First Day in Cape Town

The trip here was loooong. My ankles were swollen up for lack of circulation. I fell hard into the bed, and the 7 hours left me begging for more when that alarm rang this morning. However, Sharon and I were having breakfast (continental: fresh fruit and yogurt) and then being picked up by a man taking us to the Christian Spirituality Centre. There we had tea and cookies and talked to Dave and Carel (pronounced Carl)about possible publishing projects with their center, which has ties to The Upper Room. It was a meaningful conversation, especially as we talked about the state of race relations in South Africa, which as they quoted a theologian named Albert Nolan, "is over the honeymoon." Post-apartheid South Africa is anything but easy, with many things still to be worked out, both in infrastructure and in interpersonal relations between the races.

We grabbed a quick sandwich on the way back to the hotel (egg salad on multigrain bread--I'm including all the food info b/c my family are foodies and want to know all about the food!) An older couple, John and Jenny Frye, were already waiting for us there to take us to Table Mountain, one of the most magnificent sights in Cape Town. We drove up near the top, took a tram, and were atop the flat mountain with views like I have never seen in my life! The Atlantic Ocean is one one side, with a view of the entire city of Capte Town also. The Indian Ocean is on the other side. It was a perfect, beautiful sunny day and we enjoyed being out in God's creation. John and Jenny were such spiritually alive people, John having just retired 3 days ago as an Anglican minister. I felt that the conversations about God and the spiritual life that we had up on that mountain were as stimulating as the view of the place. I bought a hat on the way up the mountain because they said I HAD to have a hat! It is a wide-brimmed hat khaki hat with a string under the chin. I wanted something that looked safari-like, being here in Africa. At the end of the walk we stopped in the little cafe and had a "spot o' tea" with some shortbread. That is the most civilized custom--loved it.

They brought us back to the hotel, stopping at a little grocery, where I bought bottled water, shortbread cookies (for my little spots o' tea in my room, of course), and a little Easter surprise for my kids.

Then Sharon and I, though tired, felt that we should go grab a bite of dinner. There was no dinner served in the hotel, so we caught a shuttle to The Wild Fig. Sharing the shuttle with us was a man named Kevin, here in Cape Town from the country of Malta to attend an Anesthesiology convention. He was very nice, so we invited him to eat dinner with us. We had the greatest conversation over dinner that covered the span of religion, politics, vocation, family life, life after death, and many other meaningful topics. I know we were all three glad we had met.

So now I have come back to the hotel and decided to take a few moments to record the happenings of the day for you, dear reader! Now Steve has arrived and wants to use this one computer in the lobby, so I'm off to the next adventure (Sleep!)

Love to all.