Cozy Nook Explorers
Cozy Nook Explorers
31. Cape Town, South Africa
Explore with Jackie and Jon as they embark on their virtual journey to Cape Town, South Africa. They will search for cozy penguins, storm the V&A waterfront, and eat Bunny Chow! Go Nelson Mandela!!
Jackie Reilly: Host
Jon Schaller: Host
Charles: Producer
Instagram: @cozynookexplorers
Email: cozynookexplorers@gmail.com
Music:
Piano Romantisme by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
WOAH by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
Community Shoutout:
Nelson Mandela Children's Fund
Mentioned In This Episode:
Truth (Coffee Shop)
Bunny Chow
** 1 Disneyland = 500 acres **
JACKIE: I’m Jackie
JON: And I’m Jon
JACKIE: And we are the cozy nook explorers!
JON: Welcome to our show where we explore the world from our cozy nook from a guest room in Southern CALIFORNIA using the power of the internet. And where when we make a knowable mistake we add a coin to the adventure jar!
Jackie: Yes, we’ve got the adventure jar here, Charles is in the house, and it’s Wednesday which means it’s time for our next exploration!
Jon: And this Wednesday we will be going to Cape Town, South Africa.
Jackie: (Attempts a South African accent) Cape Town, South Africa.
Jon: Maybe we don’t try the accent
Jackie: Yeah, my lowest grade in college was in dialects. True story. Let’s stay focused on the cozy.
Jon: Speaking of which Jackie, what is keeping you cozy?
Jackie: The thing that is keeping me cozy this week is the sound of rain.
Jon: Well it beats the feel of Rain
Jackie: No rain can feel wonderful when it is warm outside. A summer rain...
Jon: I stand corrected
Jackie: And I never thought I would miss the rain but I kind of do- sometimes at least. When I moved to California I knew about the 300 days of sunshine and that is very nice, especially in the winter but I do miss the rain sometimes.
Jon: Well you are getting just a little bit of the rain in Winter.
Jackie: And that has been such a nice change of pace especially the sound of the rain.
Questions:
- What material sounds the best when it is hit by rain?
- Tin because it’s very specific and it reminds me of movies.
- Do you prefer light rain or heavy rain?
- Light rain/ mist. When you just need a raincoat, but no umbrella.
Jackie: Jon, what is keeping you cozy?
Jon: The thing that is keeping me cozy is a light scarf.
Jackie: (sarcastically) Well isn’t that adorable.
Jon: What, dudes have necks too?
Jackie: I know.
Jon: Well I like a light scarf. Being in California means that winter isn’t coming, just a mild fall and having a light scarf during this time is very nice.
*What color scarves do you like?
*Do you like scarves with words printed on them?
Jackie: And with that let’s go to Cape Town South Africa!
Jon: Yes let’s get into it
Let’s Get Into It
Jon: Now I would like to talk about prisoner 46664. He arrived on Robben Island in 1964 after being convicted of Sabotage by the South African Government. This wasn’t just any run of the mill prison he was attending. This was a brutal place. If you are not driving try to picture him. Prisoner 46664 he is 6’1 and wearing a tan prisoners uniform. Can you see him? As you try to picture him, see the cell he lives in. It is very small. As you picture that, do you see his bed? You can’t, because it is non-existent. There is just a floor. As you picture this non-existent bed. See his toilet, it is also non-existent he has a bucket instead. He is allowed to send and receive one letter every six months. He is allowed one visitor every year. And that visit is only half an hour. Can you picture him? He is forced to work in a lime quarry that is located on Robben Island, without any eye protection. The cumulative effect of this is that he endures permanent damage to his eyesight. He has a wife and children. Even with his poor eyes he is still able to express deep unabiding sadness that he felt in letters that he writes. He said in one letter that Quote “I had hoped to build you a refuge, no matter how small, so that we would have a place for rest and sustenance before the arrival of the sad, dry days. I fell down and couldn't do these things. I am as one building castles in the air.”
