Penguins and Wine

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It seems like the beverage I imbibed the most in the Cape Town area was wine. They have a wine region about an hours drive from Cape Town. We rented a car and drove, which took some getting used to. Here are the tips we picked up when driving on the left side of the road:

1. Hug the left – when you turn left, you keep to the inner left lane and when you turn right you need to go to the outer left lane.

2. The left/right turn signal is located on the right of the steering wheel, otherwise you will be turning on windshield wipers if your try to turn the signal on with your left hand.

3. There are a lot of “round-a-bouts” and the vehicle on your right always has the right of way. Exits are on the left side of the road.

4. Cape Town pedestrians love to jay walk and walk right in front of cars, so you need to be aware.

Rust En Vrede

We went to a couple different wineries and Rust En Vrede was definitely the best experience. There is a winemakers lunch Monday thru Friday on a first come, first serve basis. When we went, the options were either salmon and potatoes or steak and fries. I went with the steak and fries and it was perfectly cooked and seasoned. And get this – it only costs R240 (240 Rand is about $20 US dollars). And it is paired with a glass of red wine.

I also did the tasting of their higher quality single vineyard wines: 2014 Syrah, 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon, and their high end “1694 classification” series. 1694 was the year the winery was founded so they honor this with their most expensive wine. Since we could order wines to ship to California I ordered one bottle of the 1694 (R1300 or about $140) to ship back home, and I bought a bottle of the Syrah (R950 or ~ $79) to bring in my check-in (it also comes in a solid wooden box).
Pacific Oysters (from the East Coast of Africa)
African oysters are pretty damn good. I only tried west coast oysters from Zenzero at the beach area called Camps Bay and east coast Pacific oysters from Kynsa Oyster Company at the V&A waterfront. I didn’t catch the specific name of either oyster but both were very briny and paired well with the Steenberg Sauvignon Blanc. At Kynsa they also offer different sizes (xlarge, large, and medium) and they were all very delicious but the smaller ones were tastier.

Origin Coffee
This was a serious coffee spot. If you are a coffee person you owe it to yourself to visit Origin and go for the Trio Tasting Board. You choose a coffee bean from a single origin and they make the coffee for you in three different ways. The first two are given: espresso and a flat white. But the third method you can choose. You should watch the baristas as they make your drink – they really are skilled and knowledgeable. I chose the siphon method and it really makes the drink much smoother and palatable without any need for additional sugar or creamer.

Here are some pictures of the other food we tried in Cape Town:

Penguins @ Boulders Beach

An hour south of Cape Town is a cool little place called Boulders Beach where you pay 70 Rand to enter the park and walk amongst hundreds of cute little African penguins.  Totally worth the drive because I don’t think I could get this close to penguins anywhere in the states.

Merrell Night Series Cape Town race report!

I’ll do a separate post about my Ugandan Gorilla Trekking experience, but last night I finished my second international race event:  the Merrell Night Series organized by Mountian Runners. What a fun and great idea for a race series!  Mountain Runners put on these night races in the Fall and Spring and this being the beginning of spring, there will be one night run for the next three weeks.  This one was located ON on the grounds at Groot Constantia winery.

SIGNING UP

I signed up online before my trip and it was very easy to do as everything was in English.  The cost was about 140 Rand, which is around $11 US dollars as of September 2017.

GETTING THERE

For any travelers that aren’t driving, this is something to think about for your race (especially a mid-week night race.) When I signed up I knew it was about 10 miles away, so not in the immediate downtown Cape Town area but right around the other side of Table Mountain.   But the race site said registrations starts at 5pm with the race starting around 6:45pm, which is right at rush hour traffic.  So I didn’t know how long it would take on an Uber and with traffic.  Here are the expected routes from Google Maps:

I’m glad I decided to leave earlier because there was all kinds of traffic leaving the city.  So definitely give yourself some time.  My Uber driver took the route that avoided traffic and made it there with plenty of time to spare.

WHAT TO WEAR

Also very tough to predict when traveling but I wore my regular running outfit:  water bottle, bright running shirt, shorts, Asics Kayanos 22, AND my trusty Black Diamond Headlamp (which I also found useful in Uganda).  People were really bundled up for the race but it really wasn’t that cold (I just wore a t-shirt).  It could have rained so that would have been interesting because I didn’t have trail shoes or a rain jacket but it all worked out.

REGISTRATION

Since I already signed up online all I did was give them my name and they gave me my bib.  No need for additional ID or anything like that.  Then you just wait in the restaurant until the race starts.  They had music and both sponsors had stands selling merchandise.

RACE START!

The website didn’t have the course map but they posted it on a small piece of paper inside the restaurant.  I talked to locals who have done the race and they didn’t think it would be a problem running in regular shoes.

Funny thing about this is the race doesn’t have an official start time. It starts when it gets dark enough to use your head lamps. The 8K race starts first and then the 5K (the one I signed up for) starts 5-10 minutes later.  They mark the course with reflective strips so you can know where to turn and they also mentioned that there was one part where there is an electric fence that we should look out for (didn’t know I signed up for a Spartan race!)

RUNNING IN THE DARK IN SOUTH AFRICA

Such an awesome and unique experience. It was really neat to see the line of headlamps running up the hill of the vineyards.  There were all shapes and sizes and all ages doing the race, including a handful of kids that must have been 9 years old so there wasn’t any age restrictions.

Head lamps were definitely needed as this was a trail race with multiple turns but the trail wasn’t too gnarly that one would trip. Also there were NO aid stations/water stops so important to bring your own water bottle when you travel.  Granted this was only an 8KM/5KM distance but still everyone’s water needs are different.  So I’m glad I had my trusty Nathan handheld also to store my phone.

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There were also some parts that were single track uphill and most people in my part of the race started walking the hill.  But it really wasn’t that bad in terms of the steepness.  But there were mutliple obstacles like walking through a gate and getting across narrow bridge crossings which at times were nothing more than a plank.  But running high up in the vineyards and looking down at the city lights with the full moon in front of you in South Africa was an amazing experience.  Even though the race was short I thought this was a great idea and wonder if there are things like this in California.

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FINISH LINE

They had about five or so volunteers stationed on the course to help direct you but it seemed hard to get lost.  A good chunk of the last mile was downhill and the final stretch was flat so I picked up the pace. Then this one girl saw me and she sprinted past me.  But the race folks basically stop everyone who crosses to physically check-them off a piece of paper – I guess to account that you have finished?  They also have timing strips on the bib so not sure why they do this.

Then someone hands you a water bottle and more importantly you get your free bottle of wine (Sauvignon Blanc) and taste some of the wine  (Merlot).  I don’t know if many races in California have wine tasting after a race (I thought the Napa Marathon would do this but they didn’t), but it was actually pretty good.  I decided to leave right away because it was 8pm and I wasn’t sure how easy it would be to get an Uber this far from city.  But we got one in 10 minutes or so.  Official results aren’t out yet but I think I finished in about 48 minutes.  Great experience if you happen to be in Cape Town!