A Scary Last Night in South Africa
Today was our last day in South Africa. We started off the day on the Citibus heading to the waterfront where we had time to look around and find a McDonald’s to get a hot chocolate and hashbrown (Typical Americans). Once we got our food, we waited in line to get on a boat to go to Robben Island, the jail where Nelson Mandela was held for 18 out of his 27 years in prison. The boat ride was about an hour and was SUPER rocky. To say the least, I was so happy to make it off without puking. Once we arrived, we got off the boat and onto a bus where we met our guide. We drove around Robben Island and learned a lot from her. We saw where Mandela worked at the quarry and even heard some stories. Including when Mandela came back to Robben Island right before he passed away with some of the prisoners who were on the island during his time. Mandela took one of the rocks from the quarry and put it into a pile. The rest of the prisoners took a rock, of all different colors and shapes (representing a melting pot), and placed it in the pile as well without any planning at all. They look up to Mandela and follow him.
Once we finished our bus tour, we got off and actually got to walk around the prison and see where Mandela stayed. The best part about the Robben Island prison is that the guide was actually a man who was in prison there and experienced the cruelty first hand. We stepped into a prison cell that held 40 people. They had a couple thin little mattresses maybe 2 inches thick. He told us that prisoners could write and receive 2 letters per year. The guards would censor the letters, though, by cutting out parts of them they didn’t want anyone to see. The guide also told us that they would smuggle in papers to learn about the outside world and what was going on. The most interesting thing he said though was the methods of torture the prisoners would experience there. It was very gruesome. They could beat you, wrap a warm towel over your face until you couldnt breathe anymore, or they could bring you to the top floor of the building and hold you over the side until you gave them answers. He said some of the guys he entered the jail with didn’t make it out alive.
After the 40 person jail cell, we moved to the single cells. Each cell was open and had a story in it about the people who were in that cell. One of the stories I read was from a guy who lost his eye, another one talked about how cold it was in the cells. After reading a couple of the stories we moved on to Mandela’s cell and then back on the rocky boat to the waterfront.
Once off the boat, Crysten and I took off (without telling the professor.. oops) to Long Street because she saw a ring she really liked in an antique store and she couldnt stop thinking about it. We RAN to get there and we were both drenched in sweat once we got there. Just everything closes so darn early that we didnt want it to close before we got there. Unfortunately we got there and they were closed, but luckily the lady opened up and Crysten got the ring she loved. So now we left the store.. and didn’t know what to do.. So uhh. Where are our professors?? Oops.. We found a guy with a phone and asked him if we could use it to call our professor’s South African number. He was super cool and actually happened to be our age as well. Once we used his phone to call he led us to where we needed to meet our group. We got chatting with him and he said he finished high school, but now he is taking a gap year to figure out what he wants to do. He decided on engineering. Oh and he lives above Green Market Square. He was great.. although we didnt get his name. Once we spotted our group I was relieved. Thank golly gee. We caught the bus back and as soon as we got to Hout Bay we went to Bugatti’s for one last night of bruschetta! I’m going to miss this bruschetta. Seriously the best I’ve ever had. Then we were heading back to the house when this guy approached us asking for money. We ignored him and Crysten and I walked on towards our house we were walking when this other sketchy guy on a corner said something to us in a mumble. We were walking super fast and immediately when we passed the corner we sprinted to our door. I was out of breathe! Especially since I’m sick! So I had some tea and we had a little dance party, then I went to go get more tea and sat on the couch and watched this rugby player movie with Jamika. It was actually pretty good until I started drifting off and knew it was time for bed. So to bed I went. Until about 2 in the morning someone rang the doorbell to our house. All I could hear is one of the professors say “You don’t sound American!” So someone sketch was ringing our doorbell trying to get in. What a last night in South Africa.
xoxo,
Em