South Africa Part 1

South Africa!

As we begin to sail away from Mauritius, I feel a pain in my chest because I am reminded of leaving South Africa nine days ago. My friends and I stood on the 7th deck and watched our ship sail away from the beautiful waterfront, table mountain, and everything else we had come to love during the past week. Oh South Africa! Where do I even begin?
Let’s see here. We arrived in South Africa on Monday. Casey, Leslie, and I had our ritual pre-port sleepover. We awoke nice and early to see the sunrise in AFRICA. I cannot begin to describe how beautiful this sunrise was. No words written could do it justice. The sun rose up over rolling mountains lined with trees. I couldn’t help but sing “laaaaaaaaaaaa saveeeennnyaaaaaaa” from the Lion King over and over. We are in Africa!!! Breathtaking.
After breakfast we pushed and shoved to get off the ship. Casey, Leslie, Jordan, Crystal and I went straight to the market. It was a good walk from our ship, and we got lost on the way. A nice man helped us find Green Market by walking us there. Green Market was similar to the market in Brazil, but was outdoors, and sold neater things. I bought a skirt and a painting.
Afterwards we searched for good African food. Upon discovering that nothing “African” was open, we headed to a nearby café. Crystal and I got huge pizzas that were very tasty. Jordan left us, and the four girls did girly things (i.e. shopping). We walked up and down Long Street (a main street in Cape Town with clubs and shops and food). I got some other neat gifts for people at home (betcha can’t wait to see them, huh?). It was a nice day strolling with the girls.
That night I went to a Semester at Sea program called “Township Music.” I was so tired at this point that I kept nodding off on the bus while we drove past the townships. Now for a little history. The apartheid started in 1948 when the white, minority Dutch people who were having issues with the British in South Africa finally were free to do what they wanted. They issued laws that separated blacks and whites, much like the South in the United States. They did horrible things to the blacks and pushed most of them out of their homes and into townships and “homelands.” Many families were separated. Even though the apartheid ended in 1994, the blacks have not left the communities (townships etc) and live in extreme poverty. This is just a quick summary.
Oh yeah, did I mention that Desmond Tutu (I like to call him Toots) was on our ship for eight days? That was pretty damn cool. For those who haven’t heard of him, he was - among many things - head of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee during the end of apartheid to give amnesty to deserving people.
Ok, onto the township music. The performance was neat, although similar to most touristy shows I had seen at this point. We had a great, home cooked meal afterwards though. Mmmmm. The only strange thing at dinner was the drink we had. Apparently it was a South African ginger drink, but I took a huge swig of it to start off and almost choked. This thing BURNED! I didn’t drink for the rest of the meal. I also still don’t get how Semester at Sea finds these nice restaurants in the middle of the poorest areas.
Well, after the food we went to this “shabeen” or a township pub/club/jazz music house. There was a live jazz band (South Africa is known for their jazz) and we danced with locals all night. It was a lot of fun.
The next day I got up early to go cycling in the winelands with Semester at Sea. There were about 10 of us. We took a long bus ride through wine country and looked at the beautiful scenery. It was raining on and off, so we took a different route for our bike ride than previously planned. The bike ride was great, although pretty difficult at some points. It had been raining so the dirt had turned to mush and it was very hard to pedal. We alternated between bike riding and wine tasting (bad combination! Haha). I actually feel like I know about wine now! We learned how to swirl, sniff, and all that good stuff. I was pretty drunk after the first round of wine tasting because I have no tolerance for alcohol! The day was great, but my rear end hated me from riding that bike for so long.
That night Megan, Julie, and I went to a Cabaret show. I had never heard of this before, and basically it was a hilarious comedy show with brief musical interludes. The show was REALLY funny and the food was fantastic. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Oh yeah, the guys in the show and audience were all gay. Afterwards we went out as a huge group to a gay club. Our waiter even joined us! He was a great guy (and really cute too!) Too bad for me that he was gay, hahah.
The third day in South Africa I took a trip with Semester at Sea called the “Amy Beihl Foundation.” Amy was a white college student from the U.S. who had volunteered her time in the townships during the apartheid. One day she was in the township at the “wrong place and wrong time” when some blacks became violent and stoned her to death. The big kicker to the story is her parents forgave the people that murdered her and started a foundation in her name that helps out various aspects of a certain township. For instance, they have built a golf range, a school, and others. My favorite part of the day was actually going into one of the townships and taking a walk. We had little kids jumping on us and hugging us the whole time! People came out of their houses and stared at us, because with 50 Semester at Sea kids, we were invading their space. There was one child who wanted to be passed from person to person. He was so cute! I’ll have to put pictures up of the kids.
