Cape Town, South Africa

South Africa –I am coming back.

SO excited for Cape Town. Before we got off the ship we had a woman who was born in S.A. give us a lecture on the history. Apartheid was a crazy point in history. Although it is “over”I have never seen so much out in the open racism in my life. But first, before we got off the ship she was telling us about how there was (and is) a hierarchy of races. Whites (which she is,) Indian/Muslim, Black, than Colored, each with more rights than the other. As she is telling us all about the past present and future she kept saying “and the coloreds,”I kept cringing and thinking…She CAN’T be using that word right now and think she is politically correct. At the end someone asked her why she used it and she said something that made me go DUH! Although that word is not accepted in the U.S., it is in S.A. There are no African Americans, just Africans. Since even the whites are African, they are “colored.”I get it. Africa was divided up by European nations and exploited since the beginning of time. When the Dutch came to settle in S.A., they weren’t looking to create peace, they were looking for conquest. “Divide and conquer,”expose the privileges or lack thereof of each race, and they will soon turn against. The same thing happened in the ghettos of the Holocaust. If you have a select amount of Jewish, or “coloreds,”in positions of power and give them certain little treats of life then jealousy spreads within their own people. Its only human nature to want the best for you and your loved ones so when the government ups only certain people to power it creates inner turmoil, they knew what they were doing. Gangs inside each race formed and not even the colored liked the colored. I asked my cab driver the difference between a “colored”and a “black”and my head almost exploded, I really could hardly take it seriously, but I knew that this was what divided this nation for years until Nelson Mandela was elected President. Something cool to think about, the world is the reason that Apartheid ended. It started in a tiny shop and spread like wild fire, the boycotting of South African imports and exports until drastic changes were made. South Africa felt so much pressure that they abolished all discriminatory laws and equality among all was granted.

Something I also learned in S.A., ships are the most unreliable form of transportation ever. We were supposed to be ready to get off the ship by 8am. I woke up at 6am because I heard the view as you pull into Cape Town is unreal. I go upstairs and can’t even see the railing outside. The fog is so thick and we weren’t even moving. We had to wait outside the harbor because the inlet was too small to maneuver in such dense fog. I ate my breakfast and went back to sleep. Caitlin and I got off the boat at around 10:30am, this was after whoever is handling the MV Explorer decided to go fast towards the harbor, stop to turn the ship around while stationary to squeeze through, and essentially put us through our own wake. This was all during breakfast time and people were getting tossed from their seats, glasses and plates smashed, good morning!

Day 1

We get off the boat in full hiking gear and make our way to Table Mountain. Table Mountain is flat topped and overlooks all of Cape Town and the harbor. They say it is about a 2.5-hour hike, we were ready for the job…so we thought. We get a cab to the bottom and began. IT WAS INTENSE. I imagined dirt trails, fluffy animals and maybe a rainbow or two. This was 45 minutes straight of high knee lifting steps upward. We stopped a couple times to catch our breath and dry heave until we got to a fork in the road. The sign said, “Gorge”to the left and “Cable Car”to the right. In my noggin I’m thinking a gorge is a hollowed out area, like a bowl. Well I am looking for the top, so we go right. It was probably just my brain subconsciously tricking me into not completing this gladiator like task, but we continued on. The trails flattened out and it really was a beautiful hike. The fog didn’t lift all the way up the mountain yet, so we were in a cloud, it was really cool! There were some homeless people sleeping on the trails, which was kind of “dodgy”as they say in Cape Town. Thirty minutes later we were back at the bottom staring at the cable car up. Whoops? We basically made a horseshoe, up over and down. We bought our cable car tickets (student discount YA!) and got on. Apparently it was Asian persuasion day at Table Mountain. We were crammed into the tiny cable car with 34,545 Asians, each ready for the ride up with 12 digital cameras in one hand and 3 camcorders in the other. Didn’t want to miss a moment.

