Cape Town!

---

The bus ride to Cape Town took a maximum of 2 hours but was probably less. The bus driver was named Sidney and he was more of a tour guide! As we entered Cape Townand drove past landmarks and townships he gave us the rundown of the city. Finally we arrived at Sunflower stop with Bart and Kinsing too. The place is nice, but reception was already closed (it was past 8pm) and the bar tender showed us to our dorm. We thought we were in for a noisy night since the walls separated our room from the long hallway didn’t reach the ceiling (temporary aluminium) but after a few beers and dinner we were all very sleepy and slept really well! Next morning the boys left to go on their long awaited shark dive and we decided to sort some stuff out at the hostel before going to Robben Island. We walked about 40 minutes to the port where the boats leave from to go to the island… we arrived at 11.10 (underestimated the distance) and the boat left at 11. Luckily the last boat of the day didn’t leave until 1pm. We bought tickets for the 1pm ferry and waited at the dock and inside the Nelson Mandela museum that is part of the ticket office, and is included in the ticket price. It was interesting and one whole section is devoted to the football (soccer) teams that started on the island among the inmates and the reasons for this (including red-cross involvement). Finally the boat pulled up, we all went through a security checkpoint and loaded onto the ferry for the 20 minute crossing. When we arrived we piled onto some buses and our guide joined us, a very funny guy who was once imprisoned on the island and has given tours to people like Obama and the British Princes. He made fun of everyone and every country! But the information he gave was very interesting.
We drove around the island going through its history including why the Brits loaded it with rabbits and eucalyptus trees (sounds just like home!). We finally ended up being dropped at the main prison entrance to meet another guide on foot who was also a prisoner here in the 80´s and he took us to a group cell where 20-30 men were kept together with only 2 blankets to keep warm… one to sleep on and one to lie under. He showed us the ID cards each had to carry while in the prison, and the food lists, which were different according to race, blacks always had the worst food. It was so heart breaking to hear his story too. He then took us to Nelson Mandela´s cell in a section of the prison that was for what the apartheid government thought were more dangerous prisoners (politically) so they were kept in isolation and had an exercise area to themselves.
We walked back to the dock from there to take the last ferry off the island back to mainland Cape Town. We walked back to the hostel and went shopping for dinner as the sun was setting. We cooked and watched the women´s FIFA world cup match between Columbia and the USA. We went to bed early. Next morning we had thought we were going to Table Mountain, but it was all overcast and horrible so there would have been no point, not having a view from the top. After breakfast we were sitting in the common room and Bart asked if we wanted to join them and some of the staff (who were from Holland too) to go to a neighbourhood market nearby where they make amazing Dutch food, so we tagged along. 2 guys were driving so we all went in cars and parked near the market (some guys on the street mind your car for you if you pay them 10Rand… you don’t wanna risk not paying). We walked in and it was weird, basically all white people, obviously quite a rich market, but amazing! Once inside the pavilion there were stands selling fresh juices, amazing cheeses, olives of mso many kinds, sweet baked goods, fresh bread, and in the back area there were makeshift tables and chairs and food stalls from all over the globe! Indian curries, sushi, kebabs, pizza, burgers, game meat, biltong, and dutch food of course. We ate krokkant? It was deep fried, then put in a bread roll with mustard, very yummy! We went a bit nuts in there. Then we noticed the sky had cleared so we took a taxi to table mountain and bought tickets on the cable car. We got about 20 minutes at the top, walking around one of the tracks before the clouds closed in and eventually it started raining really hard, so we had to run back to the cable car and get one back down. The view before the clouds came over was stunning though.
When we got back to the hostel (another taxi ride) we did some laundry and shopping and got ready for the following day when we would be taking a 21 hour bus ride to Windhoek in Namibia. We had dinner and later Bart and Kinsing came in and we had drinks together along with others in the bar since it was our last night together! Next morning we said or goodbyes and took a taxi to the bus terminal. We had booked a sleeper bus, instead of the normal bus, I figured I didn’t want to try and sleep sitting up the whole way and it only cost a little but more money. We got on the bus (a double decker with a trailer for the luggage) and settled in. We had brought lots of bread rolls with sandwich fillings for lunch, dinner and breakfast plus almost every service station we stopped at we bought something snacky. We slept pretty well, the seats go back 150 degrees with a leg rest as well so they were comfy. We arrived in Windhoek at 7am and took an overpriced taxi to Chameleon Backpackers.

---

Photos

Nelson Mandela´s exercise area
where the inmates in his area could exercise for a few hours a day