A week alone in Cape Town!

"When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love." --Marcus Aurelius

Hi y'all and happy almost Christmas! 

It is my first time spending Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere and oh it is so totally fine that I'm here!  Warm sun and long bright evenings, ahh!  Snow is overrated ;)

Well I've been busy here enjoying some solo travel time and staying at a hostel in the heart of Cape Town.  Atlantic Point Backpackers is the name--I highly recommend it.  Its pretty perfect for traveling alone as there are many solo travelers that come together and organize trips.  Today I'm awaiting my mom's arrival and checking out of the hostel, I'm pretty excited not to be sharing a dorm room with 7 other people and getting a decent night's sleep without people waking me up at all hours of the night!

As I mentioned before, I had arrived from Blantye, Malawi which is a completely different place compared to Cape Town.  On my first day, I treated myself to a hamburger and signed up for a week's worth of yoga classes, oh modern living!  The hostel was located in downtown Cape Town and walkable to the waterfront and city center.  There was plenty of things to do and see.  It was also nice to walk on pavements instead of dirt and have clean streets ahead of me :).  Its so eye opening to understand how much we take infrastructure for granted.

Cape Town is a super fancy place, and there are a lot of trendy white people looking stylish and walking down the street.  It was interesting because the majority of blackpeople you saw were the ones working in serving positions.  The lingering inequality from apartheid is still alive and well.

After getting settled and a decent night's sleep after the long commute from Malawi, I signed up for one of the hostel outings to a place called Hout Bay, a small fishing village close to the water.  A group of us took an uber (the main way for getting around) to the Bay and enjoyed food, music and holiday shopping there!

The view on the drive to Hout Bay--beautiful Jagged peaks!

Hout Bay!  It was so windy!

A cannon and me at Hout Bay

The fun live music show at the Hout Bay Market, 3 Tons of fun was the name of this band, I guess its self explanatory ;)

The next day I went to the old waterfront to look around.  It was a big commercial hub with a lot going on, bars, restaurants, shops and street performers.  It was a big attraction.  They had a walking tour happening where you could walk about from place to place and find out about how this was the original route into central Africa for European traders.

V&A Waterfront--lovely views of Table Mountain

Table Mountain from the water

Statues of some famous South Africans at the waterfront

Lazy seals at the waterfront- they were stinky too!

The next day a group of hostel folks organized a hike up to Lion's head mountain, a much smaller mountain compared to Table Mountain but a spectacular view!  It was a tough hike up with some ladders and rock climbing involved but it was well worth the view and experience.

Table mountain seen from Lion's Head Mountain with clouds rolling in

Clouds, city, mountain, ocean!

Taking a nice rest during the long hike ;)

A view of one of Capetown's many beaches from above--can you spot the groundhog?!  Check out that beautiful blue water.

To jump or not to jump?  Just kidding ;)!

A beautiful vantage point

These little groundhog critters were everywhere on the Lion's head hike!  I thought they were so cute, they were only interested in the possibility of snagging food from the hikers

Hello!

After an exciting day seeing Capetown from afar, a group of us from the hostel went to a nice dinner at a place called Gold - Opulent African Cuisine -- fancy eh?  We had a 15 course meal of food from across the continent and there were traditional dancing performances when they brought the food out each time.  It was fun, a little silly as they pulled tourists up from their tables to do some dancing so it was a bit goofy but a fun experience overall.  Every guest even got their faces painted with some traditional designs.

Zimbabwean face painting for the dinner party

The finished product

Enjoying some time with new hostel friends after our African dinner

The next day a group of us gals decided to go explore the lovely garden grounds of the hotel called Babylonstoren in the Stellenbosch region of Cape Town.  They are famous for their grapes there, so we hada nice bottle of wine and a fancy lunch  The vineyards were SO beautiful!! Like a garden paradise! 

Here's a view of Babylonstoren grounds

Blossoming roses!

Lovely lunching ladies

Heavenly dessert!

They were giving out these plums--delish!

Fresh herbs

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Big tortoises were just taking walks around the grounds, they actually moved pretty fast!

Huge prickly pear cactus at the vineyards

Walking around the garden grounds

Posing in the fancy gardens

The following day was a relaxing beach day.  Grace, a doctor from Australia and I took a quick uber down to Clifton Beach #2 (there are 4 in total) and spent a day soaking up the sun.  The water was too cold to go in but beautiful to see.  We stayed at the beach until sunset.  It was fantastic!

Sunset from Clifton beach

Enjoying a sundowner and the sunset

A lovely end to a beach day!  Grace and I enjoying the drinks.

The colors of the sunset on the mountains!  Can you see the fog rolling in too?!

The following day I also joined the hostel group for a township tour of Langa Township, which to my understanding was set up during the time of apartheid for black people to go to. In the U.S. we don't really have designated townships yet there is similar inequality with where white and black people live due to all kinds of exclusive reasons.  It was pretty interesting to see how things were set up in South Africa--the country with the highest level of inequality in the world.

