Back home after almost 48 hours of traveling. I'll give you the basics and try to upload pictures later this weekend.

We spent our last day in Cape Town proper doing the typical tourist activity: going to the top of Table Mountain. But being...shall we say...optimistic, we decided to walk from our B&B in Bo-Kaap all the way to the top. I have no idea how far it was, but it took 1 1/4 hours to hike to the trailhead and another 1 1/4 hours or so to get up Platteklip Gorge to the top. The first half involved breathing in lots of diesel exhaust and waving away taxi drivers saying we really should catch a ride instead of walking. The second half was the hardest hike I've ever done in my life. That includes 20-mile-a-day treks through the Sierra Nevada with a 35-pound pack on my back! You see, it's all steps. Big steps. No problem for guys over 6 feet tall, but a bit of a haul for this 5'7" gal to hoist herself from one step to the next. It's also very, very steep. We made it, but I was sweaty and exhausted and not breathing so well by the top. And I consider myself fit! (Maybe not anymore.)

That said, it was gorgeous. The first day the weather had been clear enough up top to open it up to visitors out of the last three days. We looked at the fynbos vegetation on the top, drank a ton of water to recover, talked to a nice guy who had come to South Africa from Germany decades before and then got into the revolving cable car to ride down and soak in the view.

We opted for a taxi to get back down to the City Bowl area. It was full of tourists: Brits, Finnish, German and one of the more obnoxious Americans spouting "gee, shucks, your government could make a lot of money if they just caught Osama! haw haw haw!" kind of stuff. I was cringing. I was thinking maybe it's time to sew a Canadian flag onto the backpack... But we survived.

We had our last city dinner at a Cape Malay restaurant on Wale Street not too far from the B&B. Also found out our fellow guests at the B&B had been almost-mugged outside the B&B the day before... Thanks to some attentive neighbors, the would-be thieves got the you-know-what kicked out of them and the tourists held onto their wallets. But I digress. The meal was fantastic. Cape Malay food is hard to describe. I guess it's Indian with a twist. Almost Asian at moments. Very good for meat eaters and, as usual, pretty limited for vegetarians. Veggie curry. Most excellent. Sean had some kind of sweet-and-sour lamb thing.

The next day we got our rental car. Sean bravely took the wheel -- on the "wrong" side of the car, on the "wrong" side of the street -- and we drove through morning traffic out to the N1 and on to the wine country. We tried three different wineries. Fairmont had some good wines and some very tasty goat cheeses. Boschendal is one of the oldest wineries in the area and had tasty wines and a nice tour of the facilities. And Spier, well, we never made it to a wine tasting because I wanted to go pet a cheetah. Yes, I'm officially a Tourist. Hey, what can I say? How often do you get the chance to pet a cheetah for $10 and have the money go toward cheetah conservation? So we petted Joseph's back and sides while he purred and nuzzled his handler. Good times all around.

We spent the night with a friend of a friend in Noordhoek, which is a beach community maybe 40 minutes south of Cape Town proper. She was such a generous hostess to take us in for our last two nights! We tried Cuban food SA-style, which was -- once again -- not so great for this vegetarian. But it was nice to get to know HK and to see a little more of the beach communities as we drove from the winelands to her house and back out for dinner.

Our last day was the 21st. We got up and drove out to Simon's Town, maybe 20 minutes away, to go kayaking on the Indian Ocean by Boulders Beach, where the African penguins have a huge colony. We met Derek, our guide, and paddled out in fits and starts toward the beach. Let's just say I'm a bit of a back seat driver and more of a "back seat paddler" in a two-person kayak...especially when headed toward large metal piers owned by the South African Navy! We were halfway there when the coast guard equivalent zoomed up to us and told us we couldn't go any farther because they were doing underwater explosions. Just at that moment we felt a little one rock the boat and then make a sound a few seconds later. Derek pleaded. No go. So we turned around and paddled into the wind toward Long Beach. Actually, it was the beach next to Long Beach. I forget the name. Anyway, we saw two penguins in the water. Lots of cormorants. We tried to catch the wave onto shore, but we didn't paddle fast enough. So the next wave caught us and blew us both out of the kayak. I was worried about my camera in the "waterproof" bag, but it was okay. We hung out on the beach for a while, dumped the water out of the kayak, and then headed back out to sea. Derek was trying to lift the front of the kayak up over a wave, but the handle broke and we fell right into another wave. Smack in the face! We paddled like crazy and got over the hump of the wave, then waited for Derek to do the same. My arms were sore by the end of that trip...but it was a neat way to explore a little piece of the coastline.

