The Cape

So, I was on a 'Cape Tour' today. We were picked up at eight-fifteen (which hurt after bed after 1 and being woken up at 5am). 'Alexi' was our guide, and we had a mini-bus with a trailer on the back with about eight bikes on it. Kelly (teetotal, works in a bar, from DC), I and a couple of older Americans were there from our hostel, together with two Dutch girls and a British guy on his own. A boat trip, seals, a Bit of biking, bit of hiking, the obligatory Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope photographs, and lots and lots of penguins.

The British guy, Jack, had been in Zimbabwe on a tour, and did a bit of scaremongering, but I trust the tour company to know whether or not Victoria Falls is safe. The most depressing thing about today was seeing out-of-work people standing at every junction, waiting for work. The unofficial unemployment figures are somewhere north of forty percent, and it shows. The major problem is lack of skills. I don't know if this was publicised in the UK, or anywhere else in the world, but since last Thursday, around eighteen thousand 'Foreign Nationals' in the Cape Town area have moved out of the townships due to violence from locals blaming them for 'taking their jobs'. Cape Town has set up six 'refugee centres' to deal with the problem, and are now 'denying' the outbreak of disease' within the camps. The more I find out about this place, the less I like it.

Anyway, I'm now just getting up-to-date, going to grab a Nando's (mmmm - all that chickeny-goodness!) and go pack before having a beer or three with whoever happens to wander into the bar. Love it. On a truck tomorrow, so going to be out of touch for a bit...