Zimbabwe!

     Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. One of the seven Natural Wonders of the World. The largest waterfall on Earth. A minuscule part of you cannot help but to think "so what? It's just a big waterfall; what's so special about it?"
     It is appalling. Landing in Zimbabwe the first day, we could see the reflective mist rising above the Falls from miles away. Then by foot, we approached Victoria Falls with enthusiasm and youthfulness, embracing the water as its gargantuan splash literally soaked us from the extreme pressure of it falling. Constant rainbows consumed the air. They refer to the magic as "the smoke that thunders" and I could not agree more. Truly a wonder. 
     The Zambezi River leads to Victoria Falls, as well as continues after it, and serves as the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia, connecting Botswana as well. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset cruise along the Zambezi River one night, peaking out at wildlife on the sides along the way. The locals who lived at the backpackers (hostel) we stayed at hosted a Braii just for us with local instruments and delicious food. We dined at local favorites including In-Da-Belly, The Boma, and Mama Africa, which included live music, dancing, and even eating worms! We took a helicopter ride over the falls, taking advantage of the only way to physically see the entire Falls at once since they are so intensely wide, too wide to see all at once from the ground. We shopped at local markets, being offered to buy their currency, ranging to Zillion Dollar Bills, since their economy collapsed in 2009 and they now use the U.S. Dollar as their official currency. I once again asked endless questions about their culture, from religion to politics, women's rights, education, and just happiness. We sat in on a local group's band practice, essentially receiving a free private show/jam sesh. We spent a day just lounging along the side of the Zambezi River, me studying for my last final exam this upcoming Friday while my lucky done-with-finals friends simply soaked in the sun. Our adventure was spontaneous, adventurous, thought-provoking, relaxing, and a perfect choice for part of our last week on this extraordinary continent. Now for our last four days in Cape Town, and then for the rest of forever with these memories and experiences always lingering in our minds. 

MADAGASCAR

         Salama! I just returned from six eye-opening days traveling Madagascar with my best friends Rachel and Brittany. As the fourth largest island in the world, Madagascar is an isolated country with such unique culture and history to offer. Interestingly, it is primarily influenced by French and Asian cultures so Malagasy, the national language, derives from French and everyone is short like Asians, yet has black skin. The diverse people are only a fraction of the life on the island; 90% of all animals and wildlife found on Madagascar do not exist anywhere else in the world. 90%! Vanilla is also their largest export and it is supposedly the best on Earth. Their currency is Ariary and an average meal is 15,000 Ariary, approximately $4.00 USD.

         Knowing all that from my research beforehand, I knew I was going to be exploring somewhere different than any other civilization. It is so under-developed that there are no street signs anywhere and the dirt roads that connect different towns are flooded with potholes and confusion so we hired a driver, Hasima, to bring us from place to place, as well as to culturally enhance our experience. Within just the first car ride, from the capital Antananarivo (or "Tana" as the locals call it) to Antsirabe, I asked Hasima an enormous amount of questions. He explained to me that the Madagascan flag's green represents rice since they grow and eat so much of it, red represents the fraternity of the nation, and white represents water. As I spoke to him more, I truly perceived the presence of French and Asian influences and the absence of an African influence. He reacted to my observation in explaining that natives tend to not feel a necessarily strong connection to Africa; most have never even been to the continent. They feel more of a connection with Asia than with Africa but feel that they are considered as part of Africa solely because it is geographically closer. He ranted about how the movie Madagascar (I've never seen it) is obviously so inaccurate and that none of the Big Five (lions, leopards, elephants, rhino, water buffalo) who are characters in the movie even live there. Being of course so fascinated by religion, he shared with me that of the Madagascan population, 45% of Madagascans are Catholic, 10% Muslim, 25% Protestant, and the rest are not religious.

