Robben Island - Whales and Seals

So I totally slept in until 11:15 AM this morning. Oops. But that was fine...Jess and Conor were off at their Mom's and Tots thing anyway, so it turned out perfect. :) I got ready in a hurry and Jess and I left Conor with Brian at work and she and I went off to tour Robben Island. I should say firstly that Cape Town is beautiful. The sky is tremendously blue and they are surrounded by a mountain range. There is Table Mountain (guess what it looks like) and a mountain that looks like a lion.

We got to take a ferry onto the island and when we got on this lovely man took our picture (this is part of the tour...they took everyone's picture) and he called the couple in front of us "Two People in Love" and Jess and I were "Two Super-Models." But the coolest of all was that on the way in we saw a WHALE! This was really exciting because I was wanting to go Whale Watching while I was here but now we don't have to because we already saw one. I was super excited and even jumped up and down and said "Look! A whale!" I'm not subtle at all. We weren't even there yet and I was being ridiculous.

So we get to the island and got off the ferry and onto a bus and our tour guide's name was Shadrack. He was very theatrical and said we needed to write to the management of Robben Island and demand longer tours because 40 minutes just wasn't enough time to do justice to all of Robben Island's history. He was right. He did a great job, but now I just feel like there is so much I don't know.

Robben Island was a leper colony before it was a prison. They still have graves from the lepers. Also, aside from the history, the island was a very beautiful place. Peace lilies grow wild there and there were rabbits all over the place. Also, parts of the prison are inlaid with rough mosaics that were actually very beautiful. We got to see the whole island on the bus portion of the tour with Shadrack including their lighthouse, a shipwreck, the quarry where Nelson Mandela worked, and the village where the guards lived with their families. Some people still live there. By the quarry is a National Monument to the prisoners who were here because of Apartheid. It just looks like a pile of stones, but Nelson Mandela started it by dropping the first stone and now there is one stone for every prisoner who has ever been there. They are all different-looking stones and the point of the monument is to show that even though we are different we can all work together to be something great together instead of individual stones apart.

We got to the prison itself and switched tour guides to a man who was actually a prisoner here. He was 19 when he was imprisoned but he said that the youngest person who was imprisoned here was only 13. He said it was pretty bad for the younger prisoners especially. We got to see Mandela's cell and we learned about the food rations (different for black vs. white) and how the prison changed over the years. They said that Robben Island is now a monument to Reconciliation and not a place to be sad, but I don't know. I guess it's hard for someone who is just really learning about Apartheid for the first time.

On the way back to the mainland, we saw a seal! So, there is really cool wild-life all over the place. Jess and I then did some shopping (got some things for folks at home!) and I broke down and bought a dress for myself. I simply told myself that I wear my sun-dress from Greece all the time, so it'll totally be worth it. The lady is going to hem it for me and I'm going to pick it up on Friday. It was 650 rand but I talked her down to 600. This means I talked her down about 7 bucks. Not great...but better than nothing.

Jess and I then had dinner and I had clam and mussel chowder (but I think it was better in Cape Cod) and I had a duck salad with a kind of lettuce they call rocket. The duck was really good and I felt brave trying something new. The salad also had some kind of fruit in it that reminded me of pears, but I don't think it was pears. Should have asked. Anyway...it's almost midnight here and I'm getting up early-ish to watch Conor so Jessica can work, so I'm off to finish Cry, The Beloved Country. Book Group! It may be next! Sue