There were two other interesting parts of the day. One was we ate at this really sketchy restaurant. The restaurant was on the side of the road in the township and they literally brought us a bucket of meat. Yes, it was in a bucket and it was just swarming with flies and it was gross meat! (I am not a big meat fan for those of you who don’t know). The other interesting thing was that our tour guide ended up being one of Amy Beihl’s killers. He was forgiven (like I mentioned) by Amy’s parents and he now works for the foundation. That was a shocker!
After our day trip, I decided to walk around the waterfront by myself. Let me tell you just how gorgeous the waterfront in Cape Town is. It reminded me of Fisherman’s Warf in San Francisco, but nicer. I went inside the mall and talked to some locals at the juice store. One guy kept telling me that he wanted friends from the United States and if he could have my email address to write to me. His name was Tony. I saw him the next day also. I spent a few minutes at the internet café and then went back to the ship.
Luckily I ran into friends on the ship and we decided to go to Mama Africa for dinner. This place is probably a big tourist trap, but it had a great live band and awesome food. I ate crocodile, ostrich, spring bock, and something else but I can’t remember. Crazy, huh?? It was soooo good. I went with Casey, Leslie, Megan, Ryan, Matt and these two girls we didn’t know. And once again I was tempted to buy a CD of the live band that played. I have been having a blast buying CDs around the world! Africa definitely has some of the best music I have ever heard! I think I left with four CDs from there.
When we got back to the ship, we were not allowed to go on board because some girl had severe alcohol poisoning and was being taken away by an ambulance. What did I tell you? I am on a freakin’ cruise with a bunch of college students! Since we couldn’t get on the ship, we decided to do what any other college student would – went to the nearest hotel and got some wine and cigars. Hahaha.
Bright and early the next morning (5 am to be exact!) I awoke for SHARK DIVING! Yes, you heard that right – DIVING WITH SHARKS. In the ocean.
We drove for two hours along the coast, which was beautiful. When we got to the spot they gave us an interesting breakfast. Next we got on our boat – the Baracuda and sailed off. Sorry for always naming the people I go with, but I do not have time to write in my own journal and you guys, so I’m going to need to include stupid details so I don’t forget. SO – I went with Adam, Ashley, Michelle, Kate, Casey, Leslie and a few others that I didn’t know.
The ride out to the sharks was beautiful. When we got there the guides talked to us for a few minutes and then we sat and waited for the sharks to come. Oh yeah, we also threw in a few dead fish heads for bait. YUCK! Actually, my favorite part of the trip was seeing them chuck the dead fish heads out every few minutes. Besides the gruesome flesh, it was pretty amusing.
Adam, Ashley, Kate, Michelle and I were the first victims. We got in our wet suits, water shoes, and weights – and jumped in the cage. The guides would chuck the fish heads out and when a shark came to eat the heads someone would shout, “Down, down, down, down!” And then we’d all hold our breaths and go underwater to see the shark. We saw the same shark about six different times before we had to switch off for the next group. I personally think we had a better view of the sharks from on the boat. Then we could see them open their mouths for the fish heads. Yum!
After a few hours we headed back. On the way to the shore we stopped by an island full of seals. This was definitely the highlight of the trip. I’ll have to get pictures up. Besides the horrible stench, the seals were so cool and friendly!
Another long drive back (when we slept) and we arrived at the ship in time for dinner. That night I went to pizza with Seth, Lee, Matt, Casey and Leslie. Before the pizza came, two of the boys left to get “money.” Lee first came back and brought us three girls roses. It was so cute! About two minutes later Matt comes back with another three roses! He seemed so confused when he saw we already had roses. It turns out that the boys misunderstood each other and each one thought the other was supposed to get roses for us. The whole scene was pretty funny – but hey, I got two roses out of it! We took a bunch of goofy pictures with roses and enjoyed our food.
Afterwards we went to an opera! It was called Carmen and was in French with subtitles. Being that we had three guys and three girls, it felt like a date, which I enjoyed. The opera was long, but great. The only other opera I have seen in my life was Hamlet in 11th grade and this was definitely better!
After the opera we wanted to take a taxi home. The only problem is that in Cape Town taxis aren’t running around like they are in most countries. We walked until we found a taxi dispatch station. The twenty-four year old man working the station let us in and started asking us a bunch of questions. You had to be there to appreciate this story, but basically we were in the dispatch station for almost forty minutes waiting for a taxi. The guy working there kept making comments under his breath about Bush and hating the United States. I was getting delirious at the time because I found it so funny. I started making a play out of my roses with voices and all. Ok, I know, you weren’t there, and this is not amusing to you at all. I’m sorry!
Finally we got a cab and went home. What a night! Oh wait, first we stopped by a bar and I got a “poop” shot. Actually, I think it was officially called the “Sweaty Toilet.” I don’t know what it was made of, but it had a melting chunk of chocolate at the bottom – hence the poop. Leslie bought it for me because she knows that somehow everything I talk about relates back to that subject. Achem, anyways. Sometimes I forget who will be reading this blog. If I offend you in any way, I apologize!