Erika Vijh

These next final three dispatches represent the last days of our South African adventure. This dispatch is written by Erika Vijh, she is majoring in international studies and political science. Erika is well traveled having spent time in Equador and Mexico volunteering in development projects. Her dispatch is called “Welcome to Capetown”.

Enjoy! Nesha

Welcome to Capetown

At 5am on June 2, twelve groggy students and their professor rolled out of bed and into a big red bus, clueless of the length of the drive upon which they were about to embark. In the twenty hours that followed, they sang—off-key, at best—and danced confined to their seats, tried unsuccessfully to sleep for no more than half-hour increments, and hoped to keep their sanity long enough to get to the first hotel. Needless to say, the first leg of the journey was not the holiday relaxation period the POA members had expected. The next day, though they rolled out of bed and into the bus even more reluctantly than the day before, they were in for a pleasant surprise: a trip to the Cango Caves, ostrich riding (no joke), and a hike down Featherbed Mountain awaited them. The third leg of the journey, to everyone’s pleasant surprise, ended with a train ride up the Outeniqua Mountains, located in the city of George, before arriving in Cape Town itself.

Professor Haniff has stressed the point that we must experience South Africa through our encounters with the people we meet rather than the things we see, but I think that the people we met as well as the things we saw were equally important to our world-class Garden Route experience. The POA has truly lucked out in regards to the quality of tour guides we have encountered throughout this trip. Perhaps we bring out a special quality within our guides, making them our friends rather than our employees, but I think we’ve just been lucky. For example, Thabisa, our Cango Caves tour guide, brought the caves to life with her theatrical charisma and natural charm. Our chance encounter with the attractive, insightful ostrich expert Hermes ,whom we happened to stumble upon during our epic quest to ride an ostrich, awed us with his gentle yet powerful words about the beauty found in nature. Even our drivers, Cupido and Kelvin became our pals over breakfast chats about their beautiful country’s history.

Though Cape Town via the Garden Route served as our vacation, we have learned so much along the way. Each person we met gave us a new perspective of the country we have inhabited for the past month. With every encounter, we have grown as individuals and become more conscious not only of our surroundings, but also of our world. However, it was more than all of our guides who made the Garden Route ride so spectacular: it was also the work of the majestic Cango Cave stalagmites and stalactites, millions of years old but continuing to grow, the ostriches with their small brains yet stimulating actions, and the beautiful flower called the Erika Bush growing freely along the mountainsides(of course I was pleased by these flowers since they were carrying my name Erika). Every situation was enriched with culture and infused with history.

As we rolled up to the bed and breakfast, our final home for this trip, we were mixed with emotions of sorrow and relief. The journey ended up longer than what was perhaps expected, necessary, or planned, but in the end, I think it is safe to say that everyone greatly enjoyed themselves while experiencing even more of the diverse beauty South Africa has to offer along the infamous Garden Route. While I think it is also safe to say nobody wants to hear the song, “Welcome to Cape Town” ever again, as it was played incessantly along the way, the journey served its purpose as a grand welcome indeed.

Signing off, Pedagogy of Action South Africa, 2010 Team Member

Erika Vijh