The Travel Saga That Wouldn't End

May 8-10

So our trip home from Cape Town turned into quite the adventure. Even before getting to the airport in Cape Town to leave, we all got emails saying that our flight out of Joburg had been changed, and was now leaving three hours later, which threw off a lot of people’s connecting flights. Under this itinerary we were supposed to leave Cape Town at around 1:00, get to Joburg at about 3:00, and then leave Joburg at 9:30. We all got checked in just fine in Cape Town, with all our bags checked and we got through security with plenty of time to spare. At this point in time, all of us were just ready to be home. Even though I had a great semester, when it comes to the actual traveling I would rather just skip it all and get home.

About 20 minutes before we were supposed to start boarding our flight to Joburg, the departure screens announced that our flight had been delayed until 4:00. We just took that in stride, and figured we could sit in the Cape Town airport just as well as in the Joburg airport, so a bunch of just went and got lunch and started killing time in the airport. Around 3:45 the screens changed to show our new departure time, which was an hour later. Again, we just figured we would still be fine and resigned ourselves to some more time in the Cape Town airport. Hanging out in the domestic section of the Cape Town airport was not a lot of fun. There was one short hallway, three or four souvenir shops, a bookstore, a candy store, and a Mugg and Bean. Walking through the entire domestic section took a little under 10 minutes. Everyone started getting nervous as 7:00 approached, because we figured that was the latest we could leave and still make our connection in Joburg. Unfortunately, South African Airways didn’t have any employees anywhere near the gate to ask about when/if our flight would be leaving. We got a meal voucher at around 5:00, and overheard someone saying that our plane was having some technical problems. At 7:30 we finally figured we would miss our connection, so Katie and Will headed back out to the check-in counter to see what they could do about rebooking the 15 of us on another flight out of Cape Town.

We finally got on another flight at 9:30, about the same time our flight was supposed to be leaving Joburg. Miraculously, all 15 of us got on the same flight, which was surprising considering that every flight from Cape Town to Joburg that day was full. This short, two hour flight, was quite uneventful. We got fed dinner, or course (SAA is really good about feeding its customers all the time. On our two hour flight from Windhoek to Cape Town we got fed lunch, and then received a big snack bag), and arrived in Cape Town two hours after our connection had left. While wandering aimlessly through the airport, we started wondering if we were going to have to sleep on the floor because the entire airport appeared closed down. However, we got lucky and ran into some SAA employees who apparently knew we were coming. But I have to wonder if they would have come looking for us if we hadn’t stumbled upon them. They called a shuttle for us and got us all hotel rooms for the night. We also got lucky, because all the cheap hotels were full because of all the problems they had earlier in the day, so we got to stay in a nice hotel pretty close to the airport. By the time we got everyone checked in and sent an email to our parents telling them about missing our flight, it was well past 1:00am.

The hotel was super nice, and the beds were amazing. This situation is why I always keep my toiletries with me in my carry on! The 15 of us flying together met for a breakfast buffet in the hotel at 10:00, and then headed back to the Joburg airport for a full day of dealing with the bureaucracy of SAA and the Joburg airport. First, we found some employees who seemed to know about our situation, and assured us that we were all on that night’s departure to Washingtn, D.C. (the only flight a day to D.C. left at 9:30 pm, so we were going to be stuck in the airport all day). Our next stop was to try to find our luggage, because some employees had told us our bags were in Joburg and needed to be rechecked for our next flight. We ended up having to go through a different security line in order to get to the lost luggage counter which was on the other side of customs. At that counter they looked at all of our checked bag receipts and told us our bags were in the basement, and would be checked for us to our final destination. After that we had to head back through customs to the check-in counter, where we got boarding passes and tried to check in for our flight. Well, of course it was too early in the day for us to check in, so we just had to stand around and wait. In the meantime, we discovered that one girl on our program somehow got everyone booked onto a connection flight from Washington D.C. to Minneapolis. As a result, we all had to wait in the customer service line to get our meal vouchers and to rebook our original connecting flights. That ended up taking over two hours, and for some people it was really difficult to get another flight to their final destination. For Tamara and me, it took about 45 minutes of standing at the counter before the ticket agent was able to get us booked on a flight to Seattle.

