Just returned from a two-day excursion to a Wine Estate near Stellenbosch and the "Whale watching town" of Hermanus where we spent the night in a great little B&B right on the coast. The whale watching trip we went on this morning was great - the ship was small, the waves were high and the crew were passing out a whole lot of barf bags!! :-) Luckily, Lauren and I were not affected in the least and got to see a good number of whales.


Cape Town's been a very relaxing stay for us - we've enjoyed the exceptional views it has to offer (e.g. from on top of Table Mountain), the ocean and a sense of freedom to actually go out and walk around which we didn't feel like we had in Jo'burg.


The V&A Waterfront (V&A stands for Victoria & Alfred but I have no clue who they are....) is a great place to hang out, window shop and eat, almost like a big indoor/outdoor shopping mall right on the ocean. It was also the starting point for our tour to Robben Island (a prison island where N. Mandela was imprisoned for some 18 yrs.) and a sunset cruise. Robben Island turned out to be a very impressionable experience as our tour guide in fact was a former inmate who "stayed" on the island for five years during the 70s. That's why the tour had a really personal touch and despite all his experiences, our guide actually made a very passionate plea in favor of forgiveness and reconciliation among South Africa's racial groups intended primarily for his fellow countrymen in our tour group; it was a very, very interesting visit for us!!


While we have been somewhat aware of the racial divisions that still exist, the disparity becomes most obvious in economic terms - on our trip back from Hermanus, we passed what I assumed to be a black township; a sea of shacks (maybe 10 sqm in size each) made from scrap metal, stretching for a good 7-8 kms (5 mi.). At the same time, the part of Cape Town we are staying in feels more like a Beverly Hills or a Bellevue - and is pre-dominantly white.

Nonetheless, we also saw positive indications of things moving forward during our admittedly short stay - our visit to "His People Christian Church" this past Sunday was one of those: a mixed church by demographics, it was an amazing experience to see the different racial groups come together in worship and bridge in a very tangible way that gap which we felt still exists in many ways in this country. Not to mention the African songs and dancing which gave me goose bumps while watching the 1,000+ in attendance singing praises in their native tongue - Lauren and I did our best to keep up with them in song and dance!!! :-)

Tonight's our last night in Cape Town and South Africa altogether - it's been an exceptional start to our trip and we already have decided that we would like to come back someday to this beautiful, multi-faceted and dynamic country; maybe in 2010 for Germany's triumph in the Football World Cup!!!

We'll have an early morning tomorrow with a flight to Jo'burg and then on to Singapore - Lauren's not feeling too peachy right now, so hopefully she'll be okay on the long flight.