Cape Town

 

One thing that I have found thru my travels is alot of self discovery.  Traveling forces you to confront new ways of looking at the world and examine your reaction and change your way of thinking.  This has been an amazing experience for which I am grateful and never take for granted.  I am living a dream and I know it.  I pinch myself every day.  I have my bed made and my room cleaned every day, I have someone doing my wash, I have someone cooking my meals, none of this do we take for granted.  We are all appreciative.  And to have someone like Desmond Tutu who we rub shoulders with is beyond even my dreams.

 

So we arrived early Sunday morning and woke to see us enter the harbor and the beautiful sunrise with the silhouette of Table Mountain.  We enter the waterfront and soon realize the beauty of this city.  As soon as we were cleared with immigrations we went with the students who we did the orphanage visit with and attempted  to climb the gorge of Table Mountain which is 3,000 feet from the base. It was a beautiful day but Ken struggled as his diabetes created havoc with low blood sugars and needed assistance up the mountain.  Fortunately they're were allot of strong guys to help him summit.  It definitely felt like an accomplishment for all of us.  The city was absolutely beautiful from the top. 

That evening we went to a play performed by local people creating  music and dance in true old Cape Town  fashion which was wonderful. 

 

Monday we spendt the morning walking around Cape Towns waterfront and doing one of my favorite things;  Shopping.  That afternoon we left to do a homestay in one of the townships.  These are the areas that the blacks were forced to go during apartheid and continue to live today.  Many are shacks and shanty towns and others are marginal with running water but not hot, minimal electricity and basic conveniences.  It was very interesting and sad to see that although apartheid ended 16 years things were not alot diffent from before.  It really hit me in my heart when Arch said he was a Nobel Prize Laureate and 67 years old before he was allowed to vote.  The amount of forgiveness these people have to one another is beyond human comprehension. . The homstay was great we learned alot and enjoyed the experience tremendously.

 

Tuesday we were a privileged few who were invited to Desmond and Leah Tutus home in Cape Town for lunch.  They had invited 4 faculty, 4 lifelong learners (that's us), 4 crew and 4 students.  We all considered ourselves very fortunate!! We were picked up at noon by a bus that took us to their home.  It was outside of the city proper and very close to a beautiful beach.  It was a lovely home in a nice area but very modest for his standing.  Lots of pictures on the walls of him and also of Leah with dignitaries from around the world.  One was with Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter the the bishop, one was with the Clintons, etc. There was a pool within a beautiful courtyard, there were chickens and a rooster confined to a pin in the back yard and large walls with at one time heavy security.  When he was appointed to be the chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission they increased his security detail and also provided body guards. Leah had prepared the meal herself but had help serving.  The food was South African, very delicious and the lamb she served was extremely tender.  She had cooked it overnight at very low temperatures.  I was impressed that she had done all the cooking herself.  We all enjoyed the meal and had a great conversation after as the bishop's birthday was only 2 days away.  We said our good byes to Leah and then were taken to his office just a mile away.  Again, what a privileged!!  I won't bore you with the details but can describe to you when we return if you would like.  On his birthday the bishop had invited 150 guests for dinner on the ship.  Great exposure for SAS.

 

Wednesday we attended the Amy Biel Foundation.  She was a Stanford graduate in the 90's who was a Fulbright scholar and working in Cape town against Apartheid.  She was stoned and stabbed to death in one of the townships by four young black men.  They were imprisoned for five years before coming before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  Amy's parents were at their hearing and fully supported their release.  They strongly felt these young men were as much a victim of apartheid as their daughter was.  The men were released and two of them now work for their Foundation.  It's an amazing story of forgiveness.  The foundation works in the townships helping with education, housing and the other problems of blacks that still suffer from poverty.  It was an amazing experience and one I will never forget.

 

Thursday we had a great white cage shark dive scheduled but it was unfortunately canceled due to weather,

so we took a city tour instead and did some real damage shopping. Ha-ha  Believe it or not I would have rather gone shark diving.

 

Friday we did a private tour of the area south of Cape town and the actual tip of Africa called Cape Point and also Cape of Good Hope.  We drove around and over beautiful mountains and along the coast and saw where the Atlantic and Indian Ocean meet.  We saw baboons, ostriches and penguins along the way and were told that the baboons kill the ostriches and are a huge menece to the farmers.

 

To much to see in to little time so I know we'll be back.

 

 

Side note:  Ken and I have enjoyed this trip so much beyond our expectations that we have decided to stay on for the entire voyage.  We arrive in San Diego on Dec. 13

and will drive home with the girls.