Day 10

It was a beautiful day, the weather forecast predicted 22°C and we decided that today would be a perfect beach day! Miro had loved her first encounter with beach and sea last week, so a sunny day would be the perfect time to repeat it all.

Niek and Erwin recommended Bloubergstrand as it had amazing sights on Table Mountain and CapeTown. We have never been to that part of the city, so we headed towards it. The views were indeed amazing and we were lucky: while driving towards it, the sky cleared up and by the time we arrived at the beach, Table Mountain was completely cloud free. The beach was however pretty wild, huge waves and the water a bit unpredictable. Eliah and Erwin had experienced this themselves: they returned both to the guesthouse with wet trousers and shoes. Miro remembered however how fun it was to make little signs in the sand and see them washed away by the sea. So she convinced mum, while daddy and ‘little brother’ where enjoying the sun in the dunes, to go closer to the water.

We stayed at a save distance, only once in so many minutes a wave came far enough to touch our feet, or I thought we did, till a huge wave came with such a speed that it not only touched our feet but came as high as Miro’s knies! I quickly grapped her while a second wave came in. In the process my sunglasses fell from my nose, and while I was lifting Miro to higher grounds a third wave took my glasses into the sea! Miro was in a complete state of a nervous brake down: “the sea has eaten mummy’s glasses”, “mummy has no more glasses”. She cried, the poor thing and we could not stop her from crying, till we arrived back at the car and I put on my regular glasses. Only than she started to feel better. The whole way to the next place, she kept asking Wim from the back seat if I was still wearing my glasses, telling us she would keep tight to hers so the sea could not take them and that Wim had to watch over his. We even had to show at regular stages that he still had his…

Pretty amazing how kids can be taken that strongly by something as relatively minor as losing a pair of glasses. It did put me however in quiet a discomfort during the afternoon as the sun was strong… ;-)

Bonga remained untouched by all of it, he enjoyed the drive, making sounds to his sister in the back seat, making faces, laughing and enjoying the outdoor live…

From Blouberg strand we drove the beach route to Camps Bay. The drive was nice: the coast is amazing and the houses which they have built alongside it where worth watching. A new rich area has been recently developed, a few golf estates, nice beachside condo’s… The discrepancy between the poor and the rich is here even larger than with us and it clearly shows.

It showed even more in Camps Bay. We had promised Miro a “nicer sea”, so ended up in Camps Bay. It has a beautiful “sunset drive” and a nice wide beach with palm trees. This is more or less the first place where we saw “white people” walking, or should we say strolling. We sat down on a terrace and got a whole parade of Audi R8’s, BMW X5’s, Bentley’s and people with attitude! The latter not only ‘whites’ but also the ‘new black rich’. At the same time you saw the minivans pulling over and ‘unloading’ the working black class. It is a strange scenery. It is a great country, nature wise, we feel one of the most beautiful places in the world, with every potential possible, but the human side is not immediately comprehensible if you have not lived through it…

The local people are very sceptical about the future of their country… It makes you wonder what will happen when Mandela dies. Today it his is 90th birthday and he has been honored already all week. If we can go by the news at least, he is someone who currently unites the country. We truly hope he is not going to be the only one… It would be such a pity! For all the people living here, for all the people who want to visit the country and for … Bonga!