Hello once again from around the world. As promised, following this introductory paragraph will be the update concerning my last stop in South Africa, Cape Town. I thank all of you for bearing with me through these sometimes trying weeks. I expect to be able to continue these regular updates right up until we're current again, which shouldn't be too much longer.
So, I woke up on Friday, the 9th of July, a little early in order to get packed up and ready to leave Pretoria. After I got my bags in order I said my goodbyes to some mates I had met there, as well as Tim and Monique, the hostel owners, and got in a cab to OR Tambo International Airport. I passed the long ride in the company of a driver from Zimbabwe, and we spent a good amount of time discussing life in that country, and how he deals with being an immigrant in South Africa (a xenophobic country at times). He also showed me some awesome Zimbabwean music, which was a great change of pace from the international pop playing over the South African radios during the World Cup. When we got to the airport he gave me a cut on the fare for having talked with him for the drive, since long drives are boring for taxi drivers as well, which was a nice thing to do, I thought.
Once at the airport I checked my bag, got my ticket from Mango Air to fly to Cape Town, and passed through security. In the terminal, while waiting, I had a quick breakfast. The plane took off on time and I had a good seat up near the front of the cabin, so I was a happy camper. I was pretty amused by the fact that Mango appears to have stolen South African Airways' safety video and photoshopped Mango logos over the SAA logos. It was extremely amateur hour, and I was loving every minute of it. The flight itself was very normal, with nothing to report except for the amazing scenery as we passed from the High Veld of Johannesburg and Pretoria to the lower plains and their mountains around Cape Town. Descending into Cape Town International Airport must have been a trick for the pilot, given how steep the drop off in altitude is between the nearby mountains and the seaside city.
At the airport, after retrieving my bag, I was not surprised in the least to find that my prearranged ride into town was a no show, or was at least so late as to force me to consider other options for transportation. No matter, I took a cab into town and to my hostel, Penthouse on Long, which is, conveniently enough, on the corner of Long and Wale streets. The hostel was, unsurprisingly enough, a nice enough place that resided on the penthouse floor of a purple building done up in Cape Dutch architecture. My room here was my largest room of the trip, with 20 beds in all, although the room was fairly large and so it didn't feel at all cramped. The hostel had all the common amenities, and even had hot water with good pressure in the showers (a definite plus).
Once I had settled in and got my stuff unpacked and/or locked up in my locker, I gave a call to my friend Andrew, who had been working in Cape Town the whole summer. He had been doing work for the Amy Biehl Foundation, a really promising organization devoted to improving the educational opportunities of children in the townships of Cape Town. If you're interested, their website is http://www.amybiehl.org/ . Anyway, I was meeting up with Andrew, both to see a familiar face and for him to show me around the city, which he is pretty familiar with at this point. We agreed to meet up on Long Street, after I had done a little emailing, and then he showed me around the city center, including the area around Long Street, the Company's Gardens, the Parliament, the Parade (from where Nelson Mandela gave his first public address after being released from prison), etc. It was great to walk around an unfamiliar city with a friend, and we both reveled in the fact that we could talk about football without getting a blank stare from the other. We spent the day wandering, and relaxing in each other's company, since we had both been pretty well alone all summer. For dinner we went out to the waterfront area, within walking distance, and had some Cuban food, which was pretty good for whatever reason. All in all, a very good day.
The next day, Saturday the 10th, was a pretty slow day, so I won't bore you with all the details. Suffice it to say, it was a rainy day and that limited the activities that we could pursue. I did meet Andrew that morning at a place called the Old Biscuit Mill in the neighborhood of Observatory, near his lodge. There we explored a food and crafts market which sets up weekly. Completely out of the blue I suddenly found myself surrounded by amazing gourmet feasts. From smoked fish to cheese, vegetables, fruits, desserts, sandwich, you name it, it was there and delicious. I had a bagel with lox for breakfast (a first since Miami, and something I had not expected to do on the whole trip) and grabbed a bag of wasabi peanuts to go. It was a great find, and the cheapest place I have ever seen for gourmet food. After the market we went to Andrew's place for a little while, then to my hostel, and then spent the rest of the rainy Saturday walking around Long Street, having some lunch, some local and Namibian beer, and some dinner. We found a really cool, if a bit funky, place called Mr. Pickwick's, but that was our only real victory for the day. We also discovered just how hilarious it is to watch cricket if you have no idea what the rules are.
