Cavorting in Cape Town

	Waterfront Dining

CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- Above the hip-pulsing Latin rhythms mixed with a side of dance music in the Cubana Lounge -- a trendy bar in the fashionable de Waterkant neighborhood of Cape Town -- James K., a thirty-something interior designer who's become my guide for the evening, shouts to make himself heard as the barman performs tricks involving fire and alcohol.

"Listen to this music," he says, emphatically pointing toward the ceiling as if trying to explain a time and place, "this is not Africa." When we return to his friends, balancing fistfuls of mojitos, he makes the point again. "Look at these people," motioning at his own entourage and then at the rest of the crowd, which would not look out of place in SoHo or SoBe. "This is not Africa either. This is South Africa."

It's an astute observation. Cape Town is not what people think of when they think of Africa. But neither is it the final post-apartheid outpost of European colonialism or the Ibiza of the Southern Hemisphere, as others claim.

It is a Cape of contrasts, for sure, and no other city better exemplifies the eclectic, electric mix of people and cultures that symbolize the polyglot nickname South Africa has pinned upon itself since the rise of democracy: "a rainbow nation."

Rich History

Often referred to as the Mother City, Cape Town is the oldest established settlement in South Africa.

Founded in 1652 as a stopping point for Dutch East India Company trading ships, it occupies a setting of extraordinary beauty near the southernmost horn of Africa, straddling the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, which meet near the Cape of Good Hope.

Since then it's been a way station for every ship, sailor and pirate seeking a fortune in the East.

The resulting hodgepodge of colonialists, entrepreneurs and reluctant settlers served to create a mixed-heritage blend of cultural tolerance and acceptance. It's no wonder that post-apartheid, Cape Town has become one of the world's top tourist destinations.