Tuesday, July 5

I somehow failed to publish my July 3rd post. It's on there now.

Pictures are of people I met in the park in Capetown:

Whenever I travel I run two parallel existences: one, is the guy who wants to meet people and see things and absorb as much of the world around me as possible; the second wants only to hunker down with a book or newspaper and relax. Today the second persona took over. But, as you can see, I made major progress today. For the first time I was able to take a photo and get it on the blog. To do this I had to figure out how to get WiFi where I could have extended time to make this all happen. The idea came to me when I noticed that the cafe across from the hostel had WiFi. I strode over there for a falafel and asked about the internet. The owner happily gave me the password. Now all I had to do was go back to the hostel and see if I can steal the signal from across the street. Obviously I succeeded. The gents above obligingly posed for a photo in the park. Since my ancient camera is partially broken (you can't see the image on the screen) I couldn't show them what I'd wrought. I feel badly that they never got to see this splendid representation.

Capetown's public park would seem familiar to anyone who had been in a thousand other similar places: Bryant Park in Manhattan, Rittenhouse Square, or several parks in London. Lawns big enough to contain picnickers and todlers, gushing fountains, small pools of water for the ducks and geese, and lots of stately trees. I sat on one of those classic park benches watching Capetown stroll by. Families pushing strollers; teens practicing skateboarding maneuvers; tourists with cameras; bicyclists; lovers strolling hand in hand; all the requisite elements. The weather was delightful. The sun poured warmth down through a few indifferent clouds, but the cool wind off the ocean moderated any attempt at making things too hot. I could literally feel the two influences, one on each shoulder. The seaward shoulder feeling almost cold from the wind, the landward shoulder almost ready to broil from the heat, but the combination was just right. We have these days in Oakland in January and February. The park was circled by deciduous oaks whose honey-brown leaves were still mostly on the trees. In this temperate climate it takes months for the full seasonal change to take place. There will probably still be leaves on those trees in August.
It was the kind of crowd you'd see in most American cities. Black teens, muslim families, chinese tourists, blonde girls in pairs, kids of every race frollicking on the grass. This place is so different from Johannesburg that they seem like two different countries. Except that I began to realize that in many ways Joburg and Capetown are like Oakland and San Francisco. One is genteel, the other tense, one is neat and orderly the other untidy and seemingly ungoverned, with one you think of expensive shops, with the other you think of graffiti and empty storefronts.
It would be easy to spend a month in Capetown. There are a thousand things to do and see. I'll try to discipline myself to leave in about a week as it will be time to get to Namibia. As always the urge to see/experience places wars with the urge to hunker down and wallow in the pleasantries of a modern city.