Greetings all. Another busy day in Cape Town. We had 3 lectures this morning...one was completely off topic (it's a trend around here), the second one was about Christianity in South Africa, and the third (after the prof showed up 40 minutes late..) was about Islam in South Africa. Very interesting stuff...but I don't have my notes to give you any tasty tidbits, sorry. Ask me about it later. After our lectures and lunch (at 2pm...so so hungry!), we headed out to two of the religious sites in Cape Town. Our first stop was Bo-Kapp, followed by St. George Anglican Cathedral. For some reason my pictures posted in the wrong order, so we're just going to pretend I went to the church first...
Ok, so St. George's. It's right in the museum district in the heart of Cape Town. We didn't really learn about the history of the church becuase we were only there for a short time. It was a nice cathedral - gothic style - but after seeing some more impressive ones in my other travels, I wasn't blown away. Not much can compare to Notre Dame or St. Peter's, but I digress. One of the more interesting things in the church was the sign that the church is HIV/AIDs friendly.
Prior to heading to St. George (we're going backwards, remember), we headed out to Bo-Kapp which is the Muslim neighborhood in Cape Town. It is one of the longest residential dwellings, as the Muslim community has been living there for over 400 years! The initially immigrated here and were considered "Cape Colored" and came from Indonesia, the Java Islands etc. It is a very unique community where all of the houses are painted in vibrant colors. The children were all so friendly and the neighborhood just had a great feel to it! We only had 45 minutes to walk around, and there were so many cute shops and awesome pictures to take.
Ok, so St. George's. It's right in the museum district in the heart of Cape Town. We didn't really learn about the history of the church becuase we were only there for a short time. It was a nice cathedral - gothic style - but after seeing some more impressive ones in my other travels, I wasn't blown away. Not much can compare to Notre Dame or St. Peter's, but I digress. One of the more interesting things in the church was the sign that the church is HIV/AIDs friendly.
Prior to heading to St. George (we're going backwards, remember), we headed out to Bo-Kapp which is the Muslim neighborhood in Cape Town. It is one of the longest residential dwellings, as the Muslim community has been living there for over 400 years! The initially immigrated here and were considered "Cape Colored" and came from Indonesia, the Java Islands etc. It is a very unique community where all of the houses are painted in vibrant colors. The children were all so friendly and the neighborhood just had a great feel to it! We only had 45 minutes to walk around, and there were so many cute shops and awesome pictures to take.
This picture is from one of the shops we visited. The shop features beaded crafts - here are some Mandela and Obama magnets - along with beaded animals, dolls etc. All of the beaded crafts are made by women from the townships outside the city. The shop was also an HIV/AIDs outreach center, so all of the profits go to benefiting the cause and helping those in need. I bought an Obama magnet, because well, where else will I ever find an Obama magnet made by a township woman in a Muslim district in Cape Town? It's really nice to be traveling and have locals say good things about the President. I can't even tell you how many people have talked about Obama once I open my mouth and they realize I'm an American...a far cry from Europe '06, but I digress...
Here is a great shot of one of the colorful Bo-Kapp houses. I just loved this little girl...she was playing peek-a-boo with us on her stoop.
Here are some more adorable Bo-Kapp children playing in the streets. The kids were so friendly and just loved posing for pictures.
Tomorrow is our last day of lectures at UWC until after we return from our travels around the country. This weekend we are heading up to the wine country and then to the Cape Point on Sunday. Let me just tell you...I am SO excited to see the Penguins!! Monday we visit the Townships and then we get ready to embark on our 3 weeks traveling the country.
See, your tax dollars are really being used well! :)
1 comment:
Hey Tracy! I'm glad that you are in Africa safe and well. I'll be joining you there soon! Just a few weeks and we'll be African together! heheh.
Hope you're having fun. I can't believe I'm almost half way through my trip. I get your perspective on the lectures though. My brain is exhausted from all the learning! Have fun.
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