Cycling through vineyards in the Stellenbosch Hills

I’m still not feeling well and Julie needed to stop and puke. Many cyclists are out on this beautiful Sunday as the cold, rainy season approaches. We followed the coast of False Bay on Baden-Powell Drive (the founder of the Boy Scouts) and skirted the ramshackle homes of the townships of Cape Flats. When I stopped to take a photo, a police car pulled over to warn me that it is not safe to stop here. If I’m not feeling better I’ll see a doctor in Stellenbosch, the center of South Africa’s wine country.

Fixing a flat on Baden-Powell Drive.

Thatched-roofed church in Stellenbosch.

29/Apr Update:  My medical mystery has piqued the interest of Specialist Dr. Rikus Louw (who is a fan of the TV show “House”).  My tender liver hurts when cycling over bumps in the road, starting the day we left Cape Town on 23/Apr.  I also had a slight fever accompanied by a rash on my feet and arms.  An ultrasound showed a slightly inflamed liver and spleen, but no gallstones or tumors.  Hepatitis and cirrhosis have also been ruled out.  Infection is the likely culprit, such as bilharzia; but I’ve not yet been near areas where bilharzia is found.  We’re awaiting the results of further tests.  Julie felt better the day after puking.

"Mandela's Gold" a new cultivar from the unique fynbos floral kingdom of this region.

We are cycling again, in Africa, a month after reaching Ushuaia, Argentina. We haven’t been lazing on a beach, though. We backpacked for eight days in Torres del Paine, took a long bus ride to Buenos Aires where we filed our income taxes. After flying to Cape Town we spent $960 at a bike shop. My Cruzbike now has a new crank, triple chainring and crank axle; as well as new tires, tubes, chain, and new pedals. I also have new bike shoes and other new clothes. Julie’s Bridgestone has a new fork, brake levers and front brake; as well as new pedals and chain. The Cycle Factory store also did a great job of cleaning and tuning the bikes.

We headed out of the city on a freeway where Julie got very angry with me when we had to manuever through a dangerous interchange. My right rack broke, the same one that broke 12,000 km ago in Colombia. Within fifteen minutes I had fixed it up stronger than before, by securing it to the frame in a third location. I should have done that ages ago. Though I’m not feeling well we still biked to Cape Point and back.

Chapman's Peak Drive is carved into the face of the cliff.

African penguins are easily viewed from boardwalks at Boulders Beach.

The dassie's closest relative is the elephant.

An ostritch near Cape Point.

Bees on a King Protea flower.

This is not the southernmost point of Africa, Cape Aghulas is.

Table mountainn dominates the city cycling in from the airport.

A rotating cable car ascends into "the tablecloth" covering Table Mountain.

A parasail takes off from Lion's Head, looking south towards the Cape.

It is a great feeling to begin our bike ride along the east side of Africa. Having visited South Africa before, and also parts of East and North Africa, and having lived in Liberia for those 2 years almost 30 years ago, I am almost giddy about having the chance to cycle part of the continent. How will our experience differ from South America? Will there be as much variety in culture as we travel from country to country? How will the land lay? Will David find food without meat to eat? Who will we meet and what will our relationships be? What will my questions be?

Cape Town and its environs are in a stunning location. The city encircles Table Mountain, Devil’s Peak, Lion’s Head and Signal Hill with the Atlantic Ocean as a backdrop. I imagine there are few places one can be in this city without having some kind of view. David and I did a Sunday hike up and around this natural beauty getting a great view of the area. (Funny, but we ran into a couple from Chile on the hike. What fun to transport ourselves for a bit back to that continent in our conversation with them. We are still hoping to run into people from Argentina so we can change our 92 Argentine pesos [about $25]. Banks don’t want them.

Table Mountain at dawn from the Victoria & Albert waterfront.

We ended up staying in Cape Town a little longer than we had planned. Glenda, a friend of ours from Sacramento, was to meet us in Cape Town and bike with us for two weeks. Her plane was delayed several days because of the Icelandic volcano. Then she had to cancel her flight altogether because of continued delays and upcoming work commitments. Hopefully she’ll be able to meet us again in a month in Durban.

We took advantage of our extended stay to visit some of the museums. Interestingly enough, though we didn’t plan it that way, they mostly embodied stories of oppression. We visited the well done Holocaust Museum, which included ties to the policy of Apartheid and shared stories from the mostly Lithuanian Jews who emigrated here after WWII. We also visited the Slavery Museum. Cape Town and much of the early industries in South Africa were built on the backs of slave labor imported from, to name a few, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Madagascar, and West and East Africa, most predominantly Mozambique. The locals could not be convinced to give up their way of life and work for the gain of the Europeans.

