My Stolen Camera (and the Manchester United match)

We stopped by jazz night at the Mahogany room this week.  A local band plays all evening and you just sit and enjoy the music.  It was a 4 man group with a saxophone, drum set, double bass, and guitar.  To my musically ungifted self, they sounded pretty good.  Friday night I was supposed to attend the practice session for the players of Manchester United and the South African Ajax, but it was pouring down rain outside, so I decided I didn’t want to get soaking wet just to watch them practice.

Saturday morning we walked to the Hope street market. I had another delicious brownie – they are the best ones I have ever had.  It is my favorite market in Cape Town, better than the old biscuit mill.  We then started the fan walk early to the stadium.  The fan walk was created for the world cup in 2010 to prevent traffic congestion by the stadium.  It begins by the train station and bus station where I get on to go to work.  In 2010 and now, tons of people get into the city center through these means and then they can just walk all the way to Green Point.  There is a distinctly marked pedestrian path with red and white stripes put around the light poles marking the way.  They also put up huge fences and block off lanes of the roads so all 55,000 people can get to the stadium.  It is a nice walk that takes about 30-40 minutes.  We stopped for lunch along the way and caught the end of the Sharks vs. Reds rugby match.  The weather was cloudy and it kept switching between a light drizzle and strong rains. 

We were sitting in the middle tier in the stadium and over the roof you could see Lion’s head and when the clouds moved, Table Mountain.  The presentation of the teams, Manchester United and South African Ajax, was not nearly up to par with an introduction at a Husker game.  Once both teams were on the field, the entire stadium sang Happy Birthday to Nelson Mandela.  Most of the first string players for Manchester United did not come for the match; they stayed in England and were recovering from injuries or training for the Olympics.  It was still a good match, especially because many South African’s are ManU fans.  They were supporting both teams.  The half time show consisted of 2 dressed up fans in giant balls similar to the ones that hamsters run around in.  They raced across the shorter end of the field to see who would win – the Ajax fan or the ManU fan.  In the second half of the game around the 83^rd minute, the Ajax scored a goal making it 1 to 0.  In stoppage time Manchester United scored, making the final score 1 to 1. 

After the game ended we were heading back along the fan walk to our apartment.  Instead of taking the same path we came in on, we took a route on the other side of the road.  This eventually matched back up with the original path except a fence separated us.  Eventually our side led to an interstate so we needed to hop over the fence to get to the sidewalk.  There was a gate that was padlocked with the security standing beside it, but for some reason they did not open it and told us we had to climb over. That is South Africa for you.  We waited behind all the other people ahead of us, and then it was my turn.  I had been holding my camera in my right hand, and I slipped it into my coat pocket.  Less than 2 minutes later I was on the other side and down a small slope when I realized it was missing.  My roommates had gone a few people behind me over and no one still on the other side of the fence claimed to have seen it.  I am 99% certain that someone must have seen me slip it into my pocket and just pulled it right out as I climbed over using both my hands.  Not zipping it in my purse was a big mistake.  Fortunately I always upload my pictures each week, so I only lost the ones taken at the game.  The other option for when it was stolen was that right after I got over the fence, a very large woman was attempting to get over it as well.  I basically saved her life as she came hurtling over the side.  I caught her and completely supported her body.  During that moment either she or someone nearby could have grabbed my camera without me realizing it. 

I have sent my mother on a mission now to purchase me a new camera and FedEx it to me here in Africa. Hopefully it doesn’t take more than a couple weeks to get here.  There are 2 main reasons I refuse to purchase a new camera here.  If I purchased it, the plug would be South African.  The outlets here are three circles in the shape of a triangle with one of the circles bigger than the other two. I have no desire to own a camera with this kind of plug.  Also cameras here are more expensive.  The same exact models that are sold back home are sold here with a 50% mark up.  That is a lot of money for a camera with a plug that won’t work back home.  I have been told that the camera quality is also not as nice, so my pictures wouldn’t look as good.

In my sad camera-less state we stopped for dinner at the Eastern Food Bazaar. This did not cheer me up however because we got there just after sunset so the lines were outrageously long.  Ramadan has just started and everyone came out to get their Indian food.  It made me feel a little bad waiting in line because everyone behind me was starving since they don’t eat during daylight hours, while I had ate lunch only 5 hours earlier.

Sunday morning I was supposed to go on a crazy adventure in Gansbaai, but it didn’t happen because there were 4 meter high swells in the water.  Now that particular trip has been postponed until this coming Saturday or Sunday.  Instead we decided to climb Table Mountain.  Our taxi driver dropped us off at the start on Tafelberg road, around 300 meters above sea level.  We took the easiest hiking route possible called Platteklip Gorge.  It is the oldest route on the mountain, and the quickest way to the summit taking only around 2 hours to reach the top.  It is roughly 1800 stone steps up to the top, with the climb moving 700 meters up to just over 1000 meters above sea level and only 3 kilometers inward.  The path was very steep at parts.

For the first 30 minutes of our hike it was raining fairly heavily.  I had on my nice north face that is supposed to prevent water from coming in (thanks dad, best gift ever – and if I had a camera, yes I would be in my green coat in the picture).  It kept me relatively dry during the deluge.  There is a small stream that flows down the mountain here, and it was flooding parts of the path so we had to hike over and around them without soaking our feet.  The rain let up for the rest of the hike which was nice. The clouds were forming the distinct tablecloth on top of the mountain. For the entire hike we were walking through these clouds so you couldn't see very far in any direction.  The mist was swirling around and it felt like I was in another world. 

When we reached the top over the gorge, the wind was coming in strong.  After being damp from walking through clouds the entire hike, and sweating from the effort, it was very cold.  Also the elevation change was noticeable.  We decided to go warm up in the little restaurant up top and have some hot chocolate. I hiked with Rebekah and her friend from Tennessee as well as her friend’s brother.  Their parents and other people travelling with them came up in the cable car to meet us on the top.  We had lunch and joined them for the cable car back down.  We were much too cold and worn out to hike back down, although one of these days I am going to do both.


On top of the mountain we met these crazy guys who hike up Silvermine, run across the mountain, hike down, and run to the Waterfront for a beer.  This is a 40km trip.  I was very impressed with their dedication and what great shape they must be in.


We went back with the family to their hotel on Camps Bay.  We ate dinner next to the beach to watch the sun set over the Atlantic Ocean.  Clouds blocked part of the view, but it was still pretty.  In the dark we walked down the beach and out onto some rocks that jut into the ocean.  With the huge waves crashing around them it was so peaceful and beautiful.  Camps Bay is one of my favorite places in Cape Town (I pretty much like every place in Cape Town).

These pictures below I stole off of the internet after running a Google search.  The first is the path that I hiked up the mountain (Platteklip Gorge).  The next is part of the way up in clouds.  It looked similar to that for my hike up.  The last one is some lady, but she is at the top of the gorge in victory. That is how I felt, and that is how cool the space looks at the top.

These are ACTUAL pictures taken while I was hiking: