Up at 6h30. Well, the body not the mind which does not function with less than 7 hours sleep. Straight to the city to collect the passport with now only 1 visa in because of all the issues with the Visa handling agent who did not do their work properly getting both Sudan and Ethiopia as well as these embassies taking a few days off. Got there and the next saga develops - the visa handling agent did not check that the Egyptians handed us the right visa and now the visa we got will expire even before we get there! Needless to say, Hiroshima was today in Green Point at the visa handling agent's office. Now we still have no visa after 2 weeks of driving backwards and forwards completing forms etc. So there is now no choice but to drive to Johannesburg and do it ourselves. But hey, maybe we can hide in Joburg while everyone thinks we are struggling through Africa!

Afterwards we took our passports to the Italian Embassy in Cape Town and what a lovely reception we got there. Professional, friendly and super efficient. Thanks to a wonderful connection I have there. Was assured we will get it tomorrow. That is actually the most important visa because without it, there is no way we can get to Europe to ship it back to SA.

But it is all part of the fun and if one can't handle these small hiccups, then one is reminded of the old saying: Africa is not for sissies. Bring it on, I say!

Tonight Arina's family is giving her a farewell dinner (still not knowing we are going to hide in Joburg for 3 months) and we are most probably saying farewell to nice home-cooked food for some time...