South Africa day 4 (Cape Town day 2). Despite subpar weather Cape town has been amazing. It is a beautiful city filled with history. Yesterday we went to the District 6 museum and Robben Island. The museum gave the history of one of the districts that was hit hardest by apartheid. It depicted the impact that apartheid and how the displacement of people from their homes in Cape Town during that time affected both the people and the culture. It is hard to describe Robben Island. Our guide had himself been a prisoner there for four years and shared his story with us. The tour included the history of the island, personal tales and viewing Nelson Mandela's cell. We were most impressed with the propensity for forgiveness of the people released from prison there and also with the fact that it has been referred to as 'The University.' The prisoners on the island, most of whom were political prisoners instead of actual criminals followed the belief of 'each one teach one' and were an integral part of the change when apartheid ended.
After wandering around the beautiful waterfront, window shopping and a meal filled with some traditional African meals, African music and lots of laughs we turned in early as we were all still pretty drained from the jet lag.
Today some of the group visited the Cape of Good Hope, where they got some pictures where the Atlantic meets the Indian Ocean and saw ostriches, baboons and penguins. Then in the afternoon we braved the chilly weather to sit on the top of a tour bus around the city. We took an absurd amount of pictures and visited a botanical garden (where the picture taking continued). Somebody (Jillian) may have even been bold enough to run around with her feet in then painfully cold water.
We have had difficulty with internet access at our hotel so uploading pictures has been a challenge but tomorrow we head to Durban where will be able to catch up so be sure to check in with us soon.
Candice
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