By that point, we were well within the time that we were allowed to check in for our flight, so we headed over to the counter to get our boarding passes. For about half of our group this stage went perfectly, so they headed through immigration and security. For about 7 of us though, we got to the counter and were told that we were flying on standby and might not make the flight. At this point several people started to get really upset, and we tried to explain that we had been told that we were all on the flight both the day before and that morning, and that we had our tickets. Well, some of the employees were really rude about that and told us that our tickets clearly stated that we were on standby. It took about another hour before all of us had boarding passes and were certainly on the flight out of Joburg that night. Thankfully after that debacle it was pretty smooth sailing to get onto our flight that night. However, we still had about six hours to kill in the airport before boarding for our flight. We watched a lot of tv on our computers, walked around a lot, and basically just tried not to go crazy.

Our flight was long, obviously, but not too bad besides the fact that I was not able to sleep at all. But at least I got to watch a lot of movies! We arrived in D.C. on time, and got through immigration just fine. However, getting through customs was interesting because none of our bags were there. At that point we just had to trust that our bags were in Seattle and go through customs in order to get to our gates for the connecting flights. My layover was only about an hour, which was just enough time to stretch my legs a little and get some Mexican food in the airport. It was the first burrito I had in four months! After that, it was just a short six hour flight and we were landing in Seattle! It’s amazing how short a six hour flight feels after sitting on a plane for 18 hours. Me and Tamara also got bumped up to economy plus, which was a little exciting, although for the third flight in a row I had a middle seat (the downfalls of having to rebook all the flights, I guess). One of my seatmates was really friendly, and we ended up talking for a while. I eventually found out that she had worked for USAID before retiring, and was actually friends with the USAID employee we had met with in Windhoek.

Anyways, we arrived in Seattle and were happy to say hi to Tamara’s parents, and were even happier to see that our bags truly were safe in Seattle! Apparently, the luggage people in Joburg lied to us, and our bags had actually arrived the day before and our bags weren’t in Joburg when they told us they were. But then my parents arrived, and I was able to go home!

It was quite the adventure, and I was really happy to be home! I spent over 22 hours sitting in airports in South Africa, having no idea what was going on or when I would get home. I also spent over 26 hours sitting on planes, and went through security four times for my three different flights. Almost enough to make me not want to fly again (but of course I will, since I want to travel all over the world).

Wine, Seals and the end of a Semester

May 6

This was our “re-entry” day in Cape Town. After saying goodbye to Claire early in the morning, we headed to a vineyard in wine country to discuss how it was going to be to return to the U.S. and our “normal” lives there. We spent all morning talking about things we learned during the semester that changed our lives, and then talked about things that might be an issue for us upon our return home. Some of these were simple, like wondering about how it would be to come home and go shopping in a Target or Fred Meyer, because there aren’t megastores that have every department in Namibia. Other things that came up were how to share our experiences with people who do not want to hear anything besides a 10 second recap, how to accurately describe our academic program to people who thought we were traveling to Africa for a service trip, and how to deal with missing people and places from our program. It was an emotional day for a lot of us, but I am so thankful that CGE planned a day for us to discuss these issues.

the table was all set for our winetasting

After our last picnic lunch (a traveling tradition for our program), we got a tour of the vineyard and the wine making facilities before having a wine tasting. That tour was the first time I really grasped that it was fall in South Africa. Even though I knew that the seasons were different from home, and it was obvious that it was getting colder, but it never really hit me that May was fall. However, looking at the vineyard and seeing the fall colors, it was just a bizarre experience. The plants were red, orange, and brown, in contrast to the still lively grass and hillsides. I feel like I am quite the wine expert now! I know all about the differences between white, red, and blush wine, and why red wine has to mature, and how to correctly nose and taste wine. I still don’t really like wine, but if I need to appear knowledgeable about wine tasting, I can at least convincingly fake it now! The grounds at the vineyard were beautiful, and it was fun to have another day to hang out with all my CGE friends.

the vineyard with fall colors

the grounds at the vineyard - I can see why it is popular for weddings!