Oppression of many of the descendants of slavery was described in another museum we visited, the District Six Museum, which told the story of Cape Town’s policy towards them (the coloureds) during Apartheid. In the 1960′s their neighborhood, District Six, was declared a “Whites Only” area and 60,000 people were uprooted and bulldozed to the new “Coloured Area” called Cape Flats. Never being given adequate housing this area has morphed into a gigantic shanty-town with all the problems concentrated urban poverty can bring, drugs, violence, disease, lack of quality education. District Six today is mostly a wide green space as its former owners are taking the city to court and not much has been built there.

The Slavery Museum also housed an exhibit on Nelson Mandela who is one of my heroes. His uplifting and almost reverent story of his part in South Africa’s struggle for freedom also included a panel describing his mistakes while in office as the 1^st black president of South Africa. I wonder if Mandela himself might have pushed for this piece to be included to remind people (including me) he is not a god. We also toured Robben Island where he had spent 18 of his 27 years in prison for treason. His crime, in a nutshell, was to call for “One man (person), one vote.”

All of these museums encapsulated for me the hope that is in South Africa, that in looking at their history honestly, in looking at their problems honestly, understanding who they are as a united people, South Africans can take charge of their future and work to solve some difficult problems. In my very small glimpse of life here 10 years ago, compared with my glimpse today things seem to have improved. The once exclusive and very white Waterfront shopping and eating area shows a much more integrated affluence.  It was a much more  interesting place for me to wander in this time.

Dutch colonial architecture in the historic Bo-Kaap district.

This grand old mansion is now the Big Blue Backpacker's hostel.

Street performers at the V & A waterfront.

Nobel Peace prize winners; Lutuli, Tutu, de Klerk & Mandela

Nelson Mandela's cell on Robben Island where he spent 18 of his 27 years of imprisonment.

Former prisoner Sipho was our guide on the Robben Island tour.

"Pink Mink", a Protea flower.

This is the spaceship I’ve chosen for my second low-altitude orbit of the planet Earth. I wondered if the Cruzbike Sofrider V2 would be good for long-distance touring?  Most bicycle companies offer few touring models, and many bike shops carry none. I am pleased with how well the V2 has held up for the first 22,000 km, halfway around the world. Being able to carry panniers below the seat, where the pedals would be on a normal bike, increases stability; as does keeping the weight centered, instead of out over the wheels. Keeping the panniers low and centered also reduces wind resistance.

The kickstand is not strong enough to support a loaded Cruzbike. I replaced the original with a solid aluminum kickstand. I find the seat uncomfortable and added ensolite padding (from a blue Wal-Mart camping pad) to the seat-pad and seat-back. Though I conquered the Andes with the original 16-speed gearing, climbing over 160,000m (equal to 16 Everests), I replaced the crankset in Cape Town with a triple chainring, (so I now have a granny gear). The new chainring also has a chainguard, which should help protect the teeth of the large front sprocket, as well as the legs of innocent bystanders.

The front-wheel drive does slip when going uphill . I do not consider this a serious problem. Main highways are rarely steeper than a 10% grade and I can usually pedal up to 15% (the front wheel can start slipping at less than 10% on wet pavement and 5% on loose gravel).  My wife (on a normal bike) has to get off and push almost as often as I do, which is rarely (but now I have a new granny gear).

This Axiom front rack is attached sideways to the left side of my Cruzbike with one fork clamp (upper left) & two U-clamps (see the rusty nuts).

On the right side, the rack hangs vertically with one fork clamp (upper left) & two U-clamps.

New Sun Race crankset w/triple chainring (28t-38t-48t) and Crank Bros. Candy pedals.

I re-mounted my racks with hose clamps on 31/Jul in Tanzania. Both racks are mounted vertically now.

The left side rack (top photo) has spent the whole trip in that position.  The right rack (lower photo) started out in the same position as the left (sideways) but broke off in Colombia after 9,000 km.  I repaired it by turning the rack vertically and attached it to the frame in only two places.  It lasted there for another 14,000 km until Cape Town.  The flat bar on the Axiom rack broke again.  I fixed it by adding another U-bolt (the one on the top right).  The right rack is now angled in more than the left.  It may be more aerodynamic like that.  I’ll see how well it holds up.

The old "La Boca" waterfront neighborhood of Buenos Aires

We had heard about and seen the luxurious Argentine buses with seats that almost recline to beds with great service, including breakfast, lunch, and dinner. There is no transportation like this in the US. We decided to travel in such a coach from southern Argentina to Buenos Aires, 2 nights, 1 day, about 3000km. We were not disappointed in the food or the comfort. There were even vegetarian options!! We were also treated to 4 movies (only one in English with Spanish subtitles). We emerged from this cocoon a bit tired and bedraggled (biking is so much more energizing), and headed for our hostel in the Buenos Aires’ Theatre District

Buenos Aires is a huge, modern city with snarling traffic and great grey tall buildings lining the streets. It has enormous parks and monuments, the widest avenue in the world – 9^th de Julio (David’s birthday street), grand old Victorian architecture (some people refer to the city as the “Paris of Latin America” because of the architecture) and a lively mass of business people, shoppers, tourists, school kids, city workers filling the downtown streets throughout the day and into the evening. (Many people smoke and one is never far from the whiff of tobacco…different from other places we have been)

