Since arriving in Cape Town, we have experienced so many shocking differences from Johannesburg that I wasn’t necessarily expecting. The surrounding environment was the first and most obvious difference, as there were mountains surrounding the highway as we drove from the airport to our lovely hotel in Sea Point. As we got closer to the hotel and saw the ocean on our right with the mountains still on our left, we were all in awe. At first I felt like I could be in Miami or California, definitely not South Africa, probably just because it was so different than anywhere we traveled to while in Johannesburg. My first impression was that this was like a vacation getaway, with a great mix of mountains for hiking and beaches for relaxing. Now that we have been here for a few days, I am much more aware of the struggles that people in this area have faced and still are facing. The lecturer from a couple of days ago, Sean Field, warned us to “not be seduced by its beauty”, referring to the beauty of Sea Point. So far I definitely have been seduced by its beauty, and have to keep reminding myself that there is so much more to this city than meets the eye.
The most notable thing that we were all the most uncomfortable with at first was the large white population everywhere we went. It is so strange to think that we were uncomfortable with that, since it is what most of us are used to back at home. But coming from Johannesburg where it was extremely uncommon to see a white person, it felt like some form of culture shock. The description of Cape Town being like a European city in South Africa has also proven to be very accurate, at least from what we have seen so far in Sea Point. It is a luxurious space with lots of restaurants, hip neighborhoods, shopping, and white people. This all makes sense since Sea Point is one of the wealthiest suburbs in Cape Town. It is crazy to think that this used to be a dangerous area, since it seems like such an ideal place to live currently. In terms of seeing the less prosperous sides of Cape Town, we have so far traveled to Khayelitsha, which is a partially informal township about 30 minutes outside of the main city. Seeing Khayelitsha was the first thing that reminded me that everything in Cape Town is not perfect. The people there were incredibly friendly, just as they were in all of the townships we visited in Johannesburg, but their living conditions were still very unfortunate. I am excited to travel back to Khayelitsha during the day, which we are doing tomorrow, so I am able to really notice the differences between Sea Point and the township on an even bigger level.
Another interesting experience so far in Cape Town is how touristy and Westernized it all is. On our third day here, we biked down the promenade along the water to the V and A Waterfront, which was so gorgeous and enjoyable. When we arrived at the waterfront, everything was so familiar like we could have been back home. There was a mall with all of the popular American clothing shops, a ferris wheel, and lots of cute little restaurants. The waterfront is understandably one of Cape Town’s most popular tourist attractions, bringing in about 23 million tourists each year. It is interesting though how one of the most popular tourist attractions is also the most similar to places you can go in the U.S., or anywhere else for that matter. It was still a beautiful place to visit, with a spectacular view of table mountain in the background. Overall, Cape Town has been a very interesting and gratifying experience and fully lived up to its descriptions of being a European like city and very white touristy area. I am looking forward to exploring more of the city and challenging my previous views that I had, and becoming more familiar with the history and different groups of people that currently make up the population of Cape Town.
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