I hate to say it, but today was the first day I felt disappointed in the group part of our trip. Even considering the rainy days, we got hoodwinked on this one...
Today was to be a "day of wine tasting," per our itinerary from GAP Adventures. In reality? How about 7 hours on the bus, a rushed tour of a rather terrible winery in the wine country, an extremely boring tour of Stellenbosch University (our guide's son just "happens" to be a student there- thus our tour). As it truly unfolded, we spent about 10 minutes tasting wine at the aforementioned establishment. Even my inexperienced pallate could discern how bad this stuff was. Perhaps it was the fact that they had twist-off bottles that gave it away...
As for Stellenbosch, though, it is South African wine country in an absolute picturesque natural environment. Imagine Napa with TOWERING mountains in the background. Now comes the bad part. Like many parts of South Africa, security and safety is a major issue. It seemed all the wineries and grapevines were protected with both electric fences and razor wire. Needless to say, it didn't exactly give an inviting feeling. I have been trying to refrain from "our country is better," but in this case, there's no comparison between a Napa experience and what we saw.
The rest of the day went downhill from there. We checked in to our "hotel," and obviously GAP Adventures was running out of cashflow on this part of the trip. The rooms we stayed in could only be described as partially functioning mobile home trailors. It was no larger than 10x18 feet, and we could hear every breath and footstep of the adjoining trailor housing Pascal, the friendly 6'5 German. Our humble abode was properly decorated with a plastic patio lawn table and matching plastic chairs. Not on the patio, but IN the trailor, completely stuffing any possible open space in our shack.
Our trailor-park manager was nice enough to inform us that due to the "energy loading" situation in South Africa, we indeed would be without power for several hours. As it was getting dark, we were equipped with candles and flashlights as we got ready for dinner. In my years of travel, I can only think of only one hostel in Cambodia that I would consider worse digs.
Tonights dinner was our farewell dinner to the GAP Group. We made some new friends and enjoyed traveling with most everybody. Terri had chicken pot pie, a South African favorite. I tried the S. African sampler, a nice trio of lamb curry, pot pie, and bobotie (minced meat with custard and cheese on top).
Our guide Mart had awards for everyone in the group.
Terri - Most likely to have a picture of herself and her meal.
Brian - Most likely to get on a hyper, out of control horse.
(I had a secondary award for "Most likely to travel with a suitcase from Radio Shack." Apparently some people have taken exception to my "bag of technology."
Good night, people.
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