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Published: October 4th 2005
Skydiving, I went rocky mountain climbing, I went 2.7 seconds on a bull named fumanchu, and I loved deeper and I spoke sweeter and I gave forgiveness I’ve been denying. And he said I hope someday I hope you get the chance to live like you were dying. Like tomorrow was a gift and you had eternity to think about what you would do with it …
- Tim McGraw, “Live Like You Were Dying”
What’s the first thing comes to mind when you hear the word Africa? Quick, don’t think about it, just tell me what the first thing is. Whatever you said, I can guarantee that is not Cape Town at all. Each morning when I woke up I had to remind myself that I was in Africa because it didn’t feel any different than being on vacation back in the states. To be quite frank I was expecting a scene (with music as well) from The Lion King. Animals (Lions, Elephants, Cheetahs, Zebra, etc.), savannas, hot weather (the big orange sun), black men in loin cloths that don’t speak our language, grass huts, the cool trees that look like umbrellas… Yeah, that was not Cape Town at all. It was quite the opposite actually…
We docked at the waterfront, which was its own little lively town, nothing like Buffalo’s Waterfront at all. Although I’ve never been to Maine, this is what I envision Maine to be like. From the moment I set foot off the ship, I fell in love with this place. It was absolutely beautiful, clean, safe, and they spoke English!! There was a huge shopping mall, with so many stores and shops in it, right across from where we docked with many restaurants, hotels, and activities to do. The waterfront was very modern, very modern, this is a tourist haven. Laura says it’s like an American city, but I say its better. It was just beautiful, the mountains in the background, and the water right next to you. I’ve been living on the ocean for how many days and this was the first time I saw whales. Anything and everything you could ever want to do you can do here in Cape Town. I don’t think it’s fair to say that this is my favorite port, although I would come back here in a heartbeat. I think I just enjoyed it so much because it was familiar. It was a lot like America and I was comfortable here, I think that’s why I enjoyed it so much. The weather was cool; out of the 7 days we were here there were only 2 days when it was warm enough to take the hoodie off. The rest of the time, it was hard staying warm in jeans and a sweatshirt. It was exciting though because we got to Stay in Cape Town for an extra 2 days which was a pleasant surprise. Since were not going to Kenya for 5 days anymore we stayed an extra 2 days in Cape Town and will travel to Mauritius for 3 days (a little island east of Madagascar) So here are some of the highlights of my trip…
Table Mountain: We were up at the top of Table Mountain which is 3,000feet high. It’s a huge mountain that at one point, a couple million years ago, used to be an island. It is now a flat topped mountain right in the middle of the city. Hence the name table mountain, because it’s flat like a table. Anyway, you’re up there and you have a spectacular view of the city. You can see the mountains, the ocean, beaches, the city, everything. Up on top of the mountain I became enlightened and had a profound thought (work with me guys, this doesn’t happen too often :-p ): How do you think God feels? Seriously, we were sitting up there speechless as we were overlooking 1 tiny speck on the globe. It made me feel like it was Gods perspective on this world, except he can see all of the cities at once, AND HE MADE IT ALL! I can’t even comprehend how amazing that must be to create something that spectacular. I left in awe.
Cape of Good Hope/ Cape Point: The most south-western point in Africa. This is where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Indian Ocean. I vaguely remember learning about this in 10th grade Global or World Civ. or both of those classes. I was quite shocked and amazed that this information actually stuck with me, it was really neat to visit the places that I’ve “studied” for the past 15 years. Bartholomew Diaz was the first person to go around the Cape. It was kind of scary though because they have wild ostrich roaming around and hmm, those birds are scarier than wild turkeys, you all know my thoughts on turkeys, I don’t like them at all.
