Simon's Town

Today was a "free day" when we didn't have any group activities planned.  Some people in our group spent the day touring the South African wine country.  Others took the train and a bus into Cape Town and caught the cable car up to the top of Table Mountain.  Clif and I chose to stick fairly close to home, and we decided to take the train two stops over to Simon's Town, an historic seaport town.

We did the usual tourist things - shopped for souvenirs and ate fish and chips in a little seaside restaurant.  Two noteworthy things about lunch: Clif's fish was snoek, a local fish with a lot of bones but really tasty; and a sign on the wall encouraged people to allow strangers to sit at your table with you so you could "make a new friend."  The fact that the proprietor would also make more money if people squeezed in together wasn't mentioned.  We at lunch early, so there wasn't a need for us to share our table with strangers, but the second we stood up to leave, people came and claimed our seats.

The coolest thing we did in Simon's Town, however, was to tour the local museum.  It was only open from 10-1 today, so we timed it perfectly and arrived right at 10.  We paid the 5 rand donation (less than a dollar) and walked around this small town museum that was run by volunteers.  But it turned out to be a fascinating place.  We learned about slavery in the early years of Cape Town.  We learned about the sailors who came in to port, and the origin of the word "grog."  We also learned about a dog named Just Nuisance who was inducted into the Royal Navy, and was even given a full military burial when he died.  All of this was very interesting, but the best part of the whole museum was the display about the forced removal of non-whites in the 1960s.  We had learned about this when we went to the District 6 museum, but at Simon's Town, you saw it from the perspective of this small town that had always included people from all racial groups.  This community worked, played and worshipped together, and many civic leaders wrote letters of protest about the removal and how it would tear apart their community.  The display also showed newspaper clippings that helped explain how the forced removals were presented in the press.  The people who were being moved were given brand new homes that were twice the size of the homes they left.  The expectation was that they would be grateful for the opportunity to go to a new home.  What wasn't mentioned is that the new neighborhoods had no schools, no stores, no easy access to transportation, and would require people to travel over 2 hours to get to their jobs.  The more I learn about apartheid, the more I realize how complicated it was, and I begin to see how so many people could actually delude themselves into thinking it would work.

One last thing, I felt bad about not being an adventurous eater the other night at Mama Africa, so tonight I ordered springbok for dinner.  It was very mild, and (you knew it was coming) tasted like chicken.