We wandered around Simon's Town, grabbed lunch, and then drove down to Boulders Beach itself. A kind soul directed us toward the "free" area to see the penguins up close, so we hung out with them for a while. They're so used to humans being around them. I could have reached out and touched them! But I refrained, as did Sean. Just took photos and a few videos.

On we went to Cape Point, which may beat the top of Table Mountain for sheer numbers of tourists. We quaked every time we saw baboons on the road, since they're known for being very bold and occasionally vicious toward food-toting tourists. No run-ins though. I made Sean roll up the windows every time we drove by one.

We walked up to the old lighthouse, then out along a trail to the new one. Then we went off on a side trail that was 2/3 boardwalks along the span of rock between Cape Point and the Cape of Good Hope. (Did you know they were two different spots?) Dipped our toes in the funky yellow foam of the ocean. Hauled up another very steep set of stairs back to the boardwalk. Took in the view at the Cape of Good Hope. Then hiked back.

We hit our first real spot of rain on the scenic route back from Cape Point along the "Misty Shores" region. I was clutching the armrest because the cliff was on the left side of the car and I wasn't quite sure Sean always knew how close he was driving to the left side of the road. Was also trying to read the map. We learned that even the windshield wipers go the "wrong" way. But we survived. Back to HK's house, where we ate pizza, gave her Persian kitties some love and then repacked the bags.

Thursday morning we drove early back to the airport to return the rental car and avoid another day's fee. Sat around for four hours. Got a package from a radio friend to carry home and send to one of his friends here in the States. Flew from Cape Town to Joburg. Braved the bitchy ladies at the VAT tourist refund office -- and, for Sean, the currency exchange place. Braved the pat-downs and pawing through of bags by security people at the airport. (Side note: I find embarassing that all flights to the U.S. are set aside in random corners of international airports to deal with all these extra rules and regs from the TSA. Yet another example of that oh-so-American flavor that I think many people in the rest of the world find either amusing or terrifying.) Then we braved the 17-hour flight to NYC.

This time we stopped in Dakar, Senegal. I was excited, since I've always wanted to go there. But because it was once again in the middle of the night, I couldn't see much besides men in yellow reflective vests and a sign for the Aeroporte de somebody. Hey, I took Dramameine. It's all a little foggy.

We got to JFK just after 6 this morning. Got our bags, took the lovely Air Train to Jet Blue and checked the bags in at 7:30. Another four-hour wait. Learned about Britney's meltdown and that Anna Nicole Smith, whose death was the headline the day we left, is STILL the top news story two weeks later. Wandered unsuccessfully in search of an internet kiosk. Then sat through the longest Jet Blue flight in history. It wasn't delayed, but I was really damn tired of being in planes.

Still, we survived. We arrived at Long Beach. My kind uncle was there to greet us. My green bag was not. Initially. Turns out the airport folks had hidden it "backstage" for some reason. We jumped onto the 710 and braved Friday traffic. Picked up my car, took the surface roads, and arrived home to a hungry cat and a big pile of mail.

There you have it. No wrenching feeling at leaving South Africa as there always is with PNG, but I'm so glad to have had the chance to explore it a little. I wish we'd had two more weeks. I keep thinking about how so many of the trees there are like big umbrellas: expansive, reaching out, offering comfort and shade. I think of the op-ed I read in the Joburg paper that talked about Africans' patience...what people from other cultures often see as laziness, do-nothing or being bums...is really knowing how to be patient. I like that. It's a skill I hope to -- and need to -- improve.

So many South Africans are excited for the soccer World Cup in 2010. They're building new stadiums, beefing up efforts to improve the safety and security situation. Some question what that money could do if it were put toward social services. But they also fear that the World Cup will freak out and deem SA "not safe enough" to hold the games. I hope that's not the case. It's a great place. Let me know if you want some recommendations and keep an eye out for that South African Airways two-tickets-for-the-price-of-one deal...

