...There is Room For Everyone....!

On day 3, our travels continued in S.A. with a trip to another winery. Julie took us to Hidden Valley; Overture, Winery. This time we had a wine and cheese pairing tasting. It took awhile to get there, but the view was outstanding (for you golf fans out there, Overture is beside Ernie Els' vineyard). This is another advantage (one of many) of having family tour you around in the area - most likely we would not have known of this winery and we most certainly would not have been able to get there - not easily anyways. We were a table of 5 (Julie, Delia, Julie's friends; Karin & Bob and myself). There was a cheese platter on the table that had a variety of cheeses, crackers, chutney, bull tonge (dried meat - good, but salty) and a sweet square that I can't remember what it was called - tasted like a fancy jube jube. The tasting and pairing went as follows: the server would come to the table with a wine, provide their comments on the wine & then suggest what we should pair with the wine as well as if to eat it before tasting the wine or after. Really though, you could do whatever you wanted - you could guzzle the wine and stuff your face with food - there were no rules! But I am thinking that just maybe, the experience is a little better if you try as suggested - I don't know, but I am just saying *grin*. It all may sound pretentious, but it really wasn't - very relaxed atmosphere and fun. For me it was like storytime complimented with wine & cheese....hmmmmm....sounds good to me. We had a lot of laughs for sure! We had a favourites, but enjoyed it all - there wasn't a drop of wine wasted or any food on the plate remaining - what a surprise! Another interesting point for those wine drinkers - or I found it interesting anyways - is what is better, cork, twist off or glass. Our server's name was Sune (pronounced "Sue Knee"), she was simply devine - young, passionate & fun - she took our antics in stride. Among other things she did give us a bit of insight over the debate on how to seal the wine. The two main factors to consider are one, how to maintain the integrity of the wine when storing & our "carbon footprint". The other factor, of course, is the cost to the wine makers themselves. To give the answer away at the beginning of the story - without only considering the first 2 factors - glass is the best...interesting..... Unfortunately, glass is of course expensive, but reusuable. The twist off cap is the best at maintaining the integrity of the wine as it is a complete seal, but the metal has a much higher carbon footprint. As for the cork, it is more permeable so less favourable at maintaining the quality of wine and although the cork is compostable, it is not reuseable & the cork trees are getting more scarce. Ah, but when it comes to the romance of the wine, the cork wins out. Sune's advice was for the industry to start using glass, and for to us to start saving the corks. She suggests that we open the glass-sealed wine bottle in privacy, replace the bottle with a cork (as best as possible) and then open wine with a corkscrew in from of your loved one for the romance effect - I mean it is all about perception- *grin*! We were having a great time, but Sune felt bad as she was attending to another group that was a little more high maintenance then our table - so after the wine/cheese pairing was completed, she gave us an additional glass of rose each to enjoy and we sat and enjoyed the company and the view. It was truly another great day! We went home - relaxed and had a fabulous rest...oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, that we have been sleeping in a king size bed too! We were so spoiled in S.A. I told Julie that starting our 5 month trip in S.A. with her was probably not the best idea - we were so spoiled & we had the best of everything - nothing else will compare! I know, I know, each place will have thier own charm....I am just saying....
Day 4 was very busy....we started off by going up Table Mountain. The weather was outstanding - not a cloud in the sky & no wind - very unusual for the Cape this time of year - especially up Table Mt. Due to our little mishap with the arrival date - Heather & Arthur who were going to guide our hike up to the top of Table Mountain, were unable to do it another day. Instead we took the cable car up and walked around up top - we did hike down part of the way at devil's peak to give us a taste and to see the view a little differently - loved it! So much to see - too much to see - we did what we could and enjoyed the walk. We could see Robben Island clearly as well as the new statium for the world cup games. Surprisingly, one thing that I have not mentioned about Cape Town so far is that the sea coast is sooooo gorgeous - we saw this when Buz took us around and again when we were at the top of the mountain. We did put our toes in the sea (west side of the Cape of Good Hope - Atlantic Ocean side) - cold, but nothing compared to Bay of Fundy! The east side beaches are warmer (Indian Ocean side) although we did not test the waters there. Once we came down from Table Mountain we took the Robben Island tour. This is where Mandella was imprisoned along with many other black people fighting against aparthied. Robben Island was named by the Dutch explorers after the seals (several seals on the island). The word "seal" in Dutch is Robb - many Robb is referred to Robben. Due to the masacre of seals for their hide - few, if any seals would be seen or remain on the island today. Our tour quides were Kent (young S.A. student), Michael (Bus Driver) & our prison guide was Benjamin who was an actual prisoner on Robben Island. It was a 30 min boat ride to the island from the harbour in the city of Cape Town at the foot of Table Mt. Once on the island we had a brief bus tour & prison tour. A bit commercialized unfortunately, but the stories were real and interesting....