Day 2 - Road Warriors
Our second full day arrived on a quiet morning. Many of us who had come in a day earlier had now fully rested and rose much earlier. Kathy Virtue mastered the art of the French press , and began making stronger coffee more to some of our group’s suiting, and Chad an I sat out in the garden , each quiet in our thoughts, reading, and Drew and Alexis were up doing their routine of walking before the sun came up. Now fully assembled, our trip would begin in earnest, with a full day of activities planned…
Wilhelm and Nicola are such gracious hosts. He was particularly interested in sharing with us one of South Africa’s most visited tourism features - Babylonstoren, an immense outdoor botanical garden and working farm, complete with a sister property with a fully restored late 1800’s working farm, complete with farm animals, tools and implements, barns and livestock. It was a fascinating trip, especially for those of us who love botany, and consider ourselves journeymen gardeners.
One of the principles you learn in landscape architecture is to create outdoor “rooms” with your plant material, and the botanical garden at Babylonstoren was probably the largest “mansion” of outdoor rooms I’ve ever experienced. After a 30ish minute walk through these every surprising collection of plants, trees, flowers, herbs, shrubs, hedges, vegetables, arranged, espaliered and trimmed into every form imaginable, we took a guided tram ride through the wider property ending at the 1890’s farm estate for a tour and lunch. It was a fascinating time. And my questions to Wilhelm and our discussions revealed that he is much more than a “gentleman farmer”.
What makes this region particularly special is its Mediterranean climate, a condition blessing certain parts of our globe with warm dry climates , with a rainy winter season followed by a long, sunny growing season producing immense plant growth. No freezing temperatures also allows a broad variety of plants unique in all the world, and offers to those who love to garden an immense palate of possibilities. And we observed all of that this morning. What a blessing!
After lunch we began our drive to the location of the first three day Young Life camp ever in Cape Town. The camp site location itself was a gift from the Lord, built by an English evangelical organization “Scripture Union” 40+ years ago in Simon Town, a special piece of land above the rocky coast just east of Downtown. Funded by two family trusts, the facility is a perfect place for camp, with dorms for 150 people, and views of the Atlantic/Indian Ocean convergence of immense blue reminiscent of the views from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.
The work crew and volunteer leaders are young, excited, and singing as we enter the facility. Dressed in colors representing their respective tribes, which they proudly describe as we introduce ourselves during a clapping , singing dance. Once again, our black African brothers and sisters proved out the well known thesis that white folks just don’t have much rhythm….. but they laugh and clap as we stumble through our introductions. Lutando, one of the leaders then describes the growing work of YLA in Cape Town. These represent the fruit of Stha’s ministry efforts and her call to come to This beautiful city several years ago. For the next 45 minutes, we walk around the facility praying for the Holy Spirit to cover this place. It is a sweet time.
But Drew reminds us we have to depart to head home for a special cooking class at Willem’s promptly at 6:30pm. So with Sheldon in the driver’s seat of our comfortable Toyota van….. we embark back to Stellenbosch. And that’s where the day got really interesting…..
About 10 minutes into the drive home, we realized we would need to decide which of two routes to go, and both of then\m on Waze and Google maps we adding additional time with each passing moment. Roads went blue to partial yellow and then to red …. And then solid red. We had several map options being advanced by different people on the bus, and our patient driver, Sheldon, listened and quietly advocating to return on the last road back over Chapman’s Peak Drive which would take us back through downtown Cape Town. All the through-mountain roads were closed due to forest/brush fires, much like Southern California experiences each fall during the dry season.
At about 6 PM, after starting down one route and then diverting to Sheldon’s way, the iPhone navigator’s got their way and like the German protagonist in “Indian Jones and the Last Crusade”, in the climatic scene where he had to pick the right “Holy Grail” to drink from the fountain of immortality ……. we…. like he, “chose poorly”. Heading back into FishHoek, we descended “Into the Maelstrom” , to quote the title of one of Edgar Allen Poe’s most famous short stories…. Traffic was jammed up for blocks, with everyone trying to work their way onto a two lane road heading east winding along the coast.
Minutes turned into hours and our return time now pushed back to after 8 PM. Wilhelm was gracious and understanding. Our team kept a remarkable sense of humor through it all, and fortunately no one suggested we sing”One Hundred Bottles of Beer on the Wall”…. As the sun fell, and the evening lights came on, you could see the fires dancing on the mountains above the ribbon of town stretching along the coast. It was like a scene out of Dante’s Inferno. A small painting we saw in the store window of a little Art Gallery as we inched through the coastal town of Muizenberg summarized how many of us felt …. and as Forrest Gump once famously quipped: “that’s all I have to say about that!”
Arriving home over three and a half hours after we left, we were greeted by our stilll cheery Chef and enjoyed a wonderful late dinner. But more on that tomorrow.
What a difference a night makes! After getting in very late last evening, we were able to enjoy a beautifully prepared dinner for us using all native dishes by a renowned local chef, publisher, and now matriarch of a very successful lifestyle company, Elmarie Barry . A petite brunette with long dark hair, and a married mother of two teenage girls, Elmarie was vivacious, engaging, and captivating walking us through her personal life story of coming to faith, and how God used her own “Elijah and the widow” experience to encourage her to start her own company from a car trunk full of specially prepared lasagna tins using her last 100 Rands of savings.
As she shared her testimony, and then her enthusiasm for cooking, we all were enraptured by her strong faith, love for South Africa, and special connection with fellow believers who love Jesus, love family, and appreciate good food. Our attentive staff and she stayed to get us taken care of even though it was late, and as the clock stuck 10, we finally turned in, ready to turn the day to road warrior time behind us.
-Bob Voyles