Quad-biking: Hey mom, remember that time we went golfing and I drove the golf cart into the tree? And you got mad because as we were approaching the tree instead of stepping on the brakes I just stepped on the gas harder… Well, luckily, my driving skills have improved greatly since then and I didn’t get into any accidents on this adventure. Oh man, I loved quad-biking. We went for a half day, from 9am until 3pm through the mountains in South Africa. It was intense. Up in the mountains it was freezing, so cold that you could see our breath when we stopped for breakfast, I needed my winter coat. The bikes were semi-automatic. I loved that too. I got to change the gears as we were driving on uneven terrain, up and over rocks and down steep hills. I really want to learn how to drive stick shift now. It took Laura a little while to catch on how to change the gears but I picked it up quickly. My motto for that day was “the muddier the better” If you don’t like getting dirty then this probably wouldn’t be very fun for you, well maybe you could pull it off if you drove slow but that’s really not fun either. I floored it through all of the mud and water and I was one big wet, cold, muddy mess when we finished but it was amazing! It was so much fun, and the best part was my video camera survived and after I wiped all of the mud and water off of it, it was in perfect condition. Now, my newest burning desire is to get a motorcycle; a cute little sports bike. So don’t be shocked when I come back to Buffalo and want to sell Sport for a bike and move to South Africa.
Skydiving: Skydiving was one of the most amazing things that I have ever done. That was one of my life goals, so I can now die a happy person. It’s so crazy. I wasn’t scared, and didn’t have butterflies in my stomach at all, it was so natural. I know, sounds crazy that it felt natural for me to be jumping out of a plane but honestly I am more afraid of talking in front of an audience than I was to jump out of a plane at 9,000feet. We jumped at 9,000ft, freefell until 3,000ft and then parachuted the rest of the way down. Good times. I totally recommend it. You don’t get the “rollercoaster” feeling or the scary “falling in your dreams” feeling. You’re just falling. DO IT! It’s a great rush. It’s so amazing, words can’t even describe it.
Winery: On our last day in Cape Town, we went wine tasting in the wine lands, I guess Cape Town is known for their wine. That was an interesting experience. It was the first time that I’ve ever done that, because, well, lets face it, I’m still not old enough to drink legally in my country. I felt very sophisticated. I don’t know why, something about drinking wine and eating cheese made me feel very sophisticated and grown up. I'm really not a wine person. I could tell the difference in the wines, but I don’t know, I still think I would choose grape juice over wine, it tastes better. We went to 2 wineries and tasted about 9 different wines, some white, and some red, some old and some new. Unfortunately I couldn’t buy any because were not allowed to bring alcohol back onto the ship and it would have been 4 times the price of the wine to try to send it back home.
Townships: There is a huge disparity of wealth in South Africa and it’s so hard to witness, and take in. On one side of the city it reminds me of California and Australia, although I’ve never been to either of those places, it’s what I imagine them to be like. Huge million dollar homes right on the ocean. There are beautiful beaches, curvy, 2 lane roads running parallel to the mountains, its clean and lively. It is a very upscale beach town. On the other side of Cape Town are the townships. This is where the people have no material possessions and live in shacks. While in the townships, knowing that I’m just like one of those people that live on the “well off” side of town because I have everything that I need in life makes it really hard. I think its difficult to witness poverty at any time or place, but to drive 20 minutes down the road and be back to modern, contemporary, very well off developments is just not easy. You look at the people in the townships, they are so beautiful; they have gorgeous eyes, insanely white teeth, beautiful skin but all we can see is how deprived they are, and feel bad for them. But that’s not how it should be because these people are happy and so full of life; and if I may, I will be as bold to say that they are the ones who should be feeling sorry for us. You look at them and think, wow! How do they do it? I couldn’t even imagine, going home to a house the size of my bedroom, with my 5 siblings and mother, with rocks on the roof to hold it down, newspaper covering the cardboard walls as insulation, dirt roads, no running water or electricity. I couldn’t even imagine, and on top of it, imagine going home to a place like that and being happy! But these people are so happy for what the have and not sad or depressed about what they don’t have. They have nothing, literally nothing. They live in shacks, cardboard shacks. Yet they