& as everywhere in Cape Town, the people were incredibly friendly. During the tour the "usual suspects" were talked about (Nelson Mandela, Steve Biko, Desmond Tutu, etc.), but to be quite honest, as I listen to the stories, I do have a hard time remembering dates & names. I do have the book about Mandella to refer to for future as it is a very important event to remember. There were some stories that I did remember that were not in the book. There was a lady by the name of Helen Suman; with the government, that was intrumental in improving the conditions of how the prisoners were treated. As confirmed by Benjamin in our prison tour, he indicated that at the time of arrest he was physically handled (he did not say abused), but once in the prison, he was not physically abused at all. Having been imprisoned by expressing your views and having your rights taken away was devastating enough. Mandela had access to books and education, but most did not. Once the prison was closed, the prisoners insisted that the government make it into a museum and protect it - the story must not be forgotten! Because the prison was now a museum, some things were changed. Such as, the prison walls were painted to cover up some profanities & other graffiti. Because of these changes, I did not feel the effect as strongly as I thought I would. But two areas that I did feel it was in the quarries - this is where the prisoners were sent during the day to dig up limestone & granite - 8 hours in the hot sun with only a 30 min lunch break where they went into a small dug out cave for relief from the heat of the sun. They were forced to complete this hard labour - and if they could not handle the digging or the transfer of the limestone & granite they were punnished. The sun and heat were unforgiving - almost debilitating. The other area that sent shivers up the back of my neck, was the courtyard - it was still lined with the barbed wire with the guard tower at the end - it was barren and sad. Some prisoners were able to play sports, but the political prisioners were not. When we were inside the prison - Benjamin kept to the facts of the prison - what the prisoners did and how they communicated - he did not speak of his personal experiences unless asked. Of course the question of how he got to the prison was asked and he told the story - briefly. Benjamin's story got to me, not so much of because of what he went through; although this was very distressing, but because of his current life situation - given what he was initially fighting for and in prison for. Benjamin returned back to the prison to assist with the tours and to tell the stories that needed to be told. When asked why he came back - as I am assuming that there are not good memories for him - he simply said , "for employment" - he did not receive a proper education and did not have any other employment opportunities available to him - makes you wonder if it was all worth it - certainly not for Benjamin, but unfortunately in life it takes people like Benjamin to make change for the better. Benjamin as a young student in Soweto participated in a peaceful protest against the government for the treatment of blacks. During this protest he was not arrested, but during this same protest he witnessed his pregnant girlfriend visciously shot through her head with the gun aimed under her chin. Despite the protest being peaceful, because of the sheer number of peoople participating, the police were instructed by authorities to attack. The "numbers" alone posed a threat to the government enough for the action that they took - "strength in numbers" as they say! So for Benjamin he responded in revenge - not the best way to handle it, but with a sense of helplessness and rage - revenge seemed to be the best option at that time. Benjamin went to Germany and was trained in explosives with the intent to return t S.A. and blow up an oil refinery - get the government where it hurts - in their pocket books. Unfortunately, he hit the target, but the explosives did not ignite. He was caught and charged with treason. Treason he did participate in, but it is the facts and the events leading up to the treason that makes the story sad. Before I left I did ask Benjamin what he thought of and what his reaction was when Mendela addressed the Blacks (and the world)......".....Put down our guns......" Benjamin did not make eye contact with me, but put his hands behind is back, rocked back on his heels and said, "It was a necessity"!

I do believe that things have changed some and certainly, if Mandela reacted aggressively things would be much worse - a disaster, really, would have resulted - but unfortunately racisim, hatred and war still exist! There IS room for everyone in this world - We do not have to believe in everything that people believe in - but we do need to respect them - as we would like done for ourselves.

We finished our day off with dinner at Willowboughy's (sp?) with Julie and her friend; Ingrid. We had sushi with a glass of champagne ("oh sorry monsieur, sparkling wine"). We don't have champagne in Canada at a restaurant as the cost would be insane, but in S.A. it is very reasonable - and it is common to order a glass - you don't have to order a bottle. Oh yeah, sparkling wine made in S.A. *grin*!!! Most excellent too!

Our last day with Julie was spent relaxing, visiting and getting ready for our next leg of our adventure - Tanzania! We had the most fabulous time in S.A. with Julie - and as I said before, although this was our first time we met in person - you would have never known that - we laughed, told stories and developed a life-long bond for sure - we WILL be back!

We left S.A. on December 13, 2009 for Kilimanjaro, Tanzania...........the climb is right around the corner.......I can't believe it!!!!