         Other observations and inferences of mine from out the window during that first car ride: Madagascar is beautiful. There are giant puddles of water, basically small lakes, everywhere and it's a land of hills continuing on for what looks like forever. Women actually walk down dirt roads with huge baskets balancing on their heads, just as you would imagine. The variety and abundance of trees are jaw-dropping, I fell in love with Baobab trees. Herds of Zebu crowd the streets at all times. Zebu are essentially a combination of cows and camels; they look like cows with a huge hump on their backs. Madagascans eat them for every meal so I partook in that as well, wanting to have the most native experience I could. Throughout the six days, I tried zebu in filet form, in soup, on kabobs, and as a hamburger. It was delicious and they spice it up with a variety of sauces and vegetables.

         Boys often walk two or three hours to school everyday whereas girls do not receive any education at all. They get married around age 15 and start having children around age 20. Every 7 years, the tribes host a huge circumcision ceremony for all the boys ages 2 through 9. They do not use any anesthesia or medication and afterwards the grandfather of the boy eats the foreskin with a banana. The average lifespan is 60 years. After engaging in an intense conversation about all of that, I was hit with a shocking reality: If I had been born in Madagascar, which any human easily could be, I would now be married, have kids, and my parents would already be dead. Shocking.

         After writing just that^ so far, I am so overwhelmed. This journey meant so much to me and I truly do not know how to portray that through just a blogpost. As I said, Madagascar was eye-opening in so many ways. We drove hours on end through dirt roads cutting through small, under-developed villages. We watched the sunset at the Avenue of the Baobabs, twice, and I found a branch of my soul amongst those trunks. We drank local vanilla rum around a beach bonfire along the coast of the Indian Ocean, playing guitar and singing Malagasy songs. We spent a night in a cabin in the middle of the Kirindy Forest, where we went on a night and day exploration with a trained guide, seeing six out of the eight different species of lemurs in Madagascar. We spent two nights in a bungalow on the beach. We watched Madagascan children pound into the ground to polish diamonds under a bridge (see my video). We played with chameleons, watching their skin actually change colors depending on what they were touching. I kicked around a futbol with a little boy named Nando on the beach. We engaged in cultural conversations with our native drivers, diving into the religion, politics, history, and customs of this intriguing country. We thought and we be’d. I want to share more but for now, I’m still processing. Still reflecting. So grateful.

AFRIKABURN

I have no idea how to properly and accurately portray every feeling and memory I am currently filled with, but I want to share it with you.

            Afrikaburn is a regional event of Burning Man, the American desert fire festival. It revolves around the concept of erecting beautiful statues of art and then lighting them on fire. Due to the desert environment, the flames do not catch on anything else, and just tens of thousands of people watch while each log of wood kindles and spreads the heat.

            Just like any festival though, it has of course developed into much more than just that. This week-long event attracts “burners” from all around the world, creating a wild and riveting community in “Tankwa Town” (our temporary city in the desert – Burning Man’s is called “Black Rock City”), five hours outside Cape Town in the African desert. A majority of people stroll the open lands completely nude, focusing their lives on giving. This non-societal society thrives on generosity. Participants walk around giving so much, from free pancakes and coffee to massages and discussions. These adults are escaping their “real” lives and diving into their creativity, creating theme camps and vehicles. For example, the theme camp called “The Human Library” had you create a library card for yourself, utilizing the old school library system of opening the drawer and finding the location of the book. People who “checked you out of the library” or came and found you, could then ask you any question, reading you just like they would read a book. Meanwhile, elaborately decorated vehicles roamed through the desert at all times, offering to take you on a magic carpet ride, which one vehicle was decorated to look like, or to find you a dancing partner like on the Spirit Train.

            The ambience of this community-feel, everyone working to enhance each other’s experience, was incomparable to anything else I have ever experienced. It showed the power of human beings and challenged concepts of why we blindly accept so many societal expectations and norms.

