A Quick One

Have to make this quick, as it is 2:30 AM here of my last night/morning here in beautiful Cape Town. Today I managed to take a walk into the city, though it was eerily quiet being a Sunday and all. Norah and Kelly picked me up and, luckily, the weather had cleared so we were able to take the cableway up to the top of Table Mountain. For those who don't know what I'm talking about, it is the highest point in Cape Town... a mountain that resembles, you guessed it, a table. The amazing part, though, is that this mountain used to be under water. It's amazing up there... a bird's eye view of all of the city. The picture is of me and Kelly at the top in front of what you may be able to tell is the city. It was a bit foggy up on the mountain when we were up there, but amazing nonetheless. I had dinner with the Westermans, then Kelly and I met up with some of her friends at a local bar for a few drinks. It was nice to be out with people, as I was starting to get tired of talking to myself. Still, I was the old one... not by much, but being out of the whole college scene makes such a huge difference. Not that it mattered, really.


Anyhow, I am about to run out of battery... both for the computer and for myself. My flight leaves Cape Town at 8:10 PM local time tomorrow, which would be 11:10 AM California time. I really am going to miss it here, though I am so happy to be coming home. I hope you all have a chance to visit this incredible city one day... perhaps with me when I return!

Love from Cape Town for the very last time... for a while, at least.

Continued.

Well I am glad to say that my time in Plett and my very brief time here in Mossel Bay don't need quite the depth that I owed Khayelitsha. Plett is a small resort town on the Indian Ocean here in South Africa, quite the hotbed of activity during the summer. As I previously said, the ride on the backpacker bus (a 19 seater, kind of like the "short bus" for lack of a better comparison) was long... about 9 hours in total. I spent my time in Plett doing exactly what I hadn't been able to do in Cape Town- relaxing. My guesthouse was a 2 minute walk from Robberg Beach, a 4 km strand of white sand beach, protected from the houses and streets by hilly sand dunes. 2 of my 3 full days in Plett I spent wandering the beaches, and wandering into town. The middle day of that timespan, I went on a horseback safari at the Plettenberg Bay Game Reserve. It's nothing like Kruger National Park (obviously), but for the time and the money, it was well worth it. As for Mossel Bay... well I'm very glad that I will only be staying tonight. And I will leave you with that... and LOTS of pictures.

Robberg Beach, Plettenberg Bay

One end of Robberg Beach - Beacon Isle

Other side of Beacon Isle - the coast off of Main Beach

That's me in the Indian Ocean! Give me a break, it's winter here.

Plettenberg Bay Game Reserve, view from the lodge

Rhinos

Zebras

View of one side of the reserve from the top of the hills

View of the other side of the reserve from the top of the hills

Giraffes

The lioness of the reserve

A little closer... don't worry, the lions were actually enclosed.

My horse, Spot! He used to be a polo horse.

Impala

Hippo (which account for the most wild-animal-related deaths in South Africa)

Blue wildebeest

Those little shells are actually little sea slug-like creatures called plough shells. They surf the tide in when the current is safe (no joke) and feed on dead marine life, such as this gigantic jellyfish. I saw at least 5 or 6 of these, different times, different days.

View from the hill into the town of Plett

Locals fishing off of the point of Beacon Isle. Dad, this is the point John was talking about.

One more thing before I'm off for a shower and then to bed... taking pictures on horseback is incredibly difficult. Do anything on horseback is incredibly difficult, especially when you have a stubborn horse like my little Spot. For a horse and a human, I think the two of us had a lot in common.

Back to Cape Town tomorrow afternoon, where I will be until Monday night. I *should* be back in LA Tuesday afternoon. Hopefully more to update later!

Love from the Garden Route.

A Quick Intermission

Okay, before I go on with tales of the rest of my week (as so much time and energy was devoted to recounting my time in Khayelitsha), I want to address some past questions and comments.

Joy and Mike: As I told you over and over, I am not on this trip to find the "Big Whopper," nor have I found it! I did, however, have the urge to run off with a waiter named Jacques in Plettenberg Bay (think Abercrombie and Fitch model with long, shaggy hair and a South African accent) but I trusted my better judgment and just tipped him well.

Auntie Lorrie: I am pretty sure I won't be able to sneak a springbok through Customs, though I desperately wish I could. I am, however, quite capable of bringing back some springbok biltong, which I've been told is quite nice tasting, if you're alright with eating something you'd like to keep as a pet (a jumping bambi, as the Westermans have called them). Also, I'm just using my regular Canon digital camera, nothing special. I'm just that talented. More like, it's pretty hard to take a bad picture when what you're taking pictures of happen to be some of the most amazing sights in the world. I can tell you this much, as well as those pictures may have turned out, they most definitely do not do justice to this country.

Uncle Joe: There was no dig involved with my commentary of St. Paul's. It really is an astounding place, and it's nice to see something so positive and beautiful come out of someone believing in something- anything, really- so much. There are very few places in this world, especially so grand in scale, that reaffirm my faith in God, in humanity, in life itself- what can I say, St. Paul's just did it for me.

