Lego land?

 

F.W. de Klerk is an awesome guy and all, but I'm sure what was more intriguing was the red statue in the background of his picture. Well, here it is ladies and gentlemen. And don't be fooled! It's not made out of legos (as I initially thought). It's made out of coke crates! I have no idea why it's on a dock at the waterfront, or who built it, but it's pretty rad.

Statues

 

At the V&A waterfront, there is a small pavillion with bronze statues honoring all of the South African nobel peace prize winners. Natually there is one of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. I was intrigured when I came across this statue of F.W. de Klerk. I had never heard of the guy! Upon doing some research I found out that de Klerk was a former South African president from 1989 to 1994. He was awarded the Nobel peace prize because he abruptly changed the course of South Africa forever by entering into negotiations with previously outlawed anti-aparteid groups in the 1990's. Basically, this guy started the anti-aparteid movement, and formed a foundation for Nelson Mandela's later transformaitonal work.

Muizenberg

 

One of the many surffing hot stops within Cape Town, Muizenberg is known for its colorful beach huts, beautiful beaches, and laid-back atmosphere. Origionally, Muizenberg was a military outpost which protected the back door to Cape Town from invasion through False Bay. Now, it's a great place to catch a wave, watch the sun set, or grab a delicious coffee from "Knead" a local bakery right on the water. Just a short train ride away from my house, I stopped by the beach one clear and sunny afternoon to explore. Once it warms up, one of my Cali surfer-bro roommates has promised me lessons. Totally planning on "shredding some waves" then.

Boulders

 

Be a sleuth for a moment, and try to locate the penguin in this picture. Can you find it? Isn't it so cute?! Boudlers, one of the many national South African parks consists of a sheltered cove between Simon's Town and Cape Town and is home to a thriving colony of African Penguins that you can view at close range. The penguin colony was started in 1982 from just 2 breeding pairs. The colony has now grown to 3,000 pairs! Although they are now known as the African penguin, at one time these cute little buggers were called Jackass penguins because of their donkey-like braying call. Penguins in Africa! Who knew?

Birthday Boy

Guess what? Today is Nelson Mandela's 92nd birthday. What an old guy! Although my fellow house mates are using his birthday as an excuse to get schwastey, the rest of the country dedicated 67 minutes of their day to engaging in community service to honor the number of years Mandela spent serving their country. How cool is that?

This time for Africa

Welcome to Graca Machel, my first home during my travels in South Africa. Named after Nelson Mandela's wife, it was commissioned in 2005 and completed in early 2007. The residence has a fantastic urban design framework. Which basically means it had really complicated hallways, corridors, and courtyards that made no sense. I lived in room 7B3. You may assume that 7 signified the floor level I was on. This may lead you to think: Wowza. That's a long way to carry three 50lb suitcases. Wrong. B signified the floor I lived on. Which was a really backwards way of saying that I was on the second floor. Once, when I walked through the wrong doorway I ended up in a courtyard I had never seen before. Confusing.