Summary:
1 - City Tour including being present on top of Signal Hill for the "noon shot" of the cannon.
2 - Errands (got a cell phone, dropped luggage at the Renaissance Lodge, lunch....)
3 - Kirstenbosch Gardens
4 - drive up Signal Hill for views of the city in the early evening
Animal sighting:
Guinea Fowl in the gardens
More:
On the city tour, we saw historic buildings, statues and gardens (much like Boston has) throughout. We visited Green Market Square (African artifacts sold in "stalls"; about one city block). The city is so racially mixed, it is hard to imagine the separation and oppression that occurred so recently in their history.
The Kirstenbosch Gardens are HUGE and right in/by the city. 53 hectacres.
Blessings:
Crystal clear blue skies and very warm weather!
Meeting our hosts at the Renaissance Lodge where we'll be staying after Feb. 1st
Mike figuring out how to upload photos here!
Tomorrow:
We leave EARLY to fly to the northeast corner of the SA (almost 3 hour flight) for our safari. We'll be at Umlani first and then Wed. we go to Monwana (see links to the right). We will have wifi at Monwana, but not enough bandwidth to upload photos.
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Photos!
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| Mandela on a city government building in Cape Town |
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| Sophia receiving a marimba lesson at a cultural center in the township of Langa |
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| "Private" bathrooms in the Langa township |
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| Papa in front of his two room house in Langa township |
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| The second oldest church in Cape Town - originally was Dutch Reformed. Now it is a mosque, because the neighborhood is no longer white. |
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| Kirstenbosch gardens just outside the city. This is the back side of Table Mountain |
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| in the garden.... |
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| At the top of Signal Hill (Table Mountain in the background) |
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| The stadium they built when SA hosted the 2010 World Cup (soccer) |
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| The road down from Signal Hill ... |
Saturday, January 25, 2014
Trying photos...
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The penguins!
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At the farthest point out on the Cape of Good Hope.
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Looking down on the rocks of Cape Hope from the lighthouse.
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The view of Table Mountain from our hotel room.
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Sophia petting a baby cheetah!
Our lunch spot on day 1 at Simon's Town.
Friday, January 24, 2014
Cape Town - Day 2
Summary:
1 - visit District Six: the neighborhood in Cape Town where homes were demolished by the whites during apartheid because there were people of different races living peaceably. (It is again now a place of mixed and different races.)
2 - drive to three different townships to see neighborhoods, schools, cultural centers, homes, women's health center, artists at work...
3 - lunch in Stellenbosch, the largest wine producing region in SA. (upscale, trendy, Dutch architecture)
4 - Cheetah Outreach (see link to the right) - petting baby cheetahs!!
Animal Sightings:
in the city: guinea fowl (running through the streets)
at the cheetah outreach:
cheetah
meerkat
Anatolian sheep dogs
serval
black-backed jackyl
More:
The contrasts continue. The townships are small areas far from the city with populations in the hundreds of thousands. Families live in makeshift, wall to wall shanties; toilets are rows of cement stalls (picture 5 port-a-potties in a row) with locks on the outside that a family "owns" (has a key to). And the people gather in cultural centers to learn skills (mostly as artists) to sell crafts to make money. Our guide, Norman, says that really it's only those who are children now who have hope of a better life outside the townships.
Cheetah are gentle, peaceful (sleeping 16-18 hours a day) passive animals. And they are quite endangered. The Cheetah Outreach exists to educate people about the issues surrounding their endangerment and to create out of folks like us who visit, more ambassadors for the cheetah. We got to pet two cheetahs - about 6 months old - for a few minutes. They are stunningly beautiful animals (and their fur is not as soft as you'd think - in fact their fur gets softer as they get older).
Food:
Ostrich fillet for dinner (no it doesn't taste like chicken!). It is more like beef, served medium rare, cut in strips. It was not particularly flavorful, but was VERY tender and juicy. (Served with lentil samosas and a warm spicy tomato salsa with a fried banana on top!) YUM!
Blessings:
An unscheduled visit to the Tembaletu School (for handicapped children from all over Cape Town) in the township of Gugulethu where we'll be volunteering - they received us warmly and took us to meet the principal who spent 20 minutes or so with us and then had his psychologist take us on a complete tour. We even chanced to meet Steffan from Hillsong with whom I've been emailing to coordinate our mission work.
People everywhere, upon meeting us for the first time, ALL shake all our hands and want to know all our names. I'm learning to make genuine eye contact, to say my name and to say their name upon greeting and good-bye-ing.
Photos:
I still haven't figured out how to put photos in my posts here. We have FULL days and are exhausted at the end. (And dinner takes a good 2 hours each night.)
1 - visit District Six: the neighborhood in Cape Town where homes were demolished by the whites during apartheid because there were people of different races living peaceably. (It is again now a place of mixed and different races.)
2 - drive to three different townships to see neighborhoods, schools, cultural centers, homes, women's health center, artists at work...
3 - lunch in Stellenbosch, the largest wine producing region in SA. (upscale, trendy, Dutch architecture)
4 - Cheetah Outreach (see link to the right) - petting baby cheetahs!!
