Cape Town - Dec 14 -30, 2009

As part of our “more experiences, less stuff” movement, we spent Christmas in and around Cape Town for 16 days. The experience was fantastic! We had a great mix of sight seeing, shopping, hiking, beach combing and swimming.

Here are some of our adventures:

A trip to Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years. I just finished reading “Playing the Enemy” (the book about how Mandela used rugby to help unite a racially divided country), then was fortunate to go to Robben Island, and that night we saw “Invictus” the movie made from Playing the Enemy.

Nelson Mandela's cell B - the cell was tiny, about 7' x 7'. How he remained sane - and forgiving is truely amazing.

Colorful houses in the Bo Kaap area where the Muslim population settled.

We met our good friends fromLusaka, the Huddles to go to the Cape of Good Hope. Here we are at Hout Bay on the way over Chapman's Peak.

On the Cape of Good Hope...felt like the end of the world!

Light house at the end of the point of Good Hope.

The next day we went to Simonstown - and saw penguins...on the beach in Africa!!!

The penguin on the right was molting...

We saw some amazing beaches with beautiful blue, green seas... living in a land-locked country, we found these sights so refreshing!

The Donkey Trail (Dec 22 - 25) was one of our favorite activities, hiking over the Swartberg Pass into the Die Hel in Gamkaskloof. The hike was 26 kms (16 miles), we hiked for 7.5 hours the first day and 7 hours on the second day, the third day was a three hour drive back to the farm where we started.

On the first day, the donkeys led the way carrying our food and supplies on the mostly all uphill trail.

Arriving into camp on our first day. There was a beautiful waterfall to welcome us, with cold beers and cokes sitting in the water. Our tents are in the upper left hand corner, eating tent without side panels is in the center. The kids did great hiking - there were times when it was tough going, but they didn't complain at all! What troopers!

One of the joys at the end of our first day of hiking, was this swimming (and bathing) hole. Because we're in the Cape Nature preserve everything is very ecological - including the biodegradable soap and shampoo they gave us.

Protea flowers growing in the wild - and all along our trail!

After our hike, we headed back to Cape Town for our last three days. We spent one day with the Huddles in Betty's Bay playing on some amazingly white sand dunes.

The kids found pieces of linoleum (left behind by other would be boarders) - and tried rather unsuccessfully to sled down the sand.

Peter making a "snow angel"

One day we hiked up Lion's Head which is the small pointy mountain in front of Table Mountain (on the far right below).

One part of the hike up Lions Head had us climbing up chains and metal ladders... no public safety issues here!

View from the top down looking down to Camps Bay.

On the top of Lions Head with Table Mountain behind us.

Looking out over the city

We won't forget our trip to Cape Town - and spending Christmas on a hike, out in the middle of nowhere, away from the usual commercialism...

The shock for us was the amount of choices there were: food, restaurants, shops, items for sale, choice, choice, choice! We felt like real country bumkins coming to the big city - even the Joburg airport was totally fascinating!!

However, talking with the few South Africans we met, there is still a lot of racial tension - and it's a very complicated country with a complicated past - the race issue/apartheid is difficult and it won't be fixed in one generation. There was some frustration mentioned about the racial quotas that are in place - when less competent blacks get jobs over better qualified whites (this was told to me by a white, so its a bit biased).

One woman we met (a retired physician) said that she hoped her children and grandchildren moved out of South Africa because it was too unsafe and she preferred them to live in another country...even though she would stay put since she's retired.

In spite of the beautiful buildings, landscaping, and cleanliness - we were shocked when we drove by the shanty towns! The blacks were all moved to these controlled compounds where there was mile after mile of tiny shacks made up of corrugated roofing or pieces of wood...

We could tell when we were coming up on a shanty town because slowly we would see blacks/coloreds walking on the street!

People hitch hiking: we saw lots of people hitching for a ride (mostly black), but the most unique part was when they also held out dollar bills in their hands!

Passing on the road: they have a wonderful system on two lane roads - if you're coming up on someone, the car in front will pull over onto the (very nice) shoulders - and allow us to pass in the lane. Once you're past, you push your emergency flashers as a way to say thank you!

Cape coloreds: The people were really interesting looking. I felt like I was in LA or NYC. There was a mixture of so many races/colors - black, white, Asian, middle eastern...beautiful people.

Coming back to Zambia: the kids were really excited when we were about to land in Lusaka. They said "we're going home!" I love that they consider Lusaka home... and not just a temporary stop.

And, once we were here, it felt like we were newcomers. Everything seemed new again. We were shocked at the number of people walking in the streets, ladies with baskets of food balanced on their heads with chitenge fabric wrapped around their skirts, the smell of exhaust, babies strapped to women's backs... we experienced a brief moment of culture shock... but in just a few minutes, it felt like home again. We feel blessed to be here - and to be able to have experiences that will change our lives forever.