Jackie: That’s beautiful, very sad but beautiful. The man being described fought his entire adult life against the Nationalist government of South Africa which instituted the policy of Apartheid. Apartheid is the forced segregation by race and existed in South Africa from 1948 until the early 1990’s. Anyone who opposed this policy could be thrown into jail on Robben Island as a political prisoner.
Jon: Prison did not defeat him. The man I was mentioning earlier. He not only befriended the guards I found an interview that stated that at least one of those guards viewed him as a father. He started Robben Island University. Which was a process of each prisoner giving all of their knowledge and skills to the entire prison. He would write secret letters, he would write a secret autobiography. He would become a symbol of a South Africa that was not defined by racial segregation known as apartheid but by freedom for all. Do you see him?
Jackie: Yes because he is the iconic Nelson Mandela. The man that would go on to be the President of South Africa.
Jon: That he would, in fact. He had a quote “In my country, we go to prison first, then we become President.”
Jackie: He was awarded the nobel peace prize in 1993.
Jon: He was!
Jackie: And today you can visit the same Robben Island Prison Site where he stayed.
Jon: You can!
Jackie: You can take a boat from Cape Town. It is just 6 miles away. Because Robben Island prison is thankfully now a museum.
Jon: It is!
Jackie: Stop agreeing with me!
Jon: Ok!
Jackie: (adorable growl)
Jon: Welcome to Cape Town South Africa. Cape Town is 27,878,000 square feet or 55,756 Disneylands.
Jackie: It’s a surprisingly big place with an equally surprising amount of people. Their population is around 4,618,000 people.
Jon: I know, I had the perception that there would be fewer people, I mean they could really call it Cape City.
Jackie: Cape City sounds like a bad sitcom about superheroes
Jon: Hehehehe I guess Cape Town it is. Just an unexpected amount of people for a town.
Jackie: Exploring is good for destroying your narrowmindedness as Mark Twain once said.
Jon: (Hehehe) So to go back to Robben Island for a bit.
Jackie: If you would like, it is a world heritage site after all.
Jon: It used to be a leper colony.
Jackie: Do we have to talk about that part?
Jon: Yes because it is fascinating, in the 1840’s it is where you could voluntarily go if you had leprosy.
Jackie: I read something else.
Jon: I think you're thinking of the leprosy repression act which wasn’t until 1892. That act said that if you had leprosy you were forced onto the island.
Jackie: You didn’t want to talk about how the island was used to train soldiers during World War II or how it was a major defensive outpost during the war. Or that there used to be a land bridge between the island and the mainland... you wanted to talk about leprosy.
Jon: Yes I think it is important.
Jackie: You didn’t even mention the coziest part of the Island
Jon: There is a cozy part of the island?!?!
Jackie: Yes there is a building called Garrison Church that is more than 150 years old and it has a big flag pole coming out the top of it.
Jon: Ok
Jackie: A when a little baby is born on the island they pull a pink or blue flag up the flagpole.
Jon: You win. That is a cozy part of the island.
Jackie: That is right. Babies are important, but I do wish they would make the announcement with a single gender neutral color flag like yellow. I think that would be nice. Just a little feedback.
Jon: So what did you find to be the coziest part of the mainland in Cape town.
Jackie: The Penguins
Jon: Oh the penguins
Jackie: They have a penguin colony at Boulders Bay in Simons Town and the penguins are so cute
Jon: They are.
Jackie: Do you think that they call it Simons Town because one of the penguins is named Simon and Simon owns the town?
Jon: Hehehehe what?
Jackie: It could be...
Jon: That or it was named after an early governor named Simon something
Jackie: Yes, Simon Van Der Stel…
Jon: You were just testing me
Jackie: I was. And you only get partial credit for getting the first name right.
Jon: The penguins are actually called Jackass penguins
Jackie: How dare you insult them
Jon: What? That is what they are called.
Jackie: I know I am just teasing you. Do you know why they are called Jackass Penguins?
Jon: Because they do stunts on MTV
Jackie: Terrible joke I am ashamed of you. Oh that was so bad.