Animal Sightings:
in the city: guinea fowl (running through the streets)
at the cheetah outreach:
cheetah
meerkat
Anatolian sheep dogs
serval
black-backed jackyl
More:
The contrasts continue. The townships are small areas far from the city with populations in the hundreds of thousands. Families live in makeshift, wall to wall shanties; toilets are rows of cement stalls (picture 5 port-a-potties in a row) with locks on the outside that a family "owns" (has a key to). And the people gather in cultural centers to learn skills (mostly as artists) to sell crafts to make money. Our guide, Norman, says that really it's only those who are children now who have hope of a better life outside the townships.
Cheetah are gentle, peaceful (sleeping 16-18 hours a day) passive animals. And they are quite endangered. The Cheetah Outreach exists to educate people about the issues surrounding their endangerment and to create out of folks like us who visit, more ambassadors for the cheetah. We got to pet two cheetahs - about 6 months old - for a few minutes. They are stunningly beautiful animals (and their fur is not as soft as you'd think - in fact their fur gets softer as they get older).
Food:
Ostrich fillet for dinner (no it doesn't taste like chicken!). It is more like beef, served medium rare, cut in strips. It was not particularly flavorful, but was VERY tender and juicy. (Served with lentil samosas and a warm spicy tomato salsa with a fried banana on top!) YUM!
Blessings:
An unscheduled visit to the Tembaletu School (for handicapped children from all over Cape Town) in the township of Gugulethu where we'll be volunteering - they received us warmly and took us to meet the principal who spent 20 minutes or so with us and then had his psychologist take us on a complete tour. We even chanced to meet Steffan from Hillsong with whom I've been emailing to coordinate our mission work.
People everywhere, upon meeting us for the first time, ALL shake all our hands and want to know all our names. I'm learning to make genuine eye contact, to say my name and to say their name upon greeting and good-bye-ing.
Photos:
I still haven't figured out how to put photos in my posts here. We have FULL days and are exhausted at the end. (And dinner takes a good 2 hours each night.)
Cape Town - Day 1
Cape Town - Day 1
Summary:
1 - Cable Car to the top of Table Mountain (cloud covered, so views were not as hoped)
2 - drove down the Cape Point coast to Simon's Town for lunch
3 - African Penguins!
4 - drove to Cape Point (the farthest SW point of Africa); rode the funicular up and then walked up to the old light house at the top of the point
5 - drove the coast road up False Bay back to Cape Town
Animal Sightings:
baboons
ostrich
penguins
More:
Cape Town is a bustling international city surrounded on three sides by mountains and the fourth side by the Atlantic. This is a beautiful place with many contrasts: sharp mountain peaks so close you feel as if you can touch them; flat open plateaus dotted with rock and shrubbery (no trees); dramatic cliffs rising up out of the ocean with waves crashing like geysers; wide white sandy beaches with surfers and kite surfers galore; heavy clouds and chilly winds atop Table Mountain and hot sun at the beach.
The people are warm and friendly. I have to remind myself that I'm not in New England any more and that it is peoples' nature to share a smile and kind word at every turn.
We are staying in a hotel by the Waterfront - a newly developed part of the city right on the harbor, filled with lively nightlife, restaurants and shops. The restaurants are full of seafood items with a Malaysian influence. I'm looking forward to trying the springbok and the ostrich!
Blessings:
The snafu at the hotel at 2:00 AM upon arrival has been "corrected" and we don't have to change hotels!
Our guide, Norman, is a delightful Christian man and eager to share about his life, family and faith. (And he was assigned to us at the last minute just 2 days before our arrival....)
Photos:
I'll figure out how to upload photos tomorrow.
Summary:
1 - Cable Car to the top of Table Mountain (cloud covered, so views were not as hoped)
2 - drove down the Cape Point coast to Simon's Town for lunch
3 - African Penguins!
4 - drove to Cape Point (the farthest SW point of Africa); rode the funicular up and then walked up to the old light house at the top of the point
5 - drove the coast road up False Bay back to Cape Town
Animal Sightings:
baboons
ostrich
penguins
More:
Cape Town is a bustling international city surrounded on three sides by mountains and the fourth side by the Atlantic. This is a beautiful place with many contrasts: sharp mountain peaks so close you feel as if you can touch them; flat open plateaus dotted with rock and shrubbery (no trees); dramatic cliffs rising up out of the ocean with waves crashing like geysers; wide white sandy beaches with surfers and kite surfers galore; heavy clouds and chilly winds atop Table Mountain and hot sun at the beach.
The people are warm and friendly. I have to remind myself that I'm not in New England any more and that it is peoples' nature to share a smile and kind word at every turn.
We are staying in a hotel by the Waterfront - a newly developed part of the city right on the harbor, filled with lively nightlife, restaurants and shops. The restaurants are full of seafood items with a Malaysian influence. I'm looking forward to trying the springbok and the ostrich!
Blessings:
The snafu at the hotel at 2:00 AM upon arrival has been "corrected" and we don't have to change hotels!
Our guide, Norman, is a delightful Christian man and eager to share about his life, family and faith. (And he was assigned to us at the last minute just 2 days before our arrival....)
Photos:
I'll figure out how to upload photos tomorrow.
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