Capetown Perhaps the most beautiful city in the world

UCT old Hospital and side of Table Mountain

Sunset over mountains outside Capetown

Our trip from Nairobi to Capetown was marked by attention to Ebola.  I spoke to one of my Kenyan Airline flight attendants as she double gloved before she cleaned the toilet.  (which was not dirty ) and she just said, it is protocol and best be safe.  As we arrived in Johannesburg, we were given the usual survey (all airports have the same variation on a theme now) and this time our temperature was taken by our eye.  I have a bit of a wacky eye right now from all the dry dusty air in the airplane and on the road and wind in Nairobi so I kept thinking...hmmmmm.  But all was well and we ventured on to the next  hurry up and wait for our Capetown flight.  Of course we flew in on a spectacular day, and when we arrived, John went directly up to the perfect replica of my brother and said, "hi Vic" (I heard Hi Rick!) so I was stunned.  But as I got closer, I saw that he was indeed Vic our host at the lovely bed and breakfast where we are sadly getting ready to leave.

Here is Vic.  He & Trish (yes really) own the Koornhoop Manor House

Vic drove us to the B&B and chatted all the way.  As he and John talked, he remembered him from the previous visit and they had a great laugh about life and all that had gone on.  I was stunned by the beauty of the house, and of the proximity to University of Capetown Medical School and hospital.

Koornhoop B&B with mountain behind

Beautiful Koornhoop with lovely yard

We barely had to cross the road to be at the hospital

This hospital's history is quite interesting.  It was the home of the first heart transplant and as well the fist CT Scan.  We did not take the museum tour as John had taken it in the past and said.....read about it, even though it is interesting.

Heart Transplant Museum Sign

The hospital was founded by an interesting man, J.M.B. deWet, who had apparently blue eyes.

Note Blue Eyes!

Nice thought.  Wonder if the hospital was integrated?

We had a nice wander around the grounds.  We were not allowed far into the Medical School and Hospital without a badge and were told not to take pictures so this was the best that I could do.  When we ventured out of the Hospital, we ran into a graveyard.  It, too was locked, but we wondered if the graveyard and hospital were connected in some way.

graveyard, hospital

New Hospital &graveyard

Clearly the reason the graveyard was locked was because of the street people.  I think that was the most unsettling thing I felt about this part of Capetown and probably would feel the same all over.  I just didn't feel as if I could be alone walking around.  The streets were not crowded and teeming like other big city streets, but people seemed to be driving to a location and then driving or riding the bus back.  It was odd.  I went running with John for two days, and I was quite glad that he was with me.  We heard that crime was pretty high in this area, and that again the issue of young men with no jobs was a huge reason for it.
But, nonetheless we coped.  We had a lovely dinner with the main mentor for our Tanzanian trainees Andrew and his wife Helen.  They have a stunning house overlooking the mountains and were just delightful.

View from Andrew and Helen's house

I found that Andrew had grown up listening to the music of Roger Lucy, one of my featured musicians for my Apartheid Resistance Music paper.  We had a great chat.  He also had listen to Rodrguez's music and never dreamed until he saw "Searching for Sugarman" that Rodriguez was not equally as popular in the US as he was in Apartheid South Africa.  Quite amazing story.  So we had a delicious dinner (beautiful salad which, unless you go without good greens for some time, you don't know what you are missing--we were in heaven!)

We actually got to sleep in and go for a nice run, had a very nice breakfast, and then lunch at a fun restaurant named Mimi's.

John & me Mimi's

This is for Isaiah....they also served Vegan and many other diet types....Ostrich burger, Lamb burger, and if we were there for dinner on Wed-Sat, Moroccan food.  That was what we wanted, but oh well.

The point of being there was of course to see and treat the Tanzanian Trainees.  We had a fabulous and joyous dinner before which John had met with each one individually and in a group.  Nice evening.

Esther's huge pizza

Dani leans in, John trying to do his lean in

Great group shot....Kajira taking a selfie!

So, now we are off to Durban.  Maybe it will be less windy.  But we will so miss this lovely B&B

Table Mountain