Jon: I’m ashamed of me. Hehehe why do they call them Jackass Penguins?
Jackie: It is because they communicate with a honking sound that sounds like a donkey.
Jon: Not only do Cape Town's beaches have penguins they also have blue flags
Jackie: What? No they don’t. (Correcting) South Africa’s flag is the sideways green Y with, black, white, gold, green, and….
Jon: What color?
Jackie: Ummm I don’t remember. Charles what color is it?
Jon: I believe he is indicating a blue color. Yeah at the bottom of the flag that looks blue to me.
Jackie: Ok, they have some blue on the flag but that does not mean that it’s a blue flag.
Jon: I was talking about the blue flag program. It has to do with the quality of water.
Jackie: Ohhh! Ok, explain.
Jon: A Blue Flag on a beach recognises and encourages the efforts of local authorities of that beach to meet certain criteria regarding the law, accessibility, health, cleanliness and safety, as well as have adequate information and environmental management. In fact South Africa was the first place outside of Europe to get to that quality of water.
Jackie: Even before the United States?
Jon: Yes, to my knowledge the mainland of the United States doesn’t have any blue flag beaches because they do not participate in the program, although the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico do have some blue flag beaches.
Jackie: Oh geez. That’s comforting. Wonder why we don’t participate… Either way, well done South Africa. I noticed that the beaches looked like a slightly rockier version of California Beaches.
Jon: I wasn’t going to say anything but I know what you mean.
and-
Jackie: Well the climate is supposed to be very Southern Californian. So, nearly perfect.
Jon: I was literally just going to say that.
Jackie: Well I, like South Africa, with the blue flags, I got there first.
Jon: Hehehe Well Cape Town is significantly older than the United States. It dates back to 1652 when it was started by the Dutch East Indian company to grow fruits and vegetables so their sailors would stop dying of scurvy.
Jackie: Oh it is way older than that. Archaeologists found evidence of human beings all the way back to 15,000 years ago.
Jon: I stand corrected.
Jackie: Even when the Dutch founded it, the area was Cape Colony not Cape Town. But that was the original name because it is on the Cape of Good Hope.
Jon: Double corrected. But it wasn’t originally called The Cape of Good Hope, it was called the Cape of Storms.
Jackie: Oh that is right. Now I stand corrected. I love how they rebranded from Cape of Storms to Cape of Good Hope. Cape Of Good Hope is very cozy.
Jon: That is some first rate marketing. I would much rather visit the Cape of Good Hope than the Cape of Storms. You know, I looked up famous storms in the area. Did you see anything about the Storm of 1858?
Jackie: Yes that was the insurance thing right?
Jon: You are so smart.
Jackie: I know, right. It’s almost like I have notes in front of me.
Jon: So there was a storm in 1858 that caused something like 30 ships to be thrown to the shore and destroyed. And insurance companies basically announced that if your ship was going to Table Bay, which is the bay Cape Town sits next to. If your ship was going to spend time in Table Bay they weren’t going to cover you and you couldn’t get insurance. So the British Government, who was in possession of Cape Town at the time built the first breakwater. A breakwater is a barrier that is built into a body of water that protects a coast or harbour from waves. It looks like a giant pile of rocks in the middle of the ocean.
Jackie: You meant to say the first breakwater in South Africa.
Jon: Yes I did.
Jackie: Do you know where the first breakwater was?
Jon: Italy
Jackie: How did you know that!?!?! I worked in Italy for almost a year and I didn’t even know that.
Jon: Just something I know, but speaking of that first Breakwater in South Africa you can still see it if you go to the V&A Waterfront.
Jackie: (said dreamily) The Victoria and Albert Waterfront… it’s so dreamy. That is the first place I would want to go.
Jon: Really?
Jackie: Hands down. They have boat tours, they have ferries to Robben Island, and a world class aquarium.
Jon: Oh, let’s Talk about the aquarium after a quick break.
Jackie: Okie dokie, see you soon.
