More Musings

Today I headed out to yet another part of the city that I hadn't yet been too. I got over by the Castle of Good Hope here in Cape Town. It's really old; it was begun construction in 1666. But it's never seen any military action. On my way over there I found even more sweet buildings to photograph (it never gets old for me, haha). Eventually I got somewhat lost for the first time - I knew where I was but not the most efficient way to get back to where I wanted to be.


(If the embedded video above doesn't work, check it out on Youtube.)

I ended up in the transit station here. Wow. It's a huge complex for trains, taxis, buses, cars, rikkis, and more. I haven't seen anything like that in Minneapolis. I felt a little out of place over there since most of the people there are commuters and live in Cape Town. One thing that was interesting to me is that this huge complex not only hosts all kinds of transit services, it's also a huge cultural hub. All throughout the complex there are little stands and shops for people selling their stuff during the day, hoping to catch the eye (and rands) of some of the commuters. It seemed a lot less touristy than the other markets I have seen. I saw several hair salons/tents that specialize in braiding hair... I'm wondering if I should give cornrows a try? :)

I was just impressed how the transit center really seemed to be such a hub for the city, not just speaking in terms of transit but also street activity. Also, at one place where Strand Street is particularly busy and thus not accessible to pedestrians, there is cross-street access UNDER the street. And it's not just a simple underpass, it's a huge expanse of even more shops and vendors.

I think part of the reason why these sorts of places "work" here - AKA able to garner business - and they haven't even been tried in Minneapolis is because foot traffic is much more common here. Not nearly as many people own cars, and many people come to the city via the transit center each day for work. In Minneapolis and the US as a whole, traffic is much more individual automobile oriented. However, I think that's due to see some changes in the next couple of decades, but I'll get into that another time...

One thing I've decided/learned to do here while I'm out wandering the city is to not stop moving. If you stop, someone's likely to come up to you to ask for money, try to sell you something, make sexual comments, or at the very least, assume you're some silly tourist - which is true in my case. (Even when I haven't stopped those things have happened to me.) Stopping to take pictures or even waiting at the robot (South African English for stoplight) is at least somewhat awkward. It's not that people are unfriendly (I have met no one who has been mean to me). Rather, it's more like they're "too" friendly - at least according to Minnesota customs.

There's really no where to stop and sit on the streetside... even the window ledges and planters along the sidewalk have spikes on them to discourage people from lingering. In Minneapolis at bus stops, there are frequently benches. But since bus service is so informal here and doesn't follow on scheduled/regular routes, there are few places actually earmarked for pick up. If I wanted to get somewhere without walking or taking a taxi, I would probably hail one of the rikkis, white vans packed full of people that are kind of like a shared taxi. I would tell the driver where I want to go and would be dropped off at least somewhere in that vicinity. But there are other passengers wanting to go to other locations, so it's pretty much in the air in terms of how long it would take to get somewhere in a rikki. It's not like in Minneapolis where I can expect the 1:46 bus on the 6E route would take me 4 minutes to get back to my apartment from campus down 4th St SE.

Another thing I've noticed is that there are still strong remnants of the apartheid. Most of the restaurants on Long Street are in the mid-price range, so most tourists would find them pretty affordable. In the boutique-like restaurants, the wait staff seems to be mostly white (I haven't seen the kitchens so I can't speak of the entire staff). But today when I was in a more of a fast food place called Wimpy's, I saw that the entire staff in the kitchen was black. But none of the seated patrons were. While I was waiting for my smoothie, I saw two separate black men come in and order coffee or a sandwich to go - they didn't stay and eat at the restaurant. It doesn't really make sense that the vast majority of restaurant patrons are white when the vast majority of people walking along the street are black. Another interesting thing - I've mentioned the public safety patrol and police officers I've seen on the street, who have all been black. Well... yesterday I saw a triad of horse-mounted police officers and they were all white.

In general, I'm just amazed by the city workers on the streets. Police officers, public safety patrol, street cleaners, parking marshalls, recycling attendants, etc. Far more than I've ever seen in Minneapolis or even other urban areas in the US that I've been to.

I also went to the Slave Lodge today. The building originally served as just what its name implies, then was converted to government offices and the Supreme Court, but today it's a museum of the Cape's slave history as well as some artifacts the colonial traders brought with them from their homelands. It was interesting but was pretty much what I had already known about slavery in the Cape. Did you know slavery was abolished here (and the rest of the British Empire) even before it was in the US? 1833 here, over 30 years before slavery ended in the US.

Later I went back to the Company Gardens. See the video below (and pictures later).


(If the embedded video above doesn't work, check it out on Youtube.)

Tonight the hostel is having another braai. Tonight I'm buying in for some ostrich potjie. First time having ostrich! Should be interesting... :) I heard there's a place down the street that serves crocodile, but I'm not sure I'll ever work up the guts (pun not intended) to try it.