Cape Town Hello

Hello! Goeie Dag! Molo Kunjani!

Welcome to beautiful Cape Town, where I’ve landed my feet for a good little while. From the moment I stepped off my ship and ventured into this city by the sea, I’ve been amazed at how friendly everybody is.

And I really mean that. Cape Town is a city of talkers–everybody on the street says hello and wants to talk. In all my travels, I find it quite rare to be in such a big city where folks are so willing to chat about anything and everything.

Yesterday I went down to Kalk Bay to check out the fish-and-chips scene and ended up having lunch at the legendary Kalky’s. (You know a lunch shack is authentic when the local police are eating there. Also, when your fried fish comes with a kiss.)

As I sat there on a blue painted bench, I took a break from my hearty plate of snoek and chips (with red sauce!), looked up and saw the faces of Cape Town: every shade of skin, every age, every dress, every religion. That’s when it hit me, in spite of all the talk about South Africa being the rainbow nation, I felt it there and then.

Cape Town is a living, breathing United Nations. (In fact, the real UN might want to take a few pointers from this city.) As far as the “Rainbow Nation” goes, I fundamentally disagree. Rainbows only have seven colors, and in Cape Town, I’ve already counted at least seven thousand and seven, and that’s not including all the colorful houses of the Bo-Kaap.

I intend to count at least seven thousand more before long. That’s the magic of Cape Town.