Peninsula Tour

A week ago today…

I awoke at 6:45 am and was out of the apartment by 7:30am, just in time to see the sun beginning to rise over Rondebosch, just a touch of pink and orange peaked over the far off mountaintops.  By 8 am, the some 400 study abroad students at UCT had boarded the coach buses for the Peninsula Tour, a tour of a lifetime.  I was innocent to the spectacular nature I would encounter, the horrific manmade poverty, and yet the dazzling of some unknown places.

            We made our way through Cape Town, passing a Hilton hotel, the World Cup stadium, the old World Cup stadium, and the Waterfront (the ritzy part of town).  After we made it through town, our scenic drive to the tip of the peninsula began.  The views of the Atlantic Ocean and the mountains were remarkable.  I snapped picture after picture of the dark blue ocean and the great mountains towering over us as we drove.  Our first stop along the way was Bantry Bay.  

We unloaded the buses, stretched our legs for ten minutes, and then hopped back on the road.  By a stroke of luck, I had happened to choose to sit in the window seat, and never have I been happier.  My face was pressed to the glass for the entire day of driving.  The views were much of the same on the way there, but every time the angle of a mountain changed even slightly, I was there to document it.  A little while later, we stopped again, this time at Simon’s Town.  In Simon’s Town we passed many vendors, selling their wooden masks and marble animal carvings, and walked on past to Boulders, a Table Mountain National Park.  There we walked down a rickety wooden pathway to the beach, where a plethora of tiny penguins were sunning themselves.  It was unreal to see these black and white animals walking around on the sand, coming in and out of the water, and climbing up the hills of greenery.  The sun was finally rising high into the sky and the ocean sparkled.

After driving a bit more inland, we stopped at a township called Ocean’s View.  As we slowed down into the town, the sites of rich mansions built on the mountains of South Africa were replaced with yellow apartment buildings, endless clotheslines between buildings, and blank stares of the citizens.  Trash littered the streets filled with dirty puddles.  The buses pulled into the community center, protected with barbed wire and guards, and parked.  We were shuffled into a gym packed with chairs.  After a short speech from the community center’s director, we were offered to help ourselves to the buffet tables full of food they had set up for us for lunch.  There was a sort of spicy salsa to eat plain, some rice and potatoes, some sort of red meat, and an assortment of beverages and deserts.  Once everyone had time to eat and settle back into their chairs, we were treated to performances by the community centers multiple talent groups.  We watched belly dancing, a young girls dance group, three older women dancing, a sort of theatrical mime/dance by two boys, a tribute to the younger Michael Jackson, along with hip hop dancing from older boys in the background, and listened to an acapella singer and two boys rapping.  All in all the lunch break was a great success and left me in awe at how well these young adults had excelled in such a condition as theirs.

Right away it was on the road again.  We enjoyed the scenic beaches as we traveled the final kilometers to Cape Point.  We parked, and immediately rushed from the buses to climb the stone path to the top of the point, where a lighthouse stood.  At the top, I felt like I was above all the world.  

I was surrounded by ocean, but beyond that could just barely see continued mountain ranges.  However, the lighthouse wasn’t actually at the farthest point of Cape Point.  You could only see the farthest point, which looked to be home to a smaller lighthouse.  Positioned next to the lighthouse we could reach was a pole with signs pointing to various major cities of the world, and their appropriate distance from Cape Point.  

From Cape Point was a great view of the Cape of Good Hope, neither of which are the southern most points of Africa, though many think they are.  As the number of people at the lighthouse grew, we made our way down the stone path and onto a dirt one leading to the Cape of Good Hope.  Walking along the edge of the cliff from point to point, I could see the white sand of the beach and the incredibly aqua colored ocean hitting its shores.  Never in my life have a seen such enticing water!  Finally, the whole group reached the Cape of Good Hope, just in time to take a few pictures and then head back down the mountain on a slippery zigzagging path.

At last by three we were back on the buses heading home.  This time we took a less scenic route, and the tour guide popped in a movie about the wonderful South Africa.  It was at this time that we passed many men and women selling firewood by the road, and I saw the group of people huddled by a brush fire, with the sight of mansions on the hill behind them in the distance.  The trip was successful, and I will forever by knowledgeable of the tragedies of the lives of many South Africans, and yet also of the beauty that appears untraveled at the peninsula.

Off to get ready for the first day of class tomorrow!

(The first picture is of Bantry Bay, the second of penguins at Simon's Town, the third is Ocean View's own Michael Jackson, the fourth is Cape Point, the fifth is the sign, and the last picture is of the Cape Of Good Hope)