Bike Ride to Camps Bay

One thing I have learned from traveling is that every city has different neighborhoods with different cultures and lifestyles,  inevitably everyone will find one to fit into if they look hard enough… I found mine in Cape Town J

Jameelah, Rosa and I rented bikes for the afternoon (its was only 100 rand – 16USD!) and rode our bikes around Lions Head into and area of Cape Town know as Camps Bay. Camps Bay was the first place in South Africa where I did not stick out like a sore thumb! It was a absolutely beautiful area, with amazing beaches and even more awesome – yet modest in comparison to American – homes.


The house on the right is for sale, it overlooks the ocean (we were ridding right on the beach)... Guess How much?? 2.2Million Rand = 345,000USD (if my math is right - 1USd =6.7Rand)

This was one of my favorite homes, I feel like this is similar to what I will see in the Greek Islands.


The beaches were great, white sand sheltered between the boulders that made up the shoreline. Although the water is very cold right now, this was the first place I saw surfers – in full 7mil wetsuits – going out to catch a wave.  There were picnic benches nestled into the trees in the backs of the beach where many people were enjoying dinner and wine. *it would have been smart to take a picture... maybe I should go back ;) )
Across the street from the beach, there were beach front cafes and lounges and many local shops.  The restaurants here are the relatively expensive in comparison to local standards, so I did not indulge  -although depending on my monetary situation near the end of the trip I may be going back!

Not sure what these little creatures on the side of the roade were, but we were told they are in the rabbit family. They had two sharp teeth and honestly looked rather rabid.

Salt water swimming pool overlooking the ocean! It looked so awesome in person... too bad its not heated or else I would have taekn a swim

Just for perspective, ths is Camps Bay from Lions Head - I live in Sea Point which is to the right of the picture,

Robben Island

“Today when I look at Robben Island, I see it as a celebration of the struggle and a symbol of the finest qualities of the human spirit, rather than as a monument to the brutal tyranny and oppression of apartheid. It is true that Robben Island was once a place of darkness, but out of that darkness has come a wonderful brightness, a light so powerful that it could not be hidden behind prison walls…"
Nelson Mandela (above is his cell durng his stay at Robben Island Prision)

On Saturday I made the trip to tour Robben Island, which is located 12 km. from the Waterfront. Robben Island was the home to maximum security prison, built in 1961 by the first prisoners which it would house, for “black” political prisoners during apartheid.  I place black in quotes because during apartheid it encompassed all people of color – African, Indian, mixed race ect. Those prisoners housed a Robben Island were limited to receiving two letters a year, which were monitored by guards to ensure they did not included any “political propaganda” or any information about the political situations taking place outside the island.  Political prisoners were released at the end of apartheid, in 1991.

We first toured Cell Block A, which was where the normal political prisoners were held. Each cell was open and you were able to go in and read different stories from each cell. We didn’t have enough time to read all of the stories because the boat was late but they were really interesting. The one that stuck out most in my mind was the story about an individual who made keys. One of the prisoners carved cell keys at night, blindly, he would place both hands under his pillow and pretend he was asleep and carve the keys by touch. The guards used two different keys a day key (which you only had to turn once) and a more secure night key (which had to be clicked twice releasing multiple locks).  There was no information on how they got the initial key but the story talked about how secret of a mission it was, and the first night they tested the key they were able to unlock the cell but then could not re-lock it after, because the second set of locks would not free. The night guard ended up being blamed for not locking the cell properly.

The ferry ride from the waterfront takes about 30 min and departs 3 times daily. It was a rather bumpy ride, a few people around me got seasick, which was just great for the smell of the ferry.  The ferry leaves from the Waterfront (I had mentioned it a few blogs back) which is the “ritzy-ist” places in all of Cape Town, which is rather interesting considering where we were headed.  I headed to the back of the ferry to snap a few shots of the waterfront and Cape Town as we were leaving.

Once arriving at Robben Island we split into smaller groups and started with an approximate 45 min. bus tour of the island. When coming into the Island on the ferry, you can see that there are houses, which appeared to be well kept around the island. The guide explained to me that the people who currently work for the museum, as it is now called, are all either former prisoners or guards who worked at the Prison and on the Island during apartheid.  Everyone from those who drive the busses, run the ferries, to the people actually giving the tours have a connection to Robben Island Prison. Currently, those who work on the island have the option to live on the Island, about 35 families currently do so. The bus ride takes you past a Islamic kramat, the current church (which is open to the public on Feb. 14 for marriage ceremonies), the schoolhouse (which currently has 9 students), and the lighthouse.



