But i don't wanna go!!!
Hello to All once again!
i am writing you from beautiful Capetown, South Africa and i never ever want to leave! On Thursday morning i feel that B will have to drag me to the airport kicking and screaming. Usually after 10 days i am ready to move on, but i feel like we have not even started here. i have decided i will be back soon! I have already started looking up volunteer programs on the Western Cape.
Anyways our time here has been a complete and total whirlwind! And i have bought way to much!!!!
One of our first days here Bettina and i took a tour of the District 6 Musuem and various tonwships. District 6 is a neighborhood where the non white citizens of Captown removed at the beginning of Apartheid. Townships are the depressing and shack filled neighborhood out side of the city where the people were placed. At first we were nervous to just walk in and take pictures with a tour group, but after talking to all the wonderful people we realized they like tourists. One man said "We appreciate you coming here because it creates an awareness to the rest of the world." It should have been more depressing to see the state of poverty that these people were living in, but instead it was a happy visit. We were welcomed into peoples homes and the children jumped all over us. I took so many pictures. I would love to say more, but i can not think of the words to describe this day. My pictures will have to speak for me!
So we rented a car!! whoo hoo very daring!! Unfortunatly i could not drive it....i need to learn how to drive a stick! Luckly we bacame friends with a very sweet girl from the UK named Nicola (Ericka she reminds me of you!!) Anyways she helped with the driving (all most all except reversing:o) and helped us not to freak out about being on the wrong side of the car and the road.
Our first stop on our journey was a town called Oudtshoorn which happens to be the ostrich capital of South Africa. I know you are all holding your breath in suspense Yes i did ride an ostrich!! and i ate one too! :o) The town has more to offer than just these enormous and somewhat scary birds. We spent the morning exploring Cango Caves which were beautiful, my pictures do not do it justice. In the afternoon we learned all we needed to know about the ostrich and the ostrich farms. I also learned while on one that they run REALLY fast. We ended our day by heading to a wildlife park. There were no big animals like giraffes and elephants, but i was content because B and i got to play with a cheetah. She was so cute...i wanted to take her home but B reminded me that i already have 3 cats.
That night we drove to Wilderness to the most amazing hostel. Every room had a beach view! The building itself was a beautiful old victorian house. We had breakfast outside while staring at the ocean.
We took the Garden Route back to Capetown. Once again my pictures won't do justice. The countryside was GORGEOUS! We were all silent for most of the 4 hour ride because we kept getting lost in the scenery.
Yesterday we headed over to Robben Island. This is the place where all non-white the political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela, where held during the time of Apartheid. Our tour was led by a man who actually was in the prison from 1984-1990. It was awesome to hear the background from someone who was there and lived it. He showed us many things like where they use to hide political literature in the bushes including Mandela's "Long Walk To Freedom"
This morning we had a sad good-bye with our friend Nicola. i tried to bribe here to join us for the rest of our journey.
Tomorrow we will be getting up early to head down to the cape for an all day tour. (yes, Allen we are heading to Simonstown to see the Jack-ass Penguins :o)
I will keep you all updated, but i need to go now before my eyeballs fall out!
~meg
i am writing you from beautiful Capetown, South Africa and i never ever want to leave! On Thursday morning i feel that B will have to drag me to the airport kicking and screaming. Usually after 10 days i am ready to move on, but i feel like we have not even started here. i have decided i will be back soon! I have already started looking up volunteer programs on the Western Cape.
Anyways our time here has been a complete and total whirlwind! And i have bought way to much!!!!
One of our first days here Bettina and i took a tour of the District 6 Musuem and various tonwships. District 6 is a neighborhood where the non white citizens of Captown removed at the beginning of Apartheid. Townships are the depressing and shack filled neighborhood out side of the city where the people were placed. At first we were nervous to just walk in and take pictures with a tour group, but after talking to all the wonderful people we realized they like tourists. One man said "We appreciate you coming here because it creates an awareness to the rest of the world." It should have been more depressing to see the state of poverty that these people were living in, but instead it was a happy visit. We were welcomed into peoples homes and the children jumped all over us. I took so many pictures. I would love to say more, but i can not think of the words to describe this day. My pictures will have to speak for me!
So we rented a car!! whoo hoo very daring!! Unfortunatly i could not drive it....i need to learn how to drive a stick! Luckly we bacame friends with a very sweet girl from the UK named Nicola (Ericka she reminds me of you!!) Anyways she helped with the driving (all most all except reversing:o) and helped us not to freak out about being on the wrong side of the car and the road.
Our first stop on our journey was a town called Oudtshoorn which happens to be the ostrich capital of South Africa. I know you are all holding your breath in suspense Yes i did ride an ostrich!! and i ate one too! :o) The town has more to offer than just these enormous and somewhat scary birds. We spent the morning exploring Cango Caves which were beautiful, my pictures do not do it justice. In the afternoon we learned all we needed to know about the ostrich and the ostrich farms. I also learned while on one that they run REALLY fast. We ended our day by heading to a wildlife park. There were no big animals like giraffes and elephants, but i was content because B and i got to play with a cheetah. She was so cute...i wanted to take her home but B reminded me that i already have 3 cats.
That night we drove to Wilderness to the most amazing hostel. Every room had a beach view! The building itself was a beautiful old victorian house. We had breakfast outside while staring at the ocean.
We took the Garden Route back to Capetown. Once again my pictures won't do justice. The countryside was GORGEOUS! We were all silent for most of the 4 hour ride because we kept getting lost in the scenery.
Yesterday we headed over to Robben Island. This is the place where all non-white the political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela, where held during the time of Apartheid. Our tour was led by a man who actually was in the prison from 1984-1990. It was awesome to hear the background from someone who was there and lived it. He showed us many things like where they use to hide political literature in the bushes including Mandela's "Long Walk To Freedom"
This morning we had a sad good-bye with our friend Nicola. i tried to bribe here to join us for the rest of our journey.
Tomorrow we will be getting up early to head down to the cape for an all day tour. (yes, Allen we are heading to Simonstown to see the Jack-ass Penguins :o)
I will keep you all updated, but i need to go now before my eyeballs fall out!
~meg