So, how is Cape Town you ask?
- Ilene
- Aug 2, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 8
We really enjoyed Cape Town and the surrounding areas. We kept commenting just how at home we felt. In fact, driving along the Western Cape from Cape Town to Wilderness (near the western start of the Garden Route), we just kept feeling like we were in California. There are some differences of course, and the cost of living is a big one!
Tuckerz quick history overview
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to happen upon this area as they tried to find a shipping route to India during the spice trade period. The Dutch followed and were the first settled, followed by the British. The indigenous San people’s lives were disrupted, the Portuguese traded with them, the Dutch enslaved some and ultimately the English took over. Diseases were brought upon them, wars occurred that killed them and ultimately this culture and their traditions have all but disappeared from society.
People from Malay, Indonesia, and elsewhere in Asia found their way to Cape Town during this period as well and the city is quite diverse because of it - foods, religion, ethnicities from Europe to Asia.
Similarties to home
You might be surprised that we found so many similarities to home…. here’s a quick list to illustrate, Cape Town like the Bay Area / San Francisco:
sits on a bay
is a hilly city
is surrounded by stunning nature and landscape - Table Mountain and Lions Peak in particular are stunning and omnipresent in the city
has diversity of ethnicities, religion and food
has a prison on an island in the bay
has a touristy Wharf, with sea lions even
has a nearby wine country
has nearby coastal surfing towns
has great local hiking
has a large homeless population
Of course, none of this is exactly like-for-like and the history of South Africa, especially when it comes to a aparthied, freedom and equality is obviously much more recent than the US. So just sharing our musings on what felt to us like an easy city to acclimatize to.
There are some other things we noticed that we don’t fully understand yet - more research and reading to do on these. For example, there are enormous townships outside all the major cities, we might call these shanty towns or slums. It’s what I imagine the slums in India to be like - temporary metal sheet structures with satellite TV dishes, electricity lines and outhouses everywhere. Passenger vans seem to bring township people into the cities, we assume to work. And work they do - as parking attendants, they watch your car and you tip them for it when you return. The attendants are very helpful with navigating parallel parking, pulling out onto the road, etc. As one said to us, “welcome to my office today”. There is a parking attendant per block. There also seem to be many more people than we are used to seeing in grocery stores, service industries, etc. As we continue to travel, we hope to learn more along the way as well.
P.S. send us texts, emails, photos - we’ll be sharing our life on the road, please share your life with us as well - miss you already!
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