One of the best things about this program has been how it organizes trips for us to different cultural and historical places here in Cape Town. As part of the program I have had the opportunity to go to a rugby game, Robben Island, and wine tasting in Stellenbosch, all of which I chronicled in earlier posts.
Now onto some of our more recent activities; at the end of September we had the opportunity to go to a soccer game at Cape Town’s stadium that was specifically built for the FIFA World Cup in 2010. I knew that I couldn’t miss this opportunity. The two teams, the Cape Town Ajax, and Jo’Burg’s Kaiser Chiefs have a bit of a rivalry, and I knew the night would be fun.
The soccer game was unlike any sports match I’ve ever attended. Fans were dressed in ridiculous costumes, and were more than a little rowdy. Most of the time it was more exciting to watch the reactions and actions of the crowd than the game itself, although being in the world cup stadium was really cool. At the half, I went out to find a snack, and upon attempting to return to my seat I encountered a bunch of Kaiser Chief fans singing and cheering at the top of the stand section that my seat was in. Here’s a video to get a sense of the atmosphere.
More than anything, the noise and the rowdiness were incredible. The stadium wasn’t nearly full and at some points the sound was almost deafening, I can’t imagine what it was like at the height of the world cup.
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everyone's excited
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Another CAP that my house went on was to Hout Bay to tour Seal Island. Essentially we took a small boat out from Hout Bay harbour, and circled an island that is densely populated with seals, and often surrounded by great whites looking for a snack. The seals were adorable, but one thing people don’t normally tell you is that they smell absolutely terrible. It’s hard to fully describe, but it comes close to something rotting combined with old fish…not the most pleasant animals to be downwind of. Besides the seals themselves, the ride was beautiful, and we got a really good view of parts of the mountains that are omnipresent in Cape Town. After the tour we ate fresh caught fish and chips and enjoyed the beautiful day.
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| seals! |
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| with Dom and Olivia |
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| such nommy fish and chips |
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| Hout Bay |
The next weekend, my house went for a tour of Bo-Kaap, a Muslim neighborhood in downtown Cape Town. Bo-kaap is really popular because of its brightly coloured houses, and rich cultural heritage. Our guide was a Muslim woman who lives in Bo-kaap, and she took us around the area, explained its history and took us to several sites. As part of our tour we saw the slave lodge, which is extremely important to Bo-kaap and Cape Town’s heritage in general, as the “Cape Coloured” community is the descendents of slaves brought over from parts of India and South East Asia when the colony was founded by the Dutch. We learned the difference between curries from the Cape vs. Indian curries (sugar) and even stopped in a spice shop to sample different seasonings. After our tour, which also included the oldest Mosque in South Africa (founded when Dutch reform was still the only religion allowed to be practiced) we ate lunch at one of the homes of another woman from the Bo-kaap community. As part of the cultural heritage of Bo-kaap, Cape curries and other foods similar to Indian cuisine are quite favored. Our lunch was delicious, and extremely welcome at the end of a long day.
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| spices at Atlas Spice Company |
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| inside the Mosque |
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| street in Bo-Kaap |
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| on the street in Bo-Kaap |
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