Heading back to Kilimanjaro

All good things come to an end.  Our holiday in magical Cape Town is over.  In the morning at 6am, we start our long drive back to Kilimanjaro.  The car is packed, just recharging the camera batteries, putting our clothes for the trip into day packets and then we need to seriously sleep.  Correction, I need to sleep.  Siobhan will sleep along the way.  I've made sure that there is enough space for her chair to go back.  Our car resembles a packed Zimbabwean bus minus the chickens and goats tied onto the roof.  Behind the front seats there is a solid wall of clothing, linen, toys, kitchen utensils, and other crap we think we desperately need back home in Tanzania.  The challenge that lies ahead, is going to be getting across the borders of 4 different countries without paying duty or bribes to corrupt customs officials.

This is the first time we haven't done too many touristy things in my beloved mother city.  Sorted out Tony's flat, saw him settled (his first night there he returned home from a club to find two dead bodies, a shot up car and a horde of policemen in the road near his block of flats.)  That took up a good part of the holiday.  Then we also raided our storage facility and decided on what to keep in storage and what we wanted to take back with us.  Have to say, we are taking back enough clothes to clothe the whole of Moshi.  Siobhan always loves fashion and has been very frustrated having to wear the same clothes twice a week for the past year.  The big thing, is that we are taking back summer clothes which we had a sad lack of the past year.
Had my first sem-run-in with customs today.  Had ordered some of my latest book to give family and friends here, thinking it would be cheaper to ship to South Africa from the US than it is to Tanzania.  Boy was I mistaken.  Not only is shipping more expensive, but the customs here grab hold of the box of books, and won't release them until you pay duty, vat and a clearance fee.  I managed to b-s my way out of the duty when I saw they had opened the box up upside down.  I knew that the invoice was always on the top of the books, but seeing that they had opened up the box from the bottom, I told them the books were a gift from my publishers.  "See," I said holding the back of a book up next to my face.  "This is me, I am the author."  After scrutinising my face and the author picture on my book, they agreed that I was indeed the author, so didn't have to pay duty.  But I still had to pay vat on the value of the books.  I made up a ridiculously small sum which they accepted, and paid their $3 handling fee on top of that.  Total outlay $10 to collect my books, even though I had to fork out a lot for the shipping.  Never ever will I ship books to South Africa again. 
When I got back to my car, which was already packed to the brim ready for tomorrow's trip, it was surrounded by custom's officials, some with cute golden labradors.  "This is not a South African registered car," one very astutely pointed out.  "Is it from Zambia?" he asked pointing to the Tanzanian flag on the number plate.  Granted, he might have been fooled by the 'I love Zambia' sticker on the back of my car, but Zambia?  Obviously the education system had failed him and I knew then he was not one to be trifled with.
"Tanzania," I said pleasantly with one of my winning smiles.  "As you can see, I came to fetch some of my things to take back to Tanzania with me."
"Passport," he sneered holding out his hand.  Now seriously, how many South Africans drive around South Africa with their passport.  In fact, many South Africans don't even have passports.
"I don't have it with me, it's with my things at my brother's house in Rondebosch."  I quickly replaced my winning smile with a perplexed look.
"Oh, are you South African?" he asked, lightening up a little.  My South African accent is so thick, you can cut it with a knife, this guy was very slow.  I nodded, trying my best to look demure and intimidated at the same time.  "Okay, you can go then.  But you better keep your passport with you, as other cops might stop you and ask what with you driving a foreign car and all.  So, what is it like in Tanzania?  Is it peaceful?  Are you working there?"  First he was so aggressive and now he wanted to make chatty conversation.  I bared my teeth in what I hoped was a pleasant grin.  The labrador he had on a leash lay down and rested its head on its paws.  It obviously found my car boring, probably because I wasn't a drug smuggler.
Goodbyes to friends, but we'll be back in December when the weather is better.  The World Cup was awesome, I was one of the millions proud to be a South African.  Hopefully, our rugby boys will improve the weekend.  Not sure when I'll have internet access again to update you about our travels.  But, I'm recording all the information and am really excited about The Great Mountain to Mountain Safari, the book I'm going to write about this mammoth trip.  Have done quite a bit of work on it already.
Thanks to my brothers for looking out for me here, getting my car sorted and serviced and letting us stay with them in Cape Town.  Thanks also to my Mom and Jem for helping to sort out Tony.  Ten days minimum of travel lie ahead.  Hopefully, not too many adventures, but they are always good to write about in a book!Sayonara!
luv
Cindy

The dangers of relaxing

Relaxing can be a hazard to your health.  Too much relaxing, and it might be difficult to get back into that disciplined compartmentalised state I was in.  However, relaxing is addictive.  Unfortunately.  I might get to like it too much.  Cape Town is always a blast, so much to do, so much to see, and the shopping and vibe is always great.  The money part is not so great, I spent way too much money on the way down, and now have to guard my pennies to be able to pay for the way back.  Being broke in Cape Town is not a joke.  I'm seriously considering going to the Grand Casino and playing the pokey machines there to win myself more money.  But with my luck, I might just make the casino richer, so that is probably not an option.  I guess I have to look with my eyes and not my wallet.  Sigh....Very hard when you have two kids who want you to buy them everything they like.  Maybe, I should try and continue my disciplined approach to my writing, but shift it to my shopping/money spending facet of my life.
It's been great catching up with family and friends and doing the little things that you can't do in Tanzania, like handing in Siobhan's macbook for repairs (remember, the one I accidentally spilt diet coke over) and getting the lock on the boot repaired.  Initially, I had phoned around the scrap yards to try and get a pajero boot lock mechanism out of a crashed car.  Sadly, nobody seems to crash Pajeros here.  In fact, we've only seen one other Pajero since we've been here, so maybe nobody drives Pajeros here.  I was advised to go to the Motsubishi Dealer and buy a new one.  With dollar signs blinding my vision (imagine what a fortune they would charge) I pulled into Roadrunner 24 hour locksmiths, and two hours later my boot lock was repaired for under $100!  The kids were a bit antsy that their lunch was delayed two hours, but the other bonus was that because they then only had lunch at 3pm, I didn't have to buy them dinner!

Cris, whom I know from Hubpages, took my initial cover design for my The Great Mountain to Mountain Safari book, and reworked it with his special magical touch.  I think it's come out really well.  I've started on the book, typing up the introduction etc, but need to sit down and start typing up the stuff from my notes while it is all fresh in my mind.  The problem is, the world cup football is rather distracting.  I can't help myself, I just feel compelled to watch the games and blow the vuvuzela!  Actually, the atmosphere here in Cape Town is quite electric, and I'm so pleased I've had the opportunity to be in the city during a world cup.  South Africa is doing a wonderful job hosting this world cup and making all those negative people who forecast it would be a disaster, eat their words.  I reckon, this is the most colourful, vibrant world cup ever!
Well, one more cup of coffee and then I'd better raise those sleeping kids of mine.  It is 9.35am already and half the morning has gone!