2/17 - 2/22 South Africa

My first impression of Cape Town was that it was way too touristy. Our ship was docked in an area called the V&A Waterfront where 3 malls had been built and a bunch of expensive touristy restaurants were. I realized during this port that I was tired of doing the same things with the same people. Almost everyone on the ship just wants to drink and party their money away. It’s frustrating. And it seems that there’s no balance; SaS trips shield people from the realities of the countries we go to but they tell us that independent trips are too dangerous. So how are we supposed to experience anything real? Honestly the first impression of Cape Town was that it’s not the image we have of any part of Africa; it looks just like a metropolitan city anywhere except it’s surrounded by mountains. It’s a clean, beautiful city but it just wasn’t what I expected.

Anyways, on the first day we went to the diplomatic briefing and waited around for the officials to exchange American dollars to African rand. Once we got off the ship, we walked around and found random things we needed; I got malaria prevention pills for really cheap, paid way too much for aloe, and Victoria and Lindsey signed up for shark diving. After that we found a taxi to take us to Long Street where the main tourist info center was and we could buy tickets for the rugby game that we had heard about. We got there and while we were waiting I bought a Coke at the café from a really nice man named Dave; he was telling me about places I should go and things I should be careful of. Something hit me right then that bothered me. Even though Dave’s the one who sold me the Coke, I noticed that his Caucasian superior was the one who ran the cash register; she wouldn’t even let him take my money. Even though Apartheid has been gone from South Africa for some time there’s still racism even though people claim there isn’t. We had interport lecturers (all 4 of them white and upper class) that said there was more equality in South Africa than in the U.S. but I think their perception of equality and some of ours are different. It wasn’t just Dave; there wasn’t a single white taxi driver, crafstman and I never saw a white person in the township I saw. South Africa’s population is 80% black yet the 20% of whites are the ones that are in control and are prospering. It’s sad that this is happening but even worst is that the white people of privilege here are ignorant to the things that are around them. Our interport student lecturer talked to one of my classes and when someone asked her a question about the townships and rural schooling, she had no idea. She’s lived here her entire life and has never been to a township or a rural school; it really upset me at first. But then I thought about how little of my own country I’ve seen so I guess I have no place to judge.

Anyways, after we left the information center, we just walked up Long street going into stores (that were really expensive) and checked the area out. Rhina and I got gelato and strolled through Green Market Square. Side note: I never realized how uncomfortable I get in small spaces until I walked through the marketplace in Morocco. Thus walking through the market square made me anxious because each cubicle is only like 3 feet from the other and there’re rows and rows of cubicles. I bought a small drum there and at some point an older man kind of awkwardly grabbed at Rhina and I; not in a perverse way but he just kind of draped his arm around us. It definitely freaked me out because I was already unnerved so I booked it out of there. We regrouped and found a taxi to take us back to the ship. The ride was hilarious. Our driver was younger and had a swanky CD player that played videos of the songs. As we were driving back, listening to music and stuck in traffic all of a sudden we all started laughing; the song playing was repeating “Barack Obama”. It turns out that there’s a group in Africa that loves Obama so much they wrote a song about how much they like him! We couldn’t stop laughing, especially when we saw the video that went with it. We asked the driver a bunch of questions about Obama and music in general and he obligingly answered.

We got back, ate dinner and changed for the SaS trip to the theater to see Freak Country. We met outside and loaded a very ghetto coach bus to drive to the University of Cape Town where one of the theaters was. We had some appetizers and drinks provided when we got there and met a former SaS professor who was a company director. The play itself was weird; it’s not that it was bad it just didn’t really do anything. It left most people confused as to why they had ended where they did. I think it was under-acted because I felt as if it could have been good and made sense if there had been more emotions. I talked to a couple people on the bus after and we talked about how discontent we were with SaS trips and the port cities in general; that things hadn’t lived up to what we had anticipated. I got off the bus really unhappy with things in general and was planning on going to bed regardless of what people were doing but everyone had already fallen asleep when I got back so it worked out.

Day two: Sooo much better. Maybe it’s because of the people I was with or what we did, but today was awesome. After breakfast we decided to go see about the City Sightseeing tour; it ended up being the best thing. Basically you buy one ticket and you get to go around Cape Town –which is huge –and stop at all the highlights. The best part is a different bus comes every 20-45 minutes depending on the stop and after you’ve looked around, you get back on to go to the next stop. The buses themselves are red double decker buses –like in England –and there’s an audio commentary while you drive around to all the different places.

