Traveloge: South Africa
By Deanne Witzke, ED 2
As a PCV your first travel out of Rwanda is significant. You've been living for some time in an environment that perhaps you‘ve become accustomed to, but you still long for about some conveniences you once loved like: carpet, drinkable tap water, English, highways, and customer service. You‘ve also probably forgotten what a margarita tastes like. South Africa helped me solve those quandaries.
Let me first remark on how remarkably adaptable human beings are. Think about how you first arrived in Rwanda and the first thing that threw you off. Mine was using a toilet with a huge sign that said do not flush the toilet paper. I was puzzled about where the right landing zone for it could possibly be. But soon, western toilets were a huge treat- and throwing the paper in the waste-basket nearby was routine. The converse is the same. We arrived in South Africa and were awestruck by airplane food, sliding doors, cushioned chairs, and tall ceilings. Although I think I appreciated everything infinitely more, it still wasn‘t as monumental minute by minute as I had expected it might be.
Last August, we arrived in Johannesburg airport and spent the night only to immediately take another plane to Cape Town on the south east coast. We took a taxi from the airport to our hostel for about 30 dollars. As we neared our hostel, Two Oceans, we fell in love with the area. It is full of old tall eclectic loft buildings with small businesses beneath. We went to our room and asked the receptionist advice for our first meal. We joked and said we wanted sushi and pancakes. He, with-out skipping a beat, directed us to "The Food Lover‘s Market." It was like a mini Whole Foods, with a small selection of
groceries and then a stop for pizza, sushi, pastries, and a full buffet with any salad or warm dish you could desire. The angels were a singin‘ in that moment. I hadn‘t had good sushi in a while, but it was incredible. The Food Lover‘s Market was a foreshadowing of what was to come.
In Cape Town, we walked down to the coastline and enjoyed some live music, a real mall, ate infinite amounts of food (noteworthy: real tex-mex with pitchers of frozen margaritas, grilled mushrooms, seafood galore, Malayan delights one
called "Bunny Chow" —imagine a bread bowl filled with rich curry stew for $2 and nothing to do with a bunny— hamburgers that blew America out of the water, alcoholic milkshakes (the traditional bar drink- the don juan, add any alcohol to a milkshake you want! Karibu tequila espresso mocha milkshake, murakaza neza to my mouth).
If you go to Cape Town, it is important to plan your trip around a Saturday for the Biscuit Mill Market. It is a combination of an indoor and outdoor market full of samples and everything local. We began by sampling cheeses, breads, hummus, pestos, olives, mushrooms, mushroom butters, sausages, jerky, and chocolates and desserts galore. Then we ventured into another room FULL of booths from local eateries. Waffles, pancakes stuffed with blueberries and ricotta, oysters, pizza, sushi, soup, eggs benedict, paella, shwarma, Indian curries, Asian stir-fries, local beers, and really in conclusion the world is that market and everything else is the matrix. Besides the food, you can also hike Table Mountain for a nice early morning into mid-afternoon day hike. If you aren‘t a hiker, you can at least see it from many places- and it is ravishingly beautiful.
Let me first remark on how remarkably adaptable human beings are. Think about how you first arrived in Rwanda and the first thing that threw you off. Mine was using a toilet with a huge sign that said do not flush the toilet paper. I was puzzled about where the right landing zone for it could possibly be. But soon, western toilets were a huge treat- and throwing the paper in the waste-basket nearby was routine. The converse is the same. We arrived in South Africa and were awestruck by airplane food, sliding doors, cushioned chairs, and tall ceilings. Although I think I appreciated everything infinitely more, it still wasn‘t as monumental minute by minute as I had expected it might be.
Last August, we arrived in Johannesburg airport and spent the night only to immediately take another plane to Cape Town on the south east coast. We took a taxi from the airport to our hostel for about 30 dollars. As we neared our hostel, Two Oceans, we fell in love with the area. It is full of old tall eclectic loft buildings with small businesses beneath. We went to our room and asked the receptionist advice for our first meal. We joked and said we wanted sushi and pancakes. He, with-out skipping a beat, directed us to "The Food Lover‘s Market." It was like a mini Whole Foods, with a small selection of
groceries and then a stop for pizza, sushi, pastries, and a full buffet with any salad or warm dish you could desire. The angels were a singin‘ in that moment. I hadn‘t had good sushi in a while, but it was incredible. The Food Lover‘s Market was a foreshadowing of what was to come.
