South Africa

I arrived in Cape Town early in the morning on November 22. It was late spring, and a beautiful day. I was completely brain dead from the 15 hour flight, so all I could do the first day was take the cable car up to the top of Table Mountain. It's 1000 meters high (3300 feet for you Americans out there), and right in the middle of the city.

Cape Town is physically the most beautiful city I have ever seen! I spent ten days there, looking around, visiting the beaches, and mostly getting used to the culture.

Apartheid may be gone from a legal standpoint, but it still exists. White people still have the money, with the blacks almost as poverty stricken as before. That was the hardest thing to see; so many people with so little, and so few with so much. It really made me see that the US is still set up the same way.

I spent about 10 days enjoying Cape Town. It's the most relaxed city in South Africa, and the people are as friendly as you'll find. I found my third internet cafe in Cape Town, which was a great way to stay in touch with almost everyone.

I was only issued a visa for 5 weeks in South Africa; I had until January 1, 1996 to get out of the country. I started by hitch-hiking along the Garden Route - a long stretch of the southern South Africa coast known for its beautiful mountains, beaches, and - not surprisingly - plant life.

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