Wednesday – Don’t know much about history

Today we started off with a fantastic 3-hour version of South African history, presented by Zwelethu Jolobe. He is a political scientist who can rattle off dates and anecdotes to keep you engaged for hours (and yes the assessment of him as handsome with a velvet voice to match didn’t hurt either). Our group had done a lot of work preparing for our trip, including reading some history of the country’s struggles, but this was the most comprehensive thing we’ve had. Our understanding of the development, implementation and tearing down of apartheid is pretty complete now. Witnessing some of the effects of apartheid is what we’ll see more of in week 2.

Our discussion then turned to more current politics, and it was really interesting to hear about what had to be done in this “fledgling” democracy to stabilize the nation before being able to move on to the social issues that face the South African people. Some of you know of the controversy surrounding the new president, Jacob Zuma (corruption charges, a rape allegation, the fact that he’s a polygamist!). Zwele’s assessment is that for all that Zuma had going against him going through the campaign, he has done all the right things since getting into office – particularly picking the right people. As the economic engine for the continent of Africa, all eyes are on what happens in South Africa. Let’s hope Zwele is right!

We illustrated some of the actions of the apartheid government by going to the District Six museum in the city center. This museum highlights the tearing down of an entire neighborhood of black and coloured people’s homes in an area that was declared to be “for whites only.” Not so unlike “urban renewal” actions in our own cities, people were displaced with little notice, moved to much lesser housing, and everything was torn down to make way for new nicer homes and buildings. The museum is dedicated to the stories of those who lived there.

We had free time to roam the area on yet another gorgeous day (sunny and in the mid-70s!). Marc and I chose the Cape Town Castle, the parliament building and the Company Gardens, all within a few blocks of each other. Some pictures for you of all of these. To the left, a Bird of Paradise flower found in the Company Garden, and me by a huge rubber tree. Below are the Parliament building and the Castle of Good Hope.

Maybe it’s just me but I think I have seen enough of the touristy side of things here….I want to get back to nature and tomorrow will not disappoint – Cape Peninsula tour, complete with penguins and seals. Those who read the Star Tribune may have seen pictures last week of African penguins being released back to their natural habitat…this is where we are going tomorrow!! A second batch was released just yesterday.

Some more fun food exploration for us: our choices tonight were Ostrich and Angel Fish! Both delicious! One thing we love is that the side vegetable is often butternut squash – yum! And if your salad was made from rockets, what would you guess that would be? Nobody could explain it to us other than “it’s like lettuce” – turns out it’s arugula. Who knew? (Well, google knew, that’s how I figured it out). We haven’t eaten it yet but there are always pickles on the breakfast buffet – even pickled onions. Marc ordered a pizza last night and asked for pepperoni and the menu said this was a new option. However, the bacon and avocado pizza seemed to be a regular choice.