Landing to the Cape Town International with bunch of Argentines and Germans on thr plane was great. We quickly checked in to our hostel, which I must say was the best hostel I have stayed in so far. Very comfortable and right in the center of the city. Capetown Backpackers is their name if you ever visit here. Walking down the famous Long St that is full of cafes bars and restaurants we stopped by a portuguese restaurant with a balcony overseeing the Long St. Having my first ostrich burger I felt quite in the mood for having a spontaneous couple of days.
Cape Town is a beautiful city that reminded me of San Francisco and Istanbul at the same time. 7 million people from all around the world live here and their winters are pretty nice with mostly 60s and 70s. City was ready for the World Cup with so much enthusiasm from the locals that we were able to feel after a quick conversation. Joburg and Cape Town were two very different cities where joburg felt like LA and CT like SF.
After walking around, doing some street shopping, and enjoying the beautiful winter sun we ended up at the Waterfront area - the shopping and fancy food part of the town with lots of tourists. As much as I like to learn what the locals do and avoid the tourist spots Waterfront was cool actually. We had our beer pit stop at Paulaner Brauhaus making Thomas proud of his Bavarian roots. They had a great beer garden that we hung out.
Couple of days to the game day city already had the vibe and the excitement. Walking back to the Long street we started with our first recommended place by our Aussie friends from Joburg, the Dubliner. Two bold headed Irish guys run this cool bar that plays all your favourite rock songs. Live band just started to play as we made our way in with a song that resonated to both of us for the big game -Don't Stop Believing. It was great that we met couple of nice local girls at the bar that we were able to chat and dance. Thomas and I were both in the mood to party for sure and Dubliner was our spot. Waving our Argentina and Germany scarfs on the air we cheered the crowd as well.
Day 7 had couple of big items on tap. We had to go to Table Mountain in the morning and catch the afternoon game Brazil vs Holland at the FIFA Fan Fest. I must say Table Mountain has amazed me and should be one of the 7 Wonders of the World as there is a voting procedure for it every year. We were lucky to be here and enjoyed the beautiful picturesque view of the Western Cape. The famous site where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned, Robben Island, was misteriously hanging out by itself in the middle of the bay. Top of the Table Mountain had exquisite views and thankfully weather was cooperating with us. After spending couple of hours around the hiking area and taking hundreds of pictures we were ready take our sightseers hats off and put back the World Cup ones.
Holland vs Brazil game was about to start and we watched the game at the fan fest with a big Dutch crowd. I was surprised with not seeing too many Brazilians. The game was a nail biter and started with Brazil scoring on the 5th minute by Robinho. Durchies saved the goals to the second half and the shortest man on the field, Sneijder, scored the winning goal with a header. Haven't seen Brazilian players this frustrated before. So the big favourite Brazil was knocked out and the Dutch team who had the chance to redeem themseves from previous unsuccessful attempts now has a huge chance to be in the Final.
Partying with the Dutch crowd we have met the vice consulate of Holland there. She was great fun and took us to the Dutch bar called Tommy's. I was watching the Uruguay Ghana game with all the Dutch songs on the background. Huge party atmosphere and almost everyone wanted Ghana to win to have them as the first African country to qualify for the semi final of the World Cup. The game was an intensely close one and the incident that happened on the last seconds of the extra time will not be forgotten by any soccer fans. Ghana striker Asamoah Gyan whom scored two penalties before in this tournament has hit the post on the most important one. I'm not sure if it is Africa's destiny to always have drama in their quest to achieve something better. The script couldn't have been written any better. Game ends on 1-1 result and goes to penalty shootout. Gyan this time scores and tells the world I should have done this 3 mins ago. But Uruguayans were the ones
advanced to semis thanks to the great two saves of their goalie.
