Weekend in Grahamstown/KWT. April 27th, 2014 - 20 Years of Democracy for South Africa

This past weekend the group had a small excursion to Grahamstown and King Williams Town. We left Friday and came back Saturday. This was our final group excursion for the semester.

We woke early Friday morning and headed out towards Grahamstown. In Grahamstown we stopped at an old fort/bunker that was built by the British when they first colonized South Africa. We also were told about the Battle of Egazini. I enjoy hearing about war history and how cultures developed and lived so this was interesting to me.

Xhosa Women

From there, we then headed down to ILAM (International Library of African Music). ILAM is located at and is a part of Rhodes University in Grahamstown. There we talked to Dr. Tracey who has collected every African instrument ever used. We were able to see many cool instruments and even some that we have been discussing and learning about in our African music class. These include the Uhadi bow, Umhumbre bow, Inkatori bow, marimbas, etc. We were able to play some instruments and have a little jam sess. We played the drums, marimbas, and then incorporated some horns. My trumpet experience came in handy here. It was fun to play the horns. I know how to properly buzz from playing the trumpet so the instruments that required that were the most fun for me.

After ILAM, we hopped back on to the bus and drove to Peddie while stopping at the Elangeni Craft Centre along the way. This centre is run by Xhosa women who make crafts, paintings, cloths, and lots of other cool things. It was fun to look around and meet the women.

Just training for the World Cup!

Once we left the craft centre we drove to Qaukeni Primary School located in the Ngqushwa rural village. The school reminded me much of Pendla. It looked similar and we interacted with the kids which was fun. We stayed here for a few hours so we could talk and play with the kids. I was given 6th grade this time. I spoke with all of them and then asked what they would like to do. Just like any 6th grader, they wanted to go and play sports. Well, at least the boys did. So Katie took the 6th grade girls to go and sing, dance, and jump around while I went to play soccer. In South Africa sports are still very segregated. There are specific women sports and specific men sports. Netball is a girl sport (similar to basketball, except no backboard) and soccer is a boy sport. The boys didn't even know how to play netball and the girls didn't seem to understand soccer. I thought this was interesting. Anyways, I ended up playing soccer with the kids for awhile. Afterwards, we served all the kids lunch and then they left for the day.

Once the kids had left we all went into one of the rooms and spoke about African education with the teachers. Even though this school was similar to Pendla, it is located in a more rural area. This brings different challenges to the school so it was good to hear about these certain aspects as well.

My wonderful room for the night

From the school we drove to King Williams Town and arrived at our accommodation that we would stay at for the night. The boys and girls were separated and so I went with the boys to the other accommodation down the road. When we arrived, they separated us up into groups. Everyone was placed into rooms with others until my buddy, Sam, and I were left. The hostel owner told us that she had two singles open that we could take. We weren't going to pass this up. A whole room for each of us, yes please. Score. We both got our own room and it was awesome. It was so nice to just relax and do what we wanted. I flipped on the T.V., took a shower, and then hopped in the queen size bed.

In the morning, I woke and had a nice breakfast before heading out to tour KWT. We piled into the bus and drove to the Amathole Museum. We were led by a man named Mark who was our tour guide. Mark lived in the area and was of Xhosa heritage. This museum covered the history of the Eastern

An artifact in the museum 

Cape and had many facts and artifacts from the past. It also covered much of the Xhosa origins and history. After this museum we moved to the Steve Biko Foundation and Apartheid museum. This is a very recent and new museum, opened in 2012. This museum commemorates Steve Biko who was a black African activist who challenged the white oppressors and Apartheid government. Steve Biko was unlawfully detained by white police officers in 1977 and held in the Port Elizabeth jail house for 24 days. During this time, the police officers beat him to the point of near-death. A doctor came to examine him and determined that he needed to be brought to Pretoria which is over 1,000km away. Sadly, Steve Biko passed away due to head injuries he suffered while in custody. He never made it to Pretoria. Biko is one of many men and women who suffered this sort of fate under the Apartheid government. Biko's was well documented and therefore is a good source to use in order to tell these stories.

