south africa : day three, friday

20 february 2009

friday was my free day. i didn't have any plans aside from a little shopping. mckendree and caitlin decided to do 'operation hunger,' where they went and fed lunch to all the malnourished kiddos in a township. as a result, i spent the day with danielle-- a girl from colorado who i've traveled with in spain and namibia. she's great and it was a good day.

up and off the ship before 9, danielle and i were on a mission. i had been thinking about buying a bigger camera since namibia. after being on safari and kicking myself for not having one, a boy on my bus mentioned that he was going to be purchasing one in south africa, the last good port to buy one. well that was enough to make me think and to plant the seed.

i had called mom the night before, after visiting the camera store with mckendree, and she said it was a go. now, its my money &my decision but it was nice to know she thought it was a good idea.

danielle and i first went to the internet cafe, in the mall, so i could look up the camera and see if it was the same as mom's and what the price would work out to be. i also made the mistake of checking facebook.. i think this 108 days will cure my obsession! (well, i won't get ahead of myself.. it will be a main form of communication with all my new sas friends..) i double checked my finances and headed off to the camera store.

i had received a quote and some information the night before and went in with the card i'd recieved. i talked to the guy and he actually assembled the camera for me and got it all ready to go. i triple checked that the memory cards i have would fit (they do!) and inquired about a bag. i have to protect this investment! he gave me the bag free of charge, i paid and we were on our way with my new baby. i saved the reciept, not only for balance purposes but because the price was written in rand.. so it came out to something like R7999..

we made a stop at the grocery store, pick 'n pay, to get some snacks. i got : peanut m&ms, a chocolate bar, easter candy, hard candies called sparkles, granola bars, multi-grain crackers, blackcurrant tea, gummies ( called strawberry fluffs), conditioner, and an afrikaans newspaper. the funny thing about food internationally, the 'calories' are listed as 'energy' and all the values are in kilojoules. and since it means nothing to me, it couldn't be better. i just needed some sweets to carry me through india (i may have to stock up a bit in mauritius.. we had a movie night last night!).

taking all our prizes -- snacks &my camera -- we headed back to the ship to drop everything off and made plans to meet up and head to the tax office. i think i may have mentioned it before, but south africa has a 14% on all goods, which can be refunded to tourists like me! i brought my camera with me and we headed down through the waterfront. there was a fun bridge connecting the two sides of the waterfront and we watched a few boats go through. it was different than a drawbridge because instead of moving upwards, it swung to the side. very neat.

i grabbed my forms from the tax office and we decided to take a taxi to the market to go shopping. we considered taking one of those crazy, double decker tourist buses around the city but decided it wasnt going to be going to where we wanted. so we hailed a cab (a normal, not-on-strike cab..) and asked for long street.

our driver was a refugee from zimbabwe and it was wonderful to be able to understand his situation, having just learned about zimbabwe's collapse in global studies. we told him we wanted shopping and he suggested the city walk, which was further away. we decided to head there and boy were we surprised at what we saw.

i think most of the people we have met tend to assume that we are made of money. hence, they take us to the largest and most expensive looking malls and point out the most expensive wines on the menu. little to they know how rich we aren't-- i'm a girl on a budget.. which i just blew out of the water with my camera purchase. 

anyways, the mall was unbelievable. it was most definitely NOT what we had been looking for -- we wanted the typical, over-priced tourist items. instead, we were at a mall with 400 stores. i suppose it just felt ridiculous for us to be there after having seen the townships the day before and to find ourselves surrounded by excess. danielle and i decided to make the best of it (and to spend the afternoon there... it was a pricey cab ride..).

there was a HUGE food court, which i actually took pictures of. yes, i was that girl. taking pictures OF A MALL. its absurd. but when you see the photo, you'll understand why. we decided on sushi and it was the best decision i could have made-- for $6 usd i got 24 pieces of veggie and california rolls. it was too much! so i shared with danielle and saved some for snack. so delicious.

after our lunch picked us up, we decided to see what we could find. we were on a mission for touristy things and eventually found a craft store. i got great little souvenirs for some of you and danielle found what she had been looking for. we stopped at a store called mr. price and got jelly shoes. like the ones from when i was little.. they are back in style in south africa! who would have thought! and for $3usd.. i could not say no.

we were also on a hunt for world cup 2010 shirts and searched that big mall, top to bottom. we eventually found a soccer store, with a turf floor, and found what we were looking for.

luckily we ran into two other sas girls, one of whom was on our namibian safari. we made plans to meet up with them and share a cab ride back, which would safe us all money.

after some aimless wandering, we walked around outside. the whole area is home to not only the mall and a ton of restaurants but to condominiums, business headquarters and a canal walk. i feel like it was something you'd see in vegas, all man-made and artificial.

meeting up with the girls, we were lucky to catch the only cab waiting and headed back to the ship. danielle ran to an internet cafe and i headed back to my room to decompress, organize, and meet up with mckendree. she and the other girls had a great time at their service project and i wished i'd have gone. oh well, there will be more service visits.

while at the township, rennika offered to hold a woman's baby and the woman asked if she wanted to have her, as in to take her home. hearing this, it broke my heart. apparently similar situations have come up on past semester at sea voyages, when people believe that strangers from america could offer their child a better life.

after a some quiet time, we met up with some of our boy neighbors and headed down to the pier for some dinner &drinks. we ate at quay four, a great hamburger type joint with free wi-fi. if i'd known, i would have brought my computer! it was great fun and a good time meeting new kids. it seems like people are still coming out of the woodwork and its great to meet new people.

after a long night of dancing to the house band and a glass or two of wine, ren and i headed back to the ship and the rest followed soon after. it was nice to feel safe in port and to always see our ship in the distance. there were also sas kids everywhere, it was nice. it was such a welcome change from the industrial ports of casablanca and walvis bay.

it was off to bed and up early for our wine tour!