It has been a busy couple of weeks since my son, Jeff, arrived for an unexpected visit to South Africa. On his final full day here, he and I took a drive just a few miles outside of PE to Cape Recife. We toured SAMREC (South African Marine Rehabilitation and Education Centre), and even watched as the centre's volunteers fed some recuperating penguins. Eddy was a great tour guide...knowledgeable and very passionate about the future of the African penguin. Jeff and I then went out to the beach where the Cape Recife Lighthouse stands warning mariners of Thunderbolt Reef just offshore. The lighthouse was commissioned in 1851....a few hundred years too late for the Portuguese Galleon, "The Sacramento," that hit the reef on June 30, 1647. Now, fast forward almost four hundred years and you will find the PE Coffee Crawlers making their way to Sacramento, a coffee shop/restaurant named after the ill-fated ship. Unfortunately for the 72 survivors of the shipwreck, there wasn't a nice little coffee shop here for them to rest after swimming/climbing ashore. I bet a nice, hot Caturra coffee would have hit the spot! (And maybe more than nine of them would have also survived the 1300 km trek back to Mozambique!)The Sacramento coffee shop/restaurant is situated on beautiful Marine Drive in Schoenmakerskop ("Schoenies" to the locals) overlooking the Indian Ocean. This area is part of the Sardinia Bay Sea Reserve that boasts magnificent vistas, white sandy beaches and rocky shoreline, and numerous hiking trails. Lou and I have hiked one called The Sacramento Trail a number of times....makes for a relaxing Sunday afternoon. The Sacramento coffee shop is open every day (except Monday) until 5:00 with extended hours on Wed., Fri., and Sat. The full menu includes seafood specialties and some very yummy sounding desserts. The nautical theme (no surprise there!) of the shop includes a bronze cannon from the sunken ship. Some interesting curio collections and a big fireplace contribute to the comfortable atmosphere.
I spoke with Sacramento's owner, Mark de la Peyre, when I first arrived and he was most welcoming to our group. Our barista, Leigh, was cheerful and efficient as she filled our eleven orders of various beverages, cappuccinos w/froth, cappuccinos w/cream, teas, and black coffees. It seemed that everyone switched up their order for round two (a second round is starting to become a habit) but that didn't faze Leigh; she never missed a beat. Leigh is definitely a keeper. Owner Mark missed the photo session on crawl day but posed for a pic on Saturday when Lou and I stopped by. While we were there we ordered coffee, and again, great service with a smile!!!
Scary movies was the topic of conversation for crawlers Beth Vieira, June Nash, Stella and Beryl Dawson, Jeff and me. The original "Psycho" and the relatively new "28 Days Later" were voted as must-see flicks. By the time Fran and Keith de Beer, Fr. Dominic Griego, Leanne Waller, and Nomusa Nkomo arrived, the topic had changed to a debrief of Jeff's short visit to South Africa. He only had a fortnight here so he got the Reader's Digest condensed version of the area. (Hearing the S. Africans use the word "fortnight" and having only ever heard it before in old movies and Shakespeare plays, Jeff wondered aloud, "People still use that word?" Apparently they do, Jeff!!!) Jeff's bungy jumping off the Bloukrans Bridge (the highest bungy in the world) last weekend drew lots of questions and comments from this week's crawlers. I still can't believe I watched my husband and son jump...they are crazy! So, Fr. Dominic, Jeff has a great idea for a church fund-raiser!!! Are you up for it?
Somehow, then, we got onto the subject of pizza, best pizzerias, favorite toppings, crust preferences...aside from coffee (oh, and chocolate) pizza is my favorite topic of conversation. And finally, our discussion took another turn and ended up with Fr. Dominic telling tales of his brief modeling career.... I wish I would have been there for that catwalk!!!
A couple of notes:
This is Jeff's last week on the crawl with us. He flew out Thursday afternoon right after our Sacramento visit.
Fran is keeping us up to date with her sister's (Prudie's) coffee crawl in KwaZulu Natal. Her group is meeting for coffee every fortnight (OMG...there it is again, Jeff!!!).
Two of this week's crawlers celebrated birthdays last weekend. Happy Birthday wishes go out to Nomusa Nkomo and Keith de Beer. And for those of you who are wondering...I didn't ask!
Lots of thank you's this week so let's get started.
*Thank you to Mark and the Sacramento staff, especially to Leigh.
*Thank you to the SAMREC volunteers who care for sick and injured African penguins. Eddy, you are awesome!
*Thank you to Delta Airlines for getting Jeff here and back to NY safely!
*Thank you to Keith de Beer for his comment on The Pink Fig post...you are very kind. For those of you who aren't fluent in Afrikaans.... google translate it!!!
*Finally, thank you to my son, Jeff, for joining us on the crawl for the past few weeks.... we loved having you "crawl" with us, honey!
Until next week,
Ellen
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| Meet the Owner Mark de la Peyre |
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| Meet the Barista Leigh |
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| View from Sacramento Schoenmakerskop |
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| This Week's Crawlers Nomusa, Fran, Leanne, Beth, June, Beryl, Stella, Jeff, Fr. Dominic, Keith |