KO SAN and CLICKS and TABLE MOUNTAIN BEACH

...Or is it KoiSan? (Lonely Planet spells it "Khoe-San")

This was our "cultural" day, which did not live up to my expectations. The !Khwa ttu reserve and museum was nice enough, it just wasn't ENOUGH. Like, it felt fake. When I saw the Aboriginal groups in Australia, I knew it was fake and put on for the tourists, but there were a lot of artifacts and there was face painting and music and enthusiasm. The KoiSan place resembled a painting in that it wasn't alive.

BUT! I did learn some things. For example, the KoiSan people hold the Eland and Praying Mantis sacred. I don't know why, I was preoccupied by our tour guide Ivan's beautiful smile. And dimples. According to Casey, the praying mantis plays a part in their creation myth. Sean says he watched a video of two praying manti getting it on and then she ripped his head off. (He had to leave the building afterwards to cool off.) I learned that the KoiSan people encompass thirteen language groups, which include 5 different clicks, one of which is a kissing sound. I also learned that the KoiSan people have tee-pee shaped huts made out of sticks that are tall enough to stand in but not quite wide enough to lie down in.

We took a tractor ride in the cold mist and it was so effing cold that they had fleece blankets waiting for us. Mine had a hole in the middle and so I wore it like a burka. It was very calm and peaceful. Also slightly eerie - a giant beast could have jumped out of the mist. We tried to make fire in the KhoiSan way which is the same as the Chumash Indian way -- rub a stick so hard that it sparks. (We failed.) If a KhoiSan man couldn't start a fire, he couldn't get married. He could, however, wear a spectacular leather loincloth while running around the bush.

I bought a cool necklace made out of ostrich shells that was actually meant to be a belt. It took me so long to pick it out that I missed the incredibly boring lecture about the KhoiSan people going on upstairs. After a lunch of couscous and roasted vegies, we walked around a bit as the sun burned away the fog. James pulled me and a few others over to a pond and we watched these bright yellow birds flit in and out of their cone-shaped nests.

Then we peaced out of there! Back to the hotel! With a stop at an incredibly scenic beach looking out across the bay at Table Mountain. Smiles! Jumping pictures! Cartwheels! Pictures, pictures, pictures! Sunshine! We are in South Africa!