            Throughout my five days at Afrikaburn, I paralleled a lot to Ultra and Reforest Fest, which I just now realized I never blogged about. Ultra was in February, a huge EDM festival organized by the same producers as Ultra in Miami. We bought a tent (since we knew we’d be using it for all these other events as well), camped out all weekend, and celebrated being young. On the contrary, Reforest Fest in March captivated an entirely different mindset. A few hours outside of Cape Town in the Platbos Forest, we dedicated our weekends to planting 8,000 trees, connecting with each other, strangers, and ourselves, but most importantly, connecting with nature. I engaged in myriad thought-provoking discussions and enlightening moments with myself, never feeling more alive and free. With rhythmic indie folk/chill music, it captured much different vibes than Ultra or even Afrikaburn. It focused on being nature, rather than challenging what we as humans can do with nature.

            I feel so fortunate and grateful to have been able to partake in all of these mind-altering events and recognize what a powerful impact they have made on my abroad experience, as well as on my overall life and myself. I know that Afrikaburn was not the end of this journey, but just a few gargantuan steps of it.

Homestay

I spent this past weekend doing a homestay with a family in Grabouw. As an Afrikaans community, the "gr" is pronounced combined with the Hebrew "ch" so it's like "Chgru-beau." Located an hour and a half southeast of Cape Town, it is an agricultural hub for the country. There are apple orchards everywhere so they are home to the extremely popular drink Appletiser, essentially sparkling apple juice. I chose this location for my one homestay opportunity in order to enjoy a unique rural experience. Also, I knew I would never get to visit this intriguing town, otherwise. When we arrived Friday, we were welcomed by an African dancing and singing performance at the primary school. They then brought all the host families and the students together for a collective community dinner. I sat down with, what I thought was, a married couple but I quickly learned that they had only met three weeks before. The man had just broken up with his wife/girlfriend a month ago, came to Grabouw, met this woman, and moved in with her. I shared several quite interesting conversations with him. He told me his "sob story" about how his father had worked for Heinz ketchup (but it used to have a different name, supposedly) and received a promotion to move to America. His father turned it down, not wanting to leave, and he's held it against him ever since. Also, he explained to me that to belong to a church here, which everyone does, you must pay at least one tenth of your income to the church every month, no matter how much your salary is. Because of this, priests earn significantly more money than any other professions, so unfortunately some locals go into the occupation solely for that benefit.

            After dinner, I met my “mom” and “dad!” As a 73 year old colored woman and a 77 year old black man, they have been married for 48 years. They have three sons in their 40’s, two of which are married and have children. The woman was adorable and immediately opened up her arms and heart, exclaiming “my child!” as I approached her. Throughout the weekend, I enjoyed myriad interesting conversations with them both, ranging from religion to the Apartheid and Shrek to Two and a Half Men. We painted mathematical murals on the walls of the local primary school, toured the preschool that my “mom” is principal of, and spent hours cooking Potjie, a South African delicacy cooked outside in a pot. To wrap it all up, they brought me to their Anglican church on Sunday, which provided a great insight into their strong sense of a religious community. I experienced my first and probably last Communion, being force-fed the cracker and “Jesus’ blood.” Mountains beautifully surrounded the town everywhere you looked and I truly felt a tug as I pulled away at the end of the weekend. I am so glad I brought them a pie with a thank you note and I look forward to receiving a birthday phone call from them on Wednesday, as promised. As each day here goes by, not wasted for one second, I have gained a deeper and more genuine perception into the daily life of not just a local Cape Townian, but a local South African, and I am so thankful for that.

Visitors!

I apologize for my lack of blogging lately; it is because I have been so lucky to receive so many visitors!

On March 24^th Danny arrived! We shared an unbelievable week together which I will briefly touch on. We toured the city, including the Central Business District, Long Street, and Greenmarket Square, climbed Table Mountain, ate at the famous Bombay Bicycle Club, explored Old Biscuit Mill (where he bought a beautiful wooden watch!), toured the township Langa, and partied at Shimmy’s Beach Club. That was just the first two days! We also went horseback riding on the beach, ate at (also) the famous Mzoli’s, rode a champagne sunset cruise, toured a vineyard with wine tasting, slept at the incredible Drakenstein Lion Sanctuary, went kloofing, took a cooking class in Bo-Kaap, wandered through Kirstenbosch Gardens, and saw the Of Monsters and Men concert! At Drakenstein Lion Sanctuary we slept amongst 32 extraordinary lions, hearing them roar all night and forming such unique connection with each dominating beast. Kloofing is South African canyoning so we abseiled (repelled) down canyons and waterfalls, it was awesome! I am so unbelievably happy that he had the opportunity to not only see me here, but to get to experience with me how life-changing this country can be.