Eberts: Thanks for keeping an eye on Patches for me... and tell Kendall I don't think I'll be able to bring a baboon home for her, but I'm working on it. Wild animals are hard to get through Customs these days, especially when they're particularly dangerous. And unfortunately, I don't think they make baboon biltong. I'll see what I can do.

To everyone else: I love you and thank you so much for your notes and comments and emails! I get a little homesick every so often (seems that traveling alone makes that happen a whole lot faster), so reading everything from you all has made it that much easier. And now, back to recounting the week...

Where to Begin...

I'm not sure I even know where to begin in filling you all in on the happenings of this past week. A quick itinerary will have to do to start... Sunday morning I took a taxi to Khayelitsha, where I stayed the night. Monday was 9 hours on a backpackers' bus to Plettenberg Bay. This morning (Friday) I left Plettenberg Bay, and returned west to stay in Mossel Bay. So that's where I've been... now, as for what I've been doing...

The drive to Khayelitsha was an experience in and of itself. My cab driver, Andy, is a gay, colored man of about 40. (As a quick aside, there is a very large gay and lesbian community in Cape Town, and it really doesn't seem to be given as much thought or attention as it is in the States- in fact, all of the "controversy" over homosexuality stirred up in the States is laughable to other "modern" countries.) When he found out that I'm studying psychology, the floodgates opened and he divulged the fairly tragic story of his life. Andy is the oldest of 3 children, his parents are dead and he is raising a daughter alone. He didn't finish high school, so that he could work and provide for his younger brother and sister. When apartheid fell, both siblings had the opportunity to attend university... for which Andy paid. He never finished school, never got out of the township, never was able to improve the quality of his life because he was working hard to improve the quality of his family's life. He even bought his brother a car to commute from home to university. A year before finishing his degree, Andy's brother was killed when he was robbed for that very car. Andy himself had previously been carjacked and stabbed... with an empty whiskey bottle... by a white man. Despite all this, he was so sweet and open and kind. He was so excited for me to be traveling, saying how "brilliant" I must be to be doing the things I am doing with my life. When he left me at the B&B in Khayelitsha, he blew me a huge kiss goodbye and went on his merry way. In the half an hour it took to drive from the city to the township, I felt almost as though I had made a new best friend.

I really don't quite know how to describe Khayelitsha or my experiences there, and it really won't do the town or the people justice to just give plot summary. Every person I've come across since I started planning this trip months ago has asked me, "Why South Africa?" I could never really answer that question fully, and I still can't. Walking down the streets in Khayelitsha, though, I felt it. It was a different type of beauty than untouched white sand beaches and rocky cliffs plunging into turquoise waters. I think, as a part of the Western world, we take for granted the beauty of the human spirit. We look at someone who has done a good deed and say to ourselves, "Now that is what is beautiful about a person." It seems like we get off so easy in America for having a beautiful spirit, because it takes so little work. In Khayelitsha, though, that spirit is what makes the town work. Neighbors care about one another. They make do with what they have and they help one another out. As all humans do, they have wants; unlike us though, they do not confuse their wants with their needs. They live for each and every day, because in so many cases they aren't guaranteed work past today. Food on the table and a roof over their heads are considered blessings. Seeing this, it makes me realize that so many of the worries and fears we have are byproducts of our comfort. We see a future, so we worry about it. We have time to look at the past, so we dwell on it. The beauty in Khayelitsha is that yesterday is over, and tomorrow isn't guaranteed, so today is really all there is.

Anyway, my day in Khayelitsha was spent with my wonderful hostess, Thope, and her daughter, Mpho. As the day wore on and the other guests of the B&B arrived (a white lesbian couple, and their two adopted, black children), Mpho took us out on our walking tour of the community. She explained to us a lot about the way people there live, what both the government and the community are doing to improve the quality of life, and the expansion of the community as a whole. As I have previously posted, Khayelitsha is the the largest township in Cape Town and is rapidly approaching a population of 2 million. People from other parts of the country are flocking to the township in search of employment, but it is hard enough for residents to find a stable income (the unemployment rate in South Africa is about 25%, compared to the US which fluctuates anywhere between 3% and 8% at any given time). Physically speaking, the township was established on sand dunes near the False Bay coast in Cape Town. In winter, floods devastate the informal housing (squatter camps) and their contents, while in summer fires caused by propane and other heating materials will spark in the heat and can take out thousands of "houses" in a matter of minutes. Many people wonder why there is still so much informal housing. The answer, relatively speaking, is simple: people are still waiting for their government subsidies and land grants to build. Some communities have taken it upon themselves to build houses for residents, but the process is slow and money is always in short supply, especially with regard to building houses for millions of families. With all of this in mind, though, the people are happy and welcome visitors, as they are proud of their culture and heritage as well as the history they have survived. For now I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

Thope and Mpho's street in Khayelitsha

Drinking the customary porridge-like concoction at a local shebeen (tavern).

One of my new friends... one of the friendly, local drunks.

What much of the permanent housing looks like... very, very small.

The kids love to have their pictures taken... especially with digital cameras. The one in the blue and yellow yacht club coat is my new best friend and was introducing me to everyone.