Steve Biko's House

We toured the museum for some time and then took a short walk through Ginsburg. Ginsburg was the township next to the museum which was also the location of Steve Biko's home. We were able to see his home. On the way back from visiting his home we were approached by people of the township and asked to come over and chat. They were having a braai and welcomed us into their home. These people are very hospitable. We talked with them for a half hour or so and then made our way back to the bus. During this time I had been talking with Mark, our tour guide, and had learned a lot from him. He also felt that we had become friends because he offered to help me cross the street and hold my hand. This is a symbol of friendship and peace. He was a very nice and knowledgeable man. Right before we all left, Marc came onto the bus and took of his Xhosa necklace and put it on me. It was a very nice gesture and I am glad to now have a necklace from the Xhosa heritage. Once on the bus, we drove towards Port Alfred. In Port Alfred we had a picnic with pasta salad and hot dogs. This was a nice meal that filled us up for the ride home to Port Elizabeth.

This weekends excursion was simple and short, but very nice. I enjoyed learning more about the history of South Africa and meeting more of its great people. Tomorrow, April 27th, 2014, marks the 20th anniversary of the election of Nelson Mandela. Also, symbolizing 20 years of Democracy. It is a special time down here in South Africa and election time is nearing so politics is in the air. Democracy continues on for one of the world's newest sovereign countries.

The Drakensberg Six

My weekend hiking excursion in the Drakensberg Mountains was amazing, but extreme. I had a blast hiking with John, Nick, Erin, Maddie, and Katie. Yes, John did decide to come the last second, but it was fun to have him.

Sentinel Peak

On Thursday, we set out around 6:00pm and headed towards East London. East London is a rather popular and large city up the west coast of South Africa. Even though most "large" cities here aren't very large. We found our way through the dark because it is beginning to get dark around 5:30pm and 6:00pm now. John drove us their in our rental car, a manual Toyota Corolla. We decided to stay the night at Buffalo Backpackers. We rested up and woke early and took off towards Drakensberg. The entire drive is about thirteen hours long so we wanted to get on the road as soon as possible. We plowed through tons of cities until we hit Drakensberg around 4pm on Friday. However, we ended up coming in on the opposite side of the mountain. We arrived at a car park on the west side rather than the east. With this detour, we decided to just go with the flow and stay the night at this camp site which ended up being quite enjoyable. We hiked around the area and found a nice spot to check out the stars and then made our way back to the tents and had a small fire. This camp site must have been a popular one, though. There was tons of people staying the night.

Once again, we woke early Saturday morning and quickly packed our gear and headed around to the other side of the park to where we originally thought we would end up. The road to this car park was mainly gravel and our little Corolla was doing a good job going through it but there was one spot where we didn't want to take the chance and get stuck. So, we just parked the car on the side of the road which led to the car park and got out and hiked the rest. About 20 minutes later we arrived at the car park. Here we had to fill out paperwork that asked information about us, our appearance, and the gear we were carrying. This is because if we got lost or injured, they could use this information to rescue us off the mountain. After that was set we filled our water bottles one last time and started the hike up the side of Sentinel Peak. This was about a three hour hike overall. Our destination was the amphitheater of the Drakensberg Mountains.

It's a long way down!

We continued the climb up the side of the mountain while having to cross some sketchy areas where we had to either quickly jump across or scoot ourselves over slippery slopes. It may sound lame, but it wasn't. Some were fairly intense because if you were to get stuck or slip, you could fall quite a ways. Thankfully, this didn't happen to any of us. The big thing with this specific hike up is the chain ladders one has to use to reach the top. After about two hours of hiking we finally reached the chain ladders. These were two sets of ladders that scaled the side of the mountain. From bottom to top it had to be around 60-80 feet. Just an estimate. So, quite a ways up by ladder. The chain ladders were bolted in at the top but hung freely over the side of the mountain. So as we climbed, the wind would pick up and kind of shake and blow the ladder. When you are 50 feet up with nothing holding you to this ladder, it gets a bit scary. Definitely one of the most intense things I've done on my study abroad. We each just took it one step at a time and didn't take our eyes off the mountain side that was in front of us. Lots of encouraging words were being said too. Once we had all climbed the ladders and reached the top we took a breather and then headed up the last piece of our hike.

