pictures so far - it really is lovely here

check out these dresses!! this is grade 7 grad.... whoa.

serious posers

this guy was the happiest vendor i've ever seen - watched our car and posed with his goods. lovely man

welcome to Bo'Kaap - the first of the Group Act where only coloured people could live with the onset of aparthied.

it is beautiful! all the colours - wow. There was 4 film crews out in the streets this day.

don't you agree? I do!!

beautiful art on the building.

hmmm... this is at the district six museum. where things got real for me.
What a wonderful day I had on Friday. I went for a township tour with a lady who lived in district six and was removed from each and every home she had during the aparthied. She moved 27 times until she got married and gave in to the government and moved to a township. I learned about the differences of whites, coloured and black - these are okay terms here that I wouldn't typically use but this is what they say here - respectfully. I learned about so many things this day it was amazing - beautiful, sad, moving, thought provoking, and humbling more than anything. 

isn't this true.

welcome to Langa - the most "civilized" of the townships.
When the government created the townships they formed black townships, coloured townships, and white townships. Each level has different things - white has everything you could want, in the nicer areas of Cape Town. Coloured has things like sidewalks, a few schools, ability to have access to water, maybe bigger homes, yards even? black townships have one or two roads in, small houses - if houses are there or shacks, no running water, no schools and amazing things to me. The indifference created animosity between the different townships and each were taught to fear and not tolerate each other - terrible.

these are goats behind this cross. they take care of themselves in this area. this cross is to celebrate the life of a woman gunned down in a peaceful protest.

this is a home

awesome

wouldn't you love to live here/.

okay, so this is kayaleitcha. this township is the furthest from Cape Town proper. along with this comes the least amenities and the most crime.

most people can't afford electricity so they steal it. there are guys with ladders you can pay to hang up your cord. scary!

the close four toilets are the originals. there are new ones behind. each toilet services 8 family homes. in each home lives more than one family typically because if they have a bit of a yard they rent it to help feed their family and the bakyard family builds a shack. so really each toilet services 16 families. they are emptied ONCE a week - if they are lucky. that is around 80+ people using each of these toilets. imagine what that is like. gross. this township is around 1.1 million people... holy. and they are protesting by burning their garbage and many things everyday until they get more toilets and twice a week servicing. these are the first round of new toilets.

this is a  project that provides skills to women - they learn how to weave rugs and silk screen fabric to create an income. the proceeds - if any provide nutrition for children in the area. wow. this project is full of joy and hope in the middle of this terrible terrible area.

3 families live here. shack, house, and a tin corrugated home in the back.

this is a bed and breakfast... they use their proceeds to operate a project to encourage children to stay in school. power comes from education. they get donations from ALL around the world. While I was there Vicky recieved packages of pencils and pens and a cash donation from belguim and Denmark. awesome.

look at the roofing on these homes. wow. good thing its the dry season now.

she loves jeff.

she loves another jeff. Thank You Aunty Tina for sending these for this project.

this shows how close their homes are and the building in the back yards and the fumes in the air are from them burning tires for their protest today.

can you see all their power lines? ha. wow.

this is a different day... obvious? from my first weekend in south africa we went driving south from Cape Town proper. beautiful. this is the atlantic coast. you have to have a 5mm wetsuit to swim on this side.

this is a bay. hout bay to be exact. you can take a boat from here to see seals. i didn't....

mmm... i LOVE wine. and i charged my camera here. have i mentioned how great south african people are??? wow, the warmest people i've ever met.

this is true. but i haven't seen one yet. so i guess i should carry more food??

awesome

indian ocean - it looks warmer doesn't it??

awwwwwwwwwwwww

tee heee...

he likes me!

these are called hyraxes - they are related to the elephant... can you believe it??? me neither. they are soo cute and they eat those greens plants and chew all crooked. i like them.

its malting season so all the pengiuns are out of the water because they are not waterproof right now as they get new feathers.

fancy dancing.

he's coming to get me! yikes!

pretty

i miss my dog.

i thought this would freak lisa out. this woman put all this bird food in her hands and let the birds fly at her and eat out of her hands - sick.

wedding # 1

someone needs to feed these fish because if you look close one is alive - five are dead. ha ha

wedding # 2

these are my most gracious hosts! Barbara & Cedric. They are the kindest people in the world. Here they are taking off on a 10km walk - appropriately named "the big walk".

welcome to Robben Island

my host # 1. he is an ex-political prisoner.

the church

the school

table mountain and Cape Town from the island

me and table mountain. picture taken by a very kind dutch woman.

my next guide. an ex- political prisoner. explaining this is where nelson mandela spent the majority of his days in prison.

President Mandela's cell

thats it. thats all. how cruel.

yuck. but very interesting

razor wire

i love this.

ba ha ha ha ha.

going up table mountain.

thats robben island out there about 11 km off the coast

me. in case you forgot what i looked like. that devils peak just above my right hand and robben island behind that.

this is what all rock climbers look like right? just kidding, they were doing a photo shoot.

yikes. thats high

godzilla. ahhhhhhh

we were so high. literally. not doing drugs.

furry

the waterfront. very posh. very touristy.

nice sunset colours

my first giraffe

and my first hippo. this one won't bite me to death though.....