We woke up to winter in South Africa. It pretty much drizzled all day and never got above about 55 degrees. The weather wasn’t actually our problem today – Mark and Tom woke up with colds. Both are running fever and coughing like crazy, but they were troopers.
We met our tour guide, Simone, at our hotel for our Foodies on Foot food tour of Stellenbosch about 10. It was a great tour, history wise and food wise, of Stellenbosch and of South Africa. Everything we ate was locally made or sourced, from wine and chocolates to artisan breads and cured meats. The most unusual thing we ate was a dried beef called biltong. (Trey, beware: Carol is going to get you a good South African biltong recipe before we leave here!) After is is cured and dried, they slice it very thin to serve it. We all enjoyed it and have been on the lookout for more!
Our guide Simone explaining biltong to Mark and Tom
Simone was delightful and at the last stop we had lunch and sat and talked for an hour. She explained everything from Aparthhied to current politics to the parking attendant situation, which is a interesting story I’ll explain another day!
We finished the tour about 2 and Mark and Tom both crashed for a few hours. Carol and I walked around the shops in Stellenbosch for about and hour and a half and after getting wet to the bone and cold, we relented and went back to our hotel. We sat by the fire in the parlor and read and had a glass of wine until it was time for dinner. Over the course of a couple hours, several couples came in and sat in the lounge and it was so interesting talking to them. One couple was from Scotland but had lived in Dubai for 25 years, one was from California (and their son went to SMU and graduated in 2014) and another guy was from Joberg, as Johannesburg is called here, and was so excited because he is going to the US in October for 2 weeks. We heard all about his plans and what he wants to see and do. It makes the world seem so much smaller when you sit and talk with people from other areas. The only sad thing is that everyone we’ve talked to hope that Hillary wins. I guess that tells you something. Our answer to everyone has been that we don’t like either and she’s a crook and he’s crazy!
Shops of African goods. Anyone want us to ship them a giraffe for their yard?
We were supposed to go to Franschhoek for dinner, but as the weather was bad and the guys were not feeling well, we ended up staying at the hotel and ate at their restaurant, Helena. We had a delicious meal and sure were glad that all we had to do was walk upstairs to go to bed.
Mark and Freda's Wanderings 