Cape Town again

 



Capetown again..... I visited the Townships in South Africa and met with Desmond Tutu and was reminded again of how deeply divided South Africa is by both race and class. Amid the richness and beauty of Capetown, the Townships are overwhelming examples of the continuing existence of abject poverty. 



Within a fifteen mile radius you can visit Aston Martin and Lamborghini dealerships, look out at Table Mountain with Rhodes’ superb Arboretum/Botanical Gardens featuring this 6th Plant Kingdom at its base, enjoy gorgeous beaches with miles of esplanades and suffer over the segregated settlements with two million shanty homes made of corrugated aluminum serviced only by portable plumbing and on again-off again electricity. The juxtaposition is even more shocking since the wealth is so established, so abundant and segregation and poverty so pervasive, up front and in sight. 

Capetown is  one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever experienced. The views of Table Mountain, the vineyards of Stellenboch and especially the Peninsula Drive to the Cape of Good Hope are etched in my memory forever. 

The Drive provided one spectacular view after another of shimmering blue green water, white sand beaches interspersed with rocky shores, mountains that go down to the sea,  plus ostriches on the roadside and penguins by the water.  

Beach communities off of the Peninsula Drive

Untouched beaches along Peninsula Drive

Beach along Peninsula Drive

Peninsula Drive is a combination of  Route 1 and Napa in California, Monaco, Greece, Hawaii and just itself. We stopped for pictures at the Cape of Good Hope overlooking False Bay and two oceans. False Bay got its name because European sailing ships heading south to round the Cape of Good Hope and head north for home would hit the edge of False Bay and think they had reached the southwestern point of Africa.  They would turn in only to be disappointed when they instead reached the land at the back of the bay. Cape of Good Hope marks the meeting  point of two oceans-- the Atlantic and the Indian.

 

Ostriches on the way to the Cape of Good Hope

 South African Penguins

The Cape of Good Hope

The feeling I had standing on the rocks looking out on two oceans from the Cape of Good Hope is impossible to describe.
 
While in Cape Town I also looked for and found interesting art and architecture. 

There is a strong interest in all aspects of environmentalism and a lot of real work to prepare for as well as hold back climate change. Understandably, they have such beauty/natural resources to protect. I went to a wonderful art exhibition focusing on the threats to the environment called “Threshold” that could have been at the Tate Modern. The brilliant curator’s book also titled“Thresholds” is due out on November.
 
At the end of our stay in South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu came to the ship. We had a chance to actually talk one on one. I was more than honored to shake this charismatic leader’s hand. He has spent time with the SAS program and actually taught a semester course on another voyage. 

Tutu's lectures this time addressed the current problems in South Africa and the world. We were so lucky to have experienced his teaching, his good humor and his powerful messages.

“Dream God’s dream,” was Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s message to the students aboard the M.V. Explorer.  “Dream God’s Dream,” he said, “remain idealistic and keep believing that change is possible.” 
 
It is now 17 years since apartheid but the political and social reforms have not wiped out the problems. Currently the issues are still abject poverty and segregation as most of the blacks in Cape Town cannot afford the cost of living in that cosmopolitan city ---and the cost of living has nowhere to go but up. 

We found dinner and tourist items about the same price in Cape Town as they are in Minneapolis. Prime real estate along the coastline in exquisite areas with secluded beaches costs millions. Inland, the wine country of Stellenboch -- the best ‘terroire'- is also beautiful very much like Napa and, there again, the investment in real estate is significant.

The vineyars of Stellenboch  ---the best terroire!

 
 

The Botanical Garden in Cape Town

The Botanical Garden exhibits the 6th Plant Kingdom

Clivia in the Botanical Garden

Under apartheid, the law required that people be separated by race into different residential communities. Although apartheid officially ended in 1994, the segregated residential pattern is still in place with most of the poor black population living in Townships which account for well over half of the city’s population of four million. 

Unemployment in some of these areas is over 40%, and an influx of immigrants from other African countries is exacerbating this problem. South Africa has the second-highest number of HIV/Aids patients in the world - about one in seven of its citizens-- and the income gap between rich and poor is among the highest in the world.

The Township

 
 

Many homes in affluent white neighborhoods are hidden behind high walls topped with razor wire and posted with security.

