Capetown, Part 1

Capetown, Part 1

We had been lucky with the weather up until our first day in Capetown, which was cold, rainy with gale force winds. We were supposed to go up Table Mountain, but it was closed. We went on a city bus tour to an area of colorful pastel painted houses called the Cape Malay section, one of the oldest residential areas in the city, recently gentrified. It was definitely a Muslim district with at least 2 mosques in a small area.

We drove around the downtown area and walked through a central garden Our tour group went to the Waterfront, where we had lunch and then along with two delightful Jewish ladies, Roz and Bobbie (whose husbands didn’t want to go to Africa) Dan and I took a taxi to the Jewish museum, the holocaust museum, and the oldest synagogue in South Africa, all excellent. Most of the Jews in SA, about 70,000 are from Lithuania. Many helped fight apartheid, and many Jews left during apartheid because they couldn't stand living under it. Taxis, food, and drink are very reasonable in SA, but clothes are very expensive. A dinky cotton souvenir tee shirt is about $30.

The following morning was sunny. While Dan walked around the Waterfront, I went to the aquarium with Roz and Bobbie. Although it was small, it was an excellent aquarium, and I saw creatures I had never seen before: a humongous

eel, a teeny frog inside of a flower, colorful and unusual fish. We met our tour group at the ferry that was to take us to Robben Island, where Mandela had been imprisoned. The wind had picked up and the water was choppy so I scored some Dramamine from Bobbie. Knowing it puts me to sleep, I took ¼ of a pill and sat on the very top of the ferry. Without the Dramamine and fresh air, I know from previous experience that I’d be in serious trouble. When we arrived on the island, we boarded busses and went around the island with an outstanding guide

Both hardened criminals and political prisoners were incarcerated on the island.

At first they were kept together, but when the political prisoners began indoctrinated the hardened criminals, they were separated from each other.

A most fascinating story told of a program called “each one teach one.”

Many of the political prisoners were educated, professional men, and many were illiterate. Each day, the men worked in the quarry where there was a cave used as a bathroom. The men decided to turn it into a school. During brief moments in the cave, scratching out letters in the dirt, they began teaching the uneducated.

Our guide said that many of the men in the current parliament got their education on Robben Island. Although we had the terms applied to various races during our trip, our guide gave us a clear concise explanation. Native Africans are called “blacks.” Coloreds are people who are descendants of the Dutch and natives.

Cape Coloreds are from Capetown and have a higher status. Then there are the Asians, which also includes Indians. The whites are the Dutch descendants, the Boers, who were defeated by the British, many of whom remained. The primary religion is Christianity , with many of the blacks belonging to the Zionist church. I asked if the Christianity was mixed with the native religion, but it isn’t.

We visited a cell where the men lived as well as the cell that Mandela stayed in during solitary confinement. Mandela was imprisoned for almost 30 years. The guide in the jail was an ex-prisoner who had been with Mandela. Unfortunately he was very difficult to understand. Fortified with the rest of the Dramamine and sitting in the fresh air, I made it back to the mainland.

We toured a diamond store where we watched a video on the four ways to obtain diamonds, and a man demonstrated how to make a wedding band. By then, the medicine kicked in, and I could hardly stay awake. There was no pressure to buy anything, but I think 2 members of our tour bought small items. I thought the jewelry was underwhelming and overpriced.