The Old Biscuit Mill

The mill itself in front of Devil's peak

One of my first experiences in Cape Town was going to the Old Biscuit Mill. Every Saturday since 2006, the market briefly opens its doors from 9:00 to 14:00. Although it's on the other side of town and a bit on the expensive side, making the trek is never a bad call. The OBM's mission is to let local creators show off their passions and promote sustainable, local "microenterprises." The result is a fun, beautiful, tasty Saturday morning. Here's my tour:

Always start with the food

A large portion of the Old Biscuit Mill's 100+ vendors sell food in the Neighbour Goods Market. Here you can find anything from quinoa burgers to exotic mushrooms to sea salt caramel ice cream. Surprisingly, the prices are fairly reasonable. The taste–spectacular.

 Vegetarian sushi... "CARBS" is right

 To get some of this seafood, you have to time your approach; it takes about 15 minutes to cook and is finished by the crowd in seconds

 Sushi salads (the plate furthest to the left has salmon sashimi in place of beef)

 An Argentinian steak burger stand

Above is a great example of the culinary diversity in the Neighbour Goods Market. In addition to the South American staple you see here, I've spotted food from Korea, Italy, Japan, France, China, Spain, and more. Anyways, on to my favorite three stalls:

For the Americans in the room, that's under $12 for a dozen oysters

 They ask, "Please return the tray"

#1 - Oyster platter

This is one of the numerous advantages of being right on the ocean: fresh, delicious oysters for less than a dollar each. If you want to sweeten the deal, you add champagne and bring the total to $7 for half a dozen. They have lemons but no crackers.

 Biltong: a South African delicacy

#2 - Biltong bowls

Like the Old Biscuit Mill itself, biltong has had my attention since the beginning of my Cape Town experience. Biltong is made from dried and cured meat, typically beef. I would describe it as making beef jerky out of beef jerky. It is extremely dry, sometimes to the point of being brittle, but packed with flavor. There are countless flavors to experience; at another stall, you can even get biltong made of tuna.

The percentage climbs gradually to 100%

Atypical flavors like chai and chili compliment the more common hazelnut and sea salt

 Free samples

#3 - Chocolate emporium
In a separate wing of the Old Biscuit Mill, a chocolate factory lures young and old alike. The chocolate cove offers the exact percentage of dark chocolate you want as well as around a dozen ingredients. The smell is incredible and wafts out into nearby stores. If you are trying to fulfill
lifelong dreams while you're there, they offer tours.

If you have enough time to hit more than three stalls, you can look at the arts and crafts for hours.

For your garden

 Potted succulents at about $1 each

 This is where it starts to get expensive

Designer shirts that cost more than I've spent on clothes this year (not saying much)

In case you wanted a... fancy lamp thing

Designer purses that cost more than I've spent on purses in my whole life 

You can really find pretty much any artisanal product at the OBM. If you are thinking of one in particular and haven't seen it yet, you are about to.

Local produce

$1.60 espresso 

"Coconuts For Africa"

 I wasn't lying about the quinoa burgers

 An armada of taxis for once you've had your fill

Hope you brought your phone

A gym in the sky and a street in the dirt

After about 7 weeks in Cape Town, I have developed the beginnings of a routine.

I recently joined a gym located on the 5th floor of a wellness centre. The facilities are incredible: weight machines with electronic interfaces that count your reps and pace your movement, pristine free weights and dumbbells, an impeccable view of the city, and a sauna are just some of the amenities. Singing up for a month-long membership was about a dollar a day and we were asked, "Are you students or models?" The other gym goers are all incredibly fit, mid-thirties, white mountains with nice suits and funny accents, presumably the models. Though quite intimidates, a few friends and I try to go a few times a week. Apart from this, weekdays usually follow the following formula:

I start my day with an hour-long commute to the Refugee Centre, where I work four days a week. After a few hours there, the other non-South African interns and I walk out of the Wynberg Shopping Centre and onto the Main Road for lunch.

The Main Road is an assault on the senses. Every few feet a vendor peddles their wares, shouting over each other and the noise of car horns. They sell spices, books, biltong, watches, belts–anything you could spend less than $5USD on without thinking. Most days, a young boy follows you begging for money or food. Some days there are adults as well, unaffiliated. The population here is almost entirely black. About a block away, fancy restaurants litter the street bordering a beautiful park. Here, near the entire population is white.

This is the biggest sensory overload. The smell of spices and the noise of cars is not new to me, but dire poverty so close to up-scale restaurants and parks is astonishing. Less than 5 minutes of walking takes me from an area where I couldn't overspend if I tried to one where half of the menu is offensively overpriced to American eyes.

Back at work, I spend the majority of my time interviewing refugees to determine if they qualify for assistance from the Refugee Centre. Due to reduced funding, the criteria is now exclusive and demanding. I often find myself listening to stories of homes being burned, families being murdered, and no food on the table with no avenue to help. Many refugees flee their home country only to find xenophobia, sickness, poverty, and illness when they arrive.

An hour-long bus ride back takes me to Tamboerskloof, where I and the other members of my program live. The name is a mixture between a tamboer, meaning a drum and often used by the Dutch settlers to talk about native African drums, and kloof, described as the space between two cliffs or a ravine. It is a "safe" neighborhood populated mostly by older Afrikaners. The view from our house is extraordinary. At night, you can see the twinkle of city lights and the massive looming shadow of Table Mountain.

And this is very emblematic of the 'Mother City.' It is incredibly beautiful with a personality to match, but it is most certainly a segregated city. The legacies of Apartheid are still casting their shadow and there does not seem to be a 'way out' or 'way in' for many. Because South Africa has the highest income inequality of any country in the world, this may in fact be the most pertinent example of inequality in a major city that there is. To say this isn't based on race simply because Apartheid ended is naïve. Though black South Africans are legally allowed to use the same facilities and live in the same places as whites today, they often do not. For most the barrier merely changed from a legal one to an economic one.

My routine may not reach the highest heights or the lowest lows, but it definitely takes place in two cities.