View from the top of the Drakensberg

Within an hour we were standing on the edge of the Drakensberg Mountains. It was a breathtaking view. The amphitheater allows you to see the entire range because it is the center of it all. Also, this is the home of the second highest waterfall in the world so we took our time checking that out and getting a feel for the water. It's a drier time so the waterfall wasn't flowing fast or anything. You could easily walk across this section and stand in it. After, we hiked another 3 kilometers or so until we found a nice flat spot to set up camp. Now it was around 6:00pm so the sun was going down.

On the mountain, when the sun goes down so does the temperature. I don't think I have ever experienced such extreme changes in temperature. During the day the temp must have been at least 70 or 80 degrees. At night, the temp dropped to a freezing 30 or even high 20's. This is because we were 10,000 feet up and the wind was blowing. We took a second to star gaze, eat, and celebrate our achievement (and Easter) with some wine before piling into the two tents to warm up and play cards. We talked and played cards for about an hour until we started feeling tired. It's funny, when the sun goes down and you have no other source of light the next best thing is to go to bed. So we all went to bed around 8:00pm...on a Saturday. We had a good laugh about this. As you know, this isn't really the norm for college kids ha. John and I were in one tent and the other four were in the second tent. Let me tell you, when you wake up in the middle of the night, the wind is ripping at your tent, and you realize your on top of a mountain, you truly feel like a mountain climber. I liked this feeling, but my body didn't like the wind or cold that it was bringing. We all fought through the night falling in and out of sleep until around 6:00am.

Keeping warm in the tent

We all piled out of the tent at this time on Sunday morning to watch the sunrise on Easter. Celebrating this way atop a mountain was amazing. Absolutely phenomenal. After the sunrise, we all went back to the tents for about two hours to stay warm. At around 8 we packed our gear up and went for a long hike across the amphitheater. At this time, the wind had finally died down and we began to slowly strip off the layers we had applied the night before. It only took us two hours to go from 4 layers to 1, that's how fast the temperature rose. We hiked for about 7 kilometers. This is where we came to the border of South Africa and Losotho. The Drakensberg Mountains lie on the border of both countries. We walked into Losotho and spent a few hours roaming around and eating lunch in Losotho. Technically, we were there illegally - yeah, I'm a rebel. We all sat down and took about an hour nap to rest up as well as go to the bathroom. Now, we were on top of a mountain. There are no bathrooms on top of mountains. I'm sure you can use your imagination on how this all went down. Yeah... hey it's all a part of the experience, though. I can also asure you that there are rules laid out for how to do this kind of stuff. All were followed, no worries ha.

Easter Morning

Once we had rested up we set out towards the center of the amphitheater again. The trek back was a long one. Once we had got back, we knew we wanted to work our way down a bit of the mountain so we could leave early and get to the car and head out on Monday morning. We had always expected to go slowly down a gorge that led to the path below.

However, the gorge we wanted to go down was far from where we were and difficult to reach. This wasn't what all of us wanted to hear considering we vowed to never again go to the chain ladders. Our team of six was good at overcoming obstacles, though, and we knew if we had done it once we could do it again. Yet, this time we were heading down the ladders, not up. From the top you only see a chain ladder that disappears as it goes down the side of the mountain. We all took a second to collect ourselves and set out to go down. I led the group and was the first to go. I hugged the side of the mountain. Man, I hugged that wall like I was one of those characters you see in romantic movies who hugs his girlfriend and they seem to have this never-ending embrace. Yeah, that was me and this wall. Reaching out for the ladder and positioning myself on it was the worst part. Once on it, I just told myself to go one step at time. It also didn't help to be carrying a 50lb pack of clothes, tents, sleeping bags, and food on my back. Nonetheless, I made it down. Slowly, one by one everyone made it to the bottom. That's when we all took the time for a quick group hug. Then the fun part came when we headed down the path towards the cave we were going to stay in over night.

