Cape Town

Cape Town in between night time and sunrise, from the trail


Table Mountain and Cape Town, from the Robben Island ferry


All of Mandela's possessions inside his cell


The famous Robben Island pitch


Entrance to Robben Island

We intentionally had scheduled some time away from Joburg to both give Howard a break from having us living in his house, and for those of us who had never been to South Africa (this guy) to see some of the sights that make the country so famous. Having gotten a great deal on a flight to Cape Town (thanks Kulula Airlines, home of the 10 rand water), we jetted down to the city for a few days. I was lucky to have my own de facto tour guide with me, since Dan had lived in Cape Town for two months a couple summers ago.
After spending Saturday evening exploring the social life of Cape Town, we made our first tourist stop a visit to Robben Island the next morning. In spite of the rough morning seas making the trip out a bit nauseating, I recovered myself as we took a bus tour around the island. The views of Cape Town and Table Mountain are quite stunning, and make for a really fascinating contrast when one considers that this island was a prison for so many people fighting for equality. When the bus tour finished, we were introduced to our guide and the tour of the inside of the prison began. All of the tour guides are former political prisoners of Robben Island, and many (including ours) still live in the Island's small town alongside many of the former guards. As we walked through the grounds we saw the famous soccer field where the prisoners played in a highly structured and organized league, a mass cell where over one hundred prisoners would be crammed in every night, and the still-maintained cell that belonged to Nelson Mandela. I can't imagine what it must be like for the former prisoners to now be leading tours there; their capacity to reconcile their past and move forward is truly inspiring.
Thanks to our new friend HuGo Martinez (I don't quite get why he capitalizes the G either, but to each his own), we had tickets to attend the Portugal-North Korea match the next day. On a typical rainy winter day in Cape Town, it likewise rained goals on poor North Korea. I realize it is odd for an American to pity North Korea, but any time a team loses 7-0 but does so with class one has to be at least a little sympathetic. The classless Portugal players celebrated their seventh goal like they had just won the tournament, while the North Korea players never quit and kept working in spite of the insurmountable deficit. Say what you will about their politics, but I love the way they play soccer. They don't dive, They don't commit cheap fouls, and their work rate is relentless. We even ventured over to their section to meet their "fans," who allegedly were actually Chinese people paid by the North Korean government since, you know, it isn't exactly easy for someone to leave North Korea. It was like being at a zoo in their section, with countless fans coming down to take pictures of and with the fans. I felt kind of bad at making such a spectacle out of other people, but they seemed to be enjoying the whole thing, and were happily posing with everyone who came down. They had some great plain red polo shirts with North Korean flags on them and we tried to trade shirts with them, but the language barrier proved to be too significant for such a transaction, and even the universal language of hand signals did not suffice. I will try to post some of the photos we got with them.
Our last big adventure in Cape Town was an early morning hike of Table Mountain. It isn't a terribly big mountain, but we had to go early if we wanted to make our flight in the afternoon. We arrived at the trail before the sun was even up, and got to watch the sunrise as we made our ascent. Even though we were both very tired from getting up at 6 AM (some vacation!), based on the photos we got I'd say it was completely worth it. Looking at the series of photos from when we started to when we reached the summit is a really neat progression, and even my crappy camera did a nice job capturing it. The view from the top is outstanding, as you get a 360 degree view of all of the surrounding towns, mountains, and coast line. I also enjoyed getting my first exercise of the entire trip, and it was sorely needed.
We flew back to Joburg that afternoon, but instead of returning to Howard's we rented a car and took the 45 minute drive to Pretoria, site of the US' final group stage game against Algeria. Another legendary hostel experience awaited, as well as a nerve-wracking game that I would more likely describe as "stressful" rather than "fun."