When I decided to go to Cape Town, I didnt know what to expect. I had heard both great and not-so-great things about the city - stories on violence and crime, as well as ones around a high rate of HIV/AIDS, but also stories of safaris, beaches, song and dance. A week later and I can enthusiastically say that Cape Town was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to - and not to brag, but I have travelled quite a bit!

Highlights:
- Green Point Market Square was bustling with sellers of all sorts of wooden, copper, and string crafts.
- The views from Table Mountain of all of the city, as this blog picture. Beach Road also had some stunning views of the beach, from its many cafes and restaurants on building balconies.
- The Waterfront, which actually looked like something that came out of Baltimore!
- Long Street, which also reminded me of another US city -> New Orleans! The bars had such a good vibe, with many South African hip hop bands.
- The zebras in the park that was next to the main highway, towards downtown.
- The turtles in our hotel's garden.

Having said all this, there is one thing that I couldn't escape: "Economic Apartheid". While apartheid ended over a decade ago, there are still millons (estimate is at 2 million) of Black South Africans living in townships and earning minimum wage, at the very best. Townships, in my opinion, look worse than refugee camps, at least the ones I have seen in the Middle East. They seem like they are about to collapse any minute. The irony of it is that there are some that don't mind so much where they live, as it provides them with a sense of security and community. The government has responded by beginning to replace townships with building developments, that still allow for neighbours to be neighbours. Why now? Well, the World Cup will be held in Cape Town in 2010. The question that needs to be asked, as one NGO activist told me, what next? While 2010 is providing South Africans with a goal for their works, it is high time that we start thinking of how the next generation of black South Africans will feel a sense of community in Cape Town, as a whole, not just amongst their neighbours.