Some lighter fare

I know most of these posts have been pretty heavy so I'm gonna give you guys a little break...kinda. ;-) I'll let you know what I did with my last 3 days off, and aside from Robben Island, things will get a little whimsical for a bit. So, as I mentioned, when I'm not on shift at BAP I am free to explore Cape Town. There is so much to see here so it's not hard to find things to do. This is a paradise for nature lovers, adventure enthusiasts, historians, pretty much anybody! Cape Town has something for everyone. It's really amazing how diverse this city is, in regards to both people and attractions. You can drive an hour in one direction and you're on stunning coastline and an hour in another and you're in wine country. It's really special. (I am indeed getting a payoff from the Cape Town Tourism Bureau for all this!) ;-)

So Friday I got off shift and got a haircut. Many of you know I usually shave myself but I left my clippers at home and figured I could treat myself to an $8 haircut. My money goes a very long way here so things cost ALOT less than they do at home. After the cut, I took the cable car to the top of Table Mountain. For those of you who don't know, Table Mountain is essentially the centerpiece of Cape Town. Everything exists in relation to Table Mountain. On a clear day, it can be seen from nearly anywhere in Cape Town. On a cloudy day, it nearly disappears into a cloud called the "Tableclothe". As you can imagine, the views from the top are incredible and abounding. It's a plateau on top, hence its name. There are a number of hiking trails around the top and a really nice restaurant. After hiking I sat with some other volunteers for some lunch and beers in the clouds.

On Saturday, the AVIVA staff and some volunteers and I went to Hermanus for some whale watching. Every year, from August to November, the Southern Right Whale migrates from Antartica to South Africa to birth young. These whales can be seen from nearly anywhere on the coast but they congregate in a little town called Hermanus. The town's economy is centered around the whales and the yearly festival they base around their arrival. After observing from the shore, some of us took a boat tour to get up close to these awesome creatures. The pics don't do it justice because the behaviour of the whales is hard to predict and you haver to just snap away and hope for the best. I will tell you, though, that they are enormous! I'd never whale watched before and it was a really cool experience. It's really suspenseful while you're on the boat, as you wait to see if you'll get a glimpse of any whales. The guide screams and hollers when he thinks we're close and everyone cheers when you see one. It was really cool! We ate lunch a little spot on the water's edge and got to observe some more whales. After we left Hermanus, we took the scenic route back to Cape Town. Again, on the drive, the beauty was overwhelming. We stopped at some of the little coastal villages and stopped to watch the sun set behind the clouds. If you've ever driven the Pacific Coast Highway from LA to San Fran, this drive is similar but a little more immense. Everything is just so immense here and the views are dramatic no matter where you look.

Today two other girls and I went to the aquarium at the waterfront, which...is an aquarium. The sea life there is really diverse and cool to look at but...its an aquarium. :-) I guess I just prefer the real thing? No - it was nice, though. The real highlight of today, though, was Robbens Island. Robbens Island is the island that political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela, were held on during apartheid. The last political prisoner left in 1991. This was quite an experience. You take a 30 minute ferry to the island and this would have been like any other ferry ride had it not been for some priests and priestesses(sp?) from Zimbabwe being on board who were singing hymns the ENTIRE time. I was crying before we even left the dock! It was really moving to hear them sing in unison and harmonizing while we approached the place where so much of this country's history resides. I'm reading Mandela's autobiography, "Long Walk to Freedom", so apartheid and the effects it had/still has on the people here is fresh on my mind's surface. As I've mentioned before, apartheid might have been abolished but the undercurrent of racism runs through everything here. It's sad to see a country with so much beauty battle with such large social issues. The tour has two parts - a sightseeing bus tour around the island and a tour of the maximum security prison, which is given by a former political prisoner. The bus tour was informative and sometimes surprising. We learned that no one has ever escaped from Robbens Island. A few tried but didn't succeed. We also learned that about 125 people still reside on the island. Those being employees and their families. 23 children attend school on the island. Wildlife is abundant - including the white lily, which grows EVERYWHERE here, spring bok, penguins...

The real highlight of the tour was with Eugene, a man who was incarcerated for 6 years on Robbens Island for being a "terrorist". He was denied a trial and jailed at the age of 16 for being part of an uprising battle in the ghetto he lived in. He and the other inmates were abeled as "ill mannered", and were denied time outside and weren't given the same food as the "coloured" inmates, because he was "bantu" or black. He and 70 other men slept on mats in one small room, constantly strategizing how they would change the government once they got out. One day, in 1986, he was told to leave, he was being let go. He returns to the prison today to give tours, something he says is hard to do. He knows, though, that its important for people to know what happened here. He showed us the cell that Nelson Mandela lived in for 18 years. It was all reminiscent of the 10 days I spent in Poland when I was 16...it was like Auschwitz on an island. The men weren't murdered here but they were forced to do hard labor and some were placed in solitary confinement, where they eventually died. All because they weren't white. All because they stood up for what they believed in.

I'll post the pics now. I could write for hours more but I need to prepare for BAP tomorrow. I've really missed the kids! I bought them some stickers at the aquarium and we're bringing them some treats we bought at the grocery. I'll post when I come out on Thursday...the day before I go SHARK CAGE DIVING!!! Yes - on Friday I go down in a cage with GREAT WHITE SHARKS! I cannot wait! You can only do this in Australia and South Africa so it really is a once in a lifetime experience! Those pics will be rad! THANKS FOR READING AND FOR ALL THE SUPPORT! It really means alot to me. Love.