Cape Town

Xhosa guitar player at the Water Front.
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Wendy and I (Tovah) arrived in Cape Town late to discover that our Hostel, the Ashanti (which had come highly recommended), was more like a frat house.  While the facilities were nice (wood staircase, airy entry way), the rest was lacking.  It was a dramatic rise in prices from our previous hostel (90Rand-no free internet, breakfast or hospitality- with other hostels ranging from from 55Rand to 80Rand) and it was grossly over booked.  They had 4 bunk-beds (the metal-rickety kind, not the nice quiet wood ones) per small room with little ventilation.  Plus, they had 1 kitchen + fridge for the 150 people staying there. It didn't help that we had spent the day wine tasting and then found ourselves in the room under the bar.  I really thought the ceiling was going to come down. On the flip side, we ran in Kirsten (our San Diego friend we met in Cintsa) and found that she'd be staying in Cape Town for a few days...or at least extended her stay in Cape Town to hang out with us for a bit longer.

Langa township, hanging with Mandi, one of the festival coordinators.
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Our first full day there was a Sunday.  Mostly everything is closed on Sundays.  The only area that was open was the water front, a very touristy area, but we headed there anyway.  We were glad that we did, as we found a small Xhosa (native Western Cape people) music performance going on, in the effort to promote the Xhosa Festival going on that week at the Langa township by the airport. Impressed by the gorge-like bow and 1 string instrument, we got a flier and some vague instructions on how to get there.

we sat in on an elderly dance preformance, let me tell you these women had more rythym in their orthodics than I will ever have

Kirsten, Wendy and Charlotte with their new african beads.
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We hit up some more craft markets at the Green Point market, but after Hermanus, we were a little marketed out.  From there Kirsten, Wendy and I decided to get some food at the large Pick N' Pay (the biggest super-markets can get in SA) to make dinner. For all of you that aren't familiar, most hostels have kitchens, for travelers (who are trying to make their money last) to cook. Wendy has developed her cooking skills with a delicious mushroom, onion, potato, tomato stew over curry rice dish that has been getting us by. It was good that we spent so much time working on dinner, because palisade at the hostel we met Charlotte (our new Dutch friend) who had come back from an exhausting day at the Cape Peninsula with a traumatic broken car story.

All of us frustrated with the hostel, Kirsten, Wendy, Charlotte, and I decided to move to the Zebra Crossing on New Church street (75Rand, quiet, and clean).

We had really wanted to go to the Xhosa festival, but the hostel, as well as the tourist office told us not to go to the township without a tour guide.  However, Langa was not one of the townships which have a tour.  We really just wanted a ride out there to see what was going on.  It took about 2 hours, but we finally got one of the tour guides to take us out there for 100 Rand/per person.  We're glad he did, because he also arranged to pick us up and when we got there found a friend to find a women to take us around to the different events.

Mandisa (Mandi), our new guide, who was on of the Xhosa Festival's organizers who was kind enough to take us under her wing cause she had a few hours to kill, led us around.  First we sat in on an elderly dance performance, let me tell you these women had more rhythm in their orthotics than I will ever have.  Then we were led to a music class for teens led by a very interactive french man who demonstrated the importance of group music and tonality with little plastic tubes and traditional Xhosa instruments.  It was highly informational.  We tried to stress to the festival organizers the importance of informing the tourist about the event and insuring them it was safe to come to the township or even busing them there, which they have taken under consideration and will work on it on for next year.  This festival happens Nov. 13-19, every year.

In the township, we visited a home of a 18 person family.  About three people sleep in 1 single bed.  Many of the people have come there because their family have promised they can find work in the city, however, after all that, they do not find work and get frustrated by the poverty.  One man threw a glass bottle at us- not to harm us (it clears us by 10 feet), but out of frustration and anger.  The wealth gap and the governmental corruption is said to be bad here, we have only seen the financial strain on the lower class.  For instance, the women who clean the hostels make about 50 Rand/day, that's less than $10.

That night was Charlotte's last, so we went to Mama Africa's on Long Street.  It's a traditional African restaurant with live music and dancing.  It also provided a large game selection on the menu.  I had crocodile, it taste like a mix between Mahi-Mahi and chicken. A few drinks into the night Charlotte and I got to talking about diversity in Holland, and some how it came up that I was Jewish, I though her bottom lip had fallen down, as she said (in a Dutch accent) "Wendy too?  but you don't have big noses... I like you though.. this is nice, all i ever heard about jews is negative, you're not like that."  I was in hysterics, she is a very intelligent person, on her way to be a doctor, yet she plainly hadn't met any jews before. So one person at a time Wendy and I hope to change the world's view of American Jews.  The rest of the night was spent dancing away.  If Charlotte got a rand for every dance she was asked, we could have bought some Crystal!  We ended the night with some African Beaded bracelets and waking up sleeping Kirsten back at the hostel to give her the presents we got her there.

The next morning was a mad dash.  Trying to get ready at 7 to meet Brenda and Pascal for our venture out to Cape Peninsula, while trying to say bye to Kirsten and sleeping Charlotte (which we were very sad to do as we have really loved the time we have spent with them).  Not to mention that Wendy and I had promised to bring some signature cheese and tomato sandwiches with special spice (ie, the spice we'd used since we've gotten here chili-garlic mix- no MSG).