Church



 

a view of the main street of hte residental neghborhood



School house - really cool looking building



After the bus tour we arrived at the prison, which was broken into two main cell blocks. The shape of the prison is a connected N. In the early days of the prison, it was all one attached cell. During Mandela’s stay at the prison, the cellblock was broken into two parts, with one section of the N cordoned off from the rest of the population. The reason for this change was that they felt that certain prisoners (Mandela included) were speaking to much politics to the other prisoners and they were worried if they were allowed to continue meeting and talking that they would have an upraise of the prisoners and potential violence.  



The doggy kennels, they wrapped around in an S shape. The dogs were isolated from each other becuase they were trained to kill - but they had some seriously nice sleeping arangements, in comparison. Of course I was intrested in the part... I dont think the Killer Brewer would have fit in to well here, CalDog on the other hand would have run the show.



Entrance to the Prision... Apparently the isolated Island surrounded by Great White Shark infested waters, dogs trained to kill and snipers were not enough..

Exercise yard for cell black A - Cell block B was directly over the wall to the left.

 

After leaving Cell Block A we headed over to cell block B, which is where Mandela and other highly influential prisoners were housed. We were first shown Mandela’s cell. I found some of the stories about his time in the prison very interesting, because he was such a high profile individual the prison tried to give him preferential care but he refused to accept this. For most of the stay on Robben Island prisoners did not have beds, they simply had mats that they placed on the ground for them to sleep on. (think drunk tank, I have heard that is what they give you there ;) )The prison tried to give Mandela a bed to sleep on but he refused to take it until everyone in general population was given a bed, they even went as far as to say to bring a doctor into who said that because of problems with his back Mandela had to have a bed, yet he still refused preferential treatment.



Another View of Mandela's cell

If anyone has read Mandela’s book, The Long Road to Freedom, he spends a lot of time talking about how he had a “garden” in prison which helped him keep his sanity.  The Garden is the area surrounding the court below. One of the most interesting stories I heard about Mandela was how he communicated with the other prisoners, even once he was sectioned off. Every weekend Mandela played tennis in his recreation area, it was well document that this was one of his favorite activities while in prison. On Firday night, before playing he would slice open a tennis ball and place a note inside. He would then in the course of play “accidently” hit it over the wall into the recreation area of cell block A. When he would return on Saturdays he would find that they had hit the ball back over the wall with a response to his note. This became the main mode of communication between the two cell blocks.

 When we were leaving one of the girls from my group said to me “Didn’t you expect more?” The question frustrated me because it is the general feel of  a lot of people on this trip – not appreciating what is around them.  All I could think was “what did you expect a pretty painted prison with a lot of visually stimulating and picturesque moments?” It made me think about how people sleep through our class with Justics Sachs, we are being taught by someone who everyone in this country would love to hear speak just for a moment or two.  There is just such little appreciation of the once in a life time opportunity that we have. It is up to individuals to take what they want from the trip – to each their own, of you want to be like certain people and have your memory of the trip be the clubs and bars, and being to hangover to be awake for class I suppose that’s your choice; but that’s not for me.  I want to remember the trip and expierence as much as I can while I am here.

The girl on the trip to Robben Island was frustrated because she wanted to hear more, well that’s on you to do.  As I mentioned earlier, the story about the key really stuck out to me but I was curious about how they got the key. As we were walking from place to place within the prison no one was talking to the tour guide, a former inmate, so I decided  (because I am so quiet and introverted) to walk with him and take that time to ask some questions. Turns out the key was originally left out , not sure if it was purposefully or not,  while one of the guards went to the bathroom. An alert inmate grabbed the key and pressed it into his soap to make a copy of the key.  Another thing I got to talking to him about was how it was now, with  former guards and inmates working together at the museum. He explained to me that there were a lot of guards who were very helpful and forgiving to the prisoners, they would often sneak them extra food rations, newspapers and once even a radio.  Guards were never allowed to stay at the prison for more than two years, they were always rotated out of the prison system to prevent them from becoming to close or forgiving with the inmates. He told me a few more stories, but I assume by this point people are getting sick of reading so I wil leave them out.

