Today was the last day of the Tremendous Hearts tour. At breakfast the waitress knows what I eat now and just brought it to me (2 poached eggs soft and wheat toast). We don't have such attention and service at home. Then the group headed south for a Cape Peninsula tour. It was raining lightly as we drove down the coast past very wealthy communities. We got to the Cape of Good Hope National Park and took the funicular up to the lighthouse. The park had beautiful stone walkways (like our WPA work) giving views out to the ocean and dramatic mountainous coast. Then we headed up the east coast of the Peninsula to lunch and then a visit to penguin colony. 4000 penguins nest on a beach reserve with a beautiful walkway for observation. There were adults, teenagers and babies --penguins that is, not people. After we'd got our fill, we boarded the bus but not before I finally succumbed to commerce and bought two brightly painted African wooden birds. I did bargain the tall skinny fellow down a bit but probably paid double the price a native would pay. Our next stop was Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden. This time I was entranced by Mandela's golden bird of paradise (yellow instead of orange petals) bred specially at Kirstenbosch.
We had a lovely farewell dinner - tapas, fish tacos and panne cota with lots of red wine. It was sad to think this experience is ending and we all have to say goodbye to our new friends. Each family group was gifted with a copy of Melanie Verwoerd's new book, coming out next week on Mandela. I can't wait to read it. But even as it is sad, we are all packing and most of us heading off for safaris in Kruger Park. I know that I will be processing all that I have experienced here for a long time.
No comments:
Post a Comment