We Must Become the Change We Want to See

I’ve had 7 papers and 1 test since coming back from South Africa. That’s why this entry took so long to produce. But let me tell you. It’s a good one. And I haven’t even read it.

“It struck me that our history is contained in the homes we live in, that we are shaped by the ability of these simple structures to resist being defiled.” - Dangor

I am convinced that traveling the oceans is synonymous with time travel. Since departing, I have traveled in the future some 12 hours. Things happen to me in the world before they happen to you. The sun will rise and fall for me before it does for you. It will be October 15th for me before it will be for you. Thus, I am in the future. And then one day, time will stop. And I’ll live the same day twice. This day will be November 22nd. I wonder if November 22nd will be a better day for me then November 22nd, or if they’ll both be the same.

I had 3 major things planned for South Africa, but due to various circumstances, I wasn’t able to do any of the 3 big things I had planned. One of them was shark diving with great whites. More on that later. The other two are equally as gnarly, and I still plan on doing them in other countries on the itinerary so I won’t unveil what they are just yet. And I don’t want to freak out mom. Additionally, I had really wanted to go to Robben Island, which is the island where Nelson Mandela was kept captive during the Apartheid. Unfortunately however, ferry tickets to the island were completely full the week we were in South Africa, so that didn’t happen. I will be back.

The morning we came into port I woke up at 4:30 AM to see us pull in. I had been told that closing into Cape Town was definitely the port worth sacrificing sleep for. So I’m up at 4:30, go outside expecting to see city lights. Instead I see....nothing. We’re in a storm, it’s pouring rain, visibility is horrible. Swells were about 15 feet, and the boat was rocking like no other. I stuck it out until about 7:30 hoping that clouds would clear. No bueno. By 7:30 it was still miserable, and all I could see was a triumphing mountain over the clouds. Pretty, but back to bed for me.

Wake up. We’re alongside (docked), and it’s...sunny? Awesome. I go outside on my inaugural walk around the 8th deck observation deck as always and see the beautiful waterfront. Cape Town’s waterfront is a very built up promenade along the water that has exquisite restaurants, activities, and a mall. In the background is Table Mountain, the peak I had seen looming through the clouds from the water. Table Mountain is the first thing the settlers to Cape Town saw as they were coming into the area. It’s a pretty daunting sight, check it out on Google images or on a post card if you were lucky enough to get one from me (probably won’t arrive for another week and a half, depending on how lucky you are). Cape Town in general is really an amazing place. There is so much going on, and it is frequently rated as one of the greatest cities to go to in the world. The 2010 World Cup is being played in South Africa, and one of the biggest stadiums of cup is being built in Cape Town, I have some pretty decent pictures of the construction of the stadium. I believe it’s one of 9 or 12 stadiums being built around the country for the cup. The largest one is supposed to hold over 100,000 people I think.

Anyway, around 1 I had an FDP, which is basically a field trip directed by the teacher to one of my classes. The field trips take you to places in each port relevant to class material. For this FDP I went to the District Six Museum and Langa Township. District Six was once a Black district during Apartheid era South Africa (Black is a PC term in South Africa, and means something different from “Colored,” which refers to interracial, Indian, Middle Eastern, etc.). During the 1970s the white rulers decided that the lands of District Six was to be for white use only, and that all the Blacks had to vacate. The district was home to 60,000, a tight knit community who found solace in their land and refused to leave. In order to force the Blacks to leave, the white rulers had the land literally bulldozed flat, every building except for the churches were demolished. The District Six Museum tells the story of the demolished district. Spanning the museum’s entire floor is a huge map of the former District Six, complete with original street names. On the map, many of the former residents have come to the museum and signed they’re name on the place they once lived. The museum is a reminder of what happens when social construction meets power.