Next, my parents visited! We also went to Old Biscuit Mill and hiked Table Mountain but then enjoyed the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, very lovely. We spent the entire next day driving along the coast to Cape Point, reaching the Cape of Good Hope. Starting in the 1600’s, in order for traders to travel between Europe and Asia, they sailed ships around the entire continent of Africa. The Cape of Good Hope served as an approximate halfway point for their journey, providing them a venue to restock resources and gain “good hope” for the rest of their venture. It was quite a scenic drive there, filled with beautiful views, playing with penguins, eating along the harbor, and great conversation. We ended the day at the famous Nobu, which I believe exceeded Daddy’s previous experience at the Nobu in Las Vegas. We also enjoyed wine tasting at three different vineyards amongst the winelands in Stellenbosch, toured Robben Island and the V&A Waterfront, and took all my friends out to dinner to shmooze and bond. The next highlight was the shark cage diving! I have been counting down for months to get to dive into this with daddy and it was even more exciting when mommy spontaneously decided to too! It was riveting getting to witness great white sharks so close up. I then got to show them around my gorgeous University of Cape Town campus as well as Kirstenbosch Gardens, where we shared a tree climbing-filled picnic. Lastly, the safari!!! During our three-day safari, we saw the Big Five within the first hour! The Big Five acquired their label because they used to be the five most hunted animals in South Africa: elephants, lions, leopards, rhino, water buffalo. We also saw giraffes, monkeys, impalas, nyalas, warthogs, hyenas, various birds and bugs, and more. Going on a safari was absolutely entrancing and I highly recommend it to every person I know. Clearly, it was an astonishing seventeen days straight with visitors and I am so ecstatic to have enough memories (and pictures!) to last a lifetime.

Township Tour

            In my previous blog post about the campus protests, I mentioned townships. Essentially, they are ghettos of Cape Town where residents live, in primarily overly occupied shacks. On March 6^th, I did my first tour of Langa. Led by a local, the tour consisted of walking through their shacks and meeting locals. One old woman who I spoke with invited me into her approximately 6x6ft bedroom. There were three twin beds squished into it, with no space for anything else, and all their belongings on shelves above their beds. She explained to me that she shares her bed with two other people, three people share the second bed, and four people in the last bed. Ten people share that tiny room together.

            Interestingly though, that is not what the tour is about. They do not open up their homes to gain pity from the more well off, but to provide insight into their culture. The men who I spoke with beamed with such pride about their lives growing up in Langa, centered and focused around family. They do not view a difference between culture and religion, or even daily life and religion, it is all so thoroughly intertwined. They shared with us some of their traditional customs.

An entire part of their territory is gated off and when a boy turns sixteen, he goes to the other side of the land for about five weeks. The family invests all of their money into an elaborate celebration for him, filled with sacrificing animals and drinking alcohol. The boy is then circumcised, without any anesthesia or medication, and spends the next months engaging in secret tasks. They could not share with us the details of his time on the other side because they view it as sacred ritual. Once he returns, he is considered a man and must acquire all new belongings, clothing, and even a new bed. He is then ready to marry, but he can wait if he wants; it is common for men to wait until their 30’s to marry. Girls in Langa also have a ritual at age sixteen but since our tour guides were men, they were unaware of them because only women can know. Customs like this, though they seem so outrageous to us, show how important of a role history plays in the life of South Africans. In many cases, even if a healthier or safer option is now available in modern day life, they remain true to and stick to the traditions of their ancestors.

            Touring Langa proved to be a pertinent part of my experience in South Africa because the townships compose a significant percentage of the national population. They receive substantial financial pension from the government yet still acquire such minimal possessions for themselves. Their simple, yet of course restricting, lifestyles can be viewed as depressing, but are truly just inspiring.