So here we are in Mount Frere, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Here are some first impressions:

• Though at first we were hesitant to live in a gated apartment building, we are now quite relieved. The parking is on a first come first served basis—we usually grab a space under the portal, but the other day we got in late, and just nestled the car right inside the gate, near the road. An hour later one of our neighbors came knocking and suggested we move the car further into the complex, because ‘naughty boys’ might throw rocks at the car since it was so close to the gate. Now we park as far from the gate as possible.

Our apartment building in Mount Frere

• There’s a scrapyard across the street from our flat. It’s better than TV.

Scrapyard

• Everything runs on ‘African time’—up to 3 hours late, or not at all.
• Don’t ask for tea, because it’s boiled milk and Nescafe or a tea bag. Water does not figure in.
• The handshake: First a regular handshake; switch into an upward hand clasp (if that makes sense); then down for another regular handshake.
• We’ve been to the SHOPRITE several times, and have found most of the necessities: eggs, cheddar & feta cheeses, Bran flakes, soy milk, cabbage, onions, potatoes, tomatoes, pasta, even veggie burgers! Andy and I are wondering if it’s because of the Pakistani/halal community, because no one else seems to have any problem with massive meat consumption. For example, check out this grocery store:

The 'Eat Sum Meat' grocery store

• The electricity goes out constantly. I’ve been putting off writing a report at the office all week because the power has been out for 4 days straight. We have electricity at home, but that goes out too. We finally bought candles, and we try to make the best of it (and the cold cheese sandwiches we’re relegated to).
• In addition to the power going out, so does the water.
• I’m only just starting to get used to some of the looks we’re getting. The most common look is: “Do those white people know they’re in Mount Frere? I think they took the wrong exit.”
• The street is always bustling. Here are a few examples of what you might see:

Chickens sold on every corner.

Hungry? Why not buy a sheep! Only R1200.

KFC, as promised.

Medicinal herbs for sale.

Cape Hair Salon, located in a container. Maybe I'll get my hair did!

• Everyone is exceedingly nice. Every time we say hello in Xhosa (molo or molweni), or thank you (enkosi), they look at us like we’re their first born learning how to walk. Such love! It has really helped the transition to Mount Frere, and our work with ASAP and the Hlomelikusasa office.
• Oh, and let me not forget to mention the rats! Well, the only evidence I have is the poop (Andy and I bought some caulk to seal the ceiling so the rat pooh can’t drop onto our heads at night), but we also hear them running in the  ceiling. I’m still not convinced it’s rats–they sound more like 15 pound dogs running full tilt across the roof. Oh, how I wish it was dogs and not rats…

A Vineyard in Franschhoek

A couple of weeks ago, before we left Cape Town, we went with a couple of friends to the Wine Country around Stellenbosch for a couple of days. The trip was wonderful – the weather perked up for the first time in over a week. We got out to Franschhoek around noon. The name translates as “French Corner” and for those lucky few coming here for Christmas is where we almost rented a house but then decided not to. Well, the bad news in that regard is that Franschhoek is really beautiful. We checked into our cute B&B and ambled out of town along a quiet country lane to a vineyard. The surroundings were eye pleasing to say the least – the town is in a quiet valley surrounded by 300 degrees of rocky mountains and full to the brim of vineyards. Our first tasting was about R15 ($2) and yielded a tasty Sauvignon Blanc. We then stopped for lunch, at our B&B host’s recommendation, at the Vineyard Brasserie.

Vineyard Brasserie

We were the only people there, the sun was still beaming down although it was cool in the shade, and we had an amazing lunch (yes, with another bottle of wine of course) rounded off with a cheese plate with the most interesting ginger-watermelon chutney. Yum.

This little guy was at the Brasserie with us

We whiled away the rest of the day with a further wine tasting, quick game of Uno and a ridiculously brief dip in the freezing swimming pool. Dinner at Reubens was excellent – it’s supposed to be one of the best restaurants in the country although personally I preferred our lunch, especially for the better vegetarian options.

Dessert at Reuben's didn't last long

The next day we drove up over the Franschhoek pass, pausing to admire the view over Franschhoek in the valley and to pick up a bottle of wine to give to our Cape Town host Priscilla.

The mauve-a-tron was in fine form as we wound our way down the back of the mountains and took the long way round to Stellenbosch, where we had a light lunch at Bean. Stellenbosch is the better-known center of wine country – there are approximately one billion wineries within the district. It is also a college town and much more metropolitan than Franschhoek.

We headed home after one last wine tasting, at Boschendal, which was not the place we thought we were going to but turned out to be a lovely estate. The wine wasn’t anything to write home (or blog) about, but perhaps by that stage we were spoiled and just being snobby about it. Over the two days we picked up quite a few bottles which have made it here to Mount Frere to comfort us on quiet nights in.

Tasting at Boschendal

It’s hard out there for a monkey, as we learned bright and early one morning at Monkey Land in Tsitsikamma National Forest. We saw squirrel monkeys, lemurs, baboons, gibbons, and a few others we can’t remember the names for. Oh yes, and a quick squirrel monkey gang rape. Apparently monkeys are retardedly horney.

Now let me back up a bit: We decided to take a road trip from Cape Town to Mount Frere, with pit stops in De Hoop Nature Reserve, Tsitsikamma National Forest, and a village called Hogsback.
In De Hoop we stayed at a wicked place called Buchu Bushcamp. We drove in on the most god-awful road I’ve ever encountered—and being from New Mexico, I’m used to god-awful roads. We got there a bit late, and didn’t get to fully explore it, but there were beautiful birds (and avid French birdwatchers); a sweet camp host who reminded me of Thurman Murman from Bad Santa; gorgeous sand dunes; and exotic plants.