are so happy and full of life. They are so excited, laughing, smiling, friendly, and gracious. It’s amazing. They have nothing, but if by chance they have something that their neighbor doesn’t have, they share. They love their families and share with their neighbors. It makes me sad because we as Americans (granted I know there is still poverty in our country as well) but we have everything that we need and most of what we want and we’re not content. We compete with our neighbors and try up them one. We are depressed and dissatisfied. We don’t say hi to people on the streets, we don’t smile all the time, and we take what we have for granted. That’s why it was so hard, because I am one of those people. It reminds me of a song by Chris Rice here are some lyrics from it:
“See you had no choice which day you would be born
Or the color of your skin, or what planet you’d be on
Would your mind be strong, would your eyes be blue or brown
Whether daddy would be rich, or if momma stuck around at all”
We don’t have a choice. We don’t choose where we are going to be born, who our parents are, the color of our skin, or what kind of “money” we are born into. You just gotta stop and think and Thank God for whom you are, because we have it so well and it could have easily been us on the other end. Knowing that I’m one of the lucky people to be born where I was brings up so many more questions in my head: why me? Why was I born white? Why was I born in America? Why do I have everything that I need? I don’t know, I can’t answer those questions, but I can’t tell you that I’m pretty damn lucky and fortunate that I am who I am, because I could have easily been born in a different time and place. Then on top of all of those questions and emotions roaming around, there is a sense of guild roaming around that it was me and not them that “lucked out.” But we can’t live in guilt or pity these people. Although they might not have any physical, materialistic possessions, they have the important things in life. They don’t want us to feel bad for them, they are happy because they have the love, faith and hope that we as Americans overlook because those are the things that you can’t buy. So trust God, spend time with your family, live life, learn new things, and don’t take anything in life for granted, because you are blessed… The government is actually doing a lot to help and try to stop this way of life. They are building houses for them; however that takes time and money. The masses of people moving into the cities and building their little shacks on the side of the road is too fast for the government to keep up, but there is hope for these peoples living conditions.... Here is a little story, an excerpt that I took from my journal that I would like to share with you about my experience at the townships… Today at our township the second one we went to we were giving out the leftovers from our boxed lunches to the kids. Ya know the food that we don’t like and would normally just end up in the garbage. There were apples, chicken wings, Oreo’s, sandwiches, banana bread, etc. The kids lined up as we handed out the food. One boy, probably around 8 years old got an apple. As all of the other kids were eating their food or finished it, this kid was polishing his apple. Blowing on it and wiping it on his dirty lime green shirt to shine it. He was so excited that he received an apple. He was showing it off to all of us and all of his friends. He then put it in his back jean pocket to save for later. It was so precious. He was so excited about getting an apple, a piece of fruit that we usually throw away, that he had to save it and show it off to everybody he crossed paths with.
While in Cape Town, I think I have decided to change my course of study when I get home. I now want to be a part-time professional skydiver, a part-time professional quad biker, and a part-time wine connoisseur, while traveling to different cities on my sports bike. It might be a lot of work having 3 jobs, but I think I could handle it. That would be the life!!! Oh and just one tip of advice before I go, if you are ever at the fair and have the opportunity to do a trapeze act for $.75 just say no, your ribs will be bruised for a week and it will hurt to bend and laugh, I might know from experience.
We’re off to Mauritius now; we will be there on October 9 and leave on October 11, so I will give you an update sometime soon after. Have a wonderful day!
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Pops
non-member comment
Wow !!!!!!!
Motorcycles? You've been hanging around Uncle Bob too much. You are quite the daredevil. Always knew you like living life to the "extreme". Capetown sounds wonderful.I like the fact that you see things from both sides ( the have's and have not's).That's a great quality to carry with you through life. I think we all need to show more contentment with what we have and not worry so much about what we don't have. Hope you have a nice, relaxing time in Mauritius. Study hard and play harder. Call if you get a chance. Love ya, Dad