 
 

Overcoming apartheid in the last 17 years might have been possible if the population in the Townships had not mushroomed. But today many blacks are also fleeing Zimbabwe and other countries north of South Africa in hopes of a better life in in the South. Flooding the already crowded Townships, these illegal immigrants are creating competition for scarce employment and housing and causing growing discontent and crime. With issues of xenophobia now on the front burner, black South Africa is still pushing for political and social reform but the ANC is currently criticized for widespread corruption and lack of effective leadership in the face of these mounting problems. 

So the next five years will be critical ones for South Africa’s transition to a first world economy.

 
 

In the midst of all of this,  I was struck by the closeness of the black culture within these Townships and its parochialism. Many blacks have elected to stay put surrounded by abject poverty even though they have made it.  While there is this strong sense of identity among these Capetowners, at the same time, they seem to lack the strength and the self confidence of Ghanian blacks who are similarly burdened with issues of poverty. Maybe this is because the South Africans were enslaved for so long in their homeland. It is a problem.
 
Within the Townships along with their strong sense of community is a clearly a self - contained set of rules and regulations for life. If there is crime within these communities, the Township leaders deliver the punishment. In fact, the Cape Town police seem to have no jurisdiction over these areas.....Unfortunately, poor education, the lack of good health care and adequate food, and the overwhelming sting of poverty are issues that cannot be solved solely within the confines of Townships.
 
South Africa’s government continues to shoulder major challenges and the white population seemly is less and less willing to carry the burgeoning financial load of black South African poverty. With Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu and other charismatic reformers fading into memory, strong and honest leadership is not on the horizon.“Dream God’s dream,” Tutu said, and he did, and things changed.  South Africa and the world need many more Desmond Tutus.

Mauritius

Mauritius:

A stop over for just the day at Port Louis on our way from South Africa to India.

Beautiful Mauritius surrounded by a coral reef and benefitting from lush green tropical vegetation covering a series of volcanic hills/mountains down the central plateau of the island is a gorgeous spot in the middle of the sea. Along a line of islands that includes the Seychelles and Madagascar,  Mauritius only is home for 90 Americans among its population of over 1 million.

Nevertheless, it is the destination of many rich Europeans seeking a warm holiday on the beach with snorkeling, scuba diving and sailing as recreational opportunities along with hiking inland among the lush tropical vegetation of the mountainsides.

Well appointed resorts dot the coastline outside of the main town which is filled with little shops and some tall buildings holding banks and IT companies.  People understand and speak English as well as a French Creole. It is said that movie stars like vacationing here because they can be anonymous.

Famous in the past for its sugar industry, today it is an international textile center and its population is doing very well.  In fact, this is the only African country that is doing well with textiles---the rest of the work in textiles has shifted to Asia.  People are hard working and we were told they only take one annual four day vacation at year end. Otherwise, they're at work 7 days a week. It may be because they work so hard, but you do not see the abject poverty of the Townships in South Africa or Ghana in this island paradise and prices are about the same as in South Africa.

 

We visited Pamplemousses and the SSR Botanic Garden which features a stunning variety of native and exotic plants. Incredible giant Amazonica Water Lilies from South America provided the excitement --- the flowers first bloom white then after one day turn pinky red but, most spectacular, the young leaves unfold from a tight ball into a tea tray shape about two meters in diameter. The Palm display is enormous and we saw an astonishing variety of shapes and forms.

Some of the students went hiking in the volcanic mountains--Black River Gorges National Park is beautiful and provided great hiking opportunities and views. Others went snorkeling along the
gorgeous coast line in the glittering blue waters.












First inhabited by the Dutch in the late 1500s, this island had French and British colonization until independence. Its culture is diverse with Indian, South African, and British and French cultural and social influence. While the diversity of the population is striking, the rain forest plant material is even more so. Biologists and botanists have discovered tremendous diversity among the native plants in Mauritius' rain forests. Now protected, these may hold some new cures for all of us.


From the one day stop in Mauritius we are off again-onward to India.

India

Namaste

A picture of the street sweeper dressed in a sari says it all about India -- the one place where everyone wears a traditional dress that is all at once exquisite, exotic and culturally exclusive ---perhaps this makes it sacred as is so much of what we saw in India.

Street-sweeper in Chennai

An intensely vibrant country of sensory overload----  the chaos of too many people, constant movement of cars and cattle, rickshaws and humanity, horns honking --- constant chaotic movement all going somewhere.  And then the smells...the smells of cow dung and garbage, of herbs and spices, of life on the street, and food that is too wonderful. And all of it wrapped in between a pulsing vibrancy from intensely gorgeous color and the glittering magic of the many Hindu gods and the narrations of their mystical life stories.

