Nearing the tip of the world

A few touristy moments in Cape Town:

False Bay coast line, as seen from the train

African penguins at Boulder's Beach

The changing houses at St. James Bay

Simon's Town

View of Lion's Head after a long Table Mountain hike (Robben's Island in the distance)

I apologize for the lack of South Africa posts; I've been here for 5 weeks now and I'm leaving for Argentina tomorrow. It's been difficult to find cheap enough internet to justify spending the time to update, but I suppose it's better late than never. If I have time tonight or in the airport I plan to write about some of the amazing things we've learned and the places we've stayed, but for now I'll just give the basics:

2 weeks: Homestay in Langa, a black township

2 weeks: Homestay in Bo-Kaap, a coloured, Muslim neighborhood near the city center

1 week: Vacation!!! visited family friends in Stellenbosch, the beautiful, mountainous wine country of the Western Cape

What stood out:

- Gorgeous... South Africa is beautiful. The mountains, the ocean, the fynbos (the cape's flora and fauna), the vinyards, the animals, the people... it's an incredible country.

- Apartheid: still exists. Or rather, the legacy of apartheid is incredibly apparent everywhere I was these last five weeks. The country has an incredibly progressive constitution, but little has changed in terms of lessening inequality between races and spatially integrating the fragmented landscape.

- Crime. crime. crime. crime. We heard about it ALL the time. Essentially, we learned, no one feels safe anywhere in the Cape Town area. Or rather, no one feels we (the Americans) are safe anywhere. It becomes a euphomism for racial tensions, though, and everyone seems to put the blame somewhere else.

- Minibus Taxis. These are possibly the most interesting forms of transportation I've ever seen. How it works: you go to a minibus taxi rink, find your destination (much like a train station, but outdoors), and go get in line for the next bus. When the bus pulls into the rink, you get in and wait - however long it takes - for the minibus to fill up with passengers going to the same destination. If it takes an hour for 12-14 people to get in, then too bad- you're going to be waiting for an hour before moving. Once the driver gets enough passengers to leave, we all pass our fare up to the front seat. Occasionally someone associated with the driver is collecting the fares, but often this is a self regulated process. So the four people in the back seat give 5 rand to one person in their row, who passes it up a row while saying the number of people for whom the money is paying. Those people in the third row in turn do the same, collecting the money and passing it forward, saying "8." In this fashion everyone in taxi pays for their ride only once the bus starts moving. It's a very trusting system. Trusting that the passengers will pay once the bus has started moving, and trusting that the other passengers won't steal the fares from the people in the back of the taxi.

Don't misunderstand- the minibus taxi is no luxury ride. There may be 16 people in one van, and some will be sitting on crates or laps. The drivers might be crazy, and they may not stop exactly where you want, but the unbelievable part is that they work.

That's all for now, folks. Stay tuned for more notes on gentrification, violence and identity in the arts, HIV, and Coca-Cola.