The following day, Sunday the 11th, was glorious day, weatherwise, and we decided to take advantage of that fact. Andrew met me on Long Street, after we had given our previous plans (which had been based on all the forecasts of rain) a facelift. We caught a cab up to the Table Mountain Cable Station, from where you can choose either to walk to the top of this monolith or take the cable car up. Alas, when we arrived at the station, we saw that the mountain had clouds settled over it, a phenomena known locally as the Table Cloth. As the clouds were unlikely to move, due to the shape of the mountain, we decided to do something else. We drove back down into the city and walked over to the Company's Gardens. In the Gardens we found the oldest synagogue in South Africa, now home to the National Jewish Museum. It was a very interesting museum to visit, given South Africa's rich history in Jewish culture. The most interesting exhibit was, by far, one on the 11 Jews who had played rugby for the South African national team, the Springboks. The exhibit was called The Springbok Minyan, and focused mostly on Joel Stranksy, who had kicked the winning ball in the Rugby World Cup (the same one featured in Invictus).
After the museum we went to a local food favorite of Andrew's, the Eastern Food Bazaar, which had a huge selection of Indian, Pakistani, and Middle Eastern food. We got some pizzas (I know, not what you would have expected to find there) and stuffed ourselves. After that we were going to go the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, but had run out of time, so we headed to the FIFA Fanfest. There we found a huge TV screen, which would later show the World Cup Final tonight, as well as a carnival atmosphere and some very fun stuff. We stayed there for the rest of the day and hung out with Dutch people. We stayed until the end of the game, and then went our separate ways. It was a great evening, although I was very interested to see how South Africa reacted to the World Cup being over tomorrow.
Monday morning I had my first project work of my time in the Cape, which happened to be a make up from Pretoria. I had a long, and very productive, phone conversation with Dr. Claasen of the Ministry of Health. It was very interesting to hear the government and ministry opinion on the health situation between the races. Dr. Claasen was an older white man, who had been working in the health field during the seismic changes that happened in the system following the first truly democratic elections in the country. It was a very interesting chat, and I was glad to have completed it, given that Dr. Claasen was out of town while I was in Pretoria.
For the rest of the day I spent some time with Andrew exploring the city. First we had lunch at a nearby Ethiopian restaurant, because it was a cuisine I had never tried and I was intrigued. Having reunited for the day, we took a cab over to the V&A Waterfront, to finish our plans from yesterday. The area is really nice, and it looks much like some of the picturesque harbors in Maine. We wandered around, went in to a mall, got some tasty ice cream, and generally enjoying the weather, which was spectacular. We bought ourselves some tickets to tour Robben Island, the former epicenter of political prisoners in Apartheid South Africa.
After waiting at the dock for about half an hour we eventually got on board the ferry which would take us out into the Bay and to the island. Our ferry had the absolutely unpronounceable name Sikhululckile, which Andrew and I had fun with. The island itself is not too far past Cape Town's harbor. It is only about a 20 minute boat ride away, and is clearly visible from most high points in the city. This was surprising to me, as I had expected it to be out, alone in the ocean, battling the elements by itself with no sign of help from the mainland. But that was just my romanticized picture of the place, and these imaginings are very rarely how reality takes shape. As it was, the short ferry ride there was mostly smooth sailing, and we were all treated to a whale off the port side, at a time of the season which is a little early for the whales to be arriving, I was informed. Once we got to the dock on the island we all unloaded off the boat and reloaded into a few buses. We began our tour with a hilarious guide, who spent half his time explaining the island and the other half telling off color jokes about the various nationalities represented on the bus. The bus took us around the perimeter of the island, where we saw the wardens' village, the remnants of the leprosy colony founded here when the Dutch first arrived, the limestone quarry where many prisoners toiled, and the private prison built for only one inmate, Robert Sibukwe. We also stopped to get off near the edge of the island for the spectacular views across the water to the city and the mountains behind it. Seeing all of these remnants of the brutal prison system really made me think about just what these men and women were forced to endure, and how lucky I was to live in a democratic society, where most rights (if, admittedly, not all) are protected. After the bus tour we were led to a walking tour of the main prison buildings, including the group cells and the individual cells. We made the obligatory stop at the cell where Nelson Mandela lived for something like 18 years. I cannot imagine the mental hardship of living in a prison system for as long as he and some of his peers did. The tour was led by a former prisoner here, which added both a trace of bias and a fair bit of poignancy to the experience. It occurred to me that not only have all of South Africa's post-Apartheid presidents been exconvicts, but it might be the only country in the world where most of the government is made up of ex-prisoners. It was a very interesting thought. As we were leaving the island I got a few pictures of the penguins which inhabit the island, in great numbers I might add. Once back at the waterfront Andrew and I had dinner and then parted in separate cabs back to our beds.
