cape town and the new plan

alright...what's going on in the us? have you stopped reading my blogs? do you no longer love me? is it just because my parents moved and don't have internet yet, and since my mom is an avid commentor, my blog is going through a dry spell? just curious.

so, i have found an extremely inexpensive internet cafe in cape town, and since i'll be here for a week (yes, you heard me right...more in a minute), i'll be sure to try and get a lot of internet time in before getting back to sea.

and speaking of getting back to sea... the official change in itinerary has been made. we are spending an extra two days in cape town, setting sail for six days and spending three days in mauritius. if you don't already know, mauritius is a small island east of madagascar. if nothing else, it will be fun to lay on the beach for a couple of days. i'm still a bit sad about kenya, but there's nothing that can be done, so i'm not going to sit around and mope.

today is day two in cape town, and so far i've really enjoyed it. the thing about cape town is that it's a very modern city. if you just plopped me in the middle of the city without any clues as to where i was, i could easily be in a modern us or european city. this is another reason i'm sad about missing kenya because i won't get the opportunity to see a different side to africa. but again, i'm not complaining! just allowing myself a little disappointment.

sailing in to cape town was amazing. in the background of the city lies table mountain. this mountain is very large and looks completely flat (hence the table). at sunrise, the sky was clear, but shortly after, you could see the clouds come in settle on top of the mountain. this happens frequently, and it is called the table cloth. in addition to this amazing sight, as we were getting closer to docking, we saw a whale. i was only able to see its tail come out of the water, but i saw it a couple of times and it was amazing! what a way to start off a day!

the pier at which we docked is similar to the pier in san francisco. there's a big mall and lots of shops, so it's really important to get out of there to find more reasonable prices and more authentic stores. yesterday, we did just that. we wandered out of the waterfront and down to green market square, which is a little flea market-type environment. it was good to walk around and get a feel for place since i definitely will go back to do a bit of shopping. after having a great lunch, we headed to table mountain.

there is a cable car that takes you to the top of the mountain. once on top, there are a number of trails that you can hike, looking down upon the city from all directions. we spent about an hour up there, and i did more walking than i've done in a week at sea! the weather can change in a minute (literally), so one second i was standing in the sun and the next i had my rain jacket on because it was sprinkling.

we got back to the ship just in time for me to throw a different shirt on before heading to the khayelitsha township, one of the cape flats townships that were set up as a result of apartheid. i attended a music presentation there. our tour guide told us all about the different townships as we were driving to the community center. there are some homes that are one room houses, but they are built of brick. those are government subsidized houses that have been created after the apartheid government. the other homes, the ones created as part of the original townships, are less than shacks. our guide told us that people were given a bush as property, and they cut down the bush to create a "home." it felt so awkward driving through these homes in a tour bus. i have a lot more to say about this visit, but i'm almost out of time, so i promise to continue during my next blog.