South Africa At Last!

After leaving the Frankfurt airport all of us were immediately asleep on the airplane. Awaking only for dinner and breakfast we all were refreshed in the morning and ready for another fun filled day of travel. Once we arrived at the Johannesburg airport we exchanged our American currency for the African rands. From there another 4 hour layover began and we walked around the airport trying to get our first glimpse of the African culture. I bought a chocolate shake from the local fast food restaurant,Wimpy, and the shake was quite different than the normal American ones I am used to. It was sweeter and less choclately. The layover went fast and before I knew it I was taking-off from Johannesburg on my way to Cape Town. The flight to Cape Town went by quickly. I was able to get in a quick nap and was fed plenty of food. I'm pretty sure that during that 2 hour flight I had more food on a plane than I've ever had in my life. Landing in the plane brought us back to reality as it was raining on the group below. Not really what we were planning on seeing in Africa, but it was their winter so this type of weather was expected. After retrieving our luggage we hopped on our bus and while driving to the hotel we received a 25 minute tour of Cape Town. Based on the looks of everything I saw, I can still see the Apartheid present in South Africa. The view was obvious that Black people still lived in the poorest of housing, Colored people in the next best, and White people in the best of housing units in South Africa. The guide explained how when it rains, as it was today, the shacks in which the Black people live in have a lot of standing water in them. On our tour we also saw the hospital where the first heart transplant took place. Not being able to go to the top of the Table Top here was a bummer but hopefully as the weather gets better we will be able to make up that missed excitement. Once we got to our hotel we were able to take a shower...finally! The shower felt nice and refreshing before our cultural African dinner. Today, was a really nice and relaxing day, but tomorrow will be even more fun as we get to explore the city of our destination!