Returning "Home"
Everyone kept asking if I was excited to go on my trip to Southern Africa. My response was always yes but my facial expression and tone of inflection would not match each other. Some would say that’s my normal; however, the day I left, I felt very overwhelmed with emotions. Tears welled in my eyes but nothing fell. But when my feet hit the soil of the land of my forefathers, the tear fell. Coming “home” has been a dream and now I can soak in the beauty of the Mother City, Cape Town.
Come on this journey, as I tell you about my time in Southern Africa.
For the first leg of my trip, I stayed at the Cape Grace Hotel, which is along the waterfront. Due to COVID, the hotel has been closed and just reopened at the beginning of October. Therefore, we were some of the first guests back to the hotel. The hotel is GRAND and their attention to detail is throughout the decor. The drapery is hand-painted by a local artist, each chandelier is unique, there is an homage to the distillery industry with artifacts and each room has a French balcony.
After settling down, a group of advisors went over to the waterfront area. The area has dining, shopping, and entertainment. Before I left North Carolina, my sister asked me to bring back some native vegetable seeds. Since the day of arrival wasn’t a market day, as they are typically on Saturday and Sunday, I figured I’d try to look for some seeds in the waterfront area. I came up empty on my attempt, so I set sights on my next mission, to patronize a local artist. Though the hotel staff mentioned the watershed building was created for street artists and vendors to sell their belongings in affordable space. It was not what I thought, there were a lot of “shops” that showcased beautiful items but nothing spoke to me except this beaded artwork by a woman. Luckily she was actually creating a piece of jewelry when I walked by or else I would have likely thought it was factory-made and just sold in the shop. I circled around the watershed and came back to her shop and purchased a necklace and two pairs of earrings. First off, I hardly ever buy souvenirs on my trips for myself or anyone else, and secondly, I don’t wear jewelry often. So you know it had to be a beautiful piece of jewelry, I cannot wait to wear my Beloved Beadwork.
The other advisors and I wrapped up the evening with a welcome reception. The bartender made this delicious cocktail that had oranges and vodka. If you know me, I’m a rum girl and don’t like vodka at all! But this cocktail was SO GOOD, I had TWO!!! We had a group dinner in the hotel’s restaurant, Signal. I had their local fish, Kingklip, with mashed potatoes, corn, and spinach. My goodness, that dinner was scrumptious. And for it to be a hotel restaurant, it was so affordable. A meal like that in the States would easily be $30+ at a “table cloth” restaurant, but it was only R265 which equates to $17. Can you believe that?!
My body started to shut down from the tiredness so I ended the night early and get ready for the next day with Escape & Explore, a private guided full-day tour.