In Cape Town, we walked down to the coastline and enjoyed some live music, a real mall, ate infinite amounts of food (noteworthy: real tex-mex with pitchers of frozen margaritas, grilled mushrooms, seafood galore, Malayan delights one
called "Bunny Chow" —imagine a bread bowl filled with rich curry stew for $2 and nothing to do with a bunny— hamburgers that blew America out of the water, alcoholic milkshakes (the traditional bar drink- the don juan, add any alcohol to a milkshake you want! Karibu tequila espresso mocha milkshake, murakaza neza to my mouth).
If you go to Cape Town, it is important to plan your trip around a Saturday for the Biscuit Mill Market. It is a combination of an indoor and outdoor market full of samples and everything local. We began by sampling cheeses, breads, hummus, pestos, olives, mushrooms, mushroom butters, sausages, jerky, and chocolates and desserts galore. Then we ventured into another room FULL of booths from local eateries. Waffles, pancakes stuffed with blueberries and ricotta, oysters, pizza, sushi, soup, eggs benedict, paella, shwarma, Indian curries, Asian stir-fries, local beers, and really in conclusion the world is that market and everything else is the matrix. Besides the food, you can also hike Table Mountain for a nice early morning into mid-afternoon day hike. If you aren‘t a hiker, you can at least see it from many places- and it is ravishingly beautiful.
In addition to being in Cape Town city we took a few day trips. We did a wine tour for a day for $60. Our guide played different types of native South African music during the drives and was very in-formative on everything wine and everything South African. The scenery was lovely and in short, we learned a lot, tried a lot of wine, and tried a lot of cheese and chocolate. It was a day of
being pampered, and I think we needed it. Then, we saw the great white sharks! I am not sure how I got talked into this, or how I did it, but I did and it was a delight. We drove through the mountains and found ourselves amidst a striking countryside. We ate a quick breakfast and filed into a boat off into the deep blue. The boat stopped and within 2 minutes a great white shark ap-peared. It was indescribably LARGE! And fearsome. |
The trip was worth the $200 dollars and even if you are afraid of large sea creatures, you can handle this. However, if you get seasick you might want to consider wine tour or a different activity. On the way home we stopped in an area known for having whales migrate closer to shore than anywhere else in the world. sunset. It was incredible.
We took a 2 day trip to the Kaulk Bay/Simon Town area, along the eastern coast. I believe every great city in the states has one street that is just the best: full of eclectic shops with a delicious variety of food and a general good vibe. South Africa is full of those streets! Every one of them felt tailor-made to my desire. In Kaulk Bay you can enjoy wandering about along the
coast, eating Cuban food, street side grilled seafood, delicious bakeries, and even go fishing in the sea. In Simon Town you can do those things but also see penguins in their natural habitat! It was only 6 rand and so precious. Both of those locations can be reached by a cheap train. We were told to go during the daytime only on the train, to avoid safety issues.
We went to the Apartheid Mu-seum in Jo・burg instead. The museum was phenomenal. We spent 3 hours there and maybe finished 1/3 of the museum. That is a small window into how complex the Apart-heid years were and how the problems still reverberate into the daily life here.
Originally, it felt like a paradise, and a perfect place to live for a few years after PC service. After being there for a few days I began to feel the history creep up and realized that living there would require cautiousness similar to living in America during the civil rights movement. They have come a long way since 1991, but the segregation still exists. We never felt threatened by crime, but our friend who was driving us around was told to never stop at a stop light at night. That threw things into perspective, the fear is real.
Living in Rwanda for this long has been a small reminder that nothing is as it seems. Rwanda is still the prettiest country I have ever visited, but the cultural backdrop is complicated and difficult to navigate at times. Our friends here are also beautiful and sometimes sim-ple on the outside, but there is a depth of trauma and enigma that is painful to think about.
South Africa is a paradox, per-haps more than most other countries. There is extreme wealth alongside extreme poverty. This is a problem in many developed and undeveloped countries, including our own, but here it slapped you in the face on every highway and the correlation with skin color is unde-niable. They are shacks unlike what we see in Rwanda, crushed to-gether, dirty, and really an eyesore against such beauty. They are also divided racially- between blacks and "colored" which traditionally means any color besides white or black- typically Asian. I asked if there were any white people living in the shantytowns, and the answer was unclear.
