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South Africa
Entry 9 of 26 | show all | print this entry |
February 14, 2006
We arrived in Cape Town, South Africa! Today was Valentine's Day and it warmed my heart to be here in Africa. I woke up for sunrise over the shoreline of Cape Town. But when I awoke at 6 am the fog outside was so bad you couldn't see anything in front of you, so I went back to bed for a while. When I say I went back to bed I mean I tried to go back to bed I just lad there because I was just so excited that I was sitting in the African bay. So I got back up later and got breakfast and the fog was still not clearing so we missed our deadline of when we were supposed to be in port. We had to wait until the fog cleared so we launched anchor and waited.... And waited.... And waited... we waited for hours and hours. We were finally able to get off the ship at 13:00. So we finally got off and I walked down the gangplank, so excited to be there. My foot hit African ground and it was a moment to remember. We went into the harbour area, and it was disappointingly commercial. It was like a Beverly Hills of South Africa area, so I wanted to get out of the area as fast as I could. So I went with Sonia and Lauren into downtown, to find greenmarket square. We didn't want to spend money on a taxi so we walked for a while. We had to exchange our money and that soon begun a project because you had to have your passport at the banks to exchange any money. So instead we went to a foreign currency exchange place that got descent rates. Then we found the market and did some shopping, which was amazing. I bought a mobile and some other gifts. Then we had to get back to the ship for the township music visit. We went to the ship and boarded the bus and headed into the townships.
We went into the oldest township and went to this community center for community members to give them something to do to get off the streets. We went and saw their pottery center, and how they made hand crafted pottery. Then we went into this music room and had a music demonstration. They played several tradition African instruments and sang and danced and it was all nothing like I had seen before. One instrument was a bow that he put in his mouth and then plucked it and it made the most amazing sounds. He played many instruments teaching them along the way about their history and background. We also saw traditional dancing that was so powerful. And the signing was incredible. Then we got our chance at it and the 20 of us each got our own drum. We all played following his lead and beat the drums in unison and it was something I will never forget.
After we went to a restaurant that was in the heart of the township. As we walked down the street these children all came running up to us. They grapped our hands and hugged us. I bent over to hug one little girl and about five came up behind me and pointed at my tattoo, asking me what it was and why was it there. Then we continued walking and this one little girl grapped my hand and my friend Sonia's hand and started doing about 20 flips in the air from holding our hands and flipping around and around. We were walking at night through this township with children surrounding us holding these children's hands. We arrived at the restaurant to find that it was this women's home that she opened up to us. We had a live band playing a fusion of African and Jazz music. We all took our seats and I sat with Sonia, Lauren and Bryan. We all shared a bottle of African white wine and listened to the band play. The music was great and was a mix of many things but the most surprising was when this African man set his trumpet down and starting signing opera! He had this amazing opera voice and sang with this African band it was incredible. Then we were served the most amazing meal. It was traditional home cooked African cuisine. I was so thrilled, the women made it all in the kitchen of this her home and served it to us. She was so welcoming and shared so much with us. There I was in the heart of the oldest African Township, eating an homecooked African mean listening to live music.
Then we went down to a local played to listen to more live music from another local band. We danced and listened to the music for the rest of the night. I bought a piece of pottery from this man that was selling this beautiful handmade pottery.
The night ended and my perfect valentine's day was complete.
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