where God lives… you look out here and know in the center of your chest that God is real."

Blencathra…

We are staying at a B&B in Tamboerskloof. This area of Cape Town is extraordinary! The town is built on the hills that rest in front of Table Mountain. The view from our bedroom window is the skyline of downtown Cape Town and the mountains that line the horizon behind it. This B&B is currently being renovated but we have a quaint room with a newly renovated bathroom. The area has a quiet grace, which is just what I need in this morning.

The Road to Cape Town…

We left Grahamstown yesterday evening to head to Cape Town. The greyhound bus travels daily overnight from Durban to Cape Town. We were supposed to be at the bus drop off point 30 minutes before the departure time. Our bus, which was scheduled to leave at 7:20, arrived at Kimberly Hall around 8:15. The central greyhound station was unable to locate our bus or our driver, so we were relieved when he decided roll into the driveway at Rhodes University. The greyhound experience in South Africa was very different than the States. There was no trucker smell, or scary bathroom. The coach was clean, with two drivers and a hostess that offered coffee, tea, and cookies throughout the night. Periodically the coach stopped to gas up, each time at a Shell station, and gave passengers a chance to use a larger bathroom, purchase snacks and stretch their legs. It was not the most comfortable night’s sleep we’ve ever had, but well worth it in that we arrived in Cape Town at 9:30 in the morning awake, ready to shower and hit the streets.

Bunny Chow?

On the flight from Dakar, Marcus started watching one of the in-flight movies, Bunny Chow, which featured a prominent food in South Africa called bunny chow. Bunny chow is half of a loaf of bread with the insides carved out that is filled with some kind of meat or bean mix. For lunch we went to a halal Indian food stand on the boardwalk and Marcus ordered Bunny Chow. His bread was covered in curry chicken. He asked the woman in the stand where the name Bunny Chow was derived from – she said she didn’t know but the food was popular in Durban. He asked the Indian girl in the Internet café if she knew where the name came from and she laughed and said, " You should ask the lady at the stand."

On the ride to Grahamstown, Marcus asked Jill if she knew where the term Bunny Chow came from, and of course she did. She was also the only person we met today willing to share. "Bunny Chow, I believe, came from the time of apartheid. Blacks could not eat in restaurants, so the restaurants created bunny chow, where they take out the center of the bread and drop the food inside. It was a way to sell food to blacks that was cheap and easy. My boys were big surfers and they would often eat bunny chow because it was so cheap and easy to get on the beach, many young white people ate it as well because it was so cheap and accessible. But yes, I think that’s where it comes from."

Bunny Chow = Jungle Bunny Food.

Toss them a bag of bread filled with meat so they don’t have to eat off our plates and utensils.

It made my stomach turn.

Can you imagine….

"ah yes, what’s the soup of the day?"

"oh sir, we have clam chowder and nigger stew."

"oh! I’ll have the nigger stew, and please give me a plate of crackers while your at it!"

{SIGH}

South Africa feels like a nation stumbling in its shoes because it hasn’t realized its feet are big enough to fill them.