Townships for the day.. wine tasting for the afternoon.

It was an interesting day touring two polar opposite cultural settings in Cape Town. We started the day sitting in crowed tin shacks sharing buckets of home brew with strangers and ended the day sitting on comfy pillows tasting award winning wines on their beautiful estate. Like every day here, I of course enjoyed every second.

We started out in the Gugulethu (meaning our pride) township at the Township Seven memorial. It stands to honor seven young men who were suspected of planning to attack a police van, and were then murdered by South African police during apartheid. They were unarmed.

Our tour guide and tour group (Robert, David, and Jake) in front of the Seven memorial. 

A memorial dedicated to a woman who lost her life after getting caught in a riot on her way to the grocery store. It says "You strike a woman, you strike a rock." 

After the monuments and some driving around, we headed for some local cuisine. The first stop was at a street vendor for some smiley. Smiley is sheep's head charred on the braai (barbecue) named for the look of the teeth after the lips have burned off. Sounds gruesome, but we had fun eating it and the locals seem to enjoy watching us eat smiley. We all agreed that the tongue was the best part.

Smiley on the table and men charring the meat with blow torches.

Our tour guide carving the meat with locals watching our reactions. 

Holding up various pieces of sheep face. I have the jaw bone.  Our tour guides are more concerned with eating. 

Street vendor for smiley.

After smiley we needed some home brew to wash it down. Home brew is a fermented beer made in another street vendor shack. It's made with wheat and tastes like yeast. The shack was filled with men who were more than happy to pass around a bucket of home brew with us.

Home brew in the making.

My turn. 

His turn. 

We drove around to different townships, which are technically considered one township, but according to the tour guides there are different areas with their own distinct cultures.

A group of kids ran up to us when we were getting in the van and really wanted us to take their picture. These boys were so proud of themselves when I managed to snap one through the back window. 

We stopped at an art center that was founded by our tour guide years ago. A group of men played music for us, which was beautiful, and then insisted that we play the instruments, which was not pretty. I kept trying to tell them that I am not musically inclined in the slightest, but they kept trying... and laughing.

Playing a couple xylophones, a bongo drum, and singing. 

Our group attempting to play a simple song.

After butchering the bongo drum, these three men tried to teach me the xylophone. 

This is when they realized that I wasn't being modest  when I told them I couldn't play an instrument.

After leaving the art center we headed for more food and drinks in a different part of the townships. Our tour guide tried to find us "walky talky," or chicken legs (according to the tour guide chickens walk and talk). He couldn't find any walky talky so he got sheep intestines and took us to his friend's shebeen (home bar) to eat it with a side of castle beer (not home brew, but it is a popular local beer). The shebeen was completely packed with people and the second I walked in I got a huge hug from a very friendly stranger. Everyone was very nice and excited to talk to us. It may have had something to do with the sheep intestines and beer we were sharing. I think it was my favorite part of the day. Everyone was talking at once. They all wanted to know my name and where I was from. I felt completely overwhelmed, but it was fun.  

Street braai.

This woman fell in love with David. She kissed his neck right after I took the picture. 

Looking over the townships.

The tour guide pointed out some tents in this empty area where  men who were coming of age  were staying out in the environment to earn their manhood. 

Street vendor selling oranges.

After the tour we rushed back to town to meet the other interns to go wine tasting. It was a little bit of a culture shock to sit at a fancy winery next to a beautiful nunnery after being packed into various street shacks for most of the morning.

View of the nunnery from the deck where we were tasting. 

Some of the High Constantia facilities. 

Jake and I enjoying one of their tasty reds. 

It was an incredible day and a great opportunity to experience South African culture.