Our second day here we started fairly early. Leaving the house around 9am we went to the grocery store and pharmacy to get any personal items needed. It was our first time inside a South African pharmacy. It was very interesting seeing the similarities and differences between our pharmacies back home and the ones here. They do have some of the same brand names that we do in the U.S. but for the majority, the brands are different.
After that we drove towards the H0ut Bay area to do a walking tour of Mandela's Park. This township is called "Imizama Yet" which means "Our Struggle". This township is built on a landfill and houses many families. It has bars, salons, and a church. About 8 families or 40 people share one toilet and water well, which can be up to 1km or 1/2 mile away from their home.
The people of Mandela's park were all very friendly, the kids loved having their pictures taken by us. Today we learned a new word from these children, "abelungu" (pronounced a-baa-lu) which means "whities" or white people. As we walked by they would call out "abelungu" to us. While on our tour we visited the church were some women in the church choir sang two songs for us. While singing their second song one of the women pulled me up to join in their dance/sway to the song. There were also crafts made by people from the township which we were able to purchase.
After the tour of the township, we drove to Hout Bay and had a picnic of cous cous with vegetables, apples, & juice boxes. While in Hout Bay we were also able to explore an old war post on the side of the mountain.
For dinner we went to Ivy's and had a Braai, where we met the students from America University in Washington D.C. Once again the food was very good. Following dinner we went to TrenchTown Bar down the street to ring in the New Year - complete with a champaign toast at midnight and us dancing to "Waka Waka"!!
Overall we had a great New Years Eve day!!
Happy New Year!!
