Cape Town, Day 2

Another great day in Cape town! Yesterday we were really just getting oriented, but today we had a busy, interesting day. Sharon had trouble getting to sleep for hours last night (jet lag) but the half sleeping pill that Grant took did the trick and he slept like a log most of the night. First, we went and got the zipper on Grant’s backpack fixed since it broke on the trip over. Then we walked downtown through Company’s Garden, a kilometre strip of pedestrian road with garden, lawns, museums and government buildings on either side. We went to the South African Natural History and then to the Slave Lodge, which was the place that slaves were held, housed and from where they were sold like a piece of property. It was very informative and well done, giving us a great understanding of the extent of the injustices that people of colour endured. We then went to two free walking tours that were paid for by donation. Both were outstanding! One was on Apartheid, which was in South Africa from 1948 to 1994, a forced segregation of whites and other skin tones. There was so much information, stories and history, but also present day problems in Cape town and South Africa. The other walking tour was about other historical aspects of the city, but of course the racial issues and tensions continued to be a focal point which infiltrated all topics from poverty, employment, violence against women, education, emigration, politics, etc. It was a very interesting and educational day.Read more