Elizabeth's busy weekend

This past weekend was quite busy, but a lot of fun. On Thursday night a few of us headed to Clifton Beach to take in the views and enjoy the free yoga session on the beach, which I took to mean that it would be a beginner class for the community.

This was no beginners’ class.  Not only was everyone supper attractive and well-dressed, but they were the most flexible and well-balanced people I had ever seen. While some of us struggled to keep up with the fast pace of the class, the woman in front of us assumed crow pose (balancing all of your body weight on one arm with no feet touching) like it was the warrior pose (standing with arms outstretched) I was attempting to achieve. After saying Namaste to close out the lesson, a huge gust of wind swooshed forward and brought with it a ton of sand that whipped around the shores and hit the waves that were falling to the coastline. 

We then decided to walk away from the wind and into town for dinner and were blown all the way there with hurricane force winds that were also accompanied by some pelting sand. We sought refuge in a nice country club that was all elderly white persons. The décor included only paintings with white people that were slightly racist, reminding me that apartheid was only a scratch beneath the surface of beauty we witnessed in Cape Town.

The next day we hit up the Old Biscuit Mill for the most delicious eggs benedict on a latke I had ever had and enjoyed the people watching and vendors. Later that afternoon, I went for my first ever hike.

We all went up Lion’s Head, which had some of the most incredible views I have ever seen. I truly felt like I was on top of the world looking out over the city and seeing the swirls of clouds that floated over the ocean. The hike itself was quite the challenge, for me, and I thought that I would fall off the mountain on many occasions but had some very kind and supportive hiking companions who helped me out.

To pack even more into the day, we headed to Carnival, a huge parade that took place downtown. It was truly a celebration of all cultures and all people of all different shapes, sizes, ages and backgrounds. While there were many different kinds of people there, the float were segregated by culture and ethnicity, even within floats.

The most striking float to me was the float with the bugs and fly catchers, not because it was cold and the poor women were just wearing body paint, but because all of the bugs were people of color and all of the bug catchers were white girls. The bugs all danced and did complex routines and the catchers just walked aimlessly around trying to capture the grasshoppers and beetles that danced down the streets. I am not sure if this divide was at all intentional but it was perturbing nonetheless to see the smiling faces in a parade of happiness could not break free from the systemic racism that underlay every action.