Cape Town

Following a week in Cape Town and my return to Gaborone and the University of Botswana, I feel as if it’s time for another post.  Let me first just go off on how my trip to South Africa was amazing.  I knew it would be a good week considering the fact that Joe was coming and I missed him so much but that was only the start.  Joe’s flight was delayed leaving me to fend for myself Saturday night when my plane landed but it was no big deal.  Our week started Sunday when Joe finally made it to Cape Town.  We walked around the V & A Waterfront which was absolutely gorgeous and basically just explored the city.  I did not feel like I was in Africa at all.  It felt like a combination of what I imagine LA looking like and Atlantic City.  It was definitely a nice break from the dry and barren environment of Botswana.  Anyway, Monday we decided we would attempt to go to Robben Island but didn’t make reservations.  Somehow, Joe’s luck pulled through and a woman returned two tickets 5 minutes before the boat left.  That was one of our favorite days for many reasons.  The history of Robben Island is incredible and unbelievable as they told about the prisoners have to construct their own prisons, being kept in solitary confinement, being denied visitors for years upon years, and their desire to help one another through teaching during lunch times.  All of this was happening with probably one of the prettiest backdrops I have ever seen.  I just couldn’t get over the fact that Robben Island is a place where people would have come for a get-away vacation to appreciate the beauty but it is scared with the ugliness of humanity during the times of political strife in South Africa.  I guess that’s how history works most of the time though.

 

V & A Waterfront

Following: Robben Island, Stone Pit where prisoners worked, Nelson Mandela's cell, an extremely windy boat ride back to Cape Town

On Tuesday, we decided to tackle the beast of a mountain in the center of town.  It was amazing that Table Mountain, over 3,000 feet high, is the center of the city.  We successfully made it up the mountain but that’s not without many breaks and close to 100 pictures.  The views were just breathtaking.  I am a bit embarrassed to say, though, that we chickened out and took the lift down but in our defense, we had no water and I probably would have fallen down instead of climbing down so it was wise of use to use technology and get down in 5 minutes rather than the hour and a half it took us to get up there.  Wednesday we continued our physical activity with a 21km wine and bike tour.  We joined forces with Kelly, Sam, and Sean who had gotten into Cape Town the previous afternoon.  While it was beautiful, the first half mile or so of bike riding was nearly impossible as it was basically straight up a huge hill consisting of sand pits after sand pits.  The easy part was coasting down but even then you had to work because it was by no means a smooth ride and there were some sharp turns that made me a little nervous.  Everyone seemed to have fun though so it was good.  Thursday was my personal favorite day as I finally got to live the dream of every girl, according to Joe.  We went horseback-riding on Noordhoek beach which was absolutely GORGEOUS.  Definitely the prettiest beach I have ever seen.  My horse’s name was Cognac and only had one eye but was a good fit for me as he loved the water and refused to leave plus he was a bit pushy with Joe’s horse (I don’t know how they matched our personalities so well!).  Joe’s friend was named Jiffie and was a bit lower key than my horse, always doing exactly what he was supposed to and a bit scared of the water.  It was a lot of fun and I realized that is a place I could totally see myself living.  Friday we rented a car and with Joe’s phenomenal driving on the wrong side of the road skills, we made our way to Cape Point and Cape of Good Hope with the other three.  It was another fun and beautiful day as we got to see most of the coastline, which is beach after beach of white sand and crashing waves.  Saturday was a sad day because Joe and I had to part ways but not before another delicious meal and some time walking around the city.  It was one of my favorite weeks ever and I should thank Joe’s family for making that happen.

 Me on top of Table Mountain

On our way up

Vineyards

Fish hoek Beach

Us at the top of Cape Point (Southern-most point in Africa)

Atlantic Ocean on the left and Indian Ocean on the Right

The weird thing about the week was that even though all of these amazing things were happening all week and I got the break I needed form Gabs, I couldn’t help but the think about what I had been seeing in the streets of Cape Town.  Even driving from Gabs to Joburg through other parts of South Africa, it seemed like the gap between people living on sufficient incomes and those in poverty was way more extreme in South Africa than in Botswana.  I’m not sure if that is a cultural thing, purely economic, or a result from the government.  I would like to research that some more but based on observations, it seems like the poor are not given the help that those in Botswana are given.  It made me uncomfortable at times when I was stuffing my face with delicious meals and doing tourist activities that cost more than they should.  At one point, we were in an extremely fancy restaurant that was entirely unnecessary in a community which had people sleeping on the streets, stick thin, right outside the doors.  It did make me appreciate what the government in Botswana tries to do for its people in need and almost made me homesick for Bots strangely enough.

Well, I’d say that’s enough about my week on vacation but I am going to write another post about what is going on in Bots.  It seemed a bit strange to combine a fairly serious post with a fun one.  Anyway, still thinking of home and occasionally getting sad about what I’m missing but big things are happening here too!!

P.S. UB has put restrictions on the amount of time you can be on a blog to 3 ten minute increments a day for some strange reason (TIA) so I apologize if the quality of posts gets worse and I apologize but until I get somewhere with better internet, I will not be able to post many more pictures.