In most towns the idea of journeying from one place to another seems more than terrifying. Everything was loud and congested with never any respite from blaring horns and the press of people and cars and tuk-tuks and beggars.

Exotic life surrounds you in India but for Indians all of this seems normal.

Port of Chennai

We arrived in Chennai, formerly Madras ---- a major British colonial port on the east side of India.  Chennai is India's 4th largest city and capital of the state of Tamil Nadu, the largely Tamil-speaking region in south India on the Bay of Bengal.

Street in Chennai

Homes of the fishermen in Chennai

For our first exploration, we went south to the coastal village of Mahabalipuram – known locally as Mamallapuram to see stone carvings and the Dravidian temples and architecture of southern India as well as a wonderful artist village featuring stone sculptors who are recognized world-wide.
                                 
But our initial adventure was simply getting off the boat and negotiating the port gates and then getting out of Chennai. The delays from the bureaucratic Indian immigration/customs provided a constant challenge---it took us over an hour to get beyond port security.  The roads and the traffic out of the city were eye openers as well. So was the garbage along the roadside......food for the cows, dogs and many animals and birds--- but a disturbing counterpoint to all the other beauty. Once outside the city proper we were amongst a steady stream of taxis, buses, auto rickshaws, motorcycles, bicycles, wheeled carts, cows and dogs and masses of people. Our bus driver constantly weaving through the traffic and the animals and pedestrians took us on ride that was more like a Sterling Moss road race through heavy traffic. I am so very glad I didn't have to drive in India - it's daunting even in very civilized and proper New Delhi.

As an art form, stone carving stands out throughout India's centuries old artistic landscape. This is a land blessed with extraordinary rock and extraordinarily artisans who have for centuries skillfully manipulated and carved it. We saw this all over---first in Southern India where much of the carving was done out of living rock,  specifically granite. Then again in the architectural motifs and the awesome built stone structures of the great mausoleums and palaces of the north ----in Agra and then in New Delhi and of course in Varanasi. Stone carvings and modeled/ terra cotta icons of the great teachings and figures of Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism are national treasures and objects for worship today.

A country with religion so incredibly ubiquitous it is hard not to find statues, reliquary stupas, bas relief and built structures celebrating Buddha standing shoulder to shoulder with great Hindu and Jain temples and their
gods and Islam's rich and fluid iconography and world famous mausoleums and palace structures. This is especially true at Sarnath- the sacred place where Buddha gave his first sermon in the Deer Park delivering the eight fold way of action. Here some of his sacred remains rest in a giant stupa. We spent time there with many pilgrims including the current head of Myanmar who wrapped a celebratory silk around the base of Buddha's gigantic stupa as we watched from a Jain temple around the corner  ---not 100 feet from this most sacred of stupas and the pilgrim/King and his huge worshipping entourage.

Just being with pilgrims--- acknowledging the sacredness of this place and the sacredness of the sculptures of the Buddha we saw in the adjacent museum was awe inspiring.

Sarnath by far is a Buddhist's most sacred place.

Sacred Stupa at Sarnath

Mahabalipuram--a seaport for the Pallavas, a Dravidian people who ruled in southern India between the 3rd and 8th centuries BC also called CE, is an amazing legacy of stone temples and carvings.  The town sits adjacent to low hills of granite from which several generations of kings had monuments and caves carved out of the rock and later built temples from the granite quarried nearby.

The Shore Temple

The Shore Temple with Nandi (bull) sculptures is a legacy site in Mahabalipuram --- the only remaining temple of an original group of seven  --- the rest claimed by the sea in the intervening thousand years.  In the temple are two shrines  -- one to Vishnu, the protector or sustainer god of the "Hindu Trinity" (Brahma – Vishnu – Shiva), and the other to Shiva.  Surrounding the shrine to Shiva are rows of "nandis" – bulls – the traditional mount of Shiva.

I bought an old wooden sculpture of Garuda the eagle -man /mount of the God Vishnu --the preserver.

In Krishna Mandapam & Arjuna's Penance bas relief---the largest bas relief in the world carved in 7/8CE/ BC.--- elephants approach Lord Shiva as Arjuna kneels in penance and the goddess Ganga is represented by a flowing river which empties into a large pool at the base of the massive bas relief when there is water to flow.

