Mel and Neal Volunteer in South Africa: Muzin' about

After Sancob we decided to use the car to get to Muizenberg to show Mel where I’d been for three weeks and who I’d worked with. Before entering Muizies I showed Mel the soccer pitch where I’d been playing with the kids in the afterschool activity. After that I decided to show Mel where I had eaten some of the best pizza in South Africa. We ate and hung out in the Village area of Muizenberg. This area has a European feel to it, except maybe for the gates on the front of the stores where you have to be buzzed into in order to get shop there.

Once we had finished our pizza, taken a few photos of the area, and got lost in the one-way streets we found our way down to the beach where we surf with the kids. It was still early and the programme didn’t start for another hour, so we headed to Shebeans to get a coffee. Just a little information point here, a “shebeen” is a township tavern that sells liquor illegally, but is basically looked at by officials with a blind eye as long as the patrons or owner don’t cause too much of a hassle. I originally thought that the owner of the coffee shop’s name was “Shebean”, but instead it’s a clever play on the word shebeen with a coffee twist (she-“bean”). In case you’re wondering the name of the guy who runs Shebean is “Guy”.

"Ubuntu", kid!

Village at Muizenberg

Black flag means bad visibility, and commonly a sand storm.

Once the kids started showing up we went down to the beach side of the promenade and were met by my colleagues in the programme, and not to forget that we were also met with a sandblasting not uncommon to Muzies due to its high winds. Mel not only got to meet my colleagues, but also a couple of the kids as well. We were fortunate to see Widi perform various athletic feats in the sand before they began there warm-up and headed into the water for the surf lessons. It was sad to leave the kids. One of them came up to me in the car to give me a farewell.

Since we still had the car we headed further south through Kalk Bay, Fish Hoek, and Simon’s town to see the wild penguins at Boulders Beach. After the penguins we headed as far south on the Cape of Good Hope as we could before we had to pay. The last 10km of the Cape of Good Hope is parkland, so you have to pay to enter. Besides the cost, we were running out of daylight.

With whatever light we had left we headed along Chapman’s Peak I had driven this pass before with my roomies when I first got the car. Unfortunately, my camera was acting up and I didn’t get any photos. Nonetheless, Mel and I had our camera for this passing of the pass and we got some amazing photos. This drive is one of the most picturesque I’ve ever taken, and that includes the Great Ocean Road in Australia. Perhaps it was the time of day, but the views are incredible – especially the sunset into the Atlantic Ocean.