South Africa

Sorry that it took me so long to get this post up! I got kind of lazy and then found it pretty difficult to recall seven days worth of Africa. Feel free to skim as it is once again a wordy one…

We arrived in South Africa as scheduled on the morning of February 14, Valentine’s Day. As I posted earlier, the port was closed because of severe fog. We had to anchor outside the port for about 6 hours until early afternoon. I found out that I couldn’t meet my mother until the next day and so instead I ended buying a ticket for a township visit that same afternoon from a girl on the ship. I figured that visiting a township in South Africa was a really important thing to do, not to mention something that my mom and I could not just go and do safely on our own. I was planning on walking around downtown Cape Town until my SAS township trip started in the afternoon, but we were stuck on the ship in the fog for a lot longer than anyone thought. Since we didn’t get into port until my SAS trip started, my visit to a township was my first impression of Africa.

The real Cape Town…
When the ship cleared that afternoon, my trip group hoped off, got immediately on buses, and drove past the wealthy and glamorous waterfront shops and restaurants. Before entering a township, we went to visit the District 6 Museum in downtown Cape Town. The museum paid homage to the former residents of District Six, a section of downtown. It was a good place to start our township tour because it helped me to learn the history and heartbreaking stories that come out of the laws of apartheid. It was shocking to me to realize that if I had come to the same district only 13 years earlier, I would have been in a white-only section of town. District Six was one of the most ethnically diverse parts of Cape Town until the government enforced the laws of apartheid. The residents were forced out immediately and many ended up in townships. The area was soon bulldozed because it was considered to be too run-down for the whites. It remained mostly deserted until 1992 when it was finally given back to the residents of Cape Town. After the museum we toured a community arts center, to see the types of programming that was available for the residents of townships. Lastly, we took a walking tour with a guide into township hostels. Seeing a township for the first time can only be described as shocking. Most of the residents of Cape Town live in townships. They are everywhere! They are really nothing more than rundown hostel apartments or worst yet, illegally built squatter camps as far as the eye can see. A place where crime, poverty, and aids rule. Glass covering the streets. Thick smells of smoke. Dirt. More glass. Dust. Children…barefoot children running everywhere. Shacks built out of tin, scrap wood, old tires, anything and everything. No running water. Cement beds. More children. There is nothing more uncomfortable than touring a township. It was awkward and strange pulling up in a bus with a group of rich white Americans, digital cameras in hand. I cringed every single time someone took a picture. I couldn’t imagine how it would feel to have someone walking around my home looking at me as if I were in a zoo. I couldn’t bring myself to take any pictures but have to admit that I am desperately glad other people did so that I can get later. I don’t want to forget what I have seen, all the places and especially the faces. The strangest thing about the visit was that the residents seemed so content and happy. Happier than most people I have ever seen. The children were always smiling and glad to have us there. Even the adults welcomed us with smiles and waves. I couldn’t help stop thinking how this would never happen in America. I think my friend summed up the trip best when he said, “I can’t say that I enjoyed the visit, but I am really glad I went.” I feel that it was important to see the real side of Cape Town, to see it for myself and for all the people who will never see it back home.

It was strange coming from the township back to the modern waterfront shopping mall where I exchanged my currency. I was surprised that only mere miles lay between such different worlds. Later that night, I met up with a group of friends for a night out on the waterfront. We went out to dinner and tried to avoid the masses of SASers at the club and bar scene for a night. We had a great time hanging out at a restaurant across the harbor where some great African musicians were playing. It was a lot of fun and a great first night in Africa.

The next day I hung low around the waterfront area trying to figure our where and when I was supposed to meet up with my mother. Fortunately we happened to randomly run into each other right away. I got her a visitor’s pass so that she could actually come on the ship with me during the day, which was a lot of fun. I showed her where and how I spend all my hours and hours at sea. Walking around the docked ship she was impressed with how much the crew was constantly cleaning. The ship is always sparkling and shining, and it is all too easy to take that for granted. I guess I never really noticed it much before, but the crew really does an excellent job both at sea and in port with keeping the ship in order. The dining room staff is always outstanding, cheerfully serving meals to us even when they are working while we are in port. We should all be so lucky to be so content and happy with our lives and jobs. (You’ll have to come visit the ship and hang out with the crew to see what I mean.)
Anyway, my mother and I got off the ship and went on a Champagne Cruise. Now to me something called a Champagne Cruise sounds like it should be really fun and relaxing. But no, this Champagne Cruise was hardcore… we were sailing in the crazy wind and choppy waves. There was nothing Champagney or Cruisy or relaxing about it. It was an experience though. We got an exciting sailboat ride around the harbor of Cape Town. I take back what I said earlier about being born to be a sailor. I am not sailor material, I am cruise ship passenger material! Anyway, my mom had rented a car upon arriving and we spent the next couple hours getting very very lost trying to find our guest house. Getting lost while driving on the wrong side of the road on the tiny streets of downtown Cape Town at night is a rather scary thing. Fortunately we eventually arrived safely and are much smarter and wiser now about navigation.