The first place we got off was Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens; it’s a huge reserve where most of South Africa’s indigenous plants are present. We walked around for an hour or so and then had a delicious lunch at the restaurant on the grounds. I had a spicy egg dish; not African but it was still really good. I also had the world’s most amazing real hot chocolate; sooo thick and creamy. For 3 people, lunch was only $20! So we got back on the bus and got off at the next stop which was…

World of Birds &Monkey Jungle. It’s an animal reserve/ sanctuary set up so that you actually walk through the cages where all the birds are; they’re not very skiddish so you can get really close. And the second part is similar only there’s a small fence around the pens of the penguins, meerkats, ostrich, etc. and cages around the monkeys. After that was…

The Imizamo Yethu township. A township here is basically a huge area of poor people living in shacks and really cruddy conditions. We had a guided walking tour just through the main street of the township. The first house was one of the shacks and he showed us this woman living with her husband and 3 children in a horribly hot cramped and dirty shack; it only had one room. They had electricity and appliances and such but everything was dirty and old and there was no running water. For some odd reason her children found my ear piercings amusing. After that we walked up further and saw a shabeen which is a bar type of area for people to hang out; they serve liquor to those who are 18 and older and they have a jukebox and a pool table up on beer boxes and crates. It’s also a sort of shanty shack. We also saw the water pump and porter potties where people walk up to 10 meters to come to. There were women there doing their laundry in a basket. After that our guide told us about a giant housing project that the Irish had started a few years earlier. They had come and built 500 houses in just a few days and they have a goal of building 10,000 houses in Cape Town before 2012. We went in to see one of these houses and comparatively, it’s much better than the shacks. The houses are solid and clean and they all have electricity and running water. After that house we walked past a small convenience store build shack style and run by a Somali family; our guide said that there’s been a great influx of Somali people in the townships in the past couple of years. The last stop in the township was the community and health center that the Irish also built during their project. Inside there were people selling homemade goods; the most impressive of these were the t-bag art. These women dry used tea bags, take out the leaves and decorate the bags to make beautiful things with and the leaves to make paper. I bought myself a small t-bag purse; I couldn’t help it. After that we went back to the bus and…

Just rode around on the bus for an hour; it took us along the back side of Table Mountain where some of the beaches and rich communities are. The views were breath-taking. There are 10-story buildings built right on the beaches but the road was cut into the mountain above that so you can still see everything. Cape Town also has a development rule that above a certain line on the mountain, you can’t build up; they want to preserve the image of the mountain. However, rich people don’t like being told they can’t build on the rich side of the mountain so the houses overlooking the road and beach are incredibly cramped together because of all the people that keep building in the tiny spaces. So on our drive we saw Houts Bay and Camps Bay and their beaches and a bunch of baking people on the beaches before we made it back toward the waterfront where the ship is.

We ate dinner and just decided to walk around the waterfront to see if there was anywhere to dance later on. Rhina, Maggie and I made some phone calls –I got to talk to everyone at home! We then went walking through the mall and I finally found a decent-sized bottle of sunscreen with more than 30 SPF –it’s kids sunblock but I’ll take what I can get. We walked up to the cinema at the top of the mall and discovered there was a gay pride film festival going on. We had just missed the showing but there was a reception going on and 2 women saw the group of us walk in and immediately shouted “lesbians?!”, really excitedly and Maggie and I played along and shouted lesbian back to the dismay of Rhina and D. lol They told us to grab a drink and mingle but we decided to pass cause we had missed the movie and D kind of gets uncomfortable around gay men so we didn’t want to leave him out. We finally decided that none of really felt like going out or spending money on drinks so we went back to the ship and played dominoes for an hour or so before calling it a night.

Day three: We woke up early and went to breakfast. I went off to the post office to send out some post cards and a small package. After the post office, D, Rhina and I went off to the City Sightseeing bus stop to get on the red line bus which follows a different route than the one we were on the day before. In general, the first hour of the tour was really boring; it mainly did a few circles around the central part of the city where a lot of the shopping happens. We eventually got to the cable car station to get to the top of Table Mountain. There was a huge line but it went relatively fast so it wasn’t bad. The cable car is pretty sweet; it rotates while it goes up. At the top station the height is about 1200 meters above sea level. Rhina D and I walked around a bit and took some pictures. The view was muggy but amazing; I took a ridiculous amount of pictures. During out little walk, D and Rhina found out how petrified I am of bees when a giant bumble bee came near me and I panicked and started crying. After about a half hour, we went back down and caught the sightseeing bus to Camps Bay to have lunch. We ate at a restaurant recommended to us by the sightseeing company. I had a sushi combo, a crab cake plate and sticky toffee pudding with a local hard cider; all of it was amazing.

After lunch we got back on the sightseeing bus and headed back to the ship. We took a nap and got up to grab something small to eat to hold us over and headed out for the rugby game. We took a big taxi with some other people to get to the stadium; the traffic was crazy and our driver was cruising through traffic, fitting in tiny places you wouldn’t think a vehicle that size could fit. Once we got to the stadium we found our seats just in time for the game to begin. In case you’re wondering why we decided to go to a rugby game, rugby is huge here in South Africa; it’s what baseball and football are to Americans. Apparently, Morgan Freeman was there because they showed him in one of the private boxes. Craaazy cool. Anyways, the game was awesome; the home team won by 3 against the Australians. After the game some of us stayed behind because Victoria wanted to try and get an autograph –and maybe an invite to the after party –but no such luck.

