Africa Cafe

On our last Saturday after the close of the venture, a bunch of us went out to Africa Cafe.

Some of us had been out that day exploring Table Mountain. Instead spending the whole time exploring the whole table top, we got engaged in taking different camera shots of ourselves again. Silhouette shots, action shots of us in the air...the usual silly stuff. The only somewhat heart-racing part of the trip was when we went up to edge of a cliff and looked straight down. Melissa sorta crawled over to the edge and wanted me to take pictures of her. So I take her camera and I'm looking over the cliff edge while standing up. It is a slightly disorienting feeling even though I'm generally not afraid of heights. I was making one of my teammates a little uneasy so I stepped back a little. But then to frame a picture shot of Melissa looking over a cliff edge on her stomach, I jumped over a small crevasse to get the proper distance. And then I jumped over it a couple more times for camera shots. It was only a couple feet wide but I'd be in for some air time if I tripped myself up at all. It got my heart beating. :)

It wasn't the first time...nor will it probably be the last time I take risks with a camera in hand.

I think I got a rep as an aggressive driver on the way down the mountain because I was enjoying the curves and g-forces. I suppose that the girls in the back didn't want to play Jello.

Jello is a game taught to us by our teammate Wilson. We started playing one day on the way to meet our clients with three guys in the back. I was in the middle seat (woe is me). Wilson was on my right. Gareth was on my left. The point of the game is when the car takes a corner...you accentuate the natural leaning that happens in one direction with a surreptitious (or very obvious) addition of force to squeeze one guy and make him give up (or cry). That day, Wilson got in several good shots because we kept turning right...and then Gareth got him back on some very, very slight left turns. And then there was me. Here I was in the center of the Jello match having two guys constantly leaning on me. Don't get me wrong...I love them like brothers...but enough was enough. Retaliation was in order. So I pressed my elbows outward in a feeble attempt to squeeze them both against the car doors (think Sampson pressing on pillars to bring the temple down). Retaliation served.

Anyway, we got back from Table Mountain and had some time before meeting other people at Africa Cafe so we explored this next door bar. Walking in, we see all these wireframe animals like springbok, leopards, and etc with paper draped over them and lit up like lamps. We go and order some cocktails, wine, and beer at the bar. It's a pretty nice place and it serves its own renditions of cocktails like most nice bars in SF do.

Africa Cafe. Like many restaurants we visited over the course of the venture, Africa Cafe had its own gift shop. Since we had finished our venture, several of us perused the gift shop to take presents back to our supporters and sponsors for our trip. One of these days I'm going to remember to give the presents I brought back to my supporters. Kudu pate anyone?

We sit down in our own room around tables set up as a square. The menu selection is already set and instead of regular menus, we are given pitchers decorated as a type of bird with the different menu selections imbued on them. It ends up being much like Spanish tapas. We keep sampling away on various dishes and we can request additional repeat dishes if we like as well. I end up spending a lot of time playing with a teammate's camera, playing around with views seen through a wine glass with candle lighting refractions. I wish I had a picture of the pitcher. I just remember dishes with chicken, ostrich, mussels, and other types of meats. Again, I had to stop myself after a while because I was getting to the point where I was really thirsty but didn't have the capacity in my stomach to drink much more water.

In the next room over, the bar, we hear loud cheers from an ongoing soccer game. Interestingly enough, even with mostly non-American influence on South Africa, South Africans say "soccer" instead of "football". Anyway, the loud cheers are due to the FIFA Confederation Cup being held in South Africa as a warmup to the 2010 World Cup next year. The South African team is in the semi-finals against Brazil and they seem to be getting decent shots on goal. Unfortunately, Daniel Alves goes on to break South African hearts on a penalty kick and the match ends at 1-0.

A couple teammates go off and talk to the workers at the restaurant. Another woman comes by and offers face painting to the girls. In contrast to Moyo, she paints with more colors, but with simpler lines and effects. We get caught up in conversation on relationships again. Perhaps because so many of us are single, we kept beating the topic like a dead horse throughout the venture. In contrast, the South African consultants seem to get married much earlier and it is a point of concern for them. Compared to them, we seem to be afflicted with singleness and we don't know exactly why and so it is a common point of prayer for them on our behalf. I know in the New Testament, that Paul indicates that it is good to be single. However, it seems most of us (if not all) do not have the longing to be single for the rest of our lives. Regardless, I'm done beating this dead topic to another death.

One of these days when I can find a picture of one of those menu pitchers...I will comment a bit on the food.