But it was also the place where I first experienced racism.
In Honduras I was always "La Gringa" for the simple reason that I speak English with a heavy American accent and had whiter skin....but I took it with a smile and tried my best to communicate with the Hondurans with a combination of English and Spanish. And they tried to understand and respond the could. I actually think they thought I was kinda cute trying to get people to understand me. :)
In Cape Town I was made very aware of my skin color. Im of Viking descent...Im from Denmark. Born and raised most of my life there. Im as white as they come....but I've never really sean color. My best friend until I was ten years old, was a Tamil girl and her younger brother....Sadly they had to move away ...
Color has just never been an issue for me. If you treat me nicely, I've return the favor.
But the first thing my colored boss in Cape Town told me and another intern on our first day was "I just want you to know, I no longer have a problem with white people. Im okay with you now."
....
....
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Okay?
She was mania depressive....and when she hit the lows....she hit 'em hard....and despised white people when that happened! When she hit the highs, she loved every human being alive.
The South Africans called it reverse racism and it was considered the punishment to the white South African people for their actions in the past. Very uncomfortable....especially for foreigners who settled there and had absolutely nothing to do with their past. And why they called it reverse I have no idea? Racism is racism no matter what color....
But if you're going to South Africa, you should be aware that it does still exist there. I met some wonderful people of all color skin and I love these people, but as they said....South Africa is a young country-not even 20 years old and the people have not forgotten the past...The Rainbow Nation, although a beautiful notion, has not yet been achieved.
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I went to one of the Town Ships....The people there are dirt poor but many of them are really nice and are just trying to survive. The sad part about Townships is that after a longer period of adversity, many of the Men resort to getting High as a way of escaping their problems. It is drug they can easily make themselves called Tigg and it literally eats away the brain. They become violent and stuck in their own world, so its best just to leave them be.
I met a wonderful older woman...Although she spent a lot of time begging for money, she gladly told me of the Townships history and how it came to be....some of the tin sheds were actually bigger than my .1 bedroom apartment.
Many of the townships had power as they just highjacked a couple of power lines from the electrical towers.
I actually thought it would have been worse but the township I visited wasn't that bad off.
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I went to the wine country....more specifically I went to attend Robertson Wine Festival....A beautiful place in the Wine Country (Close to Stellenbosch)
If you can find a wine festival I recommend you go....It is def. worth the experience as South Africa make absolutely brilliant wine! Otherwise, go to Stellenbosch-a beautiful wine village!
