Comedy of Errors

Today is the day to get serious and get our visas…so we get up even earlier, and catch a cab to the consulate – we have the address, and tell our cabbie, and proceed to get lost, get the cabbie lost, stop 6 times to ask for directions, stop for gas twice, use the cabbies phone to call the consulate, and after an hour and a half, finally find the consulate only to arrive just as it starts to rain. All of this should have been a sign that today was going to be something of a disappointment, that perhaps the stars were not in alignment for going to get the visa today.

The consulate office is in a temporary portable set to the side of the consulate, which is currently under construction. It is managed by a man and woman who are behind the typical bulletproof glass with the little pass through slots of your usual ticket office. We stood in line listening to each person’s conversation, successful application or frustrated disappointment. We finally got up to the window all bright smiles and positive thinking only to be told, you must have your entry flight, exit flight, internal transportation information, hotel bookings, and other such ridiculous details in order to successfully apply for a Chinese Visa. Thanks for coming, but no deal. The conundrum for us, as it is Friday, and the Consulate is closed until Monday, and if we do not get our visa here in Cape Town, we may not be able to go to China, as we will be isolated on the Karongwe reserve for the next month.

So we dejectedly shuffled out of the consulate, hopped back in our cab with our highly frustrated cabbie, and got back to Cape Town, hungry and a little more than frustrated. We decide that for proper planning of our next steps we need food and coffee in our bellies, and some distance from the disappointment of our morning.

So with full bellies we headed over to the Daddy Long Legs travel agency to check out what we can do with our time, and squeeze the most out of the next couple of days. So we booked two tours through the best tour organizer ever – Wayne rocks! and now have plans for both Saturday and Sunday, and left the travel office with our pockets lighter and our spirits up, and with more plans to plan out the whole of the China trip so we can get that Visa!