"Cape of Good Hope" Cape Town-Day 3

Today started with a scenic drive of Cape Town along the Atlantic Coast line. Our first stop was Hout’s Bay, which is a quaint market place alongside a port. We had the opportunity to take pictures of the surrounding scenery, which included the backside of Table Mountain and some of the “Twelve Apostle” Mountains. At the marketplace, the vendors sold some wood masks and carvings, as well as jewelry, elaborately decorated shells, and crocodile jaws. While walking through, we found a trained sea lion that we were able to feed, pet, and sit on! However, some members of our group felt this was the exploitation of animal rights. While at the market place Professor Summers noticed that few of the vendors were actually native South Africans, but were from other parts of Africa, such as Malawi. It was explained to the group that last year in South Africa, there were numerous xenophobic attacks, or attacks against immigrants from other parts of Africa. Although the issues surrounding the attacks are complicated and large, one of the major reasons cited was that immigrants were stealing jobs from native South Africans. While we were at the market we witnessed, first hand, the loss of jobs from native South Africans to immigrants.

After Hout’s Bay, we continued on our journey towards the Cape of Good Hope, which is a part of the Table Mountain National Park. While we were driving there, we witnessed baboons along the side of the road, as well as ostriches. We then arrived at the Cape of Good Hope, and we began the long hike towards the lighthouse of the Cape. As we walked upward, we experienced the breath-taking scenery of the Cape, with its clear-blue and green water as well as clean, white sand. Many members of our group, however, were not prepared for the difficult hike towards the lighthouse; although, once we reached the top, we felt very accomplished. In front of the lighthouse, there was a post with a number of hours pointing towards the different cities of the world, including New York, London, Paris, New Delhi, and Australia, and how many kilometers in distance they were from the Cape of Good Hope.

After our visit to the Cape, our group stopped for lunch at the Two Oceans Restaurant, were we enjoyed delicious food, ranging from pasta to burgers, to steak. After we finished eating, the staff at the restaurant sang a number of South African songs for our entertainment. The first song the group sang was the South African national anthem. Some of the members of the group were very moved by the enthusiasm of the staff at the restaurant while singing to us; the warmth of the staff was something none of us had anticipated, because this hospitality is sometimes rare in the United States.

When lunch was over, our group headed towards Boulders, another part of the Table Mountain National Park. Boulder’s is a penguin sanctuary that contains the “jackass penguin”, which is named because of the donkey-like baying of the penguin. The penguins were really cute, and we even saw many baby penguins! The scenery surrounding the penguin sanctuary was also very beautiful, again, with clean, white sand, many boulders, and a pure-blue ocean.

Finally, while we were driving towards the Cape, some members of our group noticed the stark difference in economic conditions among the people in South Africa, such as the difference between the shacks of the poor, and the beautiful houses along the Atlantic coastline. Out day while joyful and fun represents the many complexities of South Africa.