February 20, 2006 Cape Town, South Africa
Early in the morning on the 18th about 3am most of us (not Carter, and Alemitu was still awake) were awakened by very rough seas. We were coming around the Cape of Good Hope or the Cape of Storms as it used to be called. When the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans come together, it can be rough.
Then the next thing you knew (6am) we were entering the bowl that Cape Town is in. It was a sunny, beautiful day and all the mountains were out. Since this was our 1st view of Cape Town we didn’t realize that often the mountains are hidden, much like Mt. Rainier. Again, this is a huge city, but it is known as the Rainbow City because there are so many different races, mixed marriages, etc. We have been hearing a little about the history of the area, but the lectures stopped around 1900, so our understanding is incomplete.
The 1st afternoon we were here (the 18th) we spent on a tour of a town northwest of here that is known for their wine. The town Stellenbosk is a university town which conducts its entire university in the Afrikaner language. They have all their textbooks in English but the lectures are in another language. The town was built by the Dutch, the wine-producing vines brought over by the French, so the photos look as though they were taken in Europe. The land was surprising by its lack of water. I thought it would be lush, but it was arid. The dividers on the road are filled with beautiful flowers which are natural insect repellent – amazing! On the tour we also saw a Cheetah rescue center and then went for wine tasting. I’ll let Alemitu fill you in on that.
The ride back was disturbing because we passed several townships which were the required living places for blacks during the last century. It was astounding to see 25 square kilometers of slums. They said that one of them would house approximately 1 million people. The toilets were along the perimeter and were just outhouses. They said that no city police will enter there and that most of the crime is dealt with by a kangaroo court. There is electricity but it must be purchased and since over 50% of the population is unemployed, not everyone can have it. On top of that there are periodic power outages, such as all of yesterday, so even if you pay for it, it might not be there for you.
The 19th we were awakened by some harbor seals who are very loud and playing right next to the ship. They lie in the sun, then slide off into the water to cool off. They certainly have a nice life of leisure.
Winnie
From Alemitu:
Hello everyone? Well we are now in Cape Town, South Africa. This place was not what I had expected to see, it looks developed where I am it doesn’t look like the kind of poor place I thought it would be. This place has a lot of European style here everyone one here dresses fancier and hip. A lot of the things here is very expensive if you want to buy any sort of souvenir. One the first day we were here we went on a tour to see some cheetahs and also to wine tasting place. The cheetahs were very cute to look at and if you pay money you could go in to their huge open pens to pet them. It was a little bit smelly around there because I think the cheetahs had just pooped or something. After taking some pictures we decided to get together with the group to go to the wine tasting building. When we got to the wine tasting room there were all these different kinds of wines in wine glasses wait for us to drink them. We all sat down and the wine tour leader was telling us about each of wine and what kind of food you could have food goes with the wine and what meal you can have the different wines with. I got to taste all of the different kinds of wine but I really didn’t like most of them except the red wine. Dad was sitting next to me and he was drinking all of his and than he reached on to my side and took the wine I had tasted and did not like and drank it and didn’t leave anything, I guess he liked that wine. After that experience we headed back to our ship but on the way there the tour guide was telling us about the places we were passing and one of the places we passed was a huge populated area of the poor and their living condition. Their houses were ready to fall apart and it was made out of corrugated tin. The houses were all close together. The houses looked so bad that you could not believe across the highway many modern and rich looking houses were there. While we were passing the poor part of the township some of the houses I was looking at reminded me of the houses in Ethiopia. While was looking at the poor houses it made me so sad to look at how they were living because that’s how I use to live before I came to America.
Yesterday mom and I decided to go shopping in the big mall that reminded me of the Bellevue mall in Seattle. I was so excited to be shopping that I went into this store and was looking at a very expensive but very cute dress and when I had entered the lady in the front desk looked at me very strangely, but I decided to ignore it and kept shopping. Later mom comes in and tells me if I am finished looking at the dress and I say yes but I like it very much can we come back later? Mom says ok but she tells me to look at the sign on the door of the store which says “Right of Admission Reserved”, which means that black people could not shop there. It made me so sick to my stomach that I didn’t want to shop any more and wanted to leave. I did not go back to that store like I had wanted to before. Every time we would go in to a store in that mall I would try to look on the doors to see if there are signs telling me I could not enter. It was the most uncomfortable feeling ever it made me angry and really depressed that they were still trying discriminate against the African people. Mom took me to another store and that was cheaper and got me happy again and I found one dress there which was very cute. I am so glad that mom was there with me shopping.
Well until next time always,
Alemitu
posted by Hills @ 8:28 AM
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