Odds and Ends - Cape Town, South Africa

Just a few things:

Coffee. People here drink tea more than they do coffee. I've not seen one Starbucks in Cape Town (McDonald's and KFC are everywhere) and only a few coffee shops and those were more bakeries than coffee cafes. There is a lot of Nescafe sold in the stores. We bought a 4-cup french press (only $3 USD!) and some coffee. What people do have in their homes here are electric kettles that give you hot water in seconds. We're going to buy one when we get back home, it will be much faster and more efficient than our stove top tea kettle. Even in the posh London hotel there wasn't any real coffee, there was a small electric kettle and instant coffee and teabags. I noticed that most of the coffee sold in the store said Imported in big letters and that a local coffee promised on the bag that it contained no chicory. Hmm.

Using the credit card. We have a new "chip and pin" card and it's been great, no problem and no putting in a pin number. Sometimes when a vendor takes our card they try swiping it first because most Americans don't have a chip card, which is totally the fault of the credit card companies. Your credit card is never taken from your sight! No matter where you pay, if you're not at the register than a handheld machine is brought to your table, car, etc. and the bill is processed right there. Credit card theft is a big issue here.

Gas. Gas is quite affordable here, almost US prices. Such a difference from the $8 to $10 a gallon we've usually paid in Europe! You never pump your own gas, a station attendant does that for you and washes your windshield and you tip him, just like in the old days.

Tipping. In restaurants it's between 12 and 15%. For "parking attendants" it's anywhere from 5 rand to 20 rand (50 cents to $2) for an informal (self-employed) guy to direct you to a parking spot and watch your car for you. They are in all the lots, if it isn't an automated pay car park, and they do a pretty good job most of the time. When you have such high unemployment you have to earn a living any way that you can.

Then there is the fact that we drive on the left while sitting on the right and shifting with the left hand. People drive like lunatics here! They will pass on either side of you and all motorcyclists here have a death wish.

Language. I haven't been able to pin down what a South African accent is here. There are 11 official languages and when I do hear English being spoken it's with all kinds of accents. 

Liquor. The drinking age is 18.  They have amazing wines here and we are close to several vineyards and the South Africans are quite proud of their wines and a server told us that she's tried wines from other countries and they don't compare to those here. South Africa has joined the craft beer trend only in the last year or two and when Don asked for a beer recommendation at the Lord Nelson Hotel for lunch yesterday the bartender wasn't able to do that, he said "I'm no longer in my 20's anymore, I drink wine." Well.

All the servers, vendors, register attendants, clerks, etc. will greet you, usually with "Good morning (afternoon), how are you?" It is polite and expected that you also greet them the same way and ask how they are doing. A very pleasant change from the usual indifference that you encounter in many U.S. stores and eating establishments where the staff is more likely to want to converse with each other than take care of a customer.

Grocery stores. All stores charge for grocery bags so bring your own. If you haven't brought your own bags they will stuff as much of your groceries as they can into one bag so as to save you 5 cents a bag. You don't bag your own groceries. In the produce aisle there is packaged and loose produce, just like at home, however if you select some loose produce you take it to an employee at a scale and they will weigh it, bag it, and put a price sticker on it, don't go to the cash register thinking that the checker will weigh it for you. As to lettuces, so far we've only been able to find iceberg lettuce and some very expensive (for South Africa) small bags of mixed lettuces. Most sandwiches and salads we've bought at cafes come with "rocket" as the greenery. Rocket (and sometimes eruca) is arugula.