Blogs from South Africa, Africa - page 576

Saturday, Professor Uphoff (the coordinator of our trip), had organized a group wine tasting tour of the Stellenbosch region just outside of Cape Town. A lot of South African wine is produced here, and my professor is really in love with the wine here, so we knew it was going to be a good time. I have to admit, I was a bit apprehensive about taking off for a wine tasting tour at 9am, but seeing as how we had an hour long bus ride, and a talk about the different winemaking processes, I only started consuming wine at 11:15 am, which is only moderately alcoholic. The first winery we went to was called Lounsford, and was the biggest winery we visited. Very commercial, but the grounds were well maintained and quite beautiful, with peacocks ... read more

Checked out of Ashanti this morning at 8am and went straight to Long Street Backpackers.. got the dorm room.. and woooh.. the room's on the 3rd storey.. and we have our own balcony overlooking long street! and the dorm has a private bathroom as well... 90rand/person/night.. nice place.. and Clinton (who owns the place i think) is really nice and friendly... you just got to love the atmosphere at great backpackers' hostels.. Went out for breakfast at some nice cafe.. then basically walked the town.. Ryan, who's the artistic type, brought me to this nice art gallery owned by Michael Stevenson.. he worked at a gallery in New York that mainly deals with African and Indian art.. so he has been going around the various galleries yesterday when i was up in the Table Mountains.. After ... read more

Things are progressing well with the study. I've been working closely over the past three days with Mr. Shakes Mathbula, a nurse at the Health Center. I've really just been observing and trying to figure out how best to work the study protocol into the day-to-day happenings of the clinic. The clinic itself is a government run establishment that is part of the Vhembe District Health Department. Its like any other primary care setting in the states. For the kids its mostly runny noses, colds, flu, immunizations and well child exams. Most adults present with similar complaints or they are receiving monthly care for more chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes, asthma etc. They do quite alot of pre-natal care and I was fortunate enough to sit in on a few exams, the two weeks of obstetrics ... read more

Friday 22nd June 2007 Hey!! Well time for holidays!! and off to South Africa! Kind of a reunion! Jacques (who lives in Cape Town or there abouts!) Simon (from Cornwall), Chris (from Haggis land) and myself all worked at French woods CHildrens camp in the USA 2 years ago and have all decided to meet up and do a road trip across South Africa so off we go! only managed to get 2 weeks off so have see how far we can get! Started with flying out of Cardiff via Amsterdam to Cape Town with KLM! and I have to say if our security checks are anything to go by were all very safe! either that or we all look like terrorists! I got accused of harbouring an offence weapon! was asked several times to ... read more

Something had changed back in Cape Town. The winter had arrived and with the winter there was a change in mentality. The hordes of German tourists had left the city and Long Street - that busy, loud waterhole for the Bazbuz crowd had calmed down to a pleasant evening stir at weekends only. The strollers (as the begging street kids call themselves) were busy storing glue underneath the man-hole covers, and the homeless added extra sheets of cardboard paper to their beds. Truly there was winter in the Mother City and it affected all its inhabitants, but the chilly nights hit the weak and marginalized, the hardest. Thick fog would cover the Cape Flats in the mornings and foghorns from the harbour would add a pleasant base to the sound of police sirens and the calls ... read more