We left Cape Town with mixed feelings. We truly felt the racism and it was not a nice feeling. We saw the tremendous damage the townships have made for the black Africans and wonder how they will ever recover. We also saw a wonderfully modern city with fantastic hospitals, malls, transportation and can understand why they are the strongest country in Africa. Such a dichotomy.
Today we are in Port Elizabeth which is a much smaller town and less Dutch, more English. This used to be part of the Zulu land. I think that smaller towns seem a little more manageable when you are a first time visitor. We were greeted by an African dance troupe who were so acrobatic, fueled only by the music of their drums. Alemitu found this sound rather comforting.
Then we were off on a bus to the Addo Elephant Game Park. This landscape was initially more green than in Cape Town. There are orchards of oranges, more of the sad looking slums or townships, but these seemed to offer a little more hope. Our guide told us that the government considers that education is the only way out of this mess, so they started by building new schools. Then gradually they and the inhabitants are building new homes. It was interesting to see cinderblock houses right next to the old shacks.
The game park was very hot and our bus was not air conditioned except by the wind. We were able to see several herds of elephants at their watering hole and see the families take care of their little ones. We sat there for about ½ hour just watching them bathe in the water. They were carefully joined by several warthogs and they babies. We also were lucky enough to see several ostriches and then a kudu. It was funny because I saw the kudu at the same time as the guide, but I honestly didn’t know what to call him, so I just pointed and dredged up a name from Kenya – élan. I guess I was close, but it is sad that so many words and names are forgotten when they aren’t used. We saw prickly-pear cacti and aloe vera plants (huge compared with what we have in the States), so you can guess that the climate is hot and dry. I’ll leave the rest for Alemitu.
Winnie
Winnie is a hard act to follow. Ship has been quiet medically speaking, and we are all waiting for the shoe to drop…so to speak. Mind you I am not complaining. It has given me the time to take a jillion pics and upload a few to our website here for y’all to read. South Africa has been a pleasant surprise for us and a very nice place to visit and tour in….not to mention getting medical consults on my tough patients and getting difficult medication refills. I am learning a lot about meds I don’t deal with in depth in my EM practice. It has been fun to get to know the crew through various social affairs on board, drills, and of course the crew only excursions. There are some very avid readers on board as well as more than a few folks who have been more places in their lifetimes than we have…which makes for some interesting conversations at breakfast. I love the smoked salmon and cream cheese with onions and capers every morning. I also appreciate not having to commute to work for 30 minutes but rather walking 10 steps across the hallway to my office….Such a Chore!
Looking forward to seeing Mombassa, Kenya again after almost 30 years….My how time flies when you are having fun! Hope your weather is looking up as it appears we took a good year to spend the winter in the southern hemisphere….You know how Winnie and I try to hide from the sun. Miss you!
Carter
posted by Hills @ 8:48 AM
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