I woke up in the house of Denise and Kobus, and the house was quiet. Both had already left for work, but they kindly allowed me to stay and catch up on some overdue reports from previous days.
After a quick shower, I attempted to make myself coffee following Denise’s instructions, only to discover there was no electricity. At first, I thought I might have done something wrong in the shower! Puzzled, I called Denise at work to ask what was going on. She explained that all of Cape Town was experiencing a power outage. Even at her office, everyone was sitting in near darkness, and without computers, there was little to do.
Taking advantage of the downtime, I grabbed a towel and stretched out in their garden. With nothing else to do, I indulged in the simple pleasure of relaxing in the sun with a good book.
Later, after four long hours without power, it was confirmed that a major part of South Africa—an area spanning roughly 600 by 900 kilometers—was affected by a power failure due to a malfunction at a switch station between Johannesburg and Cape Town.
When Denise came home with Ryan, who she’d picked up from playschool, I had finally been able to get some writing done on her computer. She filled me in on the chaos that had gripped the city during the outage.
Without electricity, offices with no generators were helpless, and the malfunctioning traffic lights (or robots as they call them here) had led to numerous accidents. In typical city rush hour fashion, some impatient drivers interpreted the broken lights as green and went for it, causing dangerous situations.
There were also rampant rumors of possible sabotage by fundamentalist groups, which only fueled unnecessary panic. Oh, come on! If everyone lived in constant fear of the unknown, we might as well bomb our neighbors out of sheer paranoia. The gossip was absurd.
When Kobus returned from work, he set up a traditional South African braai in the garden. I enjoyed a delicious meal of sausage, salad, and mieliepap, a thick, cornmeal-based porridge topped with a tomato-onion sauce. Mieliepap is hearty—similar to mashed potatoes but denser—and after a few bites, I could feel the heaviness settle in my stomach. But it was a new and tasty experience for me.
The night ended as we sat outside in the cool evening air, gazing up at the few stars visible in the city sky.
I managed to finish a few reports today, though with South Africa’s notorious internet, it’s always a wonder if anything will actually make it online. Even with a speedy modem, sometimes the data just won’t transmit. Internet surfing here around 8 p.m. is almost impossible because everyone logs on at once, creating a bottleneck. It’s a bit frustrating since I rely so much on the internet to plan my next destinations. But enough complaining—for now, at least.
Good night, Brackenfell. Tomorrow, it’s time to move on again.
Ramon.