Moral of the story, I left Robben Island very satisfied. It was a great historical sight to see, although we only got bit and pieces of the story it really helped me understand a lot about the history and significant of South Africa.
 

Outside the entrace to Robben Island Prison

On Saturday night, I had my second night out on the town with Tommy (my MU buddy) and his friends from the Mizzu Program. All of the bars out here are clubs on the weekend, even the "pool halls" are clubs. Needless to say thats not really my style, but I tried. Don't worry no dancing took place, I didn't want to make a fool out of myself!

 

Lions Head

View of Table Mountain from near the bottom of Lion's Head

I climbed Lion’s head with Jameelah, Martinez and Brian last Friday,  but I was so excited to post Sharkey Pix that I didn’t put these up last week. Just an FYI, this week will probably be rather boring as I am trying to finish my law review write-on . . . Don’t worry Mom, I will still be alive, just doing school stuff.

The Crew that made it to the top  - Martinez, Jameelah, Brian and Myself

Channeling my inner Karate Kid at the top

About 2/3 of the way up, looking back at the City Ceter

View of the City Center, Signal Hill is on the Left.

View of Seapoint from hte top

I found a cupcake shop just 2 blocks from the hotel... I have to walk by it to get to the internet cafe! I am very proud of myself, I have only splurged once, and I shared half of it with Jameelah. They only have vanilla and choclate but for $2 I am happy!

Out with Tommy ( my buddy from MU who is here with the Mizzu program) prior to staying up until 3AM to watch Game 7 of the Stanley Cup. This was right after a shot of flaming absenth, apparently you cant get Jmo, or Jose unless you buy the whole bottle. SO the batender decided that Absenth, topped of with Tequilla, then lit on fire was just what we needed. FYI, if you are ever served a flaming shot, take it with a straw, it does not simply go out if you try to drink it.





Here Sharkey Sharkey Sharkey...

Today was, um how do I say this, AWESOME! I got to make friends with 5 great white sharks, one adorably resilient baby seal, and a whale! I don’t think word will do justice, nor will pictures, but I will let the pictures try to do most of the talking! PS the internet café is getting crazy today, a old man just ran out tried to pick a fight with some kids who were singing, apparently it was a song that was offensive to him? Wow. Ok, on to the sharks! Oh yeah, I also uploaded a video to YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52ATzLE5vQ4 it is rather shakey becuase the darn thing and his buddy decided to swim around and bump the cage from the back and far side, jerks ;)

They used a massive tunafish head for bait, as well as tossing "chum" (unused fish parts) into the water.

These pix dont really illustrate how big they were. They were around 3-4.5 meters = 9 - 13ft.

He was such a little showoff, doing flips spins and turns for us... I guess it was his way of thanking up for protecting him from the sharks. I was rather sad they wouldnt let me take him home. He was very illusive thou, he made sure he was always by the tail of the shark not his mouth. He even got fistey sometimes and bit the sharks fins! I wanted to bring him home to be friends with Brewer but they wouldn't let me :(

Totally does not put it into perspectve about how big it was...

Rub my belly, please!

Then he decided to join me in the cage, wasnt that nice of him. I tossed one of hte guys from the boat my camera and he snapped this shot.

And then when he tried to get one of me, he wanted to be in the picture too, giving me kisses!

Why hello Sharkey!

Check ya later bait...

They did not like it when I got out, they wanted to play some more apparently!

See ya later, for now, sharkeys! Hopefully more tomororw, with breaching if the weather holds up!

If the weather holds up I am scheduled to have another dive tomorrow, in a differnt part of the Ocean where the sharks are known for breaching (aka jumping!). If the weather is bad I suppose I will jsut have to go on a wine tour instead :)

Waterfront, THE PRESIDENT and Sunset

The past few days have been a continued adventure and discovery of Cape Town. On Monday (I am trying to get my days straight, I could very well be wrong) Jameelah and I went to the Waterfront, which is a upscale area that was created for tourists (and Cape Towinans) to go during the World Cup. There is a big indoor shopping mall with upscale American Stores (and prices!) as well as an outdoor area right on the water that has shops, restaurants, boat tours and yet again another Ferris wheel (I just can’t get away from them!). Jameelah and I ate at a place called Quay Four which is right on the water,  and the only place I have found so far to get seafood! There is a live band that plays every night, and as we found out it is American Acoustic Rock so it was right up my alley!

