One Month Left in Cape Town

I sit here today finding it hard to believe that I only have one month left in Cape Town. Time has flown by the past 3 and a half months and I've had incredible experiences all over Cape Town, South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and even Zambia for a few moments. After returning from spring break in early April, Cape Town changed from a place I was abroad to a place I felt that I knew so well it was my home, at least for the time being. I have become accustomed to so many things that will disappear in a month's time, so I want to make sure I make the most of my final month here and leave knowing that I've experienced everything I can in Cape Town. The things that will be the strangest to leave are the things that I've become accustomed to that stood out so prominently in my first few days; like having several locks on my door, bars on my windows, fences around my apartment, minibusses yelling "Wynberg" at me constantly, internet not working, sayings like "is it?" "how's it?" "you keen?", not to mention all of the characters from the Rugby squad. However, we decided that we wouldn't let our final weeks slip away.

With only one month left, the final month began with a bang. It was Cinco De Mayo this Saturday and there was plenty of reason to celebrate. Classes would be ending in just about a week and we had but one month to enjoy Cape Town. So Allie, Natalie and Demi planned to host a bunch of people for a fiesta with typical Mexican food and drink all day Saturday.

Cinco De Mayo

After a day of drinking and hanging out in the beautiful weather, a large group of us went to Ponchos, our favorite local Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was a fun day, filled with few memories and delicious food. After the whole day of festivities there was very little energy at the dinner table and few made it out after dinner was over. I headed back to sleep, having enjoyed my day of Mexican heritage.

Demi didn't make it to dinner and called it a night in Mexican attire early

I woke up the next morning, not particularly looking to pick up a glass of alcohal, but ended up joining a group of friends to head over to the Constantia Wine and Food Festival. Jake, Karina, Sarah, Alix, Louise and I comprised the group and we headed out before noon to spend the day tasting wines, cheeses and foods in beautiful Constantia. We arrived just after noon and it could not be a nicer day. I had only driven through Constantia to this point in the semester, so I was excited to see how beautiful it really is.

Tom and Denise spent part of their honeymoon in Constantia and always raved about it. It did not take long to see why they loved it so much. The views of the mountains and beautiful vineyards and terrain make it seem like you are in Tuscany. Hard to believe it is only a short cab ride away from Mowbray, but it is. We entered the ground and were given a wine glass as we entered,. Many of the girls were not sure they were going to be able to ingest wine after the Cinco de Mayo festivities, but I felt great once I saw the breuatiful sights and sun.

Walking around the grounds of Constantia Uitsig

We got acclimated in Constantia by first walking around the grounds. They had horses, a huge reservoir and vineyards every way you looked. It was incredible and we walked around with our first glass of white from Constantia Glen admiring the sights. I decided after a couple of minutes that I wanted to go back to the tents and get more wine and cheese. So we split up into smaller groups depending on what everyone wanted to do. I hit the wine with Sarah, Alix and Louise and found some delicious wines, particularly Sauvignon Blancs and Blanc de Noirs.

Enjoying the sights with some delicious wine

Not wanting to simply take from the vendors (and also because they never give you a full glass) I headed to the tents the third time around with the desire to get a nice meal and a full glass of wine. I went with a nice Bland de Noir and had an incredible Steak Tartare. The food and wine was so nice I felt like I never wanted to leave this festival. I struck up a conversation with a few local residents. They were two older men, in their late 40s or early 50s and they told me that they lived here, drove to work in Cape Town and had been to Chicago for business several times.

The band came on around 16h00 and things started to fill up

We shared a few more moments before we parted. It made me realize how many alternatives there are to a traditional American suburban lifestyle. As I stood there in Constantia with children running around the field playing with their soccer and rugby balls I considered how great of a place this would be to live and raise a family. I appreciated the experience of being abroad so much in that moment, because as I experienced a new place I realized how many places there are in this world I haven't been and how many opportunities there are out there. Sometimes we get far too caught up in the hustle and bustle of New York and Boston in the Northeast. The mentality is that I need to live here, work there so I can make this much and do this and that. But traveling and seeing the world helps me appreciate that sometimes when I feel cornered into a situation, there are many different places, and ways to live your life. It seems so obvious, but sometimes I forget that.

One final look before leaving the Festival

We headed back to Mowbray, sad to leave the Constantia Uitsig area, but incredibly happy that we'd been. I arrived back and was reminded that I ahd agreed to go to dinner that night with the Lehigh girls and their friend who was visiting in town. So, fresh off of a day of eating and drinking, I headed out to Clifton to enjoy an evening of eating and drinking.

at the Bungalow

We ahd a nice dinner out in Cliftona nd dinner was unexpectedly quick. We talked a bit at dinner about how time was winding down and we only had precious little time to enjoy Cape Town. With Tom and Denise coming in just over a week I realized that once they got here, I'd essentially be on vacation from everyone for a week then come back to Mowbray and only have 5 or 6 days until I leave. This conversation gave us some energy, so when we returned form  dinner around nine, we decided that we were going to do the irresponsible thing and not do our homework or get a good night's rest for the week. Rather, we decided that we would go out tonight and celebrate Bryson's 20th birthday which was the next day by hitting the Casino.

I can't tell you how everything happened, why everything happened or when everything happened. But by 02:30 one member of our group had been kicked out of the casino, 3 people had won over R1000 on the blackjack table ($160), Bryson had been getting served free drinks all night, Dillon and I were both in suits and we were all without a concern in the world, despite the fact that we had class in 6 hours. Rather than going home from here we decided that with our luck on the tables and with Bryson enjoying his birthday we would go to a club in town.

Perhaps it was the suits we wore, perhaps it was the fact that we were oozing with confidence from our casino winnings, but whatever the reason was, we were escorted to a VIP table in the middle of the club because of the way we appeared to the club management. Naturally we ordered some Cuban cigars and some Patron ad a way to reward ourselves for doing the irresponsible thing. It was one of the nights that defined my stay in  Cape Town and brought us closer. Everything just went our way that night. We returned to Mowbray around 5h00 and kept enjoying ourselves, much to the dismay of those who decided to do the responsible thing and get a good night's sleep. That Monday of classes was miserable, but none of us would have traded it for anything. It was a great way to live in the moment and make the most out of what could have been an ordinary boring Sunday night.