We toured the city on bikes on a beautiful sunny Sunday. First we dodged joggers, walkers and cyclists in the wetlands park near the shore. Then we visited the pink office building of the president, the Casa Rosada, where we stood on the same balcony Eva Peron gave her speeches to her adoring public. Finally we just wandered around the city finding street fairs, musicians, dancers, chess players, families, tourists, lovers, skaters, skate boarders, laughing girls, picnicers. On sunny Sundays, it seems everybody is out of doors enjoying the weather, the parks, and each other. This great gathering of people in the central park on Sundays is one thing I will miss about South America.

Rodin's "The Thinker" & David "The reCyclist"

Busy bike trail through wetlands along Buenos Aires' waterfront.

David’s view on flying:

I was alarmed at how tired and worn the bikes looked when I took them apart to pack in boxes for the flight to Cape Town, my first airplane flight this trip. Stuck in rush hour traffic on the way to the airport I thought: “ Maybe we should have taken the earlier airport shuttle?”. We arrived almost two hours early, there was no line for check-in at the Malaysia Airlines counter, and we checked our bikes with no extra charge (Julie paid $300 to take her bike to Panama City). Then the Malaysia Airlines clerk said “Do you have a return ticket for departing South Africa?” “No, we’ll be departing South Africa on bicycles”. But South Afica requires that you have a return ticket before entering the country, and Malaysia Airlines wouldn’t let us board the plane without one. So with no time to waste we found an internet cafe and bought tickets on South Africa Airlines from Durban to Maputo, Mozambique for $654, tickets we had no plan to use. (We did get it all refunded later except for the $21.98 Orbitz fee.)  Though Malaysia’s service was excellent ( free drinks, free meals, free movies) I do not like the stress of flying.

While assembling the bikes in the Cape Town terminal, a white South African said “ You aren’t going to bike into the city, are you?” (It is only 25 km). When he left, a black taxi driver said “ All white South Africans are afraid to travel through the townships. You shouldn’t have any problem”. And we didn’t.

Dawn on the Torres (towers) L-R: Sur(2850m), Central(2800m), Norte(2600m)

We hiked up in the dark with snow in the air to watch the sun rise on Saturday (04/Apr).

What does one do on their vacation after biking 15 or 22 thousand kilometers?  Why not backpack 120 km or so through one of South America’s grandest national parks, Chile’s Torres del Paine?  While it was a bit more challenging than I had signed on for (especially on my knees),  I loved our intimate experience in the Andes’ southernmost region.  We viewed and trekked through Patagonian steppes, forests, streams, rivers, glaciers, lakes,  snow capped mountains, and sheer granite peaks, some capped with black sedimentary rocks eroded at severe angles.  One night we were awakened more than a few times to the sound of a calving glacier crashing down a near-by mountain side.  On another night we fell asleep to owls hooting, perhaps after feasting on the many mice who flourish on what they scavenge from hordes of backpackers. (We contributed to this careless animal abuse when a fox tore a hole in our low hung plastic food bag and made off with our expensive peanuts, dried bananas and chocolate bars.)  My most favorite moment was at the top of a barren pass, 1229 meters high, when the 3rd largest ice field in the world came into view.  The Hielo del Sur, which we first glimpsed near Fitz Roy a month earlier, is the sculptor of this park,  in the lakes and rivers it spawns and in the wild winds and weather it influences.  Gazing to the north and west the vast whiteness stretched over and around mountain peaks.  Below us and to the south the enormous Glacier Grey filled the steeply sloped valley we would pick our way down the rest of that day.  Our “vacation” in the park was a fitting end to our incredible Andes tour.

We first glimpsed the Torres 8 days earlier at the start of our first backpacking trek in South America.

We did the complete circuit of 116 km with full packs + 17k on day trips.

The Dickson refugio, where expensive dorm beds are available.

We camped, but ate overpriced meals indoors every other day.

A spongy red bog below Cabeza del Indio (2230m)

Los Perros glacier.

It rained 3 of 8 days, sunny for 2.

Fall colors on the only high pass (1229m).

Glacier Grey flows from the southern end of the South Patagonia Ice Field

We viewed Glacier Grey on the rugged hike along it's left bank.

The glacier ends in Lago Grey...

...forming odd-shaped icebergs.

Dark sedimentary rock atop lighter-colored granite on Los Cuernos (the horns)(2400m & 2600m).

Mushrooms

Clear stream flowing over mossy boulder.

Cerro Paine Grande (3050) is the highest point in the park.

Eating at Refugio Los Cuernos with Nickolas & Lottse, a Dutch couple.

Firebush flower.

Hiking down the Ascensio valley from the Torres mirador (04/Apr).