What  I really  want to know is how the heck he got up there...

On Tuesday the group got to do a tour of Parliament. The tour started with a video showing us the reasoning behind that colors and design of the RSA flag (which was redone after the overthrow of Apartheid) as well as the Country Seal. It was rather interesting because I don’t know anything behind why the US Flag and Seal are they way that they are. After the video, the Minister of Education spoke to us about the education system in RSA and how they are working in transform the conditions to be equal across the board. There are still 17 “mud schools”, which ae exactly what they sound, schools made out of mud. These schools do not have bathrooms or any type of plumbing/electricity and are literally falling down. Because resources are being spent on redoing these schools it is hard to keep teachers and programs in place because the funding is so sparse. *My wonderful, off his rocker Proff that I had previously mentioned decided to take this opportunity to go on a 10 min (of our total 45 with the Minister) to go off on a tangent about his thesis. I swear I have never met someone who likes to hear their own voice more than he has.*

After the Minister was done speaking we were taken on a short tour of Parliament and had Lunch in one of the smaller court rooms. *Ah, wait time for another story of my Favorite Proff, this may be my favorite story so far!* When I got into the room, I saw a open seat so I asked everyone around if anyone was sitting there, and everyone replied no so I took a seat. Well then Prof. X *yep, that is what I will call him going forward* walked in and walked over to me and stood there for a few seconds than said to me “Are you sitting there” and I said  “well, uh, Yes.” And he just stood there, so I said “Um, do you want to sit here?” and he said “yes, I think I do.” So I proceeded to stand up while he took my seat. I was the ONLY person standing, it was really uncomfortable as everyone sat down eating I just stood there with my plate. When he was done eating he looked back and saw me standing (it was kidna hard to miss!) and said “oh Katie, there is a seat over there.” I replied “someone is sitting there, they just got up to get more food.” He said “did you ask for more chairs?” (In my head I’m saying, nope I just wanted to stand here in 3 inch heals trying to eat with one hand while holding my water in the other, sticking out like a sore thumb) I replied “yes, they told me they did not have anymore chairs but they brought up enough for each student to have a seat.” (mind you the other two Proff’s were standing around talking with students ect.) “He just said “oh” turned around and said nothing. AWESOME, I love this man can I please take more classes with him.

Main Entry to Parliment

OK, now that I am done with my rant, on to the rest of the trip. We were then taken to the chambers where the Parliament was durng Apartheid, and where the decisions were made to abolish apartheid. There were some really interesting stories, particularly that of a man who was stabbed to death by a messanger of the courts because he was arguing for abolishing of Apartheid. They did not allow camera’s here but I did snap one “Westminster” style shot.

After this tour we were informed that we had been invited, as guests of Parliament (aka Thanks ALbie Sachs!) to view the President addressing Parliament.

What we got to see was an hours worth of what would equate to the State of the Union, in terms of  topic, it was his annual fiscal update and budget outline for the country. Much to my disbelief, many of my classmates AND Prof X were SLEEPING. Talk about rude. We left after an hour because “everyone” was bored…Seriously people we are listening to THE PRESIDENT of RSA speak, what is wrong with you. We again were not allowed pictures, but I snuck a shot here as well.

Outside Parliment Building

That night when I looked out the balcony, I noticed the clouds were AMAZING and we were going to have a really cool sunset. Jameelah and I walked from our hotel to the Waterfront  for dinner (this was when we actually ate and listened to the band – I am actually cooking most of my meals because I would rather spend my money doing fun things I can’t do in the US!) The walk took about an hour, but it was right on the ocean the entire way. I couldn’t capture how crazy cool the sunset really was, but here are some of my better attempts!

The water was  really, really COLD!!

 I love how you can see the dimensions of the coulds, as well as my refletion in the water.

 Who dosen't love a swingset, much less one on the ocean!

 I really like this picture of Jameelah, if you can belive it the colors were even more vivid in person!

OK, Im off to climb Lions Head! If the tide holds off I should have two days of shark diving this weekend! If not, I am reserved on the regular dives as well, so I should finally get some Scuba in! If hte weather is really bad and all dives get cancelled I will still have a wine and couryside tour with the group!