Stay TripPen Travel

I’m often asked where is my favorite place that I have ever visited…I can never give a straightforward answer…because I connect with different places for different reasons…however, I can usually narrow it down to 3 places (now it’s 4 after visiting Medellin)…those initial 3 being Egypt, Rio, and Cape Town, S.A…when I tell you the creator has made some indescribably beautiful places on every continent…places that will make you pause and stare…Cape Town is one of those places…and though there is a horrible history of apartheid…and some of those practices are still covertly implemented today…or at least the byproducts of it…there is so much hope in the eyes of the children there…even the adults who remember apartheid times do not seem to be bitter…Table Mountain looks more magnificent than anything Hollywood could create…the harbor downtown is congested but lively…fresh seafood…vineyards…wildlife…penguins…whales…great white sharks…it’s as if God has preserved a few of every species in South Africa…a modern day Noah’s Ark, if you will…I stayed at the Hilton in Bo Kaap…a historical Muslim area with colorful houses lining the streets…you can hear prayers being sung over a loud speaker at specific times during the day…the music in the lobby was super chill…I remember hearing Jill Scott and Erykah Badu playing…I didn’t expect that but it was definitely welcome and my perfect vibe…Aquila Nature preserve was one of the best excursions of my life…riding in a classic safari car…we got chased by an elephant and for a moment I thought we were going to get attacked by a lion…the couple sitting behind us brought their newborn baby along it was crying which seemed to disturb the lion…who brings their baby on a safari?…there is video of this incident…I may post it…forgive my language if you watch…I was getting a little nervous though…a second tour was to the township of Langa…probably one of the most humbling experiences that I have ever had…meeting the residents…listening to their hardships and hope…I can still feel their spirit now, 7 years later…we sat and watched them make homemade beer in a tin tub…we visited with a family that was 4x too large for where they were staying…they had a picnic table in the den area and told us that at night one person sleeps on top and another sleeps underneath…they told us that education is the primary goal for their children so they can have better lives…the townships were created during the apartheid era…one for “colored” which is mixed or not black or white…and the others for black people…the white colonizers kept all of the prime real estate for themselves…thus all of the black people regardless of your job or social status lived in the townships…some in tin roofed houses…cinder block tenements…others nice brick homes…recently the government has granted back the land to some of the black families who had their property unlawfully stripped from them…we also toured Robben Island…the prison where Mandela was incarcerated for several of his 27 years behind bars…the tour is given by former inmates…many who were political prisoners and some remember doing time with Mr. Mandela…it’s a very somber experience to walk between those walls…eerily quiet…empty but the spirit is thick…I can’t fathom that existence…I’m thankful that I don’t have to…no matter who you are…Cape Town she be on your bucket list! Spend a minimum of 2 weeks there…there is a lot to do/see…and it’s a heck of a long flight but worth every minute of it!