We get to the top and I found out I have a slight phobia of cable cars. I mean, is that twisted wire really trustworthy? Either way, the top was amazing. We had lunch at the restaurant and ate overlooking an amazing view. I was told I just HAD to break my vegetarian habit for a day and try the sausage/hot dog native to S.A., so I did. You ever eat something off of a BBQ and feel like you are literally eating the charcoal? I coughed up charcoal and smoke for hours after. Totally worth it, thanks. We Asian persuasianed back down and then caught a cab back to the ship. The area right by port has the most amazing mall ever. We did some shopping and then headed home for dinner. I tried to save money by not buying every meal and utilizing the ship buffet…I saved no money.

Back on the MV I got my package from Alberto, weee! Caitlin and I got ready for the night and headed to a place called “Karma.”It was one of our friends birthdays so their parents had bought them VIP and bottle service, ballin! When we were at Karma I was tearing up the dance floor and this guy came up to me, this is good. He said, “I’m from the big ship in the harbor. I’m studying abroad around the world and I just have to tell you that no girls can move like you in the U.S.”HAHAHA. My response, “I’m from the ship too…”GOOD ONE. Just imagine how many girls were fed that corny line, fail.

Day 2

We had become best friends with our cab driver from the day before, Ziyad. He was Muslim and really excited that Obama was too. I have never seen so much Obama, I saw a lot of “Bush’s Last Day”t-shirts too. GO OBAMA! Ziyad picked some friends and I up for a 1.5-hour ride to Cape Point, this is the southern most tip of the African continent, cool! We drove through a lot of adorable seashore towns and got to the point. It literally is a point. It’s also where the Atlantic and Indian Ocean merge together. We took a little trolley car called a “funicular,”I got many laughs out of that, to the top of the rock cliff. I honestly just stood there for five minutes in awe. The water was like Listerine and there was nothing in front of me but Antarctica miles and miles away. There was a pole on the top of the rock with signs pointing in all different directions. One said “New York –12,541 KM,”I had a moment. We stayed for a bit at the point then headed back to go see some penguins! On our drive back we had to stop, there were wild baboons all over the road! They were SO cute. One climbed on our car and just sat there and stared at us. They were straight chilling in the middle of the road. The warm pavement probably felt good, and they were doing that monkey thing where you eat the lice out of your friend’s hair, Caitlin and I do it all the time. I couldn’t stop looking at their hands, they looked so humanlike it was nuts. One of the bigger monkeys rolled over and scratched his butt; he really looked like a fat hairy old man. After the baboons we stopped off to see the penguins, which were also adorable and then head home.

For dinner a group of us went to “Gold.”It’s a really upscale restaurant with traditional African cuisine. The wait staff wears authentic clothing and sing and dance. It was a 5-course dinner and they paint your face. I am such a child, I was so excited for face painting but I am totally that kid who forgets it’s there and smudges it all over. You’re a zebra? A ghost? Did you smear your toothpaste? Thankfully they only did little flowers here and there and it was fool proof, it dried and didn’t smudge. Face painting for idiots, I like it.


Day 3

Beach day! Ziyad drove a couple of us to Clifton Beach, apparently it’s ranked as one of the best in the world. We laid out for a bit and then grabbed lunch at an outdoor place called Tuscany Café. I got a delicious Mai Tai and something that I had been craving, SUSHI! I told the waiter to order me whatever he thinks is the best, I know I know, how sushi savvy am I? Everything was delicious and my tummy was smiling. We went back to the beach for a bit longer then called it a day. On the way back I saw the FIFA World Cup 2010 stadium. They’re still building and it’s massive.

Took a catnap and then got ready for the night. We went to a local pub called Mitchell’s for a couple brewskies then head out to Tiger-Tiger Club. The place was pretty cool inside and it was basically all SASers (Semester At Sea-ers.) We have a tendency to take over whatever place we go to because there are so many of us, 700 to be exact. Good times at Tiger-Tiger, goodnight.