On the edge of the world

We reached the cave after about 20 minutes. We were worried we weren't going to find it because it was tucked away. If we hadn't, I'm not sure where we would have slept. The path wasn't large enough for our tents. Anyways, the cave was so cool! It was this massive hole in the side of the mountain that led to a perfect flat stone area big enough for two or three tents. We put up our tents and then went down to see the sunset and stars. After, we made our way back up to the cave and played cards. This time we were able to stay up till about ten before going to bed. This night was much warmer with the cave blocking the wind. However, the stone surface we slept on wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world. We woke at daybreak and headed down the last part of the mountain until we hit the car park.

Our home for the night. Cave life!

There, we checked back in to let them know we had all made it. Then we made our way down to the car and piled in. It was about 8:30am when we left. John got us onto the main roads and this is where I took over. Between John and I, our experience with driving manual cars ranges from golf carts (John) to motorcycles (Me). Now, we were expected to drive through South Africa, on the left side of the road, in a manual car, for thirteen hours. Yup. Thankfully, I picked it up quite quickly. I understood how it all worked considering I ride a motorcycle, however, using the clutch with your foot and shifting gears with your hand is different. Getting used to the left side of the road actually wan't hard at all. Maybe this was because I was to focused on trying to make sure the car would roll to worry about which side of the road to be on. About 5 minutes of practicing in a parking lot, I was on the road. I actually really enjoyed driving a manual. It's fun and, come on, you know it's cooler. I made it to the high way and cruised on back to P.E. By the time we made it home, I knew how to work every control in that car. I drove through rain, lightning, unbelievably dense fog (seriously, have never seen fog like this before), and had to fill up the tank. Plus the controls are all opposite - blinkers being on the right side rather than left, etc. Also, John and I would laugh because we were practically native South Africans by the way we drove. When passing, which happens all. the. time., you would flash your hazards if they allowed you to go around. This is how you say "Thanks!" and then they would flash their brights to say "You're welcome." Ha, every time this happened we would get a good laugh cause we felt like we were locals. I was happy to be able to drive the car, though.

For our last stop, we all went to Spur which is a burger joint here. On Mondays they have a special buy one get one free burger deal. All for 55 rand. Around $5.50. Super good deal and it was great to get a big, hot meal to end our weekend.

All and all, the weekend was absolutely amazing and I am very glad to have gone on this excursion. National Geographic has a few "epic" hikes and this was one of them. It was also a wonderful way to spend Easter even though I did miss celebrating with the family. All 6 of us that went on the hike ended up calling ourselves the "Drakensberg Six" and plan to have a less intense reunion next year while camping in the Saint John's arboretum.

A Quick Note:

One brief post before I jet for the weekend. Tomorrow after class Nick, myself, Erin, Katie, and Maddie are all heading out to the Drakensberg Mountain Range which is about 12 hours north of here. It will be a drive but we plan to stop for the night in East London and stay at a backpackers and then make the rest of the journey on Friday. Drakensberg boarders Losotho which is the random country the sits inside South Africa. It will be cool to see if we can teeter with the boarder of both and possibly cross over into Losotho.

We will hike for the entire weekend and spend our nights in caves. Roughin' it. It will be awesome! Then on Monday we will make the 12-13 hour trek back home and prep for the next school week. It's nice that this coming week will be shorter because Monday is off. I am also trying to get a head start on my next Poli Sci paper so it doesn't come crashing down on me in a few weeks when everything else is due. The rest of April looks fairly nice homework wise but May will have its stressful nights with finals approaching.

Everything is going well here. Some friends and I made it out last night and that was a lot of fun. Just taking it day-by-day and enjoying South Africa.

