Leaving Africa, (leaving Italy)

The fact that all of my stuff fits in the 2 (granted large) suitcases I brought here is nothing short of a miracle – especially since Im leaving stuff behind. (Obviously people will be getting good gifts!)
The problem with my superb packing skills ( acquired and refined thanks to a lifetime of carting my belongings between divorced households) is that I can fit an EXHORBATANT amount of stuff in practically no space. So although my suitcases look standard size they –no joke- weigh the equivalent of metal trunks. Anything involving packing is guaranteed to make me anxious and stressed. Right now my mind is consumed with dread of the 100 walk with these suitcases from the car to the check in counter…You laugh, but I will probably toss and turn these last two nights worried about it. Somehow, I have to downsize again in the states to one non-overweight suitcase before flying from NYC to ATL. Yay for a boyfriend with a new apartment and for parents moving out of their apartment…this means lots of space to drop off and temporarily store my belongings. Come to think of it… my belonging are currently in 5 different houses and apartments across the US; and only two of those places belong to family members! Wow, I cannot wait until this time next year when I can have my own place and where my things will stay put … but I digress…
So I went to South Africa! It was mind-blowing and beautiful. We did so much in such a short time. I’ll try my best to re-cap…
I arrive and Emily takes me to the coast for drinks to watch the sunset. I was sold. Im a sucker for places by the water…so Cape Town is like heaven. On day one we went up to the vineyards and did a wine tasting. Its official: Im a wine snob. I like (good) Italian wine and thanks to my host mom I can taste the difference between Prosecco and Cava. So I was not a huge fan of the South African wine…Anyway, then we went to a TB center and played with the children. It was heart warming. You walked into this room and suddenly these faces turn and they run to you and their arms go up and all they want is to be held. On another day, we went to the Green Market and I got to explore the handmade goods. We also went to Robben Island (where Mandela was held prisoner). The coolest thing about the museum is that all the guides are former prisoners! Our guide was put in prison for burning down a government building. He starts talking about how he was treated (Im thinking, wow that’s terrible) and it took me a while to realize that he was trying to prove that as a “colored” inmate he was actually treated much better than his “black” counter-parts.
Its incredible to think that apartheid is not a thing of the ancient past. Furthermore, regardless of how its supposed to be over, you can see the tension still throughout the country. For example there will be this whole town of beautiful coastline houses. And you think, wow I feel like Im in California. Then, just on the outskirts is a whole separate community. Many of the houses are made up of tin! These are colored communities and townships where either the coloreds or the blacks were forced to move to. Emily tells me that although the government is supposed to build housing for these people, there’s nowhere to move them to. The contrast of wealth is jaw-dropping. Even though I studied South Africa last summer as part of my fellowship and knew about the huge wealth disparity, I was not prepared for the visual.
On Sunday we drove to the Cape of Good Hope, climbed up Cape Point, drove all around the coast and then took the cable car up to Table Mountain. It was then that I decided this was one of the prettiest countries I had ever been to. I took over 200 pictures that day alone. (Look out for facebook albums).
My only disappointment was that I didn’t go on Safari. (I know, I know, totally white-chick-American-idealist thing. You think Africa and you think starving potbellied children and lions.) It wasn’t that as much as Ive just always wanted to go on safari. (And Emily has this sick picture of her riding an ostrich and Im jealous…haha) I did see ostriches, penguins and baboons! We get to Cape point and there are these signs “Baboons are dangerous and attracted to food!” And I think its random and maybe a joke cause are there really baboons on this mountain? Three minutes later I see three baboons within two feet of me.
Ok well Im exhausted. So I’ll finish my thoughts on Africa later. (And give a little speech about airports – cause I spend a great deal of time in them and I find them interesting).
Ciao!