Cape Town, South Africa - Day 1...oh how I love this land!!!

So one of the main reasons for me wanting to sail on Semester at Sea again and especially a full voyage was to be able to visit South Africa. I am not sure why but the idea of going to Africa has always excited but it has. My time here has certainly met my expectations and I cannot wait to return to this amazing country. Though, my fabulous time here was not without internal struggles. Half of the population of South Africa live in townships still from when they were uprooted from Apartheid and though strides have been made they still have a very long way to go and it was difficult at times to enjoy the luxurious that I had when I knew around the corner there were people living in conditions that would not meet any standard in the US. I knew that my trip here would not be complete without a visit to one of these townships which I was able to do the second day in Cape Town and I will talk more about later.


The other great thing about visiting here was that my friend Tricia, who I have known since high school came to visit while I was here. She had spent some time in South Africa and when she heard that we would be going there she made plans to return because she was needing an excuse to do so.

Anyway we arrived to Cape Town on Wednesday, March 31 and I decided to wake to see the sunrise. This is not something that I normally do because on most mornings I value sleep over sunrise but this morning something told me this should not be missed. Also we were warned the night before that around 6am when we were pulling in to the Bay we would probably experience some pretty rough seas so I figured it would be better to be up anyway. It was pretty amazing, we were able to see the sun rise over Table Mountain which welcomed us into Cape Town. Table Mountain is in the running for one of the new natural wonders of the world, you should vote for it: http://www.new7wonders.com/community/en/new7wonders/new7wonders_of_nature/voting.
Sunrise pics:

So I watched this magnificent sunrise and then was actually up for breakfast and then at 8:30 I had the opportunity to hear Linda Biehl (the mother of Amy Biehl) speak. Amy Biehl was a woman who went to South Africa as an anti-Apartheid activist. One evening after dropping a friend of hers in the township of Guguletu she came across a group of men who when seeing a white woman automatically assumed enemy and without hesitation stoned her car and then stoned and stabbed her to death. In 1998 the 4 men convicted of her murder where pardoned as part of the reconciliation that was occurring post apartheid. Amy’s family has since forgiven these men and understands that this act was not out of anger towards their daughter but a cry out about the political state of being in South Africa and Amy just happened to represent at that moment the worst thing in their eyes. The family has also started the Amy Biehl Foundation and daily tours are led by 2 of the men who were responsible for Amy’s death. The foundation provides support to some of the townships and continues to do some of the work that Amy would have wanted done; to develop and empower youth in the townships to discourage further violence.

Here is a picture of Linda Biehl:

After Linda spoke the ship was cleared and it was the easiest process yet. We did not need to do a face to face with immigration so there was no work for me this morning. This also means that I do not have a passport stamp from South Africa (but I swear I was there!). I knew that I would not be meeting Tricia until 11:30 so I left the ship to walk around and explore the Port area. We were docked at the V and A waterfront which is essentially like Fisherman’s Wharf, Quincy Market and South Street Seaport all rolled in to one. This port definitely had the easiest access to food and shopping from any of the ports we have visited so far (maybe with the exception of being docked at a mall in Hong Kong). I walked around a bit and ran into Cindy and her husband Jim (who was visiting during our time in SA) and I joined them for coffee. I asked if they made iced coffee and I received some sort of coffee milkshake deliciousness. I sat there for a while as other people we knew came and went and listened to some of the street performers who were there. This particular group is from the Khayelitsha township:

After a bit I returned to the ship to meet up with Tricia. It was so good to be able to connect with someone from home at this point in the voyage and share some stories about shipboard life and my travels around the world. We grabbed a quick bite to eat:

I gave her a tour of the ship and then we headed to the Rosedene Guest House, where we would stay while in Cape Town. Now I felt like I was on vacation!!!!
Here are some photos of the outside of the Rosedene:

This place was great and it was only made better by the hospitality we were shown by the staff and especially the 2 women who ran the place; Fatima and Rina. I expressed my disappointment in not being able to go to Robben Island (all the tickets had sold out) and they immediately connected us with a company that had tickets and we scheduled a tour for the next day. Tricia napped for a little bit and I played on the internet discovering it was quicker then the ship to upload pics to facebook so I did some of that. The views of Table Mountain from here were amazing!!! After a little bit we walked down the block we were staying on (Kloof St.) and ended up at Buzz, this coffee bar/bar bar, and we decided we needed a snack which ended up being the largest slice of carrot cake ever I also drank a Castle (a local beer).
Here I am getting ready to enjoy my snack:

Here it is:

Tricia excited by what is in front of her:

We continued walking down the street to meet Jenny (one of the other LLCs) and 25ish SASers for their local version of spiritual dance. It was different then what we have been doing on the ship but had similar feel to it. It took a lot for me to do this sort of thing on the ship; to let myself go and just dance freely and I finally got over it but to experience this thing that I finally got comfortable with in a different sort of setting definitely made me a little self-conscious. I also think it scared Trish a little but since she has done yoga before I was able to explain it like it was yoga with movement and that made sense to her. It was a good time, pretty intense because it was longer then we usually dance but it ended up being a good work out. Afterwards we were very hungry so we just grabbed dinner across the street at Carmolinas it was not so great but food nonetheless. We walked back to the Rosedene, greeted by one of the friendly ladies who shared with us this great story about when she met Nelson Mandela. This was an excellent preface to what the next day would have to offer.