South African wine country

May 7

Last Day in Cape Town

On our last day in Cape Town, we had a free day to hang out or do whatever in the city. Some people wanted to go shark cage diving, but the ocean conditions weren’t right. I went with Patrick, Arianna, and Audrey to Hout Bay, where we took a boat trip to Duiker Island, where a colony of fur seals lives. It was a little bit of an adventure to get to Hout Bay, which is a ways outside of Cape Town. We ended up taking a taxi, and it was about a 35 minute ride. We didn’t really have a good idea of how long it was going to take, so we were all nervously watching the meter get higher and higher. Thankfully, there were four of us to split the fare.

Hout Bay is a cute little seaside town, surrounded by mountains, and the ride to Hout Bay went past some of Cape Town’s most beautiful beaches. The Hout Bay harbor was idyllic, and full of sailboats. Getting our tickets for the boat was pretty simple because I had called ahead to get our names on the list. While we were waiting for the boat to leave we saw our first seals swimming in the harbor, along with the ones sleeping on the pier. The boat was pretty big, and filled with Asian tourists. We sat inside because we didn’t want to get soaked from the spray.

Hout Bay Harbor

our first seal in the harbor!

Patrick, Arianna, and Audrey having fun on the boat

the town of Hout Bay

It only took about 15 minutes to get out to Duiker Island, and the views were just spectacular. When we reached the island, we slowed down and circled it for a while, looking at the thousands of seals who lived there. Duiker Island is basically a hunk of rock stuck out in the sea, but it was just gorgeous with seaweed swirling around and waves crashing against the rocks, not to mention all the seals. We were also lucky because it was a perfectly clear and sunny day.

seals, seals, and more seals!

yep, I had a fun day!

After the boat trip we spent a little while walking around Hout Bay, especially on the beach. It was a nice little beach, with mountains rising up out of the harbor, and some protected sand dunes on the edge of the beach. Arianna and I scared some seagulls away on our sprint down to water, which was extremely cold! We ended up riding a route kombi back to Long Street, which was a fun adventure. We took a short, cheap taxi to the place where we could catch our kombi. The kombi was full of locals, and went all the way to Cape Town for only 10 rand (as opposed to our 45 rand per person first taxi ride). It reminded me of riding the maxi taxis in Trinidad, where they squish as many people as they possibly can in and just drop people off whenever they want off. The four of us were squished together in the back seat, and a nice guy helped explain to us how this kombi worked, and helped us get off the kombi at the right place, just a block or two away from our guest house on Bree Street.

Arianna running to the water

Later that afternoon I headed to the Two Oceans Aquarium with Katelyn and Hannah. I love aquariums, and would much rather go to an aquarium than go to a zoo, so we decided it would be fun to go see the Cape Town aquarium, which has marine life from both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. We walked downtown to the V&A Waterfront, which was a nice little walk. Along the way we discovered that there are canals in Cape Town! Along with the canals, we crossed some fun bridges and had an amazing view of Table Mountain and saw more seals sleeping on a pier. The aquarium was also a lot of fun. Hannah, Katelyn, and I played around and did all the cheesy little kid things, and we also got to see the penguins and carnivorous fish be fed!

canal in Cape Town

Table Mountain with the infamous "tablecloth" - the cloud that regularly covers the mountain

seals at the pier

even though Cape Town is famous for its sharks, this was the only shark I saw

Katelyn and Hannah posed for this picture - I don't know if they were actually this fascinated

After dinner that night, a bunch of us went to Mr. Pickwicks (a bar/restaurant) for milkshakes and karaoke! Our group took over more than half the room, and we had a lot of fun going crazy and celebrating the end of our semester in southern Africa. For all you who are wondering, I did sing some karaoke (twice, even!). My strategy is to pick a fun song that other people will want to sing along to, so that their energy can overshadow how horrible my singing is. All in all, it was a fun last day in Cape Town!

