December 22, 2008
Clean Getaway
The bathroom floor in my hotel room is heated. It's quite fantastic for middle of the night bathroom excursions. This whole room is fantastic, though. Giant windows displaying half of Cape Town; A giant wall-mounted plasma tv that's actually so far away I have trouble seeing it with my glasses on. Internet. Sweet, sweet internet. Many, many bottles of wine.
The bottles of wine don't come with the hotel room, of course. I got them whilst gallivanting around this lovely, lovely country. I mentioned to a waiter tonight how much I loved it here, and he asked if I was going to move here. I asked him about jobs. "what do you do," he asked. "Food and beverage manager," I say. "Oh, right, well, probably you'd make around 15000 rand. Not too bad, eh?" I didn't want to tell him that the meal at his exceptionally overpriced (by SA standards) set me back about an hour and a half of pay, so if I worked a couple more years in the States, I could move to SA with my million ZAR and retire. Or be a waiter in a fancy hotel for foreigners and make bank on tips since I'd be one of the few people in the country that knows about classical dining room service. (The service in restaurants here is, quite frankly, exceptionally awful, but that's a topic for another post.)
I've been listening to lots of Top 40 music here. (Mixed with odd hits from the 90s.) Rihanna. Kanye. Adele. Ne-Yo. It's been fun to mix up with Maria Taylor and The Weakerthans. Possibly some Avril Lavigne. (Gosh, I know, I know, I know. But I heard "When You're Gone" in a shop a week ago, and now I'm compelled to play it excessively through YouTube.) My mp3 player's battery is almost dead. I couldn't find the charger, either.
I lost my favorite running shirt. Well, not lost, per se-- I know exactly where I left it. In a closet. At a resort with rooms in caves. In the middle of the high desert. 35 km up a dirt road classified as "good." In U.S. terms, I believe we would classify it "somewhat terrible for 4x4s only." I drove 80 km/hr over most of it. Natch.
I should sleep a little. The sun is starting to come up. One more exciting day in Cape Town. Running through the streets. Seeing more museums. Tracking down an elephant for KT. (Another aside for another post, but I met someone who runs a game reserve for hunters. You go there and hunt lions and rhino and kudu. Aside from the small thrill of stalking lions, that made me slightly sick to my stomach. And by slightly, I mean really.) I need to find a zebra for Tracey. And a baboon for Jay. (Wait, he's already-- oh, nevermind; we all know how that one goes.) An adorable cheetah cub for me.
I love this place, and I want to come back. After I visit everywhere else. Airfare to Europe and Asia is cheap right now. Must. Resist. Urge. To. Have. A. Ticket. In. The. Drawer.
Posted by Sean at December 22, 2008 05:31 AM