The Beach and Cultural Tour

So much has happened in the past few days! So much to share!

I find myself having a great time in Cape Town and realizing a week here is too little time! There is so much to do and I leave on Sunday to head to Inkwenkwezi. Although, I am very much looking forward to heading to the Eastern Coast, known as the Wild Coast!

But before I go! On Wednesday I went shopping with a few of the Irish girls that live in the house where I am staying. We walked to the mall here, did a little shopping and then to the grocery store. It was packed there, in the middle of the day on a Wednesday! It was interesting to look around and see no familiar brands!

After that I took a walk to the beach. It is beautiful! There were loads of surfers out in the water, with beautiful views of Table Mountain (on a clearer day you can see the top, where it is as flat as a table, hence the name!) and the sun as it began to set. It was breath taking!


The view of table mountain from our beach. (It's better on a clear day, the clouds were in the way today!)


The Beach!

That night I went out to a bar with a few of the girls to watch the world cup. Bafana Bafana did not win so it wasn’t as crazy as you would have thought. But it was great fun. My beer of choice here is Black Label, similar to a little lighter Samuel Adams. Very good! Most of the girls here like Savana which is a type of cider, a bit too sweet for me.

The next day, Thursday, I went on a cultural tour with our guide, Ursula. I went with Rebeka, from Scotland, and met up with two other girls that live in the other house, Observatory. The tour was quite an experience, very eye opening.

We learned about Apartheid, and travelled to District 6 which was the first place, out of 47, where blacks and coloured people were told they could not live. They were asked/forced to move out of their homes because the government wanted the area to only be for Whites. This happened to Ursula’s family and she said it was very, very sad because not only did your family live there, but your community became your family and they were all separated. Now there is loads of land that is undeveloped because they demolished the homes of blacks and coloured people. We went to the District 6 museum where they commemorate that difficult time.

Next, we went to one of the places they have to preserve and create art. They had beautiful pottery and dishes, paintings, wall art and some boys that played music for us. They were fantastic and so much fun to watch! They played the drums and xylophones, and the beat was great!


my favorite muscians!

After that we went to the townships which is where people with little to no money live. They live in wood and tin shacks, with no water and they steal electricity from the city. This was the eye opening experience, to see where these people live. It was a bit tough to want to take pictures of these peoples homes, where they live and work and play each day. But, the people here are well spirited, they welcomed us with open arms and most we came across were very friendly. We were welcomed into a wood and tin house of a woman named Beauty who opened her home as a bed and breakfast. She is also a dress maker for girls going to prom and graduation. They were beautiful!


What the neighborhoods look like


A view of the townships

When we were in the townships we went to Mizulo, a typical Braii restaurant (Bar-B-Q). It was very good! We had chicken, sausage and lamb, with bread, Pop (the white Maize dish) and a tomato mixture (I can’t remember the name), much like homemade salsa, with all the spice! I of course had it all over my face and fingers, as it is typical to not use utensils. We all dove right in a enjoyed!


lunch

It was a great day, with a lot to see and I am sure I could go back each day and see more and more.

Hopefully climbing Table Mountain today and then a bit more shopping to get ready for Inkwenkwezi! YAY!