PENGUINS!

May 5

This was probably my favorite day of the semester, or at least in the top three. In the morning we headed to Cape Point, which is a part of Table Mountain National Park. There, we got to visit both the Cape of Good Hope (the southwestern-most point in Africa), along with the more imposing Cape Point. Some say this is where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet, and it is a beautiful and stormy spit of land. Everything there was so beautiful! We hiked along Cape Point to the lighthouse, and spent some time clambering around on the rocks. Everything was so green and lush, even though it was a windy and grey morning. It felt so much like Washington! Big waves crashing against the rocks, green covering the rocks, and a lighthouse on the point. After hiking up countless stairs, I headed down to the beach, where I got to put my feet in the water. It was so cold! Cape Town was heading into winter when we were there (the seasons are opposite in the Southern Hemisphere, remember?), and the water was even colder than the Puget Sound. I love the beach and the ocean so much, and I really appreciated the chance to spend some time by the water. I would have loved to have spent more time there, but we had to head into Simon’s Town for a picnic lunch.

we saw a family of ostriches on the drive to Cape Point

view of the park

over there is the Cape of Good Hope

Cape Point was so much more impressive

the water was so blue!

these cities were so far away! the next land out was Antarctica

our furry little friend!

Katelyn and I on the beach

After our picnic lunch, we headed to the penguin colony! The African penguin only lives in and around Cape Town. We had glimpsed a couple on Robben Island, but hundreds of them live in Simon’s Town. Visitors have to stay on the boardwalks, but I didn’t really care because I was just so excited to see PENGUINS!!! It was just really cool, so here are some pictures.

the penguins lived on the beach!

a happy penguin :)

penguin friends

so many penguins! and the babies looked really fuzzy

isn't this beach just beautiful?

they also nested in the dirt

After our visit to the penguins we went to meet with Trevor Knowlden, founder of the Freewheelers bicycle club. Trevor founded this bike club to help keep the kids of Cape Town off the streets. Unfortunately, we did not get a chance to meet any of the Freewheeler members because we were running late, but Trevor let us bike around his township for a little while. That night was also our final group dinner, because Claire was leaving the next morning. Group dinners are always a bonding experience, and that dinner was so fun because we knew it was the last time all 23 of us would be together. Even though it was hard, knowing that Claire was leaving us and that we would all be leaving soon, it was fun to hang out with everyone.

Craziness in Cape Town

May 2

We left pretty early in the morning to catch our 9:00 ferry to Robben Island. The ferry is about a 30 minute ride through the Cape Town harbor. I sat on the top level of the ferry with some other people from our group. I figured I would get a better view from the top, but it was pretty cold. The V & A Waterfront is beautiful, and we were able to see it from the ferry.

view of Table Mountain on our boat trip to Robben Island. As you can see, it was a cold morning!

When we arrived at Robben Island we were immediately shuttled onto tour buses, which took us on the first half of the tour. We drove around Robben Island with a tour guide speaking about the quarries, the old town on the island, and the other buildings we drove past. One the bus tour we saw our first penguins! At one point we were able to get out and look in a small museum, get some hot drinks (it was really cold), and take some pictures of Table Mountain. After the bus tour we were taken to the main prison, where we had a little bit of time to walk around on our own and look at the exhibits in individual cells while we were waiting for our guide. At Robben Island they have former prisoners take tours around the jail, explaining how the jail worked and what it was like to a political prisoner in South Africa. We saw Nelson Mandela’s cell, the courtyard where inmates gathered, and the gardens Mandela planted during his time at Robben Island. After the quickest tour ever, we were rushed back to the ferry, with hardly a chance to glance in the gift shop. Although I was glad to get a chance to see Robben Island, the tour was one of the worst tours I was on in during my semester. I felt like I was just herded around, and just barely skimmed the surface of Robben Island. Robben Island is remembered as such a prolific scene from the apartheid era, but the tour was just disappointing.

