I had such a humbling day.
CIEE took us on this drive along the coast of Southern Africa, which is known as the Peninsula Tour. It doesn’t fully compare, but it’s a bit similar to the drive along Big Sur in California. The beauty is breathtaking and you can just sit, breathe deeply and enjoy the place your in for what it is. Locals do this supposedly as a weekend activity whenever they need a break and want to see something beautiful for a few hours. I think it’s been a highlight for me!
The buses took us through the different neighboring towns along the coast. After leaving the city we went through Sea Point Beach, which reminded me a lot of Tel Aviv. The wellness culture was on fire with people running along the water, biking, walking their dogs and working out in the outdoor gym. I want to go there one early morning and go for a nice long run along the water.
Next we passed Camps Bay, which is the nicer beach town. They call it the land of the rich and beautiful because the houses are huge and the people are bronzed from living so close to the beach. There was this adorable and amazing hotel called the Ambassador Hotel in the hills overlooking the ocean. Shout out to my Mother who may want to check into that when she comes to visitJ You would love!
I was also exposed to one of my first burial sites I’ve seen since coming to Cape Town. It’s called the Holy Burial Site and honestly I would love to be laid to rest there. It’s absolutely beautiful up in the hills overlooking the beautiful ocean.
The next townn was Clifton, another stunning beach. It’s a lot quieter and their isn’t a little happening town, but it’s the place you go if you want a nice empty beach. We got out and took pictures because it was so picturesque. I wrote down the address, 10 Victoria Road, because I want to go back with my family and go there with friends to watch the sunset. We passed another beach called Sandy bay where our driver told us it’s known for its nude beaches. Too funny.
It was cool having a driver/ tour guide. He was so passionate, yet again as most locals are, about Cape Town. He spoke about the unemployment rate, which is 25.4% here. Wild. Back at home its only 4%. Really puts it into perspective
After turning the corner from the beach towns our bus pulled into this run down, impoverished town. We thought he had made a wrong turn or a mistake when he said we would be here for the next three hours. I wished I hadn’t prejudged the situation because the experience that I had at the Ocean View Community is something that I will most definitely hold on to for a really long time.
Ocean View is a post apartheid town. When people were forcibly removed from their homes because of the apartheid government system, some reestablished their residence in Ocean View in the late 1960’s. When the town was developed there were no streetlights, no roads, no infrastructure, no nothing. It’s crazy the wealth disparity because this town is located right around the corner from Camps Bay, one of the most expensive areas to live in Cape Town. It reminded me of the LA wealth disparity.
It has many different religions represented, but mostly Muslim and Christian. No jews. There are 2 primary schools and 1 high school, which has about 1000-1500 students and only about 50 “educators.” Extremely tragic that there is not enough teachers. Because of the layout of the community, the breakdown of the people, the lack of resources, opportunity and support both physically and financially, a lot of the youth in Ocean View end up dropping out of school and hanging out in the streets. To combat this effort a community was built called “The House of Art Vibrations.” It is a community for developing youth. It keeps them off the streets and doing drugs. There are 803 students and 97.3% of these students come from dysfunctional families. It has been in operation for 27 years and the community fosters creativity, dance, music and singing.
The House of Art Vibrations took us into their center and fed us a delicious home cooked meal. They even had a healthy vegetarian option with lentils, rice, veggies, fruits and salads. After we ate the woman that ran the center came up to introduce the ‘entertainment’ for the proceeding hours. The students were going to be showing their talents and putting on a little show for us. Her name was Alvin and she was androgynous. How cool for her to be doing what she is doing and educating youth not only on the value of finding hope in a broken situation, but also on loving and embracing who you are.
Here were some of the amazing performances that we saw: A mother and son slow danced together and they brought up 2 people from the audience to dance with them, the junior division in the school of dance which were 7 and 13 year old couples wearing polka dot skirts and suits- SO CUTE, 4 teenage beautiful girls sang “All About That Base” by Meghan Trainor. It was crazy to see how much international influence was a part of their lives. There was a dance with 3 girls and one flamboyant gay guy, “the Pop and Lock Division,” did three amazing hip hop performances to a few songs including Paradise by Coldplay. There was dancing, rapping, singing, ballet, a performance of “Make You Feel My Love,” a rapper who sang something titled, “Do My Thing,” more men came on and sang “My Girl,” a little girl did a hip hop dance with 3 guys, there was a 50 shades of grey themed dance, a dance crew called Krimson who competed in an international competition in Germany. It was AWESOME. I have been trying to attatch the videos I have taken, but it won't let me do it unless I embed that link into youtube and I don't have good wifi right this second :( I will share them though! These young people come from such broken homes and broken lives and when they were given this attention and love, they are empowered and able to grow and love themselves, while finding meaning in their lives. It was so inspiring. And they were exceptionally talented. All of these kids could be famous. Actually.
When the performances were over Alvin did a series of thank yous and good byes. She ended with a talk about appreciation; for those around us and her own appreciation she had for us coming today. She told us to repeat this line to our neighbors on our left and right and its something that really is beautiful. It’s going to stick with me. I am because you are. That was the line. I said it to my friends Carley, Meg and Isa. It warmed my heart. And I really think its true. Life is about building those deep connections.
I left feeling deeply moved and needed to write this all down. What a day!
We drove the rest of the peninsula afterwards. We passed the Cape of Good Hope, which is the Southern Most point of Africa, aka pretty much the entire world excluding Antarctica. We didn’t get out, but I will come back and do the official tour there. Nuts that I am in AFRICA??! What. We drove through Boulder’s Beach, which is known for having penguins and an adorable beach town. I will also need to go back there because we didn’t get to get out and explore these two highlights.
Last night I went to my favorite market: The Old Biscuit Mill! After I shopped around the neighboring vintage stores with friends. At night I went to a big dinner at night with some amazing people!
Tomorrow until Thursday I will be totally out of commission. I am headed on this trip called the Garden Route. The Garden Route is the name for the scenic stretch along the south-eastern coast of South Africa. It is famous for being a popular tourism route, highlighting the nature, wildlife and adventure opportunities while exploring the beautiful diversity of this country. We stay at awesome, beautiful hostels along the beach and meet fellow adventurous travelers along the way. I’m SO pumped. Below is my itinerary.
Day 1:
Cape Town to Sedgefield.
- Wilderness Canoeing
- Overnight Sedgefield
Day 2:
Sedgefield to Jeffrey’s Bay
- Bungy Jumping
- Tsitiskamma National Park
- Ziplining
- Overnight Jeffrey’s Bay
Day 3:
Jeffrey’s Bay to Oudtshoorn
- Surfing and shopping
- Cango Caves
- Overnight Oudtshoorn
Day 4:
Oudtshoorn to Cape Town
- Elephant bush walk
- Ostrich farm visit
Sweet dreams! Have to be up before 7 am