Becoming One Of The Pride

This weekend has been super nice and relaxing. Our excursion this weekend was close so that allowed us to stay in P.E. but still get in some fun.

Petting a lion!

Yesterday, five of us headed to Seaview which is a small game reserve in Port Elizabeth where they let you go inside the cage to pet wild lions and tigers. We took a cab there and had him drive us through the park where we saw giraffe, zebras, lynx, warthogs, and of course, lions and tigers. When we arrived at the petting cages we simply paid and went in. I wasn't at all nervous prior to going in because these were cubs and it just didn't really occur to me that they could actually hurt us. However, before going in they reminded us that they were wild animals. Also, once I got a good glimpse of them I noticed they were bigger than me. They weren't even a year old! Nonetheless, I still went in. I first sat down and petted the lion. It cocked its head back and gave my knee a lick which was cool but a little frightening. Having those teeth that close wasn't the most comforting thing in the world. Then I was able to pet the two tigers that were in the cage as well. Their fur is softer than the lions which is kind of tough. I think the tigers were intrigued by my hair color ha seriously, though. They would always look up and become interested when I was petting them. Hey, red hair is cool I guess ha.

In the cage with Katie!

Overall, the experience was very fun and being able to touch and get that close to lions and tigers was amazing! I couldn't believe I was actually in a cage with them. Once we had finished we drove back to Langerry and spent the rest of the day at the beach surfing and relaxing. Great way to spend a Saturday. Today I am just working on a paper for political science and finishing up some other stuff that needed to get done.

Looking interested

Looking ahead, there are three four day weekends in a row coming up. South Africa really knows how to plan their public holidays in April and May. I'm not complaining, though. This will give me enough time to do big excursions and activities like go to the Drakensberg Mountains (next weekend) and scuba dive (three weekends from now). Both will be awesome!

Oh and yes, my hair style has changed. My buddy, Sam, and I promised that we would get some crazy hairdo while abroad and we stuck to that promise. On Friday he got cornrows and I got a mohawk! I actually kind of like it but will probably shave it completely sometime this coming week. It was fun to do.

Petting a tiger!

April Showers Bring May.... Ah Just Kidding, It's Always Sunny Here

The transition back into school after break is finally over with the close of this weeks classes. Break was all fun so getting back in the groove even after just a week took a little bit.

Monday and Tuesday came with music class and political science which was about the same. With it being April, we are beginning to come to the end of the semester. Only a few more classes/lectures left. So we are prepping for and reviewing material for our last essays, final exams, and presentations.

Service on Monday and Tuesday went well, however, on Tuesday there was a pretty big fight that broke out in my 4th grade class. The two fighting were older than 4th graders and much bigger. I believe one had taken the others money (50 cents or something). Anyways, breaking it up wasn't hard but it came with a few punches to the chest and back. These kids are fairly violent for being in 4th grade. Just another element of African primary schools.

A wonderful part of teaching is finding those students who truly want to learn and progress. Nokonwabo, or the nickname I call her by - Nokia, is one of those students. I work with her one-on-one because she struggles with math and English, but she wants to learn very badly. She asks me for homework so I make some up for her. I have her circle nouns, adjectives, and verbs. Identify pronouns and pronounce certain words, then define some. She is definitely progressing which is great. Something interesting I noticed, though, is that on one of her assignments she couldn't define some of the words because she didn't have a dictionary. Even her older sister who is 18 couldn't define these simple words. That shocked and disheartened me. I think it says something about the education down here.

Nokia deserves better for all the hard work she puts in so I decided to go and buy her and her family an English dictionary. I will give her the dictionary on Monday. I hope this helps her learn and progress with English.

Wednesday and Thursday came with a presentation and a test. Nice to have both out of the way. Now onto the weekend. A few of us are thinking of going to Seaview tomorrow to pet lions and tigers! Tigers aren't native to Africa but they have some there. This will be exciting. Next weekend a group of 5 of us are going to head north to the Drakensberg Mountains and climb for the long weekend (Monday, April 21st is a public holiday). We will also celebrate Easter on the mountains which will be a great experience. Just how God intended it to be ha. I am extremely excited because I hear it is beautiful up there and that it is a must-see place in South Africa.

