Howzit from Cape Town! Arrived on Monday night and found my way to UCT alright, thank you GPS and the very small “Campus Accommodation 2010” signs. Finding a place to stay here has been hectic. I had first booked a backpackers single (sharing a dorm room w/ another person) for R395/night. Expensive but doable and the cheapest I could find when I was booking my trip. Well about a month before the trip I get an email from the Campus Accommodation people claiming that I had not booked with a travel partner so I could not have that rate…of course I had to respond because if I had booked with a travel partner, we would have booked a double and paid less per person than the sharing rate. They then agreed to try to find me a travel partner. When they could not do that, they said they would charge me the single rate, a whopping and ridiculous R627/night. I tried to negotiate but the lady pretended not to receive my email and said she had booked me at the single rate. We had already paid 100% for 7 nights at the backpackers rate, but when I arrived they wanted me to pay the remainder. I stalled and then avoided because I did not want to pay anymore for a small concrete dorm room w/ a bathroom down the hall.
I then caught two breaks. I was explaining my predicament at the office on Tuesday and Jonathon came to the rescue. He offered me to stay in a small studio apartment he and his brother own in Green Point, about a km away from the stadium. It’s very small but I have my own bathroom and a small kitchen. Unfortunately, the fridge needs to be cleaned so I cannot use it and the place is very dusty. On Wednesday morning (I still stayed in UCT on Tuesday) when I went to talk to the manager in Baxter Hall. Short deviation, my Mom lived for a year in Baxter number 6 and my Aunt lived three years in Baxter, but I was staying in the newer Graça Machel dorm. Anyway, the manager refused to refund my money, but he did say he would honor the rate I was quoted and paid originally. So despite feeling very annoyed for whoever runs the concession of UCT’s dorms during the world cup, at least the contract I signed was honored.
However, I spent last night in the apartment. I have yet to decided for certain if I’m going to stay there, I still have the key for the dorm room at UCT, but I think I will. The only reason I would leave is the dust, my lousy allergic tolerance may make it unbearable but we will see. After tonight I think I will know one way or the other. At least I’m going to go back to UCT to use the gym facilities and the field they included in the room rate.
Anyway, as for work. Yesterday (Wednesday) I went with one of the consultants, Rob, to the West Coast to visit some of his clients. It was interesting because it was a completely new area and landscape for me. We visited a guest house, Duinepos Chales, in the West Coast National Park, Geelbek Restaurant in the park as well, a quite beautiful boutique guest house called Abalone in Paternoster, and a San cultural center. These places know that the winter is a low season, but all of them are having a very difficult time, seeing almost no traffic or turnover whatsoever. They have varying hypothesis that boil down to the normal local South Africans that would come on vacation here have been scared away by the prospect of foreign tourists, but for varying reasons (too far away, tour operators keeping the tourists solely located in the cities, and not the right demographic of tourists) there are no foreign tourists visiting their establishments.
The places in the national park experience their high season in a month because that is when the wildflowers emerge. The chalets were cool and built in a very eco-friendly way, sandbags in the walls. I can imagine if all the succulents were in bloom the whole area would be stunning. The restaurant overlooked a sea lagoon and driving through to Paternoster was interesting, though I fell asleep due to my rushing in the morning and not getting breakfast (bad). The Abalone guest house is set in this quiet fishing village overlooking the sea. According to Rob, Paternoster was the first place that a group of Portuguese explorers laid eyes upon during a trip to sail around the coast of southern Africa. These are supposedly the first words they uttered, the beginning of the lord’s prayer I believe.
We finished off the day at the San cultural center. Unfortunately we needed to get back to the office so we couldn’t stay long but the place seemed really cool. They offer tour experiences with fire making and bows and arrows, and even ranger training. They even host a few Anthropology students who work at the center working and doing research.
I’ve posted photos on facebook for everyone. Link here
PS Thoughts and Prayers with Max, he just had surgery yesterday on that ankle he messed up in his fall some weeks ago. First step on a very long recovery. Poor guy, again, if you’re in Austin go visit for me. Thanks!
what is the exchange rate?