Cape Town, South Africa

Since I have been here, I have been to the V&A Waterfront wharf several times. (victoria and alfred waterfront)

Table Mountain is the backdrop of the town and you can take a cable car to the top, but it has mechanical problems so I couldn't.

Robben Island is where Nelson Mandela was held prisoner, the tours have to be booked in advance so I didn't have time.

I hired my nice cab driver that picked me up from the train station to take me around town. He is a retired Head Master of 27 years and has 3 daughters and a few grandkids here in Cape Town. He was very nice and informative. He took me through a "Township" which are the very poor neighborhoods that the blacks had to live in when Aparteid was being enforced. He said 5 yrs ago he would not have driven through these places but now they are ok. They look like the shantytowns I photographed from the train. I was not going to pull out my camera and take pics as he drove me through there w/ people leering from the street corners. They did have schools and stores and even a bank though.

I upgraded hotels so I could have a functional business center and a restaurant that served dinner. Since I wasn't going out at night, I wanted the ability to eat at the hotel. My new hotel ROCKS!! It is in Camps Bay on the back side of Table Mountain. The pictures with the beach and the rocks...The Hotel is called 12 Apostles....the photo of the white building w/ the pointed rocks in the back....those are called 12 Apostles, there are 12 points that stick out....very pretty on this side.

I also had to find the Brazilian Consulate to get my Visa to meet Ric in Rio, so that was a chore in itself. You have to show funds in your bank account, hotel info in Brazil, flight info, go pay at the Consulate's bank and return w/ a receipt, get passport photos etc. I got it all accomplished and have my Visa and am ready to go.

I also had to change my flights from returning to the states and schedule the flights to Brazil. The agent in the US was difficult to work with, I have 3 different airlines for these flights and had to contact each one to book my flights bc she only made the reservations. Then one airline doesn't have e-tickets, so she was gonna FedEx me the ticket, not enough time. FedEx to Ric in Canada, not sure he would get it either and if his plane were delayed to Brazil, i wouldn't have the ticket there. So she cancelled to ticket and I had to find a travel agent here, book the flight and have them deliver the paper ticket to my hotel.

Plus, I have to restructure the whole sale of my house bc lenders are falling off and the buyer is struggling to qualify. My other tenant didn't pay rent and I am trying to take care of all of this from here. It is hard enough to do it at home. The cost, time difference, I am just stressed and a bit panicky bc all of these loose ends need to be handled. I am grateful to the people at home who are helping me with these issues, Trish, my stepmom is handling my bills, Ron, my realtor is fixing the pool, extending the sales contract, calling my other tenant to get rent etc. Jen is pushing to get this loan done, Ric had to add money to my account. I feel like a train wreck at the moment and helpless.

I can't wait to leave and meet up with Ric in Brazil and be taken care of for awhile.
Plus it's cold and windy here.