Our tour guide was a woman from the area and she told us about the history of Langa, and how at one time it was a place for black and colored men from rural areas to come for lodging if they were seeking work in the city.  During apartheid those who were black and colored were not able to go freely about through the city and were only allowed in certain areas aka townships.  Their wives and children were not allowed to accompany them and the quarters were very close and overcrowded, with many people crammed into the spaces and no privacy.  Now families live in the old hostel quarters and are allowed to go all around without restrictions. The hostels are still crowded and there is still a lot of poverty and issues that come along with it.  It was eye opening to see, especially since it was just a few miles away from the fancy downtown metropolitan area where I was staying.  The money we paid for the tour went back to the local community so it was a good system in place to take advantage of the income from the big tourist industry in Cape Town.

A mural on the wall of the hostel/communal homes in the township

Here's a row of homes in shipping containers, each door is a unit with sometimes 2 families living in one unit, no running water, no heat or cooling, electricity was rigged to these settlements informally from surrounding homes.  It was shocking to think about how different life is like for these people.

The communal kitchen for families in the hostel space, there were also mattresses on the floor here for sleeping.  Not a lot of room!

During the tour we stopped at one man's shack named Shooter that he built himself as he wanted to have his own space instead of living in the crowded shared homes the government provided to these township residents.  The law is that the government cannot remove a person from a place if there is an existing structure built on it.  So many people who are looking to move out of the crowded conditions of the communal structures will gather found materials and on the weekends (when the police aren't patrolling) will build themselves informal structures aka shacks and by Monday they are protected by law in their homes.   

This is the inside of Shooter's shack, he had made it really cozy and done a lot of scavenging to make it nice for himself.  All the photos are people who have come to tour his place--even some famous people came--he has pictures with Mos Def and Skrillex!

Here's"Shooter" in his bedroom/kitchen, all created by him! By far the nicest shack on the block

Here's the room he keeps for his daughter when she comes to visit him.

No running water or toilet but an amazing place and an amazing guy to create something out of nothing! The light is one he created out of a blender. It was an unforgettable experience to visit this type of place and realize how lucky it is to have a safe and nice home with all my basic needs met. 

This is what it looked like outside of Shooter's shack.  Many other informal shacks (but none as nice as his)  The black barrels are filled with local beer that people ferment and drink.

The tour kept going and the next stop was the sheep's head stall (lol I'm not sure what to call it but thats precisely what it was).  There were a few ladies tending to some fires with big tables of severed sheeps heads laid out and about.  It was bizarre! 
 

Sheep heads ready to be heated in the fire

The lady would take a big stick and stab a sheep head to put it in the fire and then put the charred heads in a basket to be sold for food.  The tour guide mentioned they don't eat the brains, so you can imagine what other parts are left on the head to eat. Yikes!

A little kid standing by the sheep head shack - note the large amount of fuel!

I really enjoyed the township tour, like I said it was eye opening and made me think a lot, especially after a few days of leisurely hanging by the beach and shopping!

After the tour it was back to doing fun touristy things, a group of hostel folks and I took an uber up to Signal Hill, a popular spot to watch the sunset and enjoyed some wine and snacks as the sun was setting over the ocean.

Up on the hill there were these strange pygmy birds hopping around, all the animals were used to tourists giving them food and these guys were no exception!

Panorama of the beautiful view

Sunset from Signal Hill!  The peak on the left is Lion's head where I went previously to hike during the day.

The final trek I've done while spending my time at the hostel was Kaulk bay, a small fishing village a bit out of Cape Town.  It was very quaint and lovely, with fancy shops and nice places to eat.  Overall, it's been a leisurely holiday here in Cape Town!  I'm happy I came. :)

One storefront with lots of shells for sale!

The majority of the time I've been here its been a strange feeling, coming from staying in Tanzania for the past few months and seeing the difference in opportunities and the huge disparities in wealth gives one a lot to think about. Its just interesting to take a closer look at our privilege, that many of us coming from "developed" countries don't have to worry about getting clean water or if our electricity will go out among many other things.  Once you realize how many people are living on only a few dollars a day you realize how others are able to take more than whats needed and enjoy (myself often included).  

Also I've noticed how strange it is to have conversation topics shift from how are we going to defend our human rights (in Tz)  to how many countries to travel and see and enjoy.   I love traveling and seeing new things but I'm looking to invest some time into establishing my career and I can't do that by lolly gagging around and investing too much of my time only wandering.    I definitely fall into the latter category as to what I'm able to talk about as well as experience in my life but the purpose of traveling for me is no longer about how many countries I can tick off my list (although yes that is still an interest of mine) but moreso where can I spend some time trying to do some good?  

That's whats popped into my mind a few times this past week.  There just needs to be a better balance, there's no way to justify excessiveness in the face of disparity.  I've been pondering how I can be a part of a movement that works to bring more equity to the world and justice to those who are suffering.  I'm still figuring out what that might look like but I think its safe to say I've said goodbye to my aspiration to be only a nomadic world traveler for the sake of owning that appealing identity.  I want to travel with purpose and give back!  I'm hoping this time abroad will bring an opportunity to allow that to happen :)  

Until then I'll be getting ready to meet up with mom soon, lets see what the day brings with her arrival.

There's a lot to be grateful for during the holiday season! Merry Christmas