Long Street makes us alcoholics

Long St. (aka the Bourbon St. of South Africa) was at it again. We think the producers of Real World seriously need to look into shooting their next season here. But this makes sleeping difficult, and alcohol an essential part of the bedtime routine. Steph had to wake up at 7am to go visit a prison. The alarm didn't go off and she flipped out with curlers in her hair. Steph sent Diana downstairs to fetch Raoul sans glasses or shoes, although he was nowhere to be found.

The reliable R (ethnicity: dutch and just really REALLY tan) took Steph to Paarl, a nice city west of Cape Town famous for their wine vinyards before heading off to a prison. After interviewing two murderers, who only need to serve 12-15 years (scary?!), Steph headed back to a much calmer long street. R shared stories about his wild days as a political activist during apartheid. There was some crazy stuff.

While Steph was in prison, Diana slept, ate, e-mailed sources and shopped. The high point of the day was going down Kloof (as per Josh's suggestion) and eating at The Food Store. Paying for my $15 rand ($2) quiche, the service woman from Zimbabwe commented on how burnt I was. I told her coming from Chicago, I was overexcited about seeing the sun. "Chicago!?," she asked. "Like where Oprah is!" South Africans love their Oprah. We agreed she's way better than Tyra and exchanged numbers to be friends.

When Steph returned, we had an early dinner at Lola's, a cool urban artsy coffee shop/bar. We sipped on mango teas infused with mint leaves and a dash of lime. At night we went to the 13th Annual Gay/Lesbian film festival at a movie theatre in the mall. We learned 1) designer jeans are cheap in South Africa (Steph bought a pair), 2) movies have assigned seats and 3) you can flavor your own popcorn. We prefer cheddar and sour cream. The movie "Unveiled" a German film, was very interesting.

Now we're off to drink ourselves to sleep and celebrate the beginning of Diana's 22nd birthday!