The Lost Years: 2015 (Cape Town)

I went over a decade without updating this blog, and I missed out on a lot of meals, a lot of travel, a lot more.  I was thinking about that recently.  It would be nice, perhaps, to have some sort of blather about some events from the past, perhaps for you few readers, perhaps for the sake of edification somehow.  And when I thought about where to start digging back in, I didn't at all consider chronological order or significance.  No, what came to mind was how nice it would be to revisit the South Africa trip from 2015.

In August 2015 I made a long trek with multiple stops to Cape Town to attend the IFLA World Congress being held there.  I'd never been to an IFLA conference before then, and I haven't been back.  At the time I thought it might be an interesting professional opportunity, and it was in its way, but it wasn't a library world I needed to be part of again no matter what city they might go to.

Still, I thought that Cape Town would be a pretty cool place to go to a conference.  And, of course, I added on some vacation time so as to make the most of the long trip.  Even better, a few days after I got there, Conrad arrived.  So while I had some time at the conference without him, I had most of my time in the country (and most of that in Cape Town) with Conrad.

I liked Cape Town.  It's a beautiful city, and its setting is a large part of that.  I'd seen Table Mountain in photos before, but photos don't do it justice.  Heading into the city from the airport, the driver pointed out zebras on the mountain slopes.  The first couple of days in Cape Town were grey and rainy,

and the mountain was kind of socked in,

but we got some great views of it after that. 

I thought it was especially cool when you could see clouds pouring over it, an effect that the locals apparently know as The Tablecloth. 

Clever!  And by the end of the trip, we had taken the tram up to the top

(with me keeping myself as calm as possible since I do not care of gondolas or trams like that and the heights that we end up swinging above)

for the chance to roam a little, admire the scenery below,

the wildlife up there (those are dassies),

and the flora,

much of which is endemic to the mountain and only the mountain.  So fantastic.

Cape Town is a city, and in some ways, just a mundane city. 

The conference center was not too far from our hotel, and I would walk to and from each day, in among plenty of people going to and from that business district for work.  Those parts of the city felt much like what we would know here in North America.  There were historic parts as well, and we visited them a little. 

We saw some fine neighbourhoods whilst on a bus tour, and we saw all the razor wire atop fences and walls around expensive homes.  Was the city unsafe, we asked at the hotel.  No, they told us, but the levels of income inequality and poverty meant that there was a homelessness problem, and panhandlers were far more likely to accost a pedestrian than a mugger.

To be honest, we stayed within a very small area, the V&A Waterfront. 

Dining, shops, hotels, tourist attractions.  It was a vibrant, lovely place, and I liked our hotel a lot. 

The aquarium was down that way,

the Springboks (rugby) experience was just uphill. 

Heck, even the gay bar

that I went to one night for a drag dinner/show with other LGBTQ+ librarians was pretty close. 

We dined well all around us (though I decided not to post food photos from the trip, at least not in this entry).  Leading along the oceanfront away from where we stayed was a long boardwalk that took me past a stadium

and then onto other neighbourhoods that seemed very nice. 

I was still running at the time, and I took advantage of that to get some miles under my feet early in the mornings there.

I know Cape Town has had some problems since our visit, specifically with water shortages.  If I went back, I would see it differently, and doubtless some of what I liked so much last time is changed or gone.  But I would go back, happily.  It was a marvelous city to visit.  I may never do IFLA things again (almost certainly not, in fact, but who knows?), but I appreciate that attending that conference gave me the chance to go to South Africa and see that little corner of it for myself.

wine tasting in Chile

If you look back on older posts in this blog, you’ll see that Conrad and I have gone wine tasting a lot while on vacation.  The missing years included such expeditions as wine tasting in Tuscany

and South Africa

as well as a few trips to Napa

and many trips to Paso Robles.  

Funnily enough, we’ve become cocktail people in the meantime,

but we still make room for wine.

This past Saturday was our first full day in Chile.  After the arrival in Santiago on an overnight flight and then the excursion out of the city, Conrad and I were super exhausted.  We slept through until 8:55 on Saturday morning.  Which is lovely, but we were due to join the others at 9:30 in a van to the coast.  Yikes!  We scrambled and made it on time.  Mid-morning we were heading west to Valparaiso with a stop en route planned:  tasting at a winery in Casablanca.

Natasha’s friend Lorena, who lives in Santiago, knew and enjoyed the wines from Casas del Bosque,

and arranged for an 11:00 tasting.  We were set up in a tasting room at a large table

along with two couples.  They spoke Spanish, we spoke English, the woman who gave us the tasting spoke both.  I dishonour her by forgetting her name, but she did a terrific job of presenting the wines.  Knowledgeable, humourous.  She was great!

The wines, too, were quite enjoyable.  

The Sauvignon blanc was reminiscent of ones we had enjoyed in New Zealand, and we bought a bottle.  The Chardonnay was fine, but we preferred the Sauvignon blanc.  The Pinot Noir had a terrific nose, but it was rather mineral-y to me, and while fine, was my least favourite of the five wines.  The Syrah was a surprise.  I often find them peppery, but this was the most approachable of the wines, an easy and lovely tipple.  We bought a bottle.  The Cabernet Sauvignon was a good Cab with some decent age and no scent or taste of green vegetable.  Conrad and I usually avoid Cabs, but this was smoooooth.  

I kick myself for not buying a bottle.  It was the only one of the five (generous) pours I finished.

After the pouring was done, and while I was shopping, the woman (again, sorry) came out with a small tasting of a special blend for me and another man.  Only thirty bottle left.  It was delightful, and that became our third purchase.  I still wish I had gone for the Cab, though!

Were I to come back to Chile (I’d like to), I’d want to do more wine tasting.  See more of the regions, try some other wines (we’ve enjoyed Carmeneres at dinners, for example).  Maybe one day.  If I can find Casas del Bosque in the US in the meantime, I would be happy.