This morning I once again made a call to a health expert stationed in Pretoria. This time I called Dr. Eric Buch, a professor and researcher at the University of Pretoria. He had been referred to me both by the head of the Health Sciences department at UvP and by Dr. Claasen, whom I spoke with yesterday. I gave him a call and we had a good conversation. His work specializes in healthcare inequities and inequalities, mostly due to economic causes. He was very helpful and gave me a lot of good information on the topic. He also emailed a few research articles of his to me. Most helpful of all, though, was that he promised to help me get in touch with his contacts at the World Health Organization in Geneva, which I would be visiting later on in the trip.
After my phone interview with Dr. Buch, I had a busy day seeing Cape Town. I first called Andrew, and we met up for lunch. He was working today, so I was mostly on my own, but we did manage to get together for some lunch. He took me to a small shack nearby where we ordered a sandwich called a Gatsby. I have no idea how it earned such a name, but my guess would be that it is a reference to the extravagance of the thing. The sandwich has a lot of boerwors meat, some lettuce, a basket of chips, and lots of sauce in it. Between the two of us (well sized, hungry, college kids) we only managed to eat 3/4s of the monster.
Following lunch I took a cab up to the cable station on Table Mountain. I took the cable car up to the top, in order to save time, and the view was absolutely remarkable on the way up. The floor of the car rotated as we went, so that everyone could see in a complete swing of 360 degrees. It was truly awe inspiring. Once at the top, I immediately regretted not kitting up for an Arctic winter, as the wind coming across the top of Table Mountain was frigid. I soldiered on, however, and walked across the whole thing. On the summit, it really is very level, and so it was an easy hike to walk the whole perimeter. It took me about 20-30 minutes to complete, all in all, and I met another Hurricane up there! The view from Table Mountain was extraordinary, and I felt like I could almost even see the very edge of Africa from up there. The city looked so small and picturesque from way up there. After Table Mountain I toured around the city, seeing the beach communities and the mansions in the windless areas of the city on the opposite side of the mountains. I also got to drive through the colorful Bo Kaap neighborhood and the destroyed former home of the neighborhood of District Six. I met up with Andrew for dinner at & Union and then at Mr. Pickwicks, and then I called it a night.
I woke today (Wednesday the 14th) with a hearty serving of cheerios and milk and then got down to work. I worked on the computer for a little while, then got ready for the day. Looking outside it appeared that the weather was not going to cooperate with me, not as much as it had yesterday at least. After some more work on the computer I gave Andrew a call and we met for lunch at the Eastern Food Bazaar. After lunch I went back to the hostel, where I confirmed a meeting with Dr. Rauf Sayed of the University of Cape Town for tomorrow morning. Once that was taken care of I went to the District Six Museum, which was quite small, but very neat nonetheless. The main goal of the museum was to commemorate the active neighborhood that had once stood in the area, before Apartheid planners decided it should be an all white area and bulldozed the whole thing. Due to international pressure nothing was ever really built here, and so most of District Six is now just grassy fields. This is why it is important for the museum to show that a thriving community once stood here, many of whose residents still live nearby. The only other highlights of the day were my visit to the decadent Charly's Bakery (evidence of which you can see in my photo album) and dinner with Andrew at a pizza place. I spent the night packing my bag for my long flight tomorrow.
The next day was a strange mix of hectic busyness and relaxed boredom, which was odd. As today was my last day in South Africa, I wanted to make the most of it, especially from a research standpoint. Very soon after working and eating some breakfast I headed out for my meeting with Dr. Sayed, which would take place before I left for the airport (my flight to London was tonight). I got a taxi over to the medical campus of the University of Cape Town. Things then began to go sour, as I was unable to follow the directions given to me, and was thus unable to locate the proper building in which to find Dr. Sayed. I asked myriad security officers and they were just as clueless as I was. Finally, running out of time, I went into a building that I believed to be the correct one and followed the instructions from there. Alas, it turned out not to be the right place, and to top it all off, while I had been inside I had been in a dead zone for my cell phone. I thus missed a call from Dr. Sayed asking where I was. When I emerged from the building I tried to call him, but by then it was too late and he had left for another meeting. An hour's time had been wasted, and I had missed my first appointment on the trip. I then took a minibus taxi back to the hostel, where I called Dr. Sayed. He didn't have time to talk at that moment, but he did promise to send me an email with helpful articles, which he did later in the day.
Back in the city I met up with Andrew for lunch. Once we had finished, we said our goodbyes, sadly, and went on our ways. He would be leaving South Africa soon as well, although he would be going back to the US. In fact, he would be getting back to campus at UM before I was yet back in the States. I then got my bags from the hostel and went to the airport, where I waited diligently for my flight to London. I spent some time wandering the shops in the terminal, working on the computer, and eating at a cafe, before my plane finally arrived. Eventually we were allowed to board, and so began one of the longer flights on my trip: 13 hours over mostly land, changing merely one time zone. I quickly went to sleep on the plane.
So, next come London. Stay tuned!
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