South Africa

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Had a fabulously chaotic journey to Cape town. Delay in Dublin set it all off. On the plane to Madrid I asked the flight staff what the story was. Due to arrive at 12pm and next flight due to leave at 12:35. They said I definitely wouldn't make the flight to Johannesburg and that they had been given the message to tell us to go to customer service. Very odd, but they said it would take too long for bags etc and the flight wouldn't wait. So I had resigned myself to the fact that I would be staying the night in Madrid. Strolled up to customer service, stood behind 2 former pupils of mine and spoke to yer man at the desk. "but the flight hasn't left yet, here's the number, run for it!'. So i let others in the same boat as me know and we raced through
Barajas airport, caught the shuttle train, figured we'd keep going even though we figured it would be pointless. Made it to the plane only to wait for another 45 minutes as the staff were 'waiting for passengers from a delayed plane'!
Arrived late in Johannesburg only to be told I had to pick up my luggage and check in again. Another mad run (luckily my bag came out fairly quickly), this time with the help of a local porter who wanted 20 dollars for his services. Memories of Cuba came flooding back!! Gave him 15 in the end, because I figured he'd saved my shoulder a whole lot of bother! Made it to the flight by the skin of my teeth. Jesus Christ!!!

So got picked up in Cape Town by my dear old friend, William. White bloke of about 22. Had only been talking to him for about 1/4 an hour when I got the whole run-down of how much violence there was in the townships, plus how he himself used to steal cars for Muslim criminals (he had stolen over 70), that he had spent 3 months in jail, that he had been brought up in a children's home.. Was getting a bit worried that I'd got the wrong mode of transport, but he was actually a good sort!

Turns out that most of the drug problems in Cape Town are in townships like Mitchell's Plain, a Muslim area. So you have loads of gangland killings and robberies- I think it was 700 murders since the beginning of the year- in Mitchell's plain.Seemingly the new drug at the moment is called TIK, some sort of amphetamine, which is as bad as heroin and is taken by 90% of 16-24-year-olds in the 'coloured' (mostly Muslim) townships. Africans (blacks) don't really take drugs, so there were 'only' 400 murders in Khayelitsha township. However, rape is a huge problem in the black areas because, seemingly, the Africans believe they can be cured of AIDS if they are with a 'clean' young girl. On top of this, I think there were 4000 reported thefts in Khayelitsha and 9000 in Mitchell's Plain, according to an article in the paper that day. Just what you want to hear when you're fresh off the aeroplane having travelled for nearly 24 hours!

So, made it to the hostel. Went for a wander to buy yoghurt etc and had something to eat. Had been told only to turn left from the hostel, but not to go right as there had been quite a lot of muggings in that area. Felt fine, although didn't want to push things by staying out too late. Loads of variety of food in supermarkets and restaurants. Very health-conscious people from the looks of things. About 10 types of cottage cheese for a start! In general, the South Africans look very healthy. However, Capetonians could well be much better off than the majority of south Africans. Would need to travel around a bit more to check that. So apart from cottage cheese, sprouted veg, low GI breads and 100s of salads, they also have biltong, which is dried ostrich, springbok meat or beef. Looks a bit like liquorice, actually.

Loads of Asian food and restaurants here. I knew that there were quite a lot of people here of Asian origin, but I never realized how many. They have a whole quarter called the Bo-Kaap in the centre of town. They have their own halaal shops and mosques. These people are descended from slaves brought in from India and Indonesia in the 1600s. A lot of them are actually mixed race, however, as the female slaves were kept in the slave lodge on Adderley st to 'service' the poor old Dutch sailors as they came off the ships. They were the ones who 'invented' Afrikaans, the funny Dutch language that is spoken by a lot of people here. They got it from the Dutch originally, but then mixed it around and threw in a few Malay words along the way. The Dutch 'took it back' from the slaves, formalized it and made it their own. very odd, but that's why many people here of Asian origin speak Afrikaans.

Apart from Afrikaans and English, Xhosa is also spoken here. this is the language of the blacks in cape town. They make the maddest of clicking noises. Reminds me a bit of Quechua in Peru. Like somebody imitating the first part of a horse's clippety-clop or something like that. 11 official languages in South Africa in total, so it must be a nightmare in the courts where people have the right to have proceedings take place in their own language. Blacks had little or no education during apartheid, so I don't imagine there can be too many lawyers or judges who speak Xhosa or Zulu. Will take time for the new generation to finish college and get qualifications. The curriculum is the same for all South Africans now.

So, I'm rambling as usual. Going to send this now in case it gets lost! Will then continue!

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