Day 4

I was told that when I am in S.A. I need to do a winery tour, so I did. I signed up for a half-day vineyard tour and left around 1pm. I headed out to Stellenbosch with a couple girls for wine and cheese tasting. On the way out we passed a couple townships. These are MASSIVE slums that go on for days. The “houses”are made out of any scrap that can be found and there are millions of people within each of them. The townships are where the colored live. It may be “illegal”to discriminate now that apartheid is over, but there are no major changes happening. I saw no end to the shacks and could only imagine what life is like inside. While we were on the ride I was telling a story about how the girls I was with the night before were rude to a cab driver because they thought he was taking them the wrong way, when really they’re just dumb and didn’t know where they were going. My cab driver turned around and said, “He was probably black right?”This driver was Muslim; it’s 2009 can we move on?

We got to the first vineyard and it was beautiful with the mountains in the background and the acres of grape vines. We went inside and tried 3 kinds of white and red wine. We swirled, wafted and counted legs (the lines that form on the sides of the glass that the wine leaves after being swirled.) A lot of legs means a heavy wine, or something ridiculous like that. I was honestly just excited for the cheese platter, when that puppy came out I could of sworn time stopped. Brie, pepper jack, cheddar, swiss cheese and many more. I love cheese and didn’t breathe through the whole thing. We finished our tasting and took a tour of the cellar…thrilling.

We arrived at the next vineyard and this is where I decided that wine tasting is a completely absurd sport. We were trying this white wine and as the lady is reading the description I started laughing. “A light sultry wine that pleases the palette with asparagus and fills the nostrils with watermelon.”WHAT? Someone please tell me what a watermelon smells like, really. I asked the lady, she joined in on the laughter and admitted that anyone could smell a watermelon after a couple glasses of wine. Whoever the person is that makes those descriptions up, don’t quit your day job. I took it upon myself to start making my own, I was really glad the lady found it funny also. Mine was something like “A deep red wine that tastes of cucumbers after the morning dew has dried.”I could do this. Honestly, you either like it or not, lets cut the cheese.

After that winery we drove to a cheetah reserve. I pet a cheetah. We walked into the caged area he lived in and kneeled down for a 5-minute pet session. The cat was huge, and so pretty. A couple pictures and $9 later, I would say it was worth it. Cheetahs are the fastest cat, 0-80 mph in 3 seconds, that might be an exaggeration but it was something like that. They are endangered though so the money went to help raise awareness and keep the kitties alive.

Last night in Cape Town, we have to do it big! I convinced a bunch of SASers to go to this place called Hemisphere. It’s the 31st floor of a skyscraper (think The Palms) and it overlooks all of Cape Town. The view was crazy! You walk into the lobby and take an elevator up, it was home to the class of S.A., why was I there? It was a good time and a great way to end an amazing week.

Day 5

Caitlin and I got up to do some last minute mandatory things AKA Melissa’s Café Nutella hot chocolate, yes. They line the coffee mug with Nutella and then pour in hot chocolate. Oh my, it was heaven in a cup. The only other time I have had Nutella was in Paris on a Banana Nutella crepe. I think I will name my child Nutella, if they turn out anything like me it will be fitting.

We were supposed to leave Cape Town at 8pm but we didn’t leave until 12 hours later, thus confirming my notion that ship schedules are always up in the air. The winds were too high to get out of the harbor. When I woke up for my 8am class, the 8th day of it (Sorry Towson-ites,) I got to see us leave. It was really cool to watch, there was a tugboat assisting us and then off we went.

Last night I had a 24-hour stomach bug and essentially died for 8 hours. Caitlin fed me ginger ale and saltines. To my surprise, I made it through the night. I got to wake up for a 9am Global Studies 100 question exam. I took it in 25 minutes then returned to my bed for a 7-hour nap. I woke up to eat dinner; it had been 27 hours since my last meal. No worries everyone, I am alive.

Mauritius on Friday! Amanda thought I was making up a country but it is a tiny island off the east coast of Madagascar. It’s supposed to be the most beautiful place in the world. We are only there for one day to fuel up before our long haul to India.

Longest blog post ever.

Peace in the Middle East,
Jaclyn