Ad 2
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Sally: Excuse me, waiter?
Shane: Hello fine customer please call me Shane
Sally: Hi Shane. I ordered soup but I was only handed a shot glass?
Shane: Oh, sorry, we are little backed up right now (Sounds of soup being poured) There you go. You have been served.
Sally: You just poured soup into the shot glass
Shane: I mean… I could try to like in your mouth instead
Sally: I mean, this is only a shot glass full of soup. It’s very small.
Shane: That’s right
Sally: Did you think I would just eat this much?
Shane: Oh, I’m sorry let me fix that
Sally: Hehehe yah. Thank you.
Shane: Yeah we can go lighter we have thimbles in the back
Sally: For the Soup?
Shane: Yah
Sally: Nevermind. What does the vegetable dish have on it?
Shane: You mean the baby carrot?
Sally: Baby carrot? mmmm no, how big is your steak?
Shane: About the size of a postage stamp
Sally: Please tell me if I ordered the fish I would at least get a whole one
Shane: Oh Heck yes a whole sardine.
Sally: Ok, fine I will just eat the soup (Soup of putting a spoon in a shot glass) Ah. Delicious I am done
Shane: And are you too full?
Sally: I am definitely NOT too full.
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Sally: Sixteen Dollars!!!!
Music: Piano Romantisme by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
Let’s Get Into It 2
Jackie: Ok, so the aquarium...
Jon: Two Oceans Aquarium
Jackie: It is called Two Oceans Aquarium because Cape Town sits on… (together) two oceans
Jon and Jackie: Two Oceans
Jon: The Indian Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean
Jackie: Guess which aquarium exhibit is my favorite?
Jon: Is it the penguin exhibit?
Jackie: It is the penguin exhibit.
Jon: I like the Kelp forest exhibit.
Jackie: Oooo that is like seeing a different planet through glass
Jon: That is a very apt description.
Jackie: What would you like to see on the Victoria and Albert Waterfront?
Jon: I don’t know maybe the diamond museum because diamonds were discovered in Cape Colony in 1867 and that led to diamonds going from things only kings could afford to being things every rich person could afford, no let me amend that. Nobel Square I would want to see Nobel square first.
Jackie: So not the diamonds that changed South Africa’s history you would want to see statues of the people that changed South Africa’s history.
Jon: Well said. It is the life sized statues of South Africa’s four nobel prize winners. Albert Luthuli, Desmond Tutu, and F.W. de Klerk and
Jackie: Nelson Mandela!!!
Jon: What should we talk about next, the food or Table Mountain?
Jackie: (Pause for Charles to write vamp if necessary)
Ok, so… Charles is making a sign… still making it… ok he’s holding up the sign and it says food, so I think he wants us to talk about Table Mountain.
Jon: hahah The food is ridiculously good.
Jackie: Tales of the miracle that is South African cuisine sadly rarely reach our ears here in America but I can assure you the food is transcendent.
Jon: They have a sausage called boro worst which looks like a coiled snake and is too delicious
Jackie: They have all kinds of seafood, including some apparently amazing fish and chips.
Jon: But I’ve got to say that my personal favorite is some stuff called Bunny Chow
Jackie: The name sounds really adorable and this is a seriously good dish.
Jon: We will include a link to a recipe in the description
Jackie: If you like cooking and you want to try something adventurous, please do yourself a favor and make this at home. It is…
Jon: It is a curry stuffed inside a half loaf of bread
Jackie: Yes they call it government sandwich loaf
Jon: Why do they call it that?
Jackie: I don’t know
Jon: Well whatever the reason Bunny Chow is delicious and your education is not complete until you try it. Also try to get a hold of a substance called Biltong, a friend of mine from South Africa gave it to me over a year ago and I am still thinking about it. Best Beef jerky of all time.
Jackie: Shall we move on to Table Mountain?
Jon: Yes so Table Mountain is right next to the city portion of Cape Town. And looks like more of a mountain than a table.