What a lot of the temporary housing looks like. Many people live in this small area.

Hair salons and barbers in metal sheds are like the Starbucks of Khayelitsha.

Sunset over a squatter camp.

Not to Worry, I'm Still Alive.

So I realize it's been a few days... and my being in Africa and all... I'm still alive. Was not attacked by lions or any other wild animal, just didn't have internet for the past 5-6 days. So just wanted to write and let you all know that I am doing well, having an amazing time, but missing home and you all dearly. I will write more later with the events of this past week, but I just arrived in Mosselbai (that would be Mossel Bay for all of you who don't speak Afrikaans) and I'm quite eager to wander before it gets dark.

Did We Just Go In A Circle?

Kelly and I got lost today. It was raining, and we had faulty directions and we got lost. We were supposed to be heading to this place called Spier in the winelands, where they have a little cheetah sanctuary. The whole point was to see the winelands, even though none of the wineries were open, and then end up at this place. Well... that took about two hours because we ended up back near the airport in a colored area that all the farmworkers live in (not so nice) and then back in Stellenbosch (the big "town" of the winelands). It was quite the trip, and we ended up at Spier as well as seeing a farm with a pack of wildebeest, some springbok (funny that you should mention that, Auntie Lorrie), a few ostriches and some cattle. It was a very uneventful day, but nice to be able to see more even though it rained all day.

Tomorrow I head to Khayelitsha (pronounced kai-a-leet-sha) for a night. Khayelitsha is the largest township in Cape Town and the second largest in all of South Africa. It is also in particularly bad shape, if it is even possible to compare the quality of almost nothing. I am staying with a woman who has created a B&B for tourists, so that instead of touring a township on bus and treating the residents as zoo animals they could actually experience life there. As you might imagine, I probably will not be able to post again until Monday or Tuesday, as Monday I have a long bus ride to Plettenberg Bay along the Garden Route. I'm not even sure that I'll have internet again until I get back to my guesthouse in Cape Town, but I'm hopeful.

Now let me clarify a few things for you, as I realize very few people know the history of South Africa and what I'm talking about...

A government system known as apartheid (Afrikaans for "separateness") was installed in South Africa in 1948. Its basic tenet was that the South African races should (1) live separate and (2) they should be treated on a caste system. The minority whites held the highest position in this system- the lived in the best areas, were allowed the most education, had the best jobs. They were essentially treated as first class citizens. Then there were the Indians, who did not hold as high of a position as the whites, but had a adequate standard of living. The coloreds (mixed races) were next, and were segregated to colored townships where they could only works in certain jobs and attain a certain level of education. While they were packed together in small areas with lots of flats and small houses, they did have roofs over their heads and food to eat. Blacks were considered the savages of the country, and they were alloted fields to live in and little or no employment or education. These fields then developed into black squatter camps and shanty towns, and some permanent housing. Whites, Indians, coloreds and blacks were all made to live apart from one another as part of the Group Areas Act. While the apartheid system was finally dismantled in 1994 (when South Africa had their first democratic election and Nelson Mandela was elected president), much of this segregation remains. Sometimes it is by choice- a person's family or job keeps them there. Most of the time, though, it is for lack of employment and education. While there is a small middle class developing in the country, the poor tend to remain poor while the rich tend to remain rich. The government is trying to give as many people housing as is possible, but change is a slow process and requires a lot more than the government can currently give.

As another quick aside, having nothing to do with townships, baboons are incredibly dangerous animals. They look all cute and fun, but they are far stronger and meaner than any man. Visitors to the Cape Peninsula started feeding the baboons years ago, and since then the baboons have been conditioned to believe that humans carrying food are fair game. It's rather interesting, as well, because this particular species of baboons generally has a diet that consists mainly of shellfish, which they will roam the beaches for as the tides move out. If you don't carry food, they really want nothing to do with you. They may sniff you, but will move on. I had one about 18 inches away from me, and it had absolutely no interest. I, on the other hand, was terrified because it's hard to realize how predatory these animals actually are until one is walking straight at you with that evil little stare.

Anyway, a new day ahead of me tomorrow and most certainly a new experience. I will post as soon as I can, and definitely with pictures so that maybe you can take note of what the majority of the world is really like.

Love you all.

When Baboons Attack

I will keep the writing to a minimum, as photos will tell so much more of the Cape Peninsula than words ever could. It was a long day, and other than the horrible Frenchman berating America and Americans 6 inches away from me, it was a great time. Just as a quick aside, we watched as two baboons attacked a car of tourists with food at the Cape Point... probably the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life.

Hout Bay

Seal Island, on the Atlantic Ocean outside of Hout Bay

Just another untouched beach between Hout Bay and Kommetjie

Boulders Beach, where the African Penguin colony is

Penguins!

Me and penguins!

Mama penguin and penguin chicks

View from our 6 km. bike ride through Cape Peninsula Reserve

View from the path up to the Cape Point Lighthouse of the Cape of Good Hope

Baboon on a BMW

Me at the Cape of Good Hope

Cape of Good Hope

Mama and baby baboon on the side of the road