The divide, the openness of which it is discussed, the contradiction found between black and ―colored‖and how they have been treated over the years, combined with the unequal distribution of wealth makes South Africa・s complication more than I would care to handle as a resident. However, being there as a PCV tourist made me more sensitive to that dynamic, but also perhaps a bit tougher in how I handled it on a personal level. You can tour a shanty town- but we chose not to. We felt like in Rwanda we were experiencing poverty enough, were being stared at enough, and didn・t want to be the "starers" either.
It is an option you could endeavor upon if you wanted and I・m sure you・d get a good home cooked meal out of it.
Paradoxes and dichotomies like the ones seen in South Africa humble us and give us new perspectives when we travel, adding unexpected complications to our worldview. Perhaps this is exactly what makes the world worth exploring whilst enjoying the small parts we can during our short time here.
We traveled with a topnotch group of PCVs which made planning and experiencing grand. We met some lovely people along the way, who shared their knowledge, experiences, resources, and hearts with us. In my opinion, this is what travel is about, and if you follow these rules I think your experience in South Africa will be a grand one.
Maagie vol Ogies toe!
Which in Afrikaans means, "Stomach・s full, eyes closed."
We took a 2 day trip to the Kaulk Bay/Simon Town area, along the eastern coast. I believe every great city in the states has one street that is just the best: full of eclectic shops with a delicious variety of food and a general good vibe. South Africa is full of those streets! Every one of them felt tailor-made to my desire. In Kaulk Bay you can enjoy wandering about along the
coast, eating Cuban food, street side grilled seafood, delicious bakeries, and even go fishing in the sea. In Simon Town you can do those things but also see penguins in their natural habitat! It was only 6 rand and so precious. Both of those locations can be reached by a cheap train. We were told to go during the daytime only on the train, to avoid safety issues.
We went to the Apartheid Mu-seum in Jo・burg instead. The museum was phenomenal. We spent 3 hours there and maybe finished 1/3 of the museum. That is a small window into how complex the Apart-heid years were and how the problems still reverberate into the daily life here.
Originally, it felt like a paradise, and a perfect place to live for a few years after PC service. After being there for a few days I began to feel the history creep up and realized that living there would require cautiousness similar to living in America during the civil rights movement. They have come a long way since 1991, but the segregation still exists. We never felt threatened by crime, but our friend who was driving us around was told to never stop at a stop light at night. That threw things into perspective, the fear is real.
Living in Rwanda for this long has been a small reminder that nothing is as it seems. Rwanda is still the prettiest country I have ever visited, but the cultural backdrop is complicated and difficult to navigate at times. Our friends here are also beautiful and sometimes sim-ple on the outside, but there is a depth of trauma and enigma that is painful to think about.
South Africa is a paradox, per-haps more than most other countries. There is extreme wealth alongside extreme poverty. This is a problem in many developed and undeveloped countries, including our own, but here it slapped you in the face on every highway and the correlation with skin color is unde-niable. They are shacks unlike what we see in Rwanda, crushed to-gether, dirty, and really an eyesore against such beauty. They are also divided racially- between blacks and "colored" which traditionally means any color besides white or black- typically Asian. I asked if there were any white people living in the shantytowns, and the answer was unclear.
The divide, the openness of which it is discussed, the contradiction found between black and ―colored‖and how they have been treated over the years, combined with the unequal distribution of wealth makes South Africa・s complication more than I would care to handle as a resident. However, being there as a PCV tourist made me more sensitive to that dynamic, but also perhaps a bit tougher in how I handled it on a personal level. You can tour a shanty town- but we chose not to. We felt like in Rwanda we were experiencing poverty enough, were being stared at enough, and didn・t want to be the "starers" either.
It is an option you could endeavor upon if you wanted and I・m sure you・d get a good home cooked meal out of it.
Paradoxes and dichotomies like the ones seen in South Africa humble us and give us new perspectives when we travel, adding unexpected complications to our worldview. Perhaps this is exactly what makes the world worth exploring whilst enjoying the small parts we can during our short time here.
We traveled with a topnotch group of PCVs which made planning and experiencing grand. We met some lovely people along the way, who shared their knowledge, experiences, resources, and hearts with us. In my opinion, this is what travel is about, and if you follow these rules I think your experience in South Africa will be a grand one.
Maagie vol Ogies toe!
Which in Afrikaans means, "Stomach・s full, eyes closed."