And keep an eye out for the "best of" pictures coming your way in the next day or two.

Hi all,

Sunburned Skyeball reporting from the "Mama City." I'd like to express my displeasure with Neutrogena Oil-Free Sunscreen SPF 45. It doesn't work under the African sun -- which, I must say, may beat out the Aussie sun for skin scorching.

Anyway, we found an internet cafe that charges R5 (less than US$1) for an hour of service...so here we are.

The flight from Johannesburg to Cape Town was a little rocky. We had one of those one-side-of-the-plane-down-and-then-the-other moments. I'm a veteran flyer, but I had an uh-oh moment there. When we got off the plane and the wind whipped our hair up in our faces, I understood why. It's windy here in Cape Town. Guess that's understandable, seeing as it's almost as far south as you can go before hitting Antarctica...and close to where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean.

We caught a cab (not a taxi -- they are the 15-passenger minivans that speed around town) to the neighborhood we're staying in: Bo-Kaap. It was formerly the neighborhood for Cape Town's "coloured," or mixed-race, population. Now it's a big Muslim neighborhood. We hear the call to prayer every morning at 4:30. The houses are all painted really bright colors and there are cobblestone streets here and there. Bo-Kaap is close to one of the big touristy areas, Long Street. So we unpacked and then headed down there to check it out. (After my phone calls to Robben Island Museum, story TK.)

So yeah, tourists. Everywhere. All of them carrying backpacks and looking nervous. A few people have been mugged in daylight on Long Street recently. Add that to South Africa's overall reputation as a dangerous place and you've got a lot of sunburned white people clutching their bags for dear life. We haven't had any problems at all, aside from one guy who got very close to Sean while he was looking for a bottle of Pinotage wine today. I stepped in between them and forced a little distance...so nothing happened. But we *have* been taking cabs home at night, even if it's just a few blocks, because the streets are dark and we figure it's better to spend a few bucks than lose much more than that.

So we wandered. The stores all close at 5:30 p.m. here, so it was all about restaurant scoping and people watching. We grabbed beers/ciders at a corner cafe. There is an excellent hard cider here called Savannah Dry that I highly recommend, should you find yourself in South Africa. The beers, well, Sean has not been too impressed yet. We ended up going to a game restaurant. I got the veggie platter, which was very good. Sean got this massive skewer of 3 different antelope that was taller than he was. Can't speak for the meat, but he seemed happy.

We are staying in a B&B called Rose Lodge, run by a nice Canadian guy named Bruce. He has two dogs. The room is exquisitely decorated. We can hear people on the street through our windows. It's good and safe and really reasonably priced. So after being jolted awake by the call to prayer, we headed out to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was incarcerated for almost two decades.

The Back Story. As soon as we got to Rose Lodge, I tried to call the Robben Island Museum. I'd emailed three times from the U.S. to get official permission to interview for a story I pitched to a public radio show. No answer. So I called. No room on the tours for all three days we're here. But the lady recommended we show up the next morning and see if there were cancellations. So we did. We trekked over to the V&A Waterfront -- the supremely touristy area -- and asked at the desk. The woman said "Want to go now?" We bought tickets and were in the boat in 5 minutes. Since I'd promised this piece on how former prisoners from Robben Island are now tour guides as part of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation process, I breathed a very, very big sigh of relief.

It's a 45-minute boat ride out to Robben Island. We got there and hopped onto an old bus. I knew I had to rush on to get a good seat near the tour guide in front. Poor Sean had me holding out the mike in front of his face the whole time. We had a great, lively tour guide who had been involved with the PAC, the Pan-African Congress, during apartheid era. He had lots of stories and insults for people of all nationalities. Ours had to do with Hillary Clinton taking a trip to Robben Island with Mandela while Bill was "busy" back in the White House. And Michael Jackson. And world domination. You get the point. But he was a great introducer to this strange place called Robben Island. It has, at various points, been a mental asylum, a home for people with leprosy and home to both criminals and politicians who opposed the apartheid government. We drove around and then got off at the maximum-security prison, where Mandela and many others were held.

