Sympathy for Dorothy and Toto

The first full day in Cape Town has been an experience unlike that of other cities in South Africa visited. The weather in the morning was overcast, light rain, and a cool wind. I complained and obviously upset Mother Nature and the travel gods. During the afternoon the weather got considerably worse! By lunch time "heavy weather warning" were announced for the city of Cape Town. The light rain has transformed into a continuous downfall of water, overcast skies turned into complete fog, and the cool wind into extreme wind gusts. The online weather forecast stated: "a minimum of 50 mm of rain and wind gusting exceeding 85 km per hour". I should have kept my complaining to myself!

My plan for the day involved exploring the Central Business District (CBD). Thanks to Mother Nature my plan evolved into explore the CBD while trying to stay somewhat dry and not blown off the continent! I can easily state I have never experienced winds like those today - it was truly amazing. By mid-afternoon I planned my travel route based on which direction involved the least walking head on in to the wind. I have a new sense of sympathy for Dorothy and Toto of the Wizard of Oz after walking (or attempting to walk) in the 85 km/hr gusting winds.

The winds generated my second causality of my adventure. Somewhere along the harbour front in Cape Town my hat was lifted off my head and into the ocean. After complaining about the weather all morning, perhaps it was karma? Second, I picked up cheap $10 watch from the dark side before I left for Africa. The watch seemed pretty durable and was labelled as water resistant to 5 metres, however, it was no match for Victoria Falls. After a couple of hours of hiking in the "mist" of the falls the watch stop working.