As I posted earlier, the next morning we went to Stellenbosch to tour some of South Africa’s famous wine country. The drive out of the city was very easy to do in the rental car and so it was much more pleasant than the night before. Stellenbosch was a very charming little university town in the heart of all the vineyards. We had a driver take us around to different wine estates for some wine tasting. This was something that I had really wanted to do, although I’m not sure why because I am not really a wine drinker. Our tour guide was even making fun of me because my mom was out drinking me! It was still fun and we got some good bottles of wine. We had lunch at a really neat restaurant called Moyo. They would come around and sing for each table and paint faces. The tables were all outside in decorative tents, under trees and there were even some in tree houses. I didn’t really know what I was eating most of the time, but it was really good. After a large lunch we headed back to the town and walked around a bit. I fell in love with the university. I really really want to spend a semester studying there next year, or at least come to visit again.

The next morning we decided to drive up and down the Cape Peninsula. This ended up being one of my favorite things we did all week. The entire drive was along the coast and the scenery was absolutely stunning. We first stopped in a place called Simon’s Town to see a colony of penguins (Josh, you are so jealous right now I know). The African penguins were completely covering the beach. Everywhere you would look there were penguins. I decided to do my research project for my ecology class on them and therefore I took an obscene amount of pictures. (So if you ever want to see a 3 hour slide show of penguins, you know who to come to.) There were even signs in the parking lot warning visitors to check beneath their cars for penguins before driving away. We then continued driving down to Cape Point, the southern most tip of the Africa. It was pretty foggy at some places, but we eventually go a really good view of the infinite abyss off the point. To my surprise, we also saw a lot of wildlife on this drive. I felt like I was on a real African safari. At one point we pulled over to the side of the road to take a picture of a couple of baboons sitting on the shoreline. I had my window rolled down and one snuck up behind the car and its face popped up right next to me! They are very aggressive and it was pretty scary. I think it was trying to come in the car for food but fortunately I got my window rolled up in time! We stopped at a small market along the side of the road to look at the crafts the locals were selling. I ended up buying a 5 foot 3 inch wooden giraffe (I know because it is the same height as me)! It was beautiful and I just really really liked it so I had too. (I’m not really the large wooden stature buying type, but I figured…hey…why not…I live in San Diego and so I don’t have to ship it home because it can just live under my bed for the rest of the voyage. Needless to say I got a lot of funny looks hauling it back to the ship.) The lady gave me a really good deal on it and I figure when else will I have the opportunity to buy a giraffe in Africa? As we continued driving back to Cape Town we passed through a few small fishing towns along the way. They are in the absolute most beautiful setting I have ever seen in my life. I fell in love with one town called Kommetjie (pronounced Komickey) where we stopped to pick up some snacks and find an ATM. I was poking around the real estate office trying to price properties just in case I run into a bunch of money any time soon and want to move to South Africa. We then drove a world famous stretch of road known as Chapman’s Peak Drive. It has been called one of the most, if not the most, spectacularly beautiful drives in the world. It cuts through the cliff of rocky mountain with views of the amazingly blue ocean, Hout Bay, and white sand beaches. I had no idea places like this really existed. It is a really dangerous stretch of narrow road, and signs kept warning us about the high risk of rocks slides. Fortunately I wasn’t driving, so I got to just sit back and take in all the scenery. (Thanks mom!)

The next day we drove down the peninsula again to the small town surrounding Hout Bay. From Hout Bay we took a boat ride out to Seal Island. Seal Island is a group of large boulders out in the water that masses of seals come hang out on. It was pretty cool but I wasn’t expecting the seals to be so smelly. Once again, I took an obscene amount of pictures, so let me know if you ever want to look at some seals. Next my mom and I went to walk around the world-renowned Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens, a huge garden that sitting on the base of Table Mountain overlooking the bay. It has often been called one of the world’s most beautiful gardens. The scenery looked straight out of Jurassic Park. The place was absolutely stunning and contained more species of rare plants than you would ever even have the time or even desire to look at. There were people everywhere having picnics on the abundant grassy lawns. It was altogether adorable and a very relaxing way to spend the afternoon.

The next morning we woke up early with every intention to hike Table Mountain at sunrise. I’ve heard from many a person who has hiked it previously that it is “one of the most physically challenging things that you will ever do.” I was completely prepared and ampped to take on this challenge, but unfortunately we woke up to thick fog and rain. The hike is dangerous as it is and so this was not safe weather for an endeavor of this nature for two amateur hikers. A few hours later we hiked about half way up the mountain before we had to head back down to make it to our ferryboat reservations to Robben Island. Sadly I cannot stake claim to actually hiking up the face of the Table at sunrise (one of my biggest goals of this port), but that just gives me all the more reason to come back to Cape Town some day.

