I like Cape Town. It is listed in many Top 10 cities lists, and rightly so IMHO. Great restaurants, attractive waterfront, fascinating museums, a place steeped in history, and of course a backdrop that very few places can compete with.
Yet my own memory from our visit there centres on the day we spent out of the city, driving down to the Cape of Good Hope. It’s a couple of hours leisurely drive, and there are interesting stops along the way. One was to see these guys! The colony of African penguins at Boulder Beach receive a steady flow of tourists snapping their pictures, and they do seem well versed in posing for a good snap. Tame to the point of almost walking up to us, once down on the beach we were in their habitat and they were happily wandering around with a care for their taller two-legged neighbours. I haven’t yet been to Antarctica, but from the southern countries this is the best place to view these fellows.
On to the Cape, and if you like walking in windy places, then this is the place for you. Not officially the southern tip of Africa, but still the point where ships would stop travelling south and start to turn east. As you look along the headland towards the end of the Cape, the water on your left is the Indian Ocean, and is up to 6C warmer than the Atlantic waters to your right.
Once you leave the mass of visitors around the car park and the shops, you can have the place pretty much to yourself, and there is some great little coastal hikes that make the most of the spectactular surrounds. Just make sure you bring a wind proof jacket!
Quetzaltenango and the New Year that didn't go to plan