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There was a major storm last night and it felt like the windows were going to fail. We were suppose to go sand boarding today however with the rain last night the sand was wet and we were shut out. So instead we just checked out the city this morning. A view of Table Mountain, still closed due to the wind.


We stopped at Greenmarket Square, a local craft market. I was hoping to pick something up but it was all the same trinkets at every other place we had been so I passed.




We then drove through Bo-Kaap to see the colored houses.




Then we came upon migrant workers from Zimbabwe who were hanging out at the local building supply store looking for work, much like the Mexicans hanging outside of our Home Depots.


We were heading to the Langa township and to better understand what we would be seeing we first stopped at District Six, an inner city residential area within Cape Town. Under the apartheid regime people from District Six went to work one day and returned to find they were locked out of their houses and were forced to relocate, losing everything, their possessions, and even their house. This area was now a “Whites Only” place. It was not until 1994 when Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned for 27 years for his anti-apartheid views, became the president of South Africa and handed District Six back to its original owners.

Langa township is the oldest township, being established in 1923 as a designated area for blacks. This is a place that every human should visit, experience, and learn about. There are not only great lessons to be learned here but great people to learn from, and they are more than happy to show you around. So few people actually go inside a township and talk to the people, that it is easily forgotten, and their story is lost. So when Ben and I stopped by they welcomed us in to their homes, sharing their lives with us, and now I’d like to share that experience with you. While it looks poor, dirty, and unsafe, don’t be afraid, please go and talk to the people, and learn from them. The first thing you notice is that the government put them in the worst place, right behind the nuclear power plant.


These are the dorms, this is where the middle class of the township lives.


This is their clothes dryer.


These are their vehicles.


We entered one of the dorms and met Dan, who along with his wife and 5 kids all live in this little room. One bed, a loft for storage, hot plate and TV, and not enough room for the 4 of us to fit inside together, this picture was from the community hallway. The kids sleep on the concrete floor. Dan has lived here for over 20 years, the last 15 of which he has been on a list waiting to get his original house back. The government is now slowly giving many of the people back their homes they once took away from them. So once a week for the last 15 years Dan has checked in with the local government office to see if it was his turn to return home.


This is the community kitchen. There is not much privacy, and not much they can do about it.


This is one of the restaurants, and it was at this point that Jackson, the person showing us around said something interesting. He said that sometimes when someone is offered a house to return to that they turn it down. I could not even begin to understand why this would be. I’m fairly logical and my mind raced to try and process what I heard, turning up nothing, so I said to Jackson, wait, what, why? He said it was because of their lifestyle and customs no longer fit with what was expected in Cape Town. For example, in the township they slaughter their own animals for food and religious reasons, something that is important to them and they don’t want to give it up, but if you do that in the city the neighbors make a phone call and then the cops show up. I don’t know that I can fully understand it, but it might be like someone telling me I can have a mansion on the lake, but only if I never have a steak with a fine glass of wine again.


We then walked to the lower class side of the township, the shack straight ahead was the local pub.


The people who live here at least have privacy, but no electricity and they don’t always stay dry when it rains. I felt strange taking a picture inside and for reasons I can’t really explain, I tried to avoid photographing anyone directly. But Jackson said not to worry about it. He said he likes this part of town because it can be seen from the freeway, and it brings curious visitors like us to their township, and he was right.


Then a dog came charging at me, I thought I had done something wrong, but he ended up running right past me.


We had walked all over the township and I was feeling a little dehydrated so I asked Jackson, where was that pub?


He took us there. This is the brewery, the people in the background are the patrons, and that bucket on the floor was the community brew, you basically pass the bucket around taking a sip when it gets to you.


We were near the end of the trip so I decided to take a gamble and shared a beer with the locals. Ben also tried it, which was good, I would not go down alone, anything I would catch he would catch as well. It was a very unique taste, kind of like soapy corn. But I again thought about where I was, what I was doing and experiencing, and the beer tasted great, one I will never forget. And my insides continued processing without issue.


I was touched by the people of Langa and how much they opened their lives to us, I can’t thank Jackson enough, it truly was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.


As we left Langa I felt a little strange about where we were heading. Because we were shut out of sand boarding we decided to head to the winelands in Stellenbosch to taste some of the local grapes. We first stopped at Meerlust, a vineyard that was handed down for 8 generations. They carried higher end wine, although I have found that wine is unique to the person, while they tasted great I have also tased a $10 bottle that tasted just as good.


We then went to Spier, which was huge and included a few local Cheetahs. We ate lunch there and they had an awesome buffet. The wine was also good and they have a grape that is only grown in South Africa, a Pinotage, a cross between Pinot noir and Cinsaut. I would say it was very earthy and seemed to work as well as the others.




The last stop was at Fairview for both cheese and wine.


The cheese was awesome and some came from the local goats.


We then headed back to Cape Town to grab dinner down on the waterfront. This place was pretty touristy but also very cool, and being from Seattle felt a little like home.


It was a great complement to the accelerated Cape Town experience we were on.










Much like any other water front they had their share of entertainers, playing music, pretending to be statues, etc.


And after dinner we were on our way to the airport, our time was coming to an end as our flight was leaving shortly after midnight.

VIDEO: Exploring Cape Town