CAPETOWN
Sorry if we worried anyone with the lack of an update. Jane is doing better than she did on the flight over, but we continue to monitor how she is feeling and adjust our level of activity accordingly.
We had a lot of taking it easy days in Capetown before the official tour started. South Africa does not shy away from discussing slavery, apartheid and racism. While still staying at the Hyatt Regency it was a short walk to the District Six Museum, which documents how the government forcibly removed its citizens of color from a once diverse neighborhood during Apartheid. We also visited the Slave Lodge Museum which operates under the theme "From Human Wrongs to Human Rights."
We then moved to the tour hotel which was near the waterfront, where we went to a farmer's market.
The Tour started with a bus ride in the suburbs around Cape Town. It is winter in South Africa and there were many cold windy days.
The South African economy tanked during Covid, the homeless population dramatically increased and we heard everywhere how difficult it is to find work.
Not far from the homeless encampment is a statute of Nelson Mandela in the spot where he made his first space after being freed from prison after 27 years.
We were scheduled to go on the funicular to the top of Table Mountain, which is behind us in the picture, but the funicular is closed for repairs.
Our tour traveled to the Cape of Good Hope, which was one of the windier places we have ever visited.
Our tour went to Boulders Beach on the Cape Peninsula, where we observed the African penguin.
Our tour was supposed to go to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned. It was too windy for the ferry boat to go on the scheduled day. We didn't come this far to miss Robben Island, so we bought tickets on our own with three other people on the tour. When we got to the terminal, the ferry boat was not anywhere in sight, with no estimate when it would be there. Waiting for well over an hour, we became great new friends with a South African family. By the end of the day the three children were calling us Grandma and Grandpa. We learned so much about their life in another part of South Africa. It was as joyous a time together as this picture would make you think it was.
When you arrive on Robben Island, you are given a bus ride around the island. Our tour guide was excellent and went into the history of the island, the prison, and apartheid.
Cape Town is behind me in the picture, so you can see how close but far away it is.
Once you are about to enter the prison, you are with a new tour guide. The only tour guides to take you through the prison are all former political prisoners. In our case, our guide, shown in the picture, is the same age as Neal. His crime was handing out pamplets while in high school during the Soweto uprising, for which he served 5 years on Robbin Island. His first hand description of the conditions made it a very emotional experience. There were only mats on a cement floor to sleep on until international pressure resulted in bunk beds. They showered with salt water which was unheated. Their diet was very limited and they were made to do forced labor.
This is the cell which confined Nelson Mandela for so many years. Political Prisoners like Mandela who were considered leaders had their own individual cells. These cells had no toilets. The prisoners had a bucket which they were responsible for emptying every morning.
This was the sunset we encountered as we left the prison to head back to the ferry. It is hard to describe the thoughts and feelings we had as we left, but this view made them even more intense.
