What a Long, Strange Trip it's Been

We're back in civilization!  No one is more impressed than Chloe, who, from the window of the plane exclaimed repeatedly "There's a real house!  There's a real house!"  and in the airport, in front of about a hundred people shouted, "look...an escalator...and it works!"  First-world all the way.

I head straight for coffee:  Vida e Cafe is a sort of Brazilian-flavored version of Dutch Brothers.  It's a party with dancing baristas and thumping Latin Music.  My perfect latte, best I've had since December, is $1.77 USD and we catch some free internet in the cafe that's so fast I can't keep up.  I love it here.  

And, hey, look:  there's white people.  Tons of 'em.  For the most part they speak plain English.  Instantly we blend in, no longer ridiculously identifiable, able to pass for locals.  Crazy.

Rental car:  Driver on the right, in the left lane.  Okay.  Manual transmission shifting with the left hand?  Hmm...no problem.  

Cape Town is an amazing destination and our first stop is in Camp's Bay.  Beautiful beach, gourmet restaurants.  It reminds us more of LaJolla, CA than Africa.  Dinner's at Hussar's where I enjoy Bontebuck, Kudu and Eland bringing my safari experience to a delicious close (cue "Circle of Life" from The Lion King).

There's much to de here but we're content to hang out in Camp's Bay and continue to enjoy Cape Town as we move to the next town over, Sea Point.  Sunday is the Cape Argus Cycle Tour, final day of the Giro del Capo bike race and with an amateur event bringing the total number of participants to over 35,000 it's billed as the largest cycling event in the world.  Our hotel room overlooks the course 1km from the finish and all day long there is a spectacular parade of cyclists passing by.