Entrance to Robben Island

Quarry where the political prisoners worked

Nelson Mandela's cell

After a lunch on our own at the waterfront, in which we had a little time to look around the mall, we headed back to St. Paul’s Guesthouse where we met with Tim Jenkins. Tim Jenkins, author or Escape From Pretoria, was a white Afrikaaner who was active with the ANC in the fight against apartheid. He was eventually arrested and put into a prison for white political prisoners. He broke out, and returned to work for the ANC. Today he works on a new currency system, the Complementary Currency Movement, which aims to be a local alternative to the money system. Jenkins was really inspiring, because all semester we’ve been hearing about the evils of apartheid, and talking about privilege and oppression, so it was good to hear about white South Africans who were opposed to apartheid and fought to end it.

May 3-4

The next couple of days were a blur. So much happened, and I can’t remember exactly what the order of events is anymore.

One morning started with what was supposed to be a walking tour of the history of the slave trade in Cape Town. Cape Town was a large slave port during its colonial history. We started at a museum in downtown Cape Town, where we met our tour guide. My impression of her was that she was going on and on with bitter rants about how women and the gay and lesbian community were not treated well in Cape Town. Although her comments had some merit, she was just so bitter, and I wanted to learn about the slave trade, which I felt I did not really learn about. We walked to all sorts of places in downtown Cape Town, so I at least felt like I got to know downtown better!

Cape Town felt very European in the architecture. Views of downtown

Another exciting experience was our trip to the District 6 museum. District 6 was a mixed community, where whites, blacks, coloreds, Indians, etc. all lived peacefully together under apartheid. However, the apartheid government did not want any evidence that people of different races could live together, because that would undermine the entire principle of apartheid. This museum has collections of photos and mementos from the people who were forced to relocate, along with a map of the entire district. People are slowly starting to move back to District 6, but not everyone has that option. Some people don’t have the money to return, and other homes were bulldozed to make way for new buildings. When we were at the museum there were all sorts of cameramen setting up big cameras in the museum. Obviously, we were all curious about why they were there. One girl overheard that they were setting up one of the stations for the TV show the Amazing Race! Of course, being the travel nerds that we are, we got really excited and wanted to camp out and wait for the contestants to come. Unfortunately, Romanus made us leave the museum and head to our next appointment. We saw the camera crews again when we were walking through the Green Market to get to another destination. This time I think they were just filming some of the background color for the show, but we still wanted to follow the camera crews until we found the contestants. So although that was sad that we never got to camp out and wait, I’m excited to watch the show this fall, so keep an eye out for Cape Town!

Another morning we spent taking a kombi tour of some of the sites a non-profit works with. One part of this non-profit works at training unemployed youth, to give them necessary job skills so they can find work. Other places work to provide services to the community.

One meeting that really stood out to me was meeting with Alan Storey, a pastor at a large church in down town Cape Town. He was a white Afrikaaner, but was another example of how whites in South Africa really can work for change within the community. He works to make his church as inclusive as possible for all people, regardless of race, ethnicity, or income level. In addition to that, he also spoke about the burdens of privilege, and how hard it was for him personally to work on giving up his privilege so that others could have more. I think everyone in our group was very impacted by this, because it is something we have been struggling with during the semester. How do we bring social justice about in the world? And further still, what privileges do I personally have to give up in order to “level the playing field”, and make things more just?