South Africa is a new country—it was reborn in 1994, when its new democracy was born. In a way, its birth was a miracle. It came out of an horrific history where a white minority brutalized its citizens, whom they treated as non-citizens.  The brutality of this near history was brought home to us when we visited the Museum of Slavery and the District Six Museum.  At the Museum of Slavery, we stood on the spot where slaves were auctioned off. Our US history is intertwined with Africa’s—many of these slaves were then transported to America.  The slave trade ended here in 1834, but the brutal treatment of Black people continued.

The District Six Museum revealed a much more recent episode. District Six had been a multi-ethnic, multi-racial community. In 1967, the Apartheid government, forcibly removed all persons of color from this community in the center of Cape Town.  The purpose was to make this area all White. The people were removed at gunpoint and given shacks in areas without basic services.  At the museum, we spent some time with a guide, a woman who had lived in District Six as a child and had been relocated with her family, including grandparents—they had lived there for generations.

So—South Africa is a new country. In some senses, it seems very modern—lots of high-tech companies. But in some ways it seems much more like a developing country. Its traffic system is casual—everybody jay walks so crossing the street is an interesting challenge. There’s high unemployment—we heard 40%. It’s a poor country. One of the consequences is a lack of adequate services.

We had stayed for the first half of our time in Cape Town at a small boutique hotel in town. For the second half, we’ve moved to an Airbnb in Sea Point, a suburb of Cape Town, at an apartment right by the beach.  We usually have good luck with Airbnb. You never know exactly what you’ll find—but you can look at the amenities, photos and reviews.  This apartment, by the sea, sounded lovely. What I had not counted on was “off-loading.”

“Off-loading”—this refers to conserving electricity because there isn’t enough to go around. Some hotels, private residences and other facilities have generators and/or solar panels—so they’re okay. But our Airbnb apartment has no such arrangements. Everyday, the electricity goes off for many hours—at least three times a day, from two and a half hours to four and a half hours each—so the electricity is off almost as much as it’s on. When we signed up for this place, there was nothing noted about the electricity problem. 

I suppose I should look upon this as an adventure—but I’m finding it stressful.  As I write this, Minnesota and much of the country are being hit by major blizzards—so lots of folks back home are or will be without electricity.

We’ve had one—it turns our last—adventure: we went up Table Mountain.  It was a bright and sunny day, cloudless.  For much of the week, there had been high winds and clouds. Table Mountain takes its name from the cloud cover that drapes over the mountain like a tablecloth. This was a good day for us, and for many hundreds of other folks, who came to the mountain.

We had purchased cable tickets online—so we didn’t have to stay in line for tickets. But we did have to wait in line to get on the cable car—a two and a half hour wait!  During that time, I did a couple sketches and chatted with people in the line near us. We met a lovely young woman from Istanbul—she is a law student and came to Cape Town to work on her dissertation, a cross-cultural study of justice for women. 

We also met a French woman whose son-in-law is the skipper of an ocean racing boat.  Later we saw the five boats that are participating in an around-the-world race—where Cape Town is one destination. This is the most dangerous sport imaginable. The boats are small, and they battle all sorts of conditions as they cross the oceans. This woman talked about the fact that her son-in-law was almost killed on a solo boating race—he had to be rescued. They get points—and her son-in-law has won two legs of the race so far. Their next stop is Brazil—they will cross thousands of miles across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. She said they always worry about him—but this is his life, and he loves the risk and the challenge.

So, we finally made it to the top of Table Mountain—absolutely clear views everywhere we looked. This was the third of the Seven Wonders of the World we got to visit on this trip!  Table Mountain is like a giant three-dimensional rectangle, flat on the top.

Just as we were about to take the cable car back down, the clouds came in.  Pretty soon there would be no view at all.

This was our last venture because now we both have Covid—so we are confined to this apartment, with its off and on electricity, probably until we get on the long plane rides to go home—we’ll be out of quarantine by then. At least we’ve already had most of our adventure.

As you read this, we should, with luck, be back in Minneapolis—with snow, ice and our own comfortable apartment.