Townships are very poor Black or Colored communities. The Township I went to, Langa, was a Black township of somewhere between 100,000 and 250,000 people (no one really knows, apparently) During Apartheid rule, the Blacks and Colored, who made up about 80% of South Africa’s population, were forced to live in just 13% of the land. They were put in these Townships to segregate them from white communities. Since Apartheid rule lasted until the 90s, these communities still exist today and their constituents are very poor. It’s actually pretty difficult to describe the living conditions here. They had to fit 3 families into rooms smaller than my dorm room. Pretty horrifying what they go through. But their sense of community is amazing. The kids are all allowed to run free because everybody in the neighborhoods know each other and knows that they’ll look after each other’s children. And the children are so cute but heartbreaking. They laugh and play, and then they’ll come close to you with their big eyes, look up, and ask for money. The tour guides stress that we’re not to give them money, because it gives the wrong idea that the children can get buy from begging to tourists. But boy, do they need money more than I do, more than I could imagine, in fact. The community shares everything with each other. Crime within the community is virtually non existent for this same reason. The only crime that occurs is when outsiders come through the community. My experience in Langa was very eye opening. I saw conditions of life that I had only read about, and you honestly can’t get an accurate perception of the livelihoods of these people without either seeing it first hand or experiencing it. I have not experienced what these people go through, but I have seen it. It is very depressing, but all the people cling to their community roots and confide in their friends and neighbors- and they actually appear to be quite happy because of these strong ties.

That night a group of us went to Quay Four, an exquisite restaurant on the waterfront. We went with Kirsten, our inter-port traveler from Cape Town who we had made friends with in between Namibia and South Africa. Just like in Namibia, Quay Four had amazing gourmet foods but because of conversion rates not even the fanciest entrees were more than $15. I started the meal with ostrich carpaccio, which was probably one of the best carpaccios I think I’ve ever had, and then got had a filet steak for my entry. Food was amazing. Same story here. Afterwards we went to Long Street, which is like the happening stretch of Cape Town where all the bars and clubs are. Kirsten showed us around to all her favorite spots. Fiction, The Dubliner, Mitchells, Hemisphere, yadda yadda, all night long.

Long Street is like a bigger version of Pacific Garden in Santa Cruz. Some of the places are classy, there are some sketchy spots, and there are homeless people begging at the popular corners. One of these beggars had one eye, and not many more teeth. He did not wear an eye patch. He showed up to my group numerous occasions, probably having forgotten that we had just given him money earlier in the night. Seeing him at night was a very striking sight. It’s hard to put words to it, but I was pretty astonished and infuriated when I overheard some other person saying he’d only give the one eyed man money if he performed tricks like he was in the circus. How could you live with yourself if you’re one who requires tricks from one eyed men obviously undertaking more struggles than any of us could ever imagine. In the game of life there should be no ring leaders. At least the one eyed men could see better than any of us.

Fast forward in time to Shark Diving the next morning. I wake up to get ready, but my stomach doesn’t like me anymore. Was it the carpaccio? Doubtfully. But I was feeling pretty sick. My stomach anchored me to my bed, but I still wanted to go, so I continue to get ready and meet up with my posse. We get on the bus, and then the tour guide chimes up, “This is going to be a windy two hour bus ride followed by another hour of choppy waters when getting out to the dive location.” I look to the back of the bus. No bathroom. Sick + No bathroom + windy roads + choppy water = no shark diving for Spenser. It’s simple algebra. That was that. Instead I browsed around the expansive water front that day. In the mall they had an O’Neill surf shop. In Cape Town. All the way from Santa Cruz. Worrrdd? I had to treat myself to this amazing sweater designed in South Africa. It’s really sweet.

The next couple of days consisted of more sickness (soar throat, I think I get a little cold, but it wasn’t that debilitating), more Long Street, and more food. One of the days I hiked Table Mountain, which is about a 2 hour hike with an infinite amount of switch backs. The views from the top were indescribable and amazing. You’ll have to refer to the pictures I took, or take my word on it. It’s always a good view from the top.

The next afternoon I trekked over to Stellenbosch University to see the infamous rugby rivalry between University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch University. Cape Town to Stellenbosch is about a 40 minute drive through South Africa’s illustrious wine lands. Possibly one of more beautiful drives I’ve ever been on in my life, the sun setting over the wine fields with amazing mountains in the background. And I mean amazing. The rugby stadium was almost equally as appealing. The backdrop of the stadium looked out onto said mountains and wine lands. I’m sure Wine Spectator has featured this area many times on their covers and articles. I think Cape Town won the game. Or maybe it was Stellenbosch? I don’t know, I’m not really sure because rugby makes absolutely zero sense to me. Either way, the college crowd loved it and streakers ran out on the field to jump on the players for their team after the game ended.