The luck of the slightly Irish must have been with me. Our guide was one of the former prisoners, and he agreed to let me tape -- and talk to him afterward -- because it was for public, not commercial, radio. He is an interesting guy. I am so fascinated by the fact that he left a steady office job to come live and work on Robben Island. He says he loves the place. And he says the best thing he can do is to help other people learn about the history of SA and that it is possible to move forward from such dark days as apartheid. The woman standing with him said to me that it all boils down to what Nelson Mandela said: "We must forgive, but never forget."

I'm struck by the fact that reconciliation seems to be working, at least a little bit. Race relations are by no means perfect here. But there seems to be a genuine effort to move beyond the pain and shame of pre-1994 to eke out a life under new rules. I don't know that I've seen that happen much in the States.

Anyway, because we stayed to talk with our guide, we ended up missing the boat. So we walked over to where a big group of African penguins were hanging out, watched them, and then scoured the books in the curio shop until the next boat was ready to leave. Let me just say that the waves are really enormous in the southern Atlantic Ocean. They're big and rolling. But the view of Cape Town -- with Table Mountain and the 12 Apostles and Lion's Head and Signal Hill is stunning. It is soooo beautiful.

We dumped my recording equipment back at the B&B and then headed out to Kirstenbosch Gardens. I'd carried the wallet of the wife of a friend of mine from the States, and we delivered it to her at her birthday picnic in Kirstenbosch. It's one of the nicest botanical gardens I've ever seen. Lots of fynbos plants. That's an ecosystem that -- if I have it right -- only exists in the western cape area of South Africa. We hung out with my friend, his wife, their kids and various friends of theirs for a few hours, and then headed out to wander through the gardens and down to the main gate. It was peaceful. A lot of families and groups of friends come there to picnic. I know I would if I lived here!

We came back and got dropped off at the V&A Waterfront so Sean could try the beers in a pub called Mitchell's. We watched the Manchester United/Reading soccer game and then wandered. Of course, this being a very small world, we ran right into one British couple who had been with us on the Kruger safari!

As we were trying to go to sleep, this parade started on the hill above Rose Lodge in Bo-Kaap. I could hear it but not see it. Horns and drums everywhere. We listened, then headed to bed. Then, after Sean had fallen asleep, the parade came marching down Rose Street. Glittery uniforms. A few cars following behind the marchers. Apparently they are celebrating the freedom of the slaves in Cape Town. It was a neat festive moment, even from afar.

Today we actually slept in (!!!) and planned to go hike up Table Mountain. But the winds were against us -- the cable car was closed because of gale-force winds. So we decided to explore and try the mountain tomorrow. We walked out to a neighborhood called Green Point and went to the open-air market. There were hundreds of people selling African masks and beadwork and spoons and bowls and fabric. It's tourist central. I bargained for a potato-print fabric that's bright red and yellow and green (my favorite colors these days). Sean bought an interesting little painting -- kind of an abstract group of people at sunset. It's hard to explain. We headed back past the Cape Quarter -- tried and failed to find a store -- and then back at the B&B. Then we walked along the Company Gardens, a free park that runs through the middle of town. People were out picnicking and laying in the grass and wandering. We even saw one couple taking wedding photos. We went to the National Gallery to see a photo exhibit of the work of Santu Mofokeng. It was great stuff: black and white street photography that makes you pause and look again. After sufficient art appreciation, we headed out to the Gardens district. There's a street called Kloof that's full of cafes and restaurants. Sean has not been so happy with the coffee situation here, so he was jonesing for some. We found the Seattle Coffee Company -- a South African company, by the way, not American -- and settled in for a while. And now we're in the Internet cafe. There you have it.

Here are some of the things that have caught my eye:

- They call those traffic calmers near the tolls "rumble humps"
- People in cities (well, Joburg) transport three cows in the back of a standard-size pickup
- South Africans have an interesting way of passing: the car in front moves onto the shoulder and signals on the right, the car behind zooms ahead and then blinks its flashers in thanks
- People on the sidewalk mimic traffic & walk on the left
- Even the tourists beg for money
- I wish I were more fearless
- It's more expensive here than I expected...and easier to be a vegetarian

Anyway, internet time is up and it's time to go get Indian food for dinner. More later.

S.