It was 50 years ago today

Today was our history and cultural day I guess.

50 years ago today Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island so it seemed appropriate that we cruise out and see where he spent 18 years of a life sentence for sabotage

Not too many sailboats this time of year, but here is one hearty soul.

Robben Island Prison.

More Robben Island Prison.

This gentleman was a political prisoner here and now gives guided tours talking about what it was like to be in prison here. It wasn't very nice...

Story has it, that Nelson Mandela hide his manuscript for "Long Walk to Freedom" in this garden so the guards wouldn't find it. He made a back up copy, which was the one ultimately smuggled out and published. Something to read next...

 Very hard to photograph, but this was Nelson Mandela's home for 18 years.

On the return ride back to Cape Town we saw these freighters under a beautiful blue sky.

Cape Town from the water. We now have traveled by car, airplane, train and boat.

I am not sure what to do with these. We got a local to take into one of the townships. Believe me, I would never do this alone. Even with an escort I was very concerned. Flashing a camera worth a year's salary isn't a good idea so we didn't take many pictures. But, the idea was to see how the "other half" lives. Below is the museum for District 6. District 6 was bulldozed so the coloreds would't come back during the apartheid era. This museum is a rallying point for those trying to rebuild. The government now has protected the land and it still lays empty waiting.

We saw these shanty towns from the train and had a hard time imagining who would be living here. Walking through here I think it was a good experience. Basically, South Africa has no social "safety net". So when you are down, you are out. These are desperate people basically just trying to survive.

Main street...

A little hard to see, but look close and you can see a tin shack. Our guide was very proud to point out that this guy now has electricity. There are other places where these things are stacked up like cord wood. And the one guy that has electricity has a dozen extension cords running to his neighbors.

Just like the states, there is a big challenge to keep kids from drugs and gangs. This bunch managed to turn a set of donated boots into percussion instruments. It involved stomping and smacking their boots in a sort of frenzied dance. They travel around South Africa performing. Unfortunately we were so captivated we forgot to take photos of their routine. The white faces around the room are girls from International Student Volunteers living here for a while. You can see one youngster still working on his routine in his blue boots.