Krishna Mandapam and Arjuna's Penance bas relief

From Chennai we traveled north to New Deli and then to Agra and finally to Varanasi.  With its roof at least three stories high, the monumental new New Delhi airport introduces a modern city of elegant, English style government buildings, beautiful embassies and a massive military complex with richly designed residential areas. New Delhi looked so different from the other India we experienced.

 It is almost as if the real India is sheltered behind a veil.

We took a train from Agra to New Deli at night---the train was delayed and, because there were no benches or chairs in the underground station, we waited standing for several hours along with beggars and rats and many street people who were just bedding down for the night. It was here and in so many of the small towns where we witnessed the real India --India with abject poverty and too many people and garbage and beggars in the streets.

But India is struggling hard to move beyond all of the challenges..... she is building a middle class and has focused on educating her people. And she is a vibrant democracy with Ghandi-ji as her sacred legacy and her inspiration.

Wall sculpture showing the mudras -- New Dehli Airport

The Taj Mahal was filled with Indians celebrating and as we witnessed them in all of their splendor, we saw a full moon rise over the exquisite pristine marble complex. It was movingly spectacular --Shah Jahan's mausoleum to his beloved wife is clearly a monument for the world to cherish and call sacred.

The Taj Mahal, the "teardrop on the cheek of eternity" was completed in 1648 by the emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife.

It is the most famous example of Mughal architecture, which is a combination of Islamic, Persian, Turkish and Indian influences.

Its longest plane of symmetry runs through the entire complex except for the sarcophagus of Shah Jahan, which is placed off centre in the crypt room below the main floor.

This symmetry extends to a mosque in red sandstone that mirrors the Taj Mahal to the West, facing Mecca.

Red Fort, Agra

Looking out at the Taj Mahal in Agra

Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal at Sunset

 Varanasi --- the city of Lord Shiva and the goddess Ganga, is perhaps the most sacred site of all India.

The placement of the city of Varanasi (Banaras)and its orientation---everything directed toward the Ganges--- serves as powerful ritual progression  --- an inexorable movement forward towards the sacred river. Not really knowing where it is-- surrounded by pilgrims, beggars, lepers, shop keepers, monks, tuk tuks, cows, and cow dung, motor bikes and all of life, we are pulled along this route of seekers pulsating with hope and wonder and awe going in one direction until finally we reach the sacred river.

Varanasi

Tuk tuks in Varanasi

Finally meeting the Goddess Ganga in complete awe and submission we can step back from practical concerns of everyday life and look at ourselves and the world with different thoughts and feelings. And because we have finally reached this sacred place, we can imagine what we might become. And for some, in this pulsating sea of humanity-the very old and infirm- it is a very hoped for final act. They breathe a sigh of relief and can finally die assured they will reach nirvana ---their ultimate goal.

And so it was with this profound sense of awe and wonder and respectful curiosity that all of us immersed ourselves in the sacredness of Varanasi and made our way to the Dasaswahmedh Ghat (ghat is the series of steps leading down to the Ganges for bathing and ritual immersion) for the evening Aarti service.

I don't know if it was that so many pilgrims and faithful surrounded us on the great hejira to Mother Ganga or whether truly this is a holy place----either way-- the experience of Varanasi for all of us was the highest level of sacred.

Finally entering the Dasaswamedh Ghat in Varanasi for the Aarti service at the Ganges River,
we arrived before the ceremonies were to start but already many, many pilgrims and the faithful had gathered.  We had time to simply sit and absorb what was going on around us – though not easily as we were constantly approached by beggars. One young boy became my friend, looked after me and followed me everywhere. No matter where I was he found me and stuck with me. He called me Mama.

 My friend

The Aarti ceremony started at sundown with the faithful bunched together quietly looking out with awe and wonder at seven young Brahman priests as they moved through four cycles, each time lifting a different sacred element to the four directions - a sacred Hindu ritual at the edge of the world' s most sacred river.  The exquisite beauty and mystery of the site, the music, the candles floating on the river, the chanting, the hands clapping, the enormous collection of humanity in great awe produced a powerful sense of the sacred.

The Aarti ceremony by the Ganges

After about an hour it was time for us to make our way back up the ghat steps, past the rows of beggars with outstretched hands and cups ---one of the most difficult aspects of India---- so many fellow human beings are in such need.  After walking for a while we climbed onto rickshaws, wending our way back through the narrow streets, now choked with the hundreds of people who had been with us worshiping at the sacred river.

