Cape Town

21/11/2013 Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa

You know when you meet someone amazing and they make your heart stop, and your whole being dizzy with excitement? You would be prepared to do reckless things for them and find any excuse possible to talk about how happy and excited they make you, and how you’re so lucky to have discovered them. Many people find the love of their life at 22. I found Cape Town. For the first time in my life, I don’t feel the impulse to keep wandering. I don’t feel nostalgia for the Balkans, let alone Canada. I don’t need to keep exploring, because I found it. The place I want to spend the rest of my life in. The place that warrants shamelessly dramatic proclamations and a gazillion images. It should be on everyone’s bucket list to see it. The bottom of the world. The mating cradle of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. By far the most dynamic, sexy, and exotic city I have ever had the fortune of discovering.

All these years I thought that maybe I’m just a sad person. Maybe I’m just incapable of feeling genuinely content. And perhaps that’s partly true. A couple of things in my past have definitely left scars, and the world is a predominantly terrible place. It’s not easy to block that out. But I don’t think the problem is just inherent in me anymore. I feel like I belong here.

Vancouver is a place where people subterfuge their empty loneliness with alternative lifestyles and facebook profiles. The word "hipster" ring a bell? You could say my own lifestyle is pretty alternative, but what I mean is that in Vancouver it feels contrived, artificially manufactured. I don’t say this to hurt or offend anyone at home, it is just the assessment I’ve developed over the years. Cape Town is like the authentic version of Vancouver, with stunning landscapes and equally as stunning cultural vibrancy. And the infrastructure! You can find anything you need here, including free health insurance. It’s an extremely livable city. The most so I’ve ever come across actually. And this isn't an exaggeration.

The irony of falling in love with the world’s “most dangerous city,” after a life time of my parents doing all they could to shelter and protect me. It is farther from both of my homes than I ever expected, but in a matter of days, this has become the only home I want. For many years I missed Montenegro terribly, and now, although it will always be special to me, I feel as though if I never saw it again, it might not be the worst thing. I’ve always been torn between loving its intense raw beauty and despising much of the mentality there. As for Vancouver, despite appreciating the openness and sense of security, I’ve always found its aesthetics superficial and its culture amateur and shallow. Cape Town is the best of all worlds. Although I am happy to go where I need to for now, I know I will return to Cape Town. I feel that this place can soothe the myriad insecurities that used to compel me to always long to be where I am not. 

Needless to say, all my former life plans are shot to hell. 

I MADE FRIENDS! 

To see this after 2.5 months of being land locked was absolutely thrilling

Table Top Mountain

I have never been more sad to see a city disappear. But I'll be back.  

P.S. I am now back in Botswana for 10 days in which I will complete my projects and say a surreal goodbye to this wonderful organization and this alternate reality I have had the privilege of exploring for the past 3 months. 

I'm feeling good, I'm feeling ready.

Africa, you have done me good. I'll be seeing you.