The fall weather here is great. Reminds me of Minnesota summer days, some being even hotter. Yet, some feel chilly because we have become use to the warm weather of Africa. It's funny when we complain of it being cold. It's like we are native South Africans.

Cape Town Adventures!

I’m home! Langerry Flats has officially become my home. It’s funny how living in a place for two months can become a place of comfort. It definitely has the comfort of a home now. This past week in Cape Town was unbelievable and absolutely amazing. I was able to do and experience so much. One of my top spring breaks for sure. Over the past week (March 28^th – April 6^th) I bungee jumped, stayed in a township for two nights, climbed Table Mountain, experienced the nightlife on Long Street, visited parliament, ate at Mama Africas, went to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope, saw a musical, went shark-caged diving, toured a winery, had a braai, and visited Robben Island. My week was packed.

Friday

So on Friday we all got up early and departed P.E. around 7:30. We made sure pack the night before

216 meters of pure adrenaline

so we were on time leaving. We drove for about two or three hours before we hit Bloukrans Bridge. This is bridge is home to the world’s highest bungee bridge. The excitement began to take over and the nerves set in. I was surprised, though. 21 of the 30 kids on the trip decided to take the leap which is more than I had expected. I was one of these kids. We piled out of the cars and signed our lives away as quickly as possible. Once the waiver was taken care of we were suited up with harnesses based on weight. Then our bungee guide took the group of jumpers down to the caged pathway that sat right under the bridge where you walked out to the middle of it. Not going to lie, this might have been the worst part. Just a little bit of fencing separating me from the canyon more than 300 meters below. Once we reached the middle of the bridge we were briefed on how to jump and the supplies used to make sure we survived which is always nice. Once we were out in the middle of the bridge it was a party. The company who runs the bungee, Face Adrenalin, does a super good job of getting everyone psyched and hyped up for their jump. They had a DJ booth in the middle of this bridge that was constantly playing pump up music. This helped calm some of the nerves. From this point, one-by-one we each took the jump…or fall. I was strapped into a brace that went around the ankles and a safety harness that went around my waist and shoulders. Then the time came when the guy said “Alright man, place your toes over the edge.” Woooo looking out from that point was insane and super intense. Adrenalin was definitely flowing. They make sure to get you off the bridge fairly quick so you don’t have time to think twice. One of the students that jumped from our group had a mild freak out but they were able to calm her. They held me there and checked my straps and then quickly counted down “5, 4, 3, 2, 1, BUNGEE!” and there I went. Plummeting 216 meters. 216 meters of pure adrenalin. 216 meters of excitement and freedom. It was everything that I thought it would be. The initial fall was crazy; a blast of wind rushing past my face, the canyon growing bigger and bigger by the millisecond, and then the tightening of the rope around my ankles. My stomach shot through the roof. The feeling you get when you experience turbulence and the plane drops a bit – yeah that times 1000. The best part about bungee jumping off a bridge rather than a building is that there is nothing for you to run into so they allow you to bounce, meaning you get to do it all over again. The second bounce took me by surprise. I felt the rope tighten but then all of a sudden I had a split second of weightlessness and then started falling again. Ha it was great! Once the rope settled you get to hang upside down for about two or three minutes why the guy comes down to pull you up. It’s cool hanging there but this is where the mind realizes where the body is and you start to think about slipping from the brace. So, the entire time you are flexing your feet because you think you are going to fall out ha. Luckily, this didn’t happen and the guy came down and flipped me around and pulled me all the way back up. It’s crazy looking at a bridge from below like that. One extreme experience - jumping off a bridge and then hanging from it. I loved it. Amazingly, no one from our group backed down. They say 2 out of 10 usually don’t jump. We beat the statistics.