Before dawn the next day we made our way back, this time to board a wooden boat to look back on the morning rituals from the sacred water and send off our prayers in little marigold covered floating candle cups.

Morning bathing at the Ganges

Incredibly, my little beggar friend found me walking and once again guided me around cow dung, raised stones and holes and the pulsating sea of humanity. With his presence and the sun rising to my back, transformed into a pilgrim, I too made my way to the river to dip my hands into and bless Mother Ganga.  There was both a serenity and the pulsing energy of awe surrounding us. And as the sun came up everything seemed sacred.
 
To the faithful, the purity of Mother Ganga cannot be compromised by human actions (pollution) and the faithful come to purify themselves by immersing in the waters.  Just north of us, at Marnikarnika ghat, we looked at the cremation was under way.  For the devout, dying at the Ganga and having one's ashes released into her waters brings moksha – liberation from rebirth into the cycle of suffering. It is the highest act.

With reluctance we left the Ganges after watching the rising sun through a haze illuminating the ghats and the faithful bathing in the sacred waters. I set afloat special candles surrounded with marigolds with a prayer for each of my children and grandchildren. 

Sunrise

My special candle

With thanks to Professor Dan Spenser and his research/expertise who accompanied me on my trips around India.

Malaysia

Penang --Pearl of the Orient ---Malaysia

Panang Harbor, Malaysia

Crossing the Bay of Bengal from India, passing by the mysterious and remote Andaman Islands, we reached the island province of Penang in Malaysia. A massive bridge connects Penang to the Malaysian mainland.

Malaysia, one of the amazingly prosperous "Asian Tiger" economies, burgeoned during 1980s and 1990s when it diversified its largely agricultural economy with new manufacturing and industrialization. A very a Muslim country, Malaysia welcomes the diversity of tourism and international business as long as it is not outwardly promoting Evangelical Christianity,

In Georgetown we watched craftspeople hand color their famous silk and cotton batik cloth.

On the way from Penang to the beautiful Cameron Highlands, we crossed from Georgetown to the mainland on a twelve mile bridge and then traveled on well constructed  roadways with signage like ours in the US and passed new industries specializing in manufacturing and palm oil production. And in the Cameron Highlands with its unique ecosystem, I saw where those extra  long stemmed( 2- 3ft) flowers are grown just for us and the profitable export market and, of course, witnessed the beauty of the spectacular tea plantations all over the lush green highland mountains. 

The rapid expansion of the Malaysian palm oil industry which has generated controversy over its social and environmental effects is a good example of  a common problem that has developed with rapid globalization and the new consumer economies in many of countries we have visited. We saw it in Ghana as well.

On one side, much of the palm oil fruit is grown by small landholders who are able to stay on their land by selling the produce to the newly developed commercial processing plants. This allows these farmers to collect the necessary cash to support life. But the overpowering monoculture provides a significant environmental threat. We have seen this happen in the US as well. Think about corn production.

Indigenous rainforest peoples' homes

Penang is known for its great food which blends traditions from the Malay people with Indian, Chinese and SE Asian cooking to produce a fabulous cuisine. I loved all Malaysian food – spicy and delicious! Then, of course, there is durian---the smelly fruit that tastes something like parsley and green onions and is banned on all public buses because of its odor. We found some at a roadside fruit stand and had to eat it there so as not to smell up our transport.

The Cameron Highlands are beautiful beyond belief --the famous place where Jim Thompson often escaped the heat of Bangkok and is thought to have disappeared after a walk ....forever. A     nice place to leave from--- I might say.

The steep mountainsides often covered with mist come to life when the sun highlights endless colors of green---from forest to chartreuse--- on the velvet-like strips of the tea bushes trimmed and cultivated with great care climbing in horizontal rows high up the iridescent hillsides. Today, many of the tea farms are still owned by Brits who brought the tea to Malaysia during colonial times.

Tea plantations, Cameron Highlands

Gorgeous tea bushes

  

Tea plantation worker, sorting the tea leaves

With just a taste of Malaysia---- we're off to Singapore through the famed Straits of Mallaca and perhaps another opportunity for pirates before we can fill up again with gas. But beautiful Malaysia is a place I would love to come back to.

Singapore's skyline