Next we stopped in Tsitsikamma, home of the words highest bungee jump at 216 meters high. No, neither of us decided to do it. I had been bungee jumping at Victoria Falls once so I thought maybe I could do it again, and Andy thought maybe he should prove himself … but one look over the bridge and our knees started to wobble.  216 meters is really freaking high. Instead we took a walk to the “big tree.” Everyone seems to have a big tree. But it was big: 800 years old, and so wide around that it would take 8 people holding hands to reach all around it. We stayed at a backpackers called Tube n’ Axe, which was otherwise entirely occupied by 20 year old American girls all trying to sleep with the hot South African bartender (who reminded us both of Future Man from Bottle Rocket). After watching them play beer pong and flirt heavily, we decided to watch the stars from our tent and enjoy the uncharacteristically hot evening.

Our last stop was to a village called Hogsback. Their claim to fame?: The place JRR Tolkein based The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings. Upon further reading, it turns out that’s basically a load of crap, but they have run wild with the Hobbit theme. We stayed in a hippy-dippy backpackers called Away With The Faeries. The guy at the reception desk was wearing a T-shirt that said: Tap H2O Makes You Lesbian. If you know what that means, please let me know. Anyway, our double room was called The Hobbit, but if we’d splashed out, we might’ve been put in Frodo’s suite. Too bad for us. But we still enjoyed our room, and Andy even made a fire! The next morning we took an awesome hike down to Swallow Tail Falls and got to enjoy a lovely little waterfall. We took the “very difficult” path back to our car, and yeah, it was effing difficult. Practically straight up, hoisting ourselves up jagged boulders. Fun times!

And then, finally, on to Mount Frere!!! Stay tuned…

We just found out that one of the women we visited on our first township visit died from AIDS yesterday. We remember her very clearly because she was the first woman Baba took us to see. We gave her sheets, and a small blanket. Her tiny two-room shack was especially grim—it was dank, dirty, and had a terrible stench. The woman herself was skin and bones, and too weak to stand. She left three children: 16, 14, and 8 (I think), who are now a Child Headed family. It is so sad. Now these kids will have to fend for themselves. I can’t even imagine. They already barely had anything, and now they have even less! It’s devastating to think of what will happen to those kids—and there are thousands upon thousands more…

Kayalitcha (“New Hope”) is a township outside of Cape Town w/ over a million residents. We went there specifically for the ‘Gogos Lunch’ at an orphanage called Baphumelele. The Gogos Lunch is a twice weekly event, where the grandmothers of the township get together to have lunch, sew, knit, and craft. Some of the Gogos are into their 80’s and nearly blind, but they sit there for hours, making beautiful shweshwe skirts and dresses.

Rosie feeding some cuties. (photo from Baphumelele.org)

Actually, once we got there, we hardly spent any time with the Gogos. We got to Baphumelele and this incredible guy called Simphiwe gave us a tour of the entire orphanage. Everything they are doing is absolutely phenomenal. Rosalia Mashale began the orphanage in the early 80’s when she was basically just a teacher. One day, a toddler’s parents didn’t come to pick him up, and so she reported the baby to child services. When it was decided that the child would need to be put into an orphanage, they asked Mama Rosie if she would just take the child. Since then, she has begun this orphanage, and had as many as many as 150 kids—from 10 days to 25 years old.

We saw their rooms: rows of triple bunkbeds, all spic n’ span. Girls on one level, boys on another. Some of the children live in much cozier home-style housing, with 8 kids to a flat, and 2 house mothers coming in in shifts. How they are able to find enough house mothers and staff is beyond me, because it is basically on a volunteer basis.

Kids in educare centre (photo from Baphumelele.org)

We walked through the buildings on this very informative tour, but what obviously sticks out to you are the children. As soon as they see you they come runnng; begging to be picked up. They are so starved for love and affection. Baphumelele has several German volunteers, and watching them care for the children really reminded me of mama gorillas. They would pick up one baby, hold her for a few minutes, and then put her down and pick up another baby. There was a constant stream of kids that just needed attention—and not at all in cloying way. Kids would run up and just hold my hand, pretzel themselves around my legs, beg to be picked up, carried, high-fived, thumbs-uped—it was overwhelming but moving.

The project has expanded drastically over the 20 years it has been running. They just recently opened an AIDS and disease awareness facility, full of pamphlets and educational opportunities for community caregivers.

Simphiwe was especially proud to show us the latest addition to Baphumelele: a hospice type place for early/middle aged people living with Hiv and AIDS. The government has given them funding for 16 people to live there. Sixteen—it hardly seems worth it, but of course it IS.

FYI, if you’re in SA in the summer and wishing you had a chillin’ beach chair while you soak up the sun: Baphumelele has a small, grassroots woodwork shop which produces really nice beach chairs.

So, that was our trip to Kayalitcha! Baphumelele was such an amazing place. It was just a small taste of what is going on in South Africa, and what we are about to experience in Mount Frere.

It may not be winter in the sense that we know, but the weather here has been INSANE!!! I wish I could post video of the schizophrenically torrential rains we had this week.

Rainy day view in Muizenberg

Last week was lovely: sunny, warm, breezy. But earlier this week was monsoon-tastic. Beth (ASAP’s web designer) even heard that there was snow on the mountains. But the rain around Muiz is off the chain. And not just rain: we’ve had 80km/hr winds, and lots of hail. We read in the news that the roof was ripped off of a Pick n’ Pay grocery store. And 3″ thick floor to ceiling glass panels and some roofing were knocked out of a restaurant from the waves at high tide the other night!!! Scary.

I hope the Mauve-a-tron’s windows are all rolled up, or we’re going to have to start calling ‘er the Mold-a-tron.