After we had completed the bungee and bought our jumper shirts and pictures we piled back into the car and headed towards Cape Town. We stopped to stay at a nice lodge that sat in the mountains near Cape Town. This was to break up our trip and to give us some time to rest and check out the nice surrounding area.

Saturday

The next morning we left there and stopped at a township right outside Cape Town in order for us to experience how it is staying and living in a township. We were split into groups of two or three and handed over to our host mamas. Yes, mamas. My mama was Mama Dubakhaya (probably just butchered the spelling of that). She was a wonderful lady who had three children and a grandchild. She never married. The houses we stayed in weren’t shacks by any means but they aren’t nice by any means. They have a good structure and the inside is cozy – TV, furniture, beds, and a kitchen, however things were left unfinished. Also, my houses garage was being rented out to a man who ran a shop right in the garage. The lot that the house sat on was crowded and dirty. Lots of other houses nearby and trash littered the ground. This is how most townships are, though. I stayed with John and Jared during my stay. The first night we were given a tour of the township and then the oldest daughter brought us two a township party that night. It was cool to experience. They set up a big tent; get a DJ and braai. The party had tons of food and people dancing and talking late into the night. 

Sunday

The next day we went to mass in the township and then to a place called Mxolsis. It was the end of the month and everyone in South Africa had been paid so what do they do – go to a bar and have a good time. There were so many people there. We ordered huge buckets of meat and grabbed some beer. Then you eat, talk, and dance. This was smack in the middle of the townships. We stayed our final night in the township talking and eating dinner with our host family and then met with the entire group in the morning and headed out to Mountain Manor Backpackers where we would stay for the rest of the week.

Monday

Our first adventure in Cape Town was Table Mountain. We all quickly changed into some athletic clothing and hiking boots and started up the mountain. There are three trails. One is one hour long and steep and the other two are around two and a half to three hours long. I chose the one hour path and made it to the top in about that amount of time. It was pretty exhausting, though, but fun. The top of Table Mountain is neat. Very flat and big. You can walk around for a while and look out from lots of points. The view is beautiful. There is also a cable car that runs up the mountain for people who don’t want to climb. This allows everyone to check out the view from the top, but also brings with it a chance to make money. So there is also a café up there where you can buy lunch. Funny how it’s on top of a mountain.

After climbing Table Mountain we unpacked at the backpackers and got cleaned up. Then went out to Long Street and found a place to eat. Long Street is the most popular street in Cape Town (or so I think). It is the liveliest and has the most restaurants and nightlife. We ate and went out there most of our nights because of the fun atmosphere.

Cape Town brings much more a city feel to Africa. P.E. is more… African I’d say. Cape Town is a thriving city with tourists. It had some tall skyscrapers, but not as many as our cities back in the U.S. Nonetheless, I would find myself thinking I was back in Minneapolis again. Just the landscape and view was nicer considering Table Mountain was its backdrop.

Tuesday

On Tuesday, we toured the parliament of South Africa and met with a member of one of the popular parties that is a part of it, the DA. The DA actually controls Cape Town when it comes to elections. The ANC dominates the majority of South Africa but the DA controls the Western Cape. It was cool to see where meetings are held and how things are done. Some of it was very similar to the U.S.

Once we had toured parliament we left to go and catch a ferry to Robben Island. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t very good that day so the ferries had been canceled meaning we weren’t able to visit that day. We quickly rescheduled our visit for Sunday.

Wednesday

On Wednesday, we toured two museums. We saw the slave museum and the District Six museum. The slave museum went over the slave trade and how it was very prominent in South Africa and Cape Town. This was the place where the British landed and settled first so it was a major port. The District Six museum taught us about the forced removals of black, colored, and Indian citizens from ‘white areas.’ The whites declared specific areas as white areas and District Six was one of them. One day the entire town received notice that they must move by July and that their homes were to be bought from them. They were given next to nothing for their homes and forced to rapidly move as much as they could to townships that sat outside Cape Town. Then bulldozers moved in and destroyed everything they had. It was very sad to hear how things were, but good to learn about.

