Once again, it's all over too quickly
Trip Start
Jan 11, 2012
1
9
Trip End
Jan 21, 2012
Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Friday, January 20, 2012
A taxi picked me up and took me into the city for only 40 ZAR, which I thought was quite good. Katrin, the owner of the guesthouse, had arranged it for me. He dropped me off at the waterfront, as close to the ferry departure point as cars can get. I went straight in as you are supposed to be there 30 minutes early, and it was exactly 8:30. The line was already very, very long and didn't get much longer after I arrived. Still, we stood there for several minutes, watching the employees joking around with each other and completely ignoring the line, even after the ferry crew gave a signal that they were ready to board.
As we boarded, a photographer stopped us at the top of the plank on to the ferry. He was hilarious. He had the line of people waiting to board tittering. For every group, couple, or individual boarding the ferry, he had something funny to say, and he was so enthusiastic. I heard phrases like "together forever, CAPE. TOWN!" a few time for couples. A younger couple approached and he said "Young love, smile!" A group of girls boarded, and he declared "supermodels, every one!" and when a single woman boarded later he declared her a single supermodel too. For me it was "no man, no worries! Smile!" He didn't have to tell me to smile as I was already laughing.
Visiting Robben Island is not so lighthearted, but what a though-provoking experience. We started off by boarding buses on the island which drove us around for about 45 minutes. We had to stop a few times to let small tortoises cross the road. We visited the sad sights of dog kennels and graveyards, and also some administrative buildings and houses before stopping at the prison. Once there we were greeted by a former political prisoner. It is one thing to follow someone around through a prison where they say "in this room, they did this". But on this tour, you follow around a man who says "in this room, they did this to us". And that makes a profound difference. The censors office was probably the most heart-wrenching part of the tour. We didn't even see the room. He just pointed up some stairs to show us where it was, and told us about the terrible things that happened there. Cutting apart letters to censor sentences, or paragraphs, or the entire letter save the salutations and addresses was only the beginning. Forging letters from the wives of the prisoners, pretending the wife wanted a divorce, and then of course never delivering the reply full of pleas from the prisoner - stories like that illustrate how so many of the unfortunate men on Robben Island left without their sanity. The racial division was also incredible to imagine. Only non-white men were held on Robben Island, and they were divided by race. The blacks were kept separate from the colored and Asian population. The latter received a much nicer meal plan than the former. All this because of skin color and inferiority complexes of people in power. Truly atrocious.
It was definitely a worthwhile experience but I did need a bit of a pick-me-up upon returning to the mainland. I decided to hit the shops and spend the last of my rands. That was fun! I followed that up with some lunch and an ice cream. I also had the brilliant idea to walk back to my guesthouse since I still had time and could take photos of the city as I walked through it. However, the heat wave was still in effect, though not as hot as yesterday but after about 30 minutes of walking I gave up and hailed a taxi. This is how I learned that my taxi in the morning was definitely picked for being one of the more reasonably priced companies in the city. My taxi back to the guesthouse, covering less distance than my ride to ferry, was more than double the price. At least it was air-conditioned.
The story gets boring from here. I got to the hotel after my transfer arrived (I guess I walked a bit sluggishly in the heat), so quickly grabbed my bags and got in the van. Once at the airport, I tried to open my suitcase to get out the money I had set aside for the transfer, but my lock was stuck. I was sweating like a pig at the airport drop-off, trying to get the stupid thing open. Finally a dug into my pockets and found just enough cash to cover the transfer. I went into the lovely, air-conditioned airport still drenched in sweat and tried to find a place to sit. There are absolutely no seats on this side of security. Incredible. I noticed signs upstairs to the restaurants, so I did manage to find a seat there. I had to rearrange my suitcase before I could check it in, and I had to get the lock open before I could do that.
I eventually got myself sorted out then checked my bag, passed through security and did a bit more shopping before boarding the plane for a long trip back to Frankfurt. I was still wearing my summer clothes, as I was way too hot to even consider putting on my jeans. I knew I would regret it once we got to Europe, and I paid the price while laid over in Frankfurt. Once back in the Zurich airport, I took my suitcase into the ladies room and put on as many long layers as I had, which wasn't much. The train ride home was nothing special but being greeted by my boys on in Basel was wonderful.
