Day three in Cape Town, already had a few problems here. Among others the lack of decent internet, but that seems to be solved now :)
When I arrived here I had a small problem at the Customs office, I couldn’t show them a return ticket. I suppose in any other country that wouldn’t be a big problem, but South Africa’s policy for foreigners is pretty strict. Took me 45minutes to get through, and convice them that I wasn’t going to stay longer than three months… To make things worse, they managed to lose my luggage during the flight.
So I stood in Cape Town with nothing but my laptop and the clothes I was wearing. I didn’t really care, knowing everything would be ok one way or the other I just went to see robben island and Waterfront with a few of my roommates. Already made some friends here :D
Yesterday I got a call from the Airport personnel, saying they found my luggage and will bring it to me asap. It got delivered to my lodge an hour later, and nothing was missing. *joy*
So, today ( =day three ) I moved out of the lodge because it was too far away from work. The only way to get here would be an hour on the ( safe/not-so-safe? ) train and taking a cab to get to the company premises. Will miss the friends I have there, but I’ll make new ones here. I’m now staying in a ( really nice ) villa, together with two other company employees. I won’t go out as much as I would when I stayed at the lodge, but I’ll see the real South African life and thats why I came here.
Cape Town itself seems very nice, people are friendly and helpfull. There’s a lot of poverty here, and people are doing everything to earn money. There are people that watch your car if you park somewhere, people selling magazines and newspapers at the street corner, people selling hats at the crossroads and so on. I suppose thats the African life :)
Cabs are really cheap here, we’ve paid 18 rand each to get from the Lodge to Waterfront. Its approximately a 15minute drive, for 1,5 euros ( just so you understand ). I’m using the minivan cabs, they pick up several people and drop them off where ever they need to be. Its the cheapest kind of taxi here, and not dangerous. The driver will try to rip you off tho, so beware ;-)
I went to the mall to, they have some really good clothing shops. Instead of going to Ghent or Antwerp to shop, you guys should come here ;-)
It’s a lot cheaper too, so if you buy enough stuff you’ll get your flight ticket price back.
Cheers !
