Table Mountain: Not a Good Place to Forget Your Camera

The dominating feature of Cape Town is Table Mountain, a flat-topped massif that wraps around the city center.  It is a big reason why I think Cape Town is one of the most, if not the most, beautifully situated cities in the world, but it is more than eye candy.  With multiple trails to the summit and a modern cable car, Table Mountain's tabletop makes for an accessible day out.

Today, Magge, three fellow volunteers and I tackled the main trail to the top through the Platteklip Gorge.  As soon as we began the ascent, Magge realized she forgot the memory card for her camera.  The weather could not have been any more beautiful for taking pictures, so this was a big disappointment.  Luckily, someone in our group had a camera, but she only remembered to take pictures once we reached the top.  The hike up took a strenuous two hours and made us painfully aware that we've gotten out of shape since our days in the Andes.  It was well worth it, though, with stunning views 360 degrees around.  You can see Cape Town, the Atlantic beaches, False Bay, the Cape Flats (home to many of the city's townships) and the Cape Peninsula leading to the Cape of Good Hope.  Next week I'll be sending Magge up again, this time with camera and memory card in tow, so we can have more pictures.

On top of Table Mountain, with the Cape Peninsula stretching out behind us

More pictures in the full post.

Great White

Does any creature on earth induce more fear than the great white shark?  Thirty years after Jaws and swimmers can still hear a tuba in the back of their minds when swimming in the ocean, despite the best efforts of scientists to de-demonize the big fish.  So of course it's natural that sitting in a cage in the ocean face to face with great white has become a very popular activity over the past few years, and is something that I have wanted to do.  There is no better place in the world to see these sharks than South Africa, so I immediately penciled in cage diving when I knew we'd be spending time in Cape Town.

How Do You Say Peekaboo in Xhosa?

We've spent a month each in Trujillo, Peru and Paris, but Cape Town will end up as our longest stay on this trip.  Why did we decide to stay here for so long?  In addition to being ridiculously beautiful (we'll have pictures up at some point), the city is also home to our second volunteering project.

For six weeks, we are volunteering at Baphumelele Children's Home, a sanctuary for orphaned, abandoned or neglected children.  The home is located in Khayelitsha, the largest township (in South Africa, a term referring to Apartheid holdover non-white settlements on the periphery of urban centers) in the Cape Town area with 1.5 million people people living in shanties.  The residents here face poverty, some of the highest crime rates in the developed world, and frighteningly high HIV infection rates.  In fact, HIV/AIDS is the reason many of the children are orphans, and a number of them are infected themselves.

Baphumelele looks after over 200 kids of varying ages, but Magge and I focus on the "Baby House", a group of nearly thirty three month to three year olds.  We, and four other volunteers on our shift, assist four full time caregivers in this task.  The primary chores are helping to prepare bottles and food, feeding, brushing teeth, bathing, but most of all we play with them.  We're supposed to "attempt to carry out at least one activity" per play session, but anyone who has dealt with kids that age knows a structured activity is an unlikely event.  Thirty kids that age that barely speak or understand English (their first language is Xhosa) running around a room makes it extra unlikely.  If I can get a kid to play catch or sing a song with me, I chalk one up in the success column.

Even though the ratio of adults to children seems good, being in the Baby House can still be overwhelming.  The kids are all craving adult attention, and they swarm anyone that walks through the door.  If I sit down, there are immediately three rugrats squirming their way into my lap.  There are always a few kids crying, and they don't listen to the volunteers very well (probably due to a combination of the language barrier and the itinerant nature of the volunteers).  Some of them have behavioral or even neurological issues, and dealing with them can be taxing.  One child, whom Magge guesses suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome, lacks coordination and has to wear a helmet as he stumbles around the room, knocking others down to the floor.  He's taken a liking to Magge, and she does a fantastic job of showing him attention when some of the other volunteers prefer to ignore him.

Thankfully, the long, intense days are balanced by a schedule that allows us to recharge and explore the Cape Town area.  We work in three day shifts; when we're on shift, we stay in the Baphumelele complex, and our off shift time is spent in a house just outside of Cape Town.  Aviva, the organization that administers the volunteer program at Baphumelele along with various other programs across the country, organizes activities for its volunteers and provides plenty of resources.  Both Magge and I have been impressed with how well the operation is run and it is definitely a nice change from our disorganized time with Bruce Peru in Trujillo.  We've already been here for one week and are very much looking forward to the next five.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Though my dad generally does not like to acknowledge his birthday (Peter Pan!), I couldn't possibly let him think that I had forgotten him on his special day. OK, yes this is a day late, but I cannot be blamed for shoddy internet in South Africa.

Five Cities across Three Countries in 1,000 Words or Less

We are back after an unplanned lengthy absence.  Since our last post on Barcelona, we have visited Sevilla, Granada, Madrid, London and Johannesburg without a post to show for it.  We do have excuses, though: Spain just did not inspire us to write, and internet access afterwards was expensive or inconsistent.  To catch you up, here's a quick rundown of what we have been doing for the last couple of weeks.

Some Awesome Modernist Architecture, But Not Much Else for Us in Barcelona

After saying "goodbye" to Lee in France, Jeff and I set off for Barcelona, Spain. We had both been excited to go to Barcelona to see the architectural creations of Antoni Gaudi, whom we had learned about from one of the many travel shows we enjoyed watching prior to the trip. Many people gushed over how fantastic Barcelona is when we told them we would be going to Spain, but Jeff and found that aside from the terrific Modernist architecture, there wasn't much else of interest for us in Barcelona. Probably because we're not big into going out and partying until the wee hours and we don't have the money to enjoy meals at nice restaurants.

We spent our first day in Barcelona much as we do in most cities we visit, just wandering around (and getting some laundry done!).