Rachel's meanderings

I am sitting outside. It is beautiful.  I have my papers spread out on a picnic table in the back yard.  There are ants crawling all over them and the table is full of coffee rings and melted candle wax from a late night of laughing and interesting conversation the night before. For some reason I don’t care about the ants.  Everyone is deciding what they want to do today.  Some people want to go to the beach, some people want to go to Bo-Kaap, some want to sit at home and write their essays due the day before, some want to go to monkey town.  I can hear the sound of the TV upstairs but can’t make out what is playing and can imagine in my head about 6 people cuddled up in the couches watching a movie.  I walk upstairs and that is exactly what I see.   Another debate of what to do today. Does it really matter where we go? No, the sun is shining all over this place and I am in the company of people that I have grown to adore.

This is what we decided to do.

Five of us decide to go to Bo-Kaap.  We piled into a minibus taxi.  The music was blasting so loud I couldn’t hear myself think.  We all get checked out by the men running the minibus.  “We are going to Cape Town” we said and handed over 8 Rand.  The windows were open all the way and my hair was blowing all over the place.  I gazed at the locals out the window and heard the driver scream “CAAAAAPE TOOOOOOOWN” over the music. We got to Cape Town.  We got side tracked.  We stopped at a small bakery and each got a treat.  We walked up the street finding ourselves at St. George’s Market.  This is where all the informal businesses are set up.  We went shopping.  After spending all our money on jewelry, paintings, shirts, and djembes we decide to actually head in the direction of Bo-Kaap. It’s the traditionally Muslim quarter of the city.   We arrived and took our cameras out.  It was handsome. The houses are painted in bright colours up and down the streets.  I looked down to see that the streets were made of cobblestones.  We walked around relaxed and aimlessly.  I passed a young man, I felt awkward.  He curled his lips and showed his teeth.  I smiled back.  I was happy.  Suddenly, my stomach streamed at me and decided it was time to eat. 


We decided to go to a place that we have heard of but never been, Mama Africa’s.  When we got there it wasn’t open yet.  We made a reservation and walked next door to get the most delectable milkshakes I have ever tasted.  We walked around.  We got lost.  We didn’t care.  We went to a bar and got a round of drinks.  We talked and laughed just like the night before.  I was happy.  Time for our reservation.  We walked over to Mama Africa’s.  We are seated right next to the band. I opened the menu….what to get?  I am thinking mango chicken kabobs.  I shifted my eyes toward the other side of the menu.  I saw a section entitled wild game.  I order warthog along with a black label.  It’s a risk I was willing to take.  I sat and ate warthog as South African drums rang in my ears. We danced along side the drums.  I can’t believe I ate warthog.  We went to hang out at another place on the balcony upstairs.  We laughed some more.  We called a cab and went home.  We made too much noise.  We sat in the kitchen scrounging for food.  No one has gone grocery shopping in over a week.  We ate some crackers.  We kept laughing and recalled the stuff that we had done all day.  I brought my mattress outside by the pool.  I cuddled up in my comforter. I opened my eyes and saw the stars, I closed my eyes and I fell asleep.