South Africa so far…

So, I’ve been in South Africa for exactly a week as of today, and although I have seen so incredibly much that this week it has already felt like a month, I promised myself that one of my main goals of this trip would be to try to be fully present in this experience. I’ve realized that because I love to travel so much, I also have this burning desire start memorializing before I’ve even finished experienced it in the very moment – to take pictures of everything in an effort to remember things before I’ve even finished seeing them. Although this is the reason for some of my great visual travel logs, the consequence is that I’m wired on being connected in a way that sometimes detracts from the realization that, hey, I’m here, right now, in South Africa… just live; and also detracts from the responsibility of making that realization my most essential priority in approaching every situation. It creates a weird tension where my loyalties are divided – on the one hand, not everyone I know has, can, or will come here, so I feel this strong duty to be the middle man for information, for the things I see and hear and taste and feel on the daily. But at the same time, I have to stay true to the duty to myself to realize that this is an incredibly unique experience and I should try to be here – truly here - before I start trying to remember it or simulate it for others.

It’s been difficult this first week, especially being in Johannesburg. There were a lot of moral qualms I had with pressing myself up to our tour bus window taking pictures of the townships but I did it anyway; I kept trying to conceptualize what the equivalent would be in New York – riding in a limo through the projects and secretly snapping pictures? I don’t know, it’s all very strange and I guess I haven’t figured it all out yet, nor my place in it. That feeling was only exacerbated today when at the end of the day as our class was exiting our teacher said in a funny conglomeration of English words “If you believe you are not white, please stay behind” and proceeded to tell the remaining minority students, including myself, about the very different way we will be treated starting from when we embark on our very first homestay this Saturday. He pointed at us one by one and informed us exactly what race we would be perceived as and its implications for how we would be treated. My other African-American classmate, he said, might “pass” as Coloured along with my Puerto Rican classmate; my Columbian classmate would be perceived as Indian; and I, with no mistake, was Black, in other words, the very bottom of the barrel. I was so glad that our teacher chose to have this conversation with us and not to ignore the realities of how different the coming experience in South Africa will be for some of us, but it was definitely a huge reality check that I’m not sure my happy-go-lucky approach to this trip has tried to reconcile with quite yet. Anywho, all of this being said, I would love to deliver my first taste of South Africa through some of my most notable pictures from this first week. Enjoy!

 

The Orlando Cooling Towers in Soweto. 

These towers used to be the symbol of apartheid oppression since they were used to supply power to White areas but not to the Black townships that it was directly surrounded by. Electricity to the surrounding townships, I believe, only came in 1994.

 

Part of Soweto. "Soweto" is a name that stands for South West Township, which was one of the famous and most populated townships during Apartheid, and still is today.

 

My ticket into the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg. I was randomly assigned a ticket for "whites only" so I had to go through that entrance. This was probably one of the best museums I've ever been to - it was fascinating in terms of both its content and decor. The slogan on the pamphlet that you receive before you enter is "Apartheid is exactly where it belongs - in a museum". Furthermore, the museum is architecturally laid out to represent the phrase "it's no easy walk to freedom" - the beginning of the museum is a dark and uses a lot of gates, wires, and dirtied concrete to surround all of the material that is displayed. As you walk through, the museum becomes more linear and less daunting, and at the halfway point, there's a little courtyard where you can see the end of your journey, but are physically barred from reaching it. On the last stretch of the museum you walk through a corridor where you have finally reached natural sunlight and when you finishing walking you literally arrive at a big wall with the word FREEDOM.

Graffiti in downtown Johannesburg

 

A few and my friends and I found this guy in Johannesburg. We realized he was dressed pretty uniquely so we stopped him to ask questions. He explained that he was part of a "movement" in Johannesburg of artists, designers, dancers, singers... and that he was about to shoot a music video.

 These were his friends... they all dress like this everyday, their art is their life. 

A few of us by the pool. We were staying at this place called the Train Lodge in the city center of Cape Town. It used to be a working train station, but then they took all of the cars out of commission and turned it into a sort of hostel for travelers. The rooms were TINY and stifling hot but it was a cool experience with a beautiful view. 

Me! At the top of the Lions Head, a mountain in Cape Town. I know it doesn't look that high up, but let me assure you... IT IS. That, combined with the fact that the last 15 minutes to the top was legitimately ROCK CLIMBING with no ropes, safety nets, or anything means that this was definitely a big moment for me and my fear of heights. I was the last one to make it to the top (me and my friend who was also unexpectedly nervous were about 20 minutes behind the rest of our group) but it was SO worth it. My body still hurts.

The view from the top. Keep in mind this is only about 1/8 of what I could see from up there... stay tuned for some panorama shots.