As I was watching the game outside of Tommy's there were couple of guys watching it with me and with one of them I started to have an interesting conversation. His name is Cristofa and he Is from Angola. Cape Town attracts lots of immigrants from other African countries. My new friend Cristofa told me some interesting and sad things about his experience in this city. I always wondered how much is the rent for example that they would pay at townships and like and the monthly rent is about 1000RND ($130) if you stay by yourself at a one bedroom place. Most of the single folks would share it for 500RND. Also he told me that his stuff got stolen from his house. More importantly he said there was a big tension amongst black Africans and that the burglary was planned. He believes that South Africans don't want any other African to reside in their country because that just creates more hardship for finding jobs for local South Africans. When I asked about the
relationship between the whites and the foreign blacks he said that they get along somewhat better than the local blacks but he said the country was - in his own words - 'broken'. Meeting Cristofa gave me perspective on life in general and the importance of the willingness to survive. He said he lost his father a few weeks ago and couldn't go to the funeral because he needed to work and send money to his mom to take care of the funeral expenses. Very down to earth straighforward and smart guy. I enjoyed watching the game with him as well. Now we can't be facebook friends with him maybe but I got his number and address so I would use the traditional way to keep in touch.
After the fame we went to our hot spot Dubliner's again for a night of pre-game celebrations. Argentinos were making me feel like we are in Buenos Aires. The streets of cape town were full of chanting at midnight. I started feeling the excitement. I met up with the two local girls Amy and Jaqueline that I met last night. At one point we were a group of six 3 South African girls and 3 American guys ( I still don't have a green card ok ok) and drove around te city to find a cool dancing spot but everywhere was fully loaded. We ended having drinks at my hostel and having random conversation. I asked the girls their view on U.S.A and they all have been to the states and find the Americans abit ignorant, if it surprised anyone. Overall they enjoyed their experiences. Having two Americans in the circle I felt like I should have them speak and defend or agree on what the girls said. We had a fun time all around and it is always great to hang out with locals
and learn from them. What did I learn specifically? You will love this... They call the traffic lights 'robot'. Don't ask me why because nobody knows. Gotta love it though:) at 5am the group left the hostel and I realized in 5 hours I would wake up to the biggest game that I ever watched live in a stadium.
Day 8 started with the lovely sound of my alarm. Less than a 5hr sleep should last me the day technically but operating on 4-5 hours of sleep last couple of night started to get me. It is a game day right! Thomas started to feel nervous all of a sudden walking up and down the room. We got all ready and packed as we are leaving 4am tomorrow to Durban. I sent my postcards from cape town, had our breakfasts, and took care of couple other errands.
As we started walking you could feel the vibe and the tension already on the streets. Last I saw my Argentinos were 4 in the morning when they were holding a big casket with Brazilian flag on it and crying for the Brasileros. Having lost a big powerhouse like Brasil today's game became more important. All the pre game events, 3km fan walk, beer pit stops got us even more inthe mood for the game. Match starts at 4pm and we were at thr stadium around 2.30pm. Once we got to our seats the players started to warm up. Our seats were behind the goal and that actually made you read the game even better. Thomas and I started to piss each other off a little to truly feel the tension. Everythig changed in the 5th minute. Argentine goalie made a mistake and allowed a free kick to get all the way in. Game almost started one nill.
The rest I won't write too much about it. It was an exciting game end I thought Argrntina could easily score on the second half but it was only Germans hitting the back of the net. Celebrations and sadness could be captured on the same photo of the camera. Argentina never had a blown away loss like this since 1954 when they lost to Czechoslavakia 6-1 but again that was a group stage fame this was quarter finals. Germans, lead by Sweinsteiger, dominated the game and didn't leave any space for Messi and Co. Messi did not show up at the national level again. I think Maradona's coaching abilities should be discussed after this game. There wee no tactics that I could see. Losing to the same team in two WCs in a row hurts me but I gotta give it to the Germans. They outplayed Argrntina and made lots of new independent fans from other countries. Germany always won ugly games and championships in the past but since 2006 things got changed a bit. They are playing
attacking football relentlessly. They should be the favorite again Spain the way Spanish played tonight. Paraguay should have scored the penalty to take the lead. Spain and luck in the world cups are going hand in hand which never happened historically. Good for Espana they need something to cheer up as well.
Quarters finals: check
Cape Town: check
One week in South Africa that feels like a month: check
Let me get couple hours of sleep before I wake up to go to the airport to Durban. Two rest days ahead oh believe me we will rest at the beach...
