It’s the general
creakiness of the train and the way it violently rattles around turns in the
track that make you question its integrity.
The general feeling of uncertainty that permeates the car, the graffiti
that plasters its walls, and the hooligans hanging out the car door that
they’ve propped open are what make you question your choice to make like a
local and take the train in the first place.
Like jazz music,
the call and response went something like this:
“Cape Town? Cape
Town?”
“This train!
Straight, straight, straight to Cape Town!”
Right. We had to switch trains thrice.
Which involves waiting, waiting, waiting.
We followed instructions from
locals riding whatever train we happened to be on at the time.
So, who
knows—maybe that first train would’ve gotten us “straight, straight, straight”
to Cape Town.
But it was late—a
chilly, black night and when we finally glimpsed that Cape Town station sign it
elicited a potent mixture of joy and relief.
This was our ride
back from our own, not so carefully orchestrated trip to Stellenbosch.
Apparently, it’s
rather imperative to have a vehicle, hired or not, to get you around since
taxis are rare and those that exist cater to the opulent winery hotels.
Stellenbosch is
positively splattered with wineries, but they are not within walking
distance.
To solve this
dilemma, we befriended a few kind locals with pickups, which was cheap,
effective, and overall, a smashing success.
A note on safety: Yes, we should have done our research.
However: 1) research is infinitely harder without
internet and
2) we were sick of being regimented.
Let me clarify,
however, that we had the luxury of conducting ourselves in such an impulsive,
cavalier manner because of Ashish’s presence. Were it merely the girls, the unfortunate
reality is, we would have planned entirely differently.
in the pickup
That said, it was
an adventure that I wouldn’t have had any other way.
We visited two
wineries—Spiel and Asara. Both were exquisite. Since winter has a purging effect on tourists, the resort
was also exclusively at our fingertips, making for a bizarrely intimate
experience. It would have been nice to
have the entire day at Stellenbosch as, apparently, the town itself is quite
charming.
At 3,500 feet, however,
our morning was occupied by something infinitely bigger and better!
At 6:30 am, Ashish
and I awoke to climb Table Mountain and caught the city sparkling at sunrise.
At first treading in
darkness, we had the pleasure to watch a candy cotton sky turn tangerine as the
sun peeked over the ridge and splashed the table’s face with a fiery red glow
before daylight drenched the entire city.
A warm breeze and
clear sky awaited us at the summit where Adriana and Ariel joined
us via cable car. Together we spanned
across Table Mountain’s broad surface, basking in the panoramas that escaped me on the
first go-around.
We went down via
cable care this time.
:)
Next we boarded
the aforementioned Stellenbosch train, while Ariel boarded a homeward-bound
plane.
Then there were three and the rest is history.
Love from Cape Town.
Smashing photographs!
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