Jackie: When you picture Cape Town think of if Honolulu, Hawaii and Wellington, New Zealand had a baby.
Jon: And that baby was 10 times the size of either of those cities.
Jackie: Gigantic baby! Yes because Cape Town is 10 times the size. But what I meant is that both those cities are on the coast and are surrounded by mountains, so the city looks like a bowl. And one of the mountains next to Cape Town specifically is called Table Mountain.
Jon: It takes up so much of the skyline that it is used as the point of navigation.
Jackie: You can ride on a cable car up the mountain and see just how flat it is on top
Jon: Well it is called Table Mountain after all, so flat would come with the territory. It is one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world at 280 million years old.
Jackie: What I really want to see are the plants.
Jon: Cape town is a Norman Myers biodiversity hotspot which means that there are 15,000 or more plant species in that area.
Jackie: On table mountain alone there are 2,200 plants that you can only see on the mountain. My personal favorite plants are the silver trees; they look like green trees with a silver highlight. They shine in sunlight!
Jon: My favorite are the Peninsula Sandstone Fynbos. It’s a PINK FLOWER THAT LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING FROM star trek large super round with pointy petals.
Jackie: Oh no that one is my favorite.
Jon: That is now your favorite?
Jackie: I can have two favorites.
Jon: Well if you go to South Africa please go to table mountain.
Jackie: It will be the first place I see.
Jon: You said V&A was the first place you wanted to see.
Jackie: I can have 2 first places I want to see.
Jon: Oh brother, anything else?
Jackie: The first heart transplant on earth was in 1967 in Cape Town. Anything else?
Jon: They have this coffee shop in Cape town called Truth. It is a steampunk coffee shop complete with old fashioned equipment.
Jackie: That sounds like your personal heaven.
Jon: They have a decaf coffee that has the most clever name.
Jackie: What is it?
Jon: Antithesis
Jack: I bow before the person that named that, for you are a marketing genius.
Jon: Anything else?
Jackie: At one point it was illegal to speak Afrikahns in South Africa after one of the Boer Wars.
Jon: And with that lets move onto our Community shoutout after a quick word from our sponsor.
Ad 1
Music: WOAH by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
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Rain: Uggg I hate that expression
Community Shoutout
Jon: Every week we like to research and highlight something special in the community we are exploring.
Jackie: Today’s community shoutout is the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.
Jon: The Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund strives to change the way society treats its children and youth. Their long-term vision captures the central role society plays in shaping children’s lives.
Jackie: And they strive to give voice and dignity to African children by building a rights-based movement.
Jon: They have programs that deal with Childhood survival and development...
Jackie: and childhood safety and protection.
Jon: There is a particularly interesting program called the Sustainable livelihoods project
Jackie: Yes. So, it is a program that helps communities to work their way out of poverty by encouraging community members to form Self Help Groups.
Jon: These self help groups engage in savings mobilization programs and income generating activities. They also have regular meetings to address challenges they face in their homes and communities.
Jackie: This has yielded very positive results in the communities where it has been implemented.
Jon: We will include a link in the show notes where you can learn more and donate to the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.
Jackie: Ok, well, that’s our show. Thank you so much to our intrepid producer Charles.
Jon: Thank you so much Charles. And thank you so much for listening to the show!
Jackie: Yes, thank you so much to our listeners! We hope you enjoyed today’s episode!
Jon: If you’ve been enjoying this podcast please take the time to subscribe, rate us, and write a review on apple podcasts. It helps the show, so we’d really appreciate it!
Jackie: Also, make sure to tell your friends! If there is anyone you know who you think would enjoy this podcast please make sure to share!
Jon: You can also follow us on Instagram @cozynookexplorers or send us an email at cozynookexplorers@gmail.com.
Jackie: We love getting to hear from you and we are always looking for travel suggestions!
Jon: Special Thanks to Akiva Munnel for his help with this episode. We will be back on a Wednesday with our next exploration.
Jackie: Yes, on Wednesdays we explore!
Jon: Stay cozy, and we’ll see you soon.