So we got outside and found that people from our group were still waiting for taxis. Someone had called the man who had dropped us off earlier and when he came we somehow fit 13 people into the mid-size SUV. It was uncomfortable but quite hilarious. We spent a few minutes trying to decide where we were getting dropped off before people decided to go to Long street where all the clubs are. I got out at the club with them only to try and find an ATM to take out money so I could pay a taxi to take me back to the waterfront. We waited 10 minutes before we finally got in this club called Chrome and I immediately found an ATM inside, took money out and left the club; I was getting more and more irritated the longer I stayed with the big group because I didn’t have a lot of money left and the last thing I wanted to spend it on was booze. Also I had no desire to dance that night; I just wasn’t feeling that great. So I left and found a taxi on the corner and took it back to the waterfront; the driver was really nice and talked to me in French when I told him I was from Canada. The taxi drivers always ask where you’re from and I’ve learned that saying your Canadian in foreign countries is much better than saying your American; they’re not as likely to try and rip you off. So I got to the waterfront and tried to make a phone call but I couldn’t get my phone card to work so I just walked back to the ship. I got to my room, called Meredith with what I had left of my ship-based calling card and went to bed. I didn’t even hear Rhina come in at 2am.

Day four: Today was completely chill. Rhina, D and I all slept in until lunch. We ate and went out to find a few souvenirs at the craft market right on the edge of the waterfront. On the way there we stopped at the media store and I bought Hercules; yes the Disney cartoon. It was only $7 and it’s one of my favorites. We mostly spent the day window shopping. Rhina got her hair braided and I found knitting needles and yarn! I’m super excited to knit again. After the craft market we headed towards one of the malls intent on finding Melissa’s; it’s a small café with the world’s yummiest hot chocolate made with Nutella.

However, we got distracted on the way there because there was a children’s dance competition going on in the amphitheatre outside of the mall. We stayed and watched most of it; some of the kids were amazing! There were 8 year old boys who could pop-n-lock like nobody’s business. Crazy. The only downside of the performance was that one of the girls had a wardrobe malfunction and ended up flashing half the audience; common sense would have told her to NOT come out on stage in a bikini top that barely covered her nipples. Also, at one point of the 45 minute performance this older creepy guy started hitting on me; he asked me where I was from and if he could have my number because he liked me. Creeper. I immediately went to D and Rhina’s sides and squished between them. I never know how to react when I’m hit on by perfect strangers so I generally ignore them and run away but this one was just more awkward than normal because he had been standing next to me for a couple minutes beforehand and even when he was talking to me I wasn’t looking at him because I didn’t want to encourage him. It was weird.

Anyways, after the show we went in and had hot chocolate at Melissa’s. Amazing. Naturally after having said delicious hot chocolate we went to the grocery store right next to Melissa’s to buy stuff to make hot chocolate while on the ship; I’ve been paying $2 for one on the ship so buying the stuff separate is a much cheaper option. Once we had gotten a few snacks, we went back to the ship to eat dinner. After dinner we went back out to try and find free wi-fi because we had seen some students sitting on the edge of the hotel property right near the ship and internet on the ship is very expensive to buy. We tried near the hotel but Rhina couldn’t get a signal so we went to the information center to find out where else there was wi-fi in the waterfront area. We ended up going to a café nearby but it also wouldn’t work so we finally gave up. On the way back to the ship, Rhina stopped to buy a book she had wanted. The rest of the night consisted of Rhina, D, Victoria, Mike and I watching Hercules and Wedding Crashers and calling it an early night.

Day five: Today was much the same as yesterday. We slept in until lunch and then went out last-minute souvenir shopping. I bought more yarn and found something for mama, dad and keshia. Afterwards we just came back to the ship so we could get started on our homework. I got 2 of my 8 art entries done and will probably spend the next 2 days working on them; the entries take me forever but it’s going to be so worth it when I bring it home.

All in all, Cape Town was pretty great. I only wish I had been able to see more than just stores outside of the waterfront. We were really limited to what we could do since we would’ve had to leave the waterfront every time we wanted to do anything not touristy and even outside of the waterfront area, most things were shopping oriented. Since my friends and I decided we didn’t want to waste all our money shopping or boozing, there really wasn’t a whole lot for us to do. Add in that Cape Town is HUGE and very commercial, I think most people didn’t get out of South Africa what they were hoping to. I know I didn’t but I don’t know how I could have; I would’ve had to have left Cape Town and gone out into places that Semester at Sea deems unsafe. It’s sad but so far on this trip I feel like I’m walking through a zoo version of each country; we see things but through bars. Especially before this port, the SaS staff tried to kind of scare us I feel to keep us from being too adventurous. They say it’s for our safety but I feel like you can’t really experience something if you don’t put yourself out of your comfort zone, and thus far SaS is like bubble wrap; the opportunities they’re giving us by landing in certain ports or arranging certain trips is keeping us in a comfort zone. Yet at the same time, they’re telling us to try and do things of substance. It’s hard to explain all of this but I feel the need to try and explain some of what my friends and I are feeling. Anyways, we’re off to Mauritius where we’ll land for only about 12 hours and then India for 5 days. We’re expected to have rough seas the entire way to Mauritius (which is 4 days away) so wish me luck; I had my sea legs but I think 5 days on land might have reversed the process. We’ll see. Much love all!