#Trees

My mother and I had just arrived in Cape Town – it was 11 a.m. on a Friday. The shuttle dropped us off at our guest house, a tiny, no-frills place called Lionscape in the shabby-chic neighborhood of Tamboerskloof. Paul, the proprietor, helped carry our bags upstairs.

Melville is full of interesting houses, lived in by interesting people. I’m slowly integrating myself into the neighborhood but I haven’t had the chance to visit many other Melville homes yet. So when Chris Green, a tour operator who lives around the corner, invited us over to see his backyard jungle, I jumped at the chance.

Spending the holidays in a warm place in the northern hemisphere (like Hilton Head Island, where my mom lives) is one thing. But celebrating Christmas during summer is quite another. My brain doesn’t know what to make of it.

Joe and I recently returned from a trip to Swaziland, where we worked on a story for World AIDS Day. It was an eventful trip so I’m dividing my account of it into three parts.