Trip Report:
Two Weeks in South Africa, January 1999
Richard's Version



Day 15
Friday, 1/23-

We didn't get up toooo early, and had a nice breakfast out on the lawn. We met our 'neighbors' from New York and passed on all the helpful travel tips we could come up with. They had just started their trip on the Garden Route and were having a great time. After breakfast we paid our 200 Rands and got on the road. Our hostess recommended taking the mountain route rather than staying on the N2, and I was willing to give it a try.

We drove inland and ended up in Montagu, a sinfully picturesque little town with a very friendly cat hanging out in the tourist center. The cat lives down the street, but stays on the TIC counter all day soaking up affection. There are special "cat crossing" signs on the street in front of the TIC to keep the kitty safe.

As we were walking into the Montagu city museum, I was switching to my glasses when the screw holding one of the lenses in went flying off. I tried to find it (I had succeeded when the same thing happened with my sunglasses in Cape Town), but to no avail. I felt my way around the dark museum in sunglasses, then we went back to the TIC to see if they knew of a place to get a new screw. On their reccommendation we went to the pharmacy down the street, and they were able to find a new screw and repair my glasses in a matter of minutes for the princely sum of 3 Rands.

It was ungodly hot in Montagu (40 degrees Celsius, about 104 degrees Fahrenheit), so we retreated to the air conditioned car and kept driving. We ended up on the loooong windy road that went through the mountains on the way to the N1. For about an hour and a half we did not see a single car anywhere. Here and there farms and wineries were scattered through the valleys, but we hardly saw anyone.

Once we hit the N1, we got moving pretty quickly westward towards Paarl. The biggest event (besides seeing baboons beside the road) was passing through the Huguenot Tunnel, a VERY long tunnel that knocks about an hour off the trip. In Paarl our first order of business was to find lunch, and I'm sad to admit that we ended up at McDonald's. We were starved and didn't see anything immediately appealing (or open), so there we were. We arrived just as the local schools were getting out, and all these boys in enormous blue striped blazers were coming in for sodas and to watch cricket on the TV. After ordering we realized that we didn't have enough cash for the food (I had thought I had a 20, but only had a 10). Remarkably the manager was happy to serve us and said to just bring the money later. What a relief! After lunch we drove through the ridiculously crowded city center to find an ATM and brought the 10 Rands we owed to the McDonald's (somewhat to their surprise I think).

The main reason to visit Paarl is their enormously phallic monument to the Afrikaans language. The guidebooks say 'follow the signs', and they aren't kidding. There were about 10 turns involved in getting there, most down small residential streets. Keep your eyes open! Whoever was the architect for this hilltop monument must have had some serious issues. We had to pay 5 Rands each to enter, but the bathrooms were worth it (aah, McDontald's!). The views from the site are also quite spectacular (if a bit hazy). If you go beyond the monument though, you find these truly massive granite boulders (as big as a house) and shade trees, and you realize just what must have been sacrificed for this gigantic phallus. Sigh!

On the way back to town we stopped at a couple antique shops (a theme of many of our vacations), but we were shopped out and didn't really get into it. We did stop at a gallery that the guidebooks recommended, but it was much smaller than we had thought. I saw a great Shona pot, about a meter in diameter, that I wanted (only 350 Rands), but there was no way I would be able to get it home on the plane!

It was now about 5pm and we had a 9pm flight (well, actually 9:50). Since we were pretty exhausted (it was still really hot) we decided to just head to the airport and relax. Relaxing on the N1 at rush hour is not possible though, and I was pretty wound up by the time we got to the airport. It didn't help that the designated route ran right through some of the townships that our tour guide drove through only at high speed.

At the airport a very nice self-proclaimed porter met us at the drop off lot, loaded all our luggage on a cart and walked us first to the car rental counter (they just said leave the keys and we'll send the bill), then to the international terminal. Of course we were so early they weren't checking our flight in yet, but that gave us time to get our VAT receipts stamped, and it wasn't long before we were able to check in.

The departure terminal wasn't too bad. Lots of duty free where we spent the last of our Rands (and then some) and even spent our VAT refunds. The main complaint was that smoking was allowed, and the whole terminal had a haze about it.

Our flight actually boarded on time (we had to walk across the tarmac to the plane). Our seats were on the upper deck of the 747-400, our first time up there. The flight wasn't too crowded, but we still got stuck with someone next to us, though she fell asleep immediately and slept most of the time. The upper deck was quite comfortable, and certainly quieter than down by the engines. I slept on and off for the whole 14 hour flight.

The layover in Miami was probably the worst part of the trip back, simply because of the hideous, loud Muzak that was playing in the terminal. Customs was no problem (though we had to throw away the last of my ostrich biltong), though the agent was suspiciously chipper for 5am. Our connecting flight to LAX was roughly on time, but far less comfortable than the SAA flight (less leg room). We survived though, and after a quick cab ride we were home at last!

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Last Updated 19 February, 1999
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