Our pre-port lecturer from Cape Town mentioned that this is one of the top ten cities in the world, and as soon as I got off the ship I could understand why. The waterfront is an area of upscale shops, hotels, and restaurants, with yachts and sailboats in the harbor, and the imposing Table Mountain in the background. South Africa has 11 official languages, but everyone speaks English, so I almost felt like I was in San Francisco.
I spent the first couple of days on trips to an ostrich farm (hey, they needed a leader!) and several wineries in the Stellenbosch winelands region (including one that we biked to), as well as shopping and eating at the waterfront. But on day three I visited the Khayelitsha township, where blacks settled after being pushed out of the city during the apartheid regime. Even though apartheid ended, the shacks made of tin, wood, and cardboard and about 1.5 million people remain. The government is slowly building concrete housing for them, but the townships feel that by letting tourists know about their conditions, it may attract funding for better housing, education and health care. Despite the poverty and high incidence of HIV, there is a surprising feeling of hopefulness and community there.
I also attempted to go to Robben Island, where Mandela was imprisoned for more than 20 years, but rough waters cancelled the ferry rides the majority of the time we were there. I spent my last day at the Kirshenbosh botanical gardens, regretting that I had left this for the last day and only had a few hours. The highlight of Cape Town, though, was a last minute visit on the ship by Desmond Tutu. He only talked for an hour, but spoke humorously and eloquently about politics and issues in the United States and South Africa, as well as Iraq and the world.
We are now on our way to India, sailing for 12 days across the Indian Ocean. We have a day of Sea Olympics half-way through, where the faculty and staff and all the student "seas" compete in a variety of sports such as synchronized swimming, relays, paper boat floating contests and volleyball. I'm participating and judging, which tells you how low the bar is. Students are also in the midst of midterms, so there's lots of activity in the library. So it's back to work until Chennai.
Pictures: Cape Town waterfront (where our ship is docked), me on an ostrich (!), children from the township, flowers in the botanical garden, Desmond Tutu on the ship.