One of the days in port was my friend Jaime’s birthday. For her birthday she booked two rooms at this place called Daddy Long Legs on Long Street. This is a place that belongs in San Francisco. It is a narrow 6 or 7 floor place with winding staircases. The first staircase up to the second floor, where the front desk is, is made of mirrors. Each room on the place has a unique theme and décor. The first room we looked in was very dark. It had hundreds of small pictures of people and bodies on the wall. It was one of those collages where the pictures are placed in a certain way so that when you stand back you see a bigger picture. The pictures all over the wall made a bigger picture of two faces. The grout between the little pictures was black, so even when the lights were on it still felt like a den in there. The second room was much brighter. It had lights of different colors hanging from the ceiling and the bed was on a circular bed frame. On the ceiling there was a collage of mirrors reflecting back down onto the bed. Both rooms had peep holes that looked into the room instead of out. Dirty.

After checking out the hotel, we went to this Cuban restaurant on Long Street, which is where the weird stuff really starts happening. This was a fancy place with white and black tiles and pretty extravagant accessories like gold plated flower pots and stuff. We sit down, and for whatever reason, the owner of the place, Reme, knows some of the people in our group from a previous night. Reme is this young African smooth operator who gave off an aura of money and class. In a cocky way. Anyways, we sit down and he immediately comes up to the table with a pair of victory secret status angel wings that he gives to the birthday girl to wear for our dinner. They look expensive. He smooth talks a little bit, then leaves while we look over out menu. He comes back with a 24 oyster platter (on the menu it said each oyster was 15 Rand), with caviar, this amazing Cuban bread, and this $750 Rand bottle of Champagne. We hadn’t ordered any of it. Then come 8 free mojitos and margaritas. I was very confused as to why we were being treated like this. We get our food, I got enchiladas. The place is gourmet so it’s all very good. Somewhere in there Reme starts talking about getting us on the guest list of this VIP high roller club in the area that Leonardo DiCaprio hangs out at because he has a house in Cape Town or something. Reme makes a couple phone calls and we get to our meals. After dinner Reme offers to take us up to the restaurant’s VIP lounge. Can’t turn that down so we head up. In the VIP lounge is even more exquisite than the restaurant. All the bar stools and arm chairs are made of leather and everything, literally everything, in the place has a price tag. Then the drinks start coming out, for free, as far as I’m concerned. First is the mousse BJ (yes, this is an acronym) shots that you take with no hands- go figure. Then the chocolate tequila, whiskey on the rocks, green springboks (they give you horns), and all these random desserts and such. The night starts to wonder into different places, we start to mingle with the other people in the lounge. I looked at the prices of the bookshelves along the walls. It’s getting late by now so we start wondering the status of this special club Reme was going to take us to. He’s acting a little shady, and the VIP lounge is starting to empty, making us the last patrons. We decided Reme was a bunch of talk. Reme was becoming the ring leader of a closing circus. I gave the one eyed beggar all the rand left in my pocket on the way out.

The second to last day in South Africa about 10 of us hired two taxi drivers to take us down to Cape Point, which is about an hour drive south of Cape Town. It is not the southern most tip of Africa, but it is a famous light house landmark that was sued for trade in pre-colonial and colonial times. It’s also one of the most beautiful coast lines I’ve ever seen. If Leonardo DiCaprio really does have a house there, then he got it right, Malibu doesn’t hold a candle to the coast along Cape Point. This is a place where families of wild Baboons hang out on the side of the road and hundreds of penguins line the beaches. This time of year there are also hundreds of Right Whales surrounding the cape point. The scenery of the cliffs is really amazing. After a scenic down to the point along the Atlantic and spending a few hours at the point, we came back along the Indian side of the peninsula. We stopped at one of the penguin beaches for pictures. I stuck my hand in the Indian Ocean for the first time. It was wet. Strange. Remind me to share more pictures of this when I get back.

My last day in port was spent at the Kirstenbosch botanical gardens, attending an ecology presentation for my Climate Change class. It was relaxing and beautiful. We came back on the boat in time to see Desmond Tutu talk. Desmond Tutu, if you’re unfamiliar, is like the Martin Luther King of South Africa’s anti racial oppression movement. Tutu and Nelson Mandela were the main figureheads of the resistance efforts, seeing him live in person had me awestricken. His talk was incredibly inspirational, which was to be predicted. I am incredibly fortunate to be able to see the world through and have this experience through Semester at Sea. Thank you Mom and Dad.

India is next. Hopefully its entry won’t take two weeks produce to produce like this one has.

Spenser