That night we went to a restaurant called Mama Africas. This is a popular restaurant here in Cape Town. This is because you can order a dish that serves you five kinds of meat. I ate crocodile, springbok, ostrich, kudu, and venison! I liked trying all of these. Crocodile was my favorite but I seemed to be the only one. Maybe it’s because eating crocodile seems cool ha but whatever it is I liked it. Dessert was malva pudding (think that is what it was called). Unbelievable, so good. Have to try it if you haven’t.

Thursday

Thursday was fun. We were able to head out of town to check out the southernmost point of the African continent. Cape Point is the southernmost point and Cape of Good Hope is the south-western most point. We visited both. Only Jared, Maddie, and I were the ones to take full advantage of this

The southernmost point of the African continent

experience, though. Everyone stopped to eat and mosey about, but we wanted to check it all out. We trekked down the path of the peninsula that made up Cape Point. Upon arriving at the last point there was a sign that read ‘no going beyond this point’ but come one, technically that isn’t the most southern point so what did we do, we climbed over and went farther. Not sure why the path ended because the unpaved trail wasn’t that bad. We went as far as we could and came to a ledge that overlooked a lighthouse that led to a ledge that dipped into the ocean. Stunning view. We were right at the end of Africa! Probably the closest I will ever get to Antarctica too. I loved this and had a lot of fun.

After we returned, the group piled into the cars and we headed back to our hostel. That night we had tickets to a musical called “Blood Brothers”. This musical was great. Everyone really enjoyed it and the music was phenomenal. The storyline was about twins who were separated at birth and the different lives they lived. One being wealthy and the other poor. They grew up being best friends but only found out that they were twins on the day they died.

Friday

Jaws in the water

On Friday, a lot of us had wanted to go shark-cage diving so we planned Friday for this. A group of ten of us had a taxi pick us up and drive to Marine Dynamics which was about two hours out of town. There we were given brunch and then set up with our wetsuits and gear. We hopped on a boat and
went out a ways where they dropped the cage in the water. They use a stew called chum to attract the sharks and that’s exactly what it did. We saw eleven sharks that day. Amazing! Huge Great White sharks were inches away from me. I could stick my hand out and touch them but obviously you had to be careful. They would swim up to and sometimes skim the cage. It was exciting and fun. The biggest shark we saw was around 14 feet
long. This is huge. I was never that scarred because the cage was secure so it was just a lot of fun to be that close. Out of the entire group only 5 of us did the bungee jump and shark-cage dive.

Saturday

Saturday morning we all went to a winery. I was looking forward to this but didn’t expect it to be so much fun. Super interesting. I learned lots about wine and was able to test four kinds. We went to a winery called Spier. It has been running since 1692, I believe. I learned how to check the color, alcohol and sugar content, aroma, and taste of the wine. Now I know why people are checking out their wine glasses all the time. There’s actually a purpose. Now I can do the same. 

The winery was fascinating and that night was also a lot of fun. We had a true African braai at our hostel. We cooked a large lamb and tons of vegetables. The meat was delicious. It was fun to have everyone around to just hang out and have a good time.

Sunday

Mandela's Cell

We woke early on Sunday because we wanted to visit Robben Island before leaving to head back to P.E. Luckily, the weather was super nice and the ferries were running. We hopped one and made our way to the island. Robben Island is the home of the prison where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for the majority of his time in prison (18 years). Our tour guide was also a prisoner there on the island.
He spent five years in prison for leading a riot that protested the oppression and laws. His name was Jama. The tour showed us the quarries where prisoners were forced to work, the many cell blocks where prisoners were kept, and then the tour ended with visiting Nelson Mandela’s cell. It was great to be able to see it and look in at where he spent so many years of his life. The cell was very small and didn’t have much.

After Robben Island, we piled into the cars and made the long journey back to P.E. We got in around 11:30 at night. Cape Town was amazing and all the hype I had made leading up to it was definitely worth it because it was that exciting. Many great experiences that I will always have.