Robben Island…
I made it a point to visit Robben Island while in South Africa since, after all, this is supposed to be an educational voyage of discovery. The United Nations recently declared the Robben Island Museum to be a World Heritage Site and it pays tribute to South Africa’s intense struggle against apartheid. Robben Island was most recently used as a political prison for those opposing the government. I got to tour the maximum-security prison where Nelson Mandela was held in solitary confinement for many years. Our tour guide was a former political prisoner and he showed us the actual room that he was imprisoned in only years before. Mandela later went on to become the first democratically elected president of South Africa. Dennis Brutus, one of our South African inter-port lecturers who boarded the ship in Brazil was actually imprisoned along with Mandela for his political activism. It was very touching to hear the stories and see the struggle that many people went through to bring about change and right the wrongs in their country. One of the things that shocked me the most was the fact the end of apartheid was so recent. The island has only actually been opened up as a museum for 8 years. The neat thing about the legacy of prisoners like Mandela is the lack of bitterness that these people had in spite of the injustices done to them. There is a sense of hope on the island, hope for the future of South Africa, and hope for other countries in the world.

Later that evening, we took advantage of the fact that we had a rental car and could roam Cape Town freely. Since the majority of the tourists were up by the waterfront harbor, we drove south to a community known as Camps Bay and got reservations at a nice restaurant over looking the beach. I later read in one of my travel books that this area was the stomping grounds of the rich and the beautiful of Cape Town. Walking around the beach I saw such a mixture of people. The coolest thing about it was that on this beach, everyone was an equal. Looking around I saw locals from the township playing alongside the wealthy residents, sunning right next to the crowds of tourists. It was a refreshing sight, and one that was all too rare in this city.

The next morning we drove to a farm on the coast to do some horseback riding on the beach. The day started off rainy, but fortunately the clouds cleared just enough for a great ride. Now for those of you who know me, you know that I am not at all a horseback rider, so it was a somewhat stressful activity at first. I am proud to say I conquered my horse phobia and had a really good time. It was completely surreal to be riding a horse through the water of a deserted white sand beach in the foggy morning mist. It didn’t even feel real, as if I had just wandered straight into a movie set. We stopped through my favorite little town of Kommetjie again for lunch. I don’t know what it was about this town, but I was really just drawn to it and couldn’t get enough of it. We found a cute surfer café that was delicious. The owner was an American who had fashioned the café after Wahoos (a favorite San Diego restaurant!) which was pretty fun. It made me realize what a small world it really is! Hopefully some day I can come back and live the simple life in Kommetjie and run a café. I should be so lucky!

During my last few hours in Cape Town my main goal was to make it to the top of Table Mountain. I didn’t think that I would be able to because the entire city had been experiencing blackouts the majority of the time we were there. Fortunately I was lucky and the cable cars to the top of the mountain had electricity just long enough for us to make it up. (We had to get down by emergency generator!) Standing on the top of Table Mountain you can see for days. The incredibly flat and majestic mountain overlooks the entire bay and the surrounding city. We were literally in the clouds most of the time. I got some pretty spectacular pictures of our ship down below in the harbor. I felt like I was on top of the whole world. It was really the best ending to my week in Cape Town. Making my way back to the ship and saying goodbye to my mother was a lot harder the second time around. Back on the ship, an African choir performed for us as we were waiting to leave. I made sure to stow my new wooden giraffe securely under my bed where he will sleep peacefully until April. Finally at about 2 am the ship’s engines finally began purring and it was goodbye South Africa, here we come Mauritius!

Two Worlds…
I found it very natural to get caught up in the beauty and charm of Cape Town. I have been told that Cape Town has often been called “a fool’s paradise” and now I am beginning to understand why. It is a place where it is all too easy to forget the harsh realities facing the city and the overwhelming majority of its residents. To me it seemed like the classes and races of people were so different, it was hard to believe that they were such close neighbors. In everything from the skin color they were born with to the clothes on the backs, the restaurants they ate at, the homes that they lived in, and the languages they spoke, the differences were incredible. In a place that has 11 official languages, you can only imagine the immense diversity that this one country holds. But just when I would start to feel like the situation was hopeless, I would see sparks of hope in the brightness and life of the faces around me. I saw it in a black child playing on the beach with a white child. A game of volleyball among friends. A couple strolling together on the sidewalk. Blurs between the former racial lines that once dominated. Places where color didn’t matter. Hand shakes. Smiles. Laughter. Change. Hope. Hope for today, and hope for tomorrow.

And that is my closing thought on South Africa. A country and a continent often forget and overlooked. It is a place of extreme wealth and poverty, exotic animals and plants, tall mountains and long beaches. I will never forget my first African sunrise, being on top of Table Mountain, the eyes of the children in the townships, riding a horse on the beach, and even nearly being attacked by a baboon. I’ll never forget Africa, please don’t forget about it either.