?my favorite thing is to drive people like you around, talk a lot of bullshit, & watch tv.?

Oh man, South Africa.  Favorite port BY FAR.  It was too windy to leave the other night, so we were in the port until about 4pm yesterday afternoon instead of on our way to Ghana.  It was beyond painful to be sitting in marine bio when I could see Table Mountain outside.  I was sad to leave India, but also sort of relieved (tired and dirty), and I was sad to leave Japan…but I was physically hurting when we re-boarded the ship last night.  I want to move to Capetown.  Really.

Instead of our usual diplomatic briefing where officials tell us about the country we’re visiting, Amy Biehl’s mother came to talk about how the men who killed her daughter in a township where she was working were just victims of systematic racism, and not individuals acting out of their own will.  I thought this was a very powerful way to start a trip to South Africa, and was very fortunate to be able to see Mrs. Biehl speak.

Immediately after getting off the boat with Martin, Nick, Colette, and Elle, we took a cab to Bo-kaap, a local Muslim area with mountains looming over the bright bright buildings.  Afterwards, we walked to Long Street, Capetown’s central area for shopping and bars.  Went into a crafts shop where I bought a present for my aunt and quite a few things for myself.  $15 for an underwater camera for shark diving and Martin bought a sling shot.  Tourist central.  We found a cute little restaurant with gorgeous pillows, stringed doll head doorway strands, and brightly colored tablecloths – one with a painted Michelle Obama in a vintage swimsuit.  It basically looked like Anthropologie should visit to pilfer its style.  Had the best iced coffee of my life – blended with vanilla ice cream.  Three men playing drums, guitar, kazoo, and a flute were singing outside the shop and there were ex-pat hippies selling antique coins off their threadbare blankets.  Here’s a direct quote from my notebook: “The people here are so colorful.  South Africa just seems…colorful.”  What can I say – I have a way with words.

Went to Greenmarket Square nearby and shopped for about a half hour – bought my grandma a present, as well as a dashiki, hand-painted batik pattern tapestry, and a wrap skirt.  More expensive than most every other market we had been to, but way better stuff.  We left to grab a quick lunch on the V&A Waterfront (where our ship was docked) at a fish and chips place, said goodbye to Elle, hello to Aaron, and packed up our stuff to take our township tour.

We went to Langa, a nearby township established in 1927 with a population of roughly 250,000 people and a 30% unemployment rate.  First we visited a community center where a group of children played us three traditional African songs.  Then they taught us how to play their instruments and pretty much melted our cold hearts.  It was super touristy but also very touching.  Then we saw a community-led group that paints pottery to sell to tourists – established to battle rampant unemployment.

After visiting the community center, we started our walking tour of the township. Sparely laid out buildings, burning sheeps heads, missing girl posters on grocery store doors, checkers boards made from spare wood, children begging and lining up for a bag of chips.  We visited one home where 60 families live – one bathroom, three families to a room smaller than my dorm room (I’m not saying this in a condescending or “oh my god POVERTY” way, but more in the sense that I feel like seeing these things firsthand were important to me, as you can imagine).  One five year old tried to beat up Nick using kung fu moves, and another had filled a soup box with sand and rocks and was playing with it, pretending it was a car.  We bought lollipops and handed them out to kids we played with.  One little girl ran up to Colette and I, grabbed our hands, and proceeded to swing from our arms.  My maternal instincts went wild.

After the tour, which was three hours and way too short, Martin, Colette, Nick, and I went back to Greenmarket Square and had a delicious pizza (I am aware of the irony of this). After, we headed to a grocery store and then I called my parents, which was amazing.  Headed out to Observatory, the college part of town, with Elle, Colette, Rachel, and Ashley.  We met up with one of Elle’s friends from home at Stones.  The crowd was awesome!  It was a huge bar with soccer playing on TV and tons of people from all over Africa (visiting for the Jazz Festival).  We drank 2-for-1’s and danced around the pool tables and I met a guy named Cristo who quit his cooking job to start painting.  He gave me his phone number, so we could hang out the last day, but I didn’t call.

Went to sleep around 2 am, bad choice as I had to wake up at 5 for shark diving.




to be continued...