South Africa Day 4

Today we got to see a little more of the beauty of South Africa. The clouds finally parted around 2 this afternoon. But that's getting ahead of myself...

This morning, we all went together to the District Six Museum. District Six was once a poorer neighborhood in Cape Town with a diverse group of residents (black, muslim, jewish, and other "coloured" people). It was considered a "cosmopolitan heart" of Cape Town. In 1966, the apartheid government declared it a "white-only" area and began forceably removing the residents to the "Cape Flats," a suburb out of town. For the next 15 years, this removal continued, and the area was razed. In the years since, it has not been very successfully rebuilt due to the increased attention to the objections of the removed residents. The museum itself was a very personal museum where previous residents had contributed to the telling of the story (and the continued telling of the story). We all agreed that it was striking how methodical and systematic the persecution of people was here over a long period. The museum was very moving, and also detailed the lives that former residents have gone on to lead and their contributions to ending apartheid and helping build new policies.

After the museum, it was pouring down rain. We got pretty wet looking for a taxi. After a quick change of clothes at the hotel, Tim and I went to the waterfront for a little shopping (we found some great souvenirs) and some lunch at a little pub. After that, I headed back for the conference sessions, and Tim wandered around the waterfront some more.

By later in the afternoon, the weather had improved dramatically. The rain stopped and the temperature rose; the clouds dissipated and the mountain came into full view for the first time during our trip. Tim and Alan took the opportunity to hike to and over Signal Hill. It is the shortest of the summits and the only one whose trails were within walking distance from the hotel. It was a nice hike and afforded very nice views of Cape Town, the “other” mountains, and the nascent soccer stadium. It showered on them briefly on the way down the hill, but the sun returned quickly. This resulted in a very bright full rainbow stretching from the mountain to the center of town. We would be coming home with a pot of gold but we didn’t think we could get it through customs...

For dinner after the conference, we went back over to the waterfront to a place called Den Anker, a Belgian restaurant, as it turns out. Tim had beer braised rabbit, and I had Kingklip (a deep sea white fish) in a puff pastry. Yum.

South Africa Day 4

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