Cape Town

The mother city is...amazing.

We arrived on Tuesday after about an 11 hour bus ride. We were all pretty tired, so we crashed. Since I've been trying to budget money, a friend of mine and I made Chicken Alfredo in the backpacker while everyone else went out. Wednesday we visited the District Six Museum. It is a museum dedicated to the area of District Six that was destroyed under Apartheid. Basically it was once a mixed area with people of all different races, but it was declared a white area and everyone was forced out to the townships. Its saddening how much life and culture was destroyed with a single government act.

That afternoon we climbed Table Mountain. It was quite a hike, but the 20 of us that did it felt great. It was about two hours of going straight up. The views on top were fantastic though. Quite amazing and quite humbling.

Yesterday we spent the whole day at the Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope. I got my pic taken with the sign at the Southern most tip of Africa. The wind was absolutely crazy, we walked up to a light house and I thought I was going to blow over the side. Seriously. We also stopped at this beach called Boulders which is part of the South Africa National Parks. It is a protected beach where penguins come to rest. It really reminded me of Happy Feet. Really, they were all dancing and singing.

We also saw a play called Coming Home, by the South African playwright Athol Fugard. Let's just say the eyes were watering a bit near the end of the performance. It was about a woman and her son who are going back to their township in Graff Reient after her failed career as a singer in Cape Town. She meets up with an old friend who helps them out, and after a few years she learns she has Aids. She hatches a plan to marry her friend, so her son won't get taken away. The play is basically how she comes to terms with the illness and her son comes to terms with his new father. I really enjoyed it.

So the next few days....Today we tour Parliment, and then Robben Island. Then the next two nights are the jazz festival. I am really looking forward to it. Sunday we leave for spring break.

The rough itinerary is one night in Stellenbausch (the winelands), two nights in the Cederberg Wilderness Area, two nights near Augrabies Falls National Park, and then possibly a night in Kimberly and then Joburg and Pretoria. Woot.

Cheers,
Nick