MONDAY

Ryan picked us up at 9 this morning and our first stop was Truth Coffee. This was a large coffee roasting company with a great bistro attached. We were taken on a tour of the roasting facilities which were very impressive. The engineer had restored a very old {1940's} traditional roaster and modified it to include current technology. They roast 2 tons of coffee each week and then distribute it to a number of coffee shops and export out of the country. We sat down for a tasting and had our first ever coffee martini!  This was a blend of coffee and orange juice and was extremely tasty. The next one was a flat white. Which was two shots of espresso and a small amount of steamed milk. We were told the coffee was so smooth we would not require any sugar. They were so right, even Bill drank his without sugar!
Next we visited the District 6 museum. This was a museum set up in an old church to display the history surrounding the removal of the non whites during Apartite.  The whole community of District 6 was relocated, their homes bulldozed and their lives devastated. To this day the land that was District 6 is still virtually vacant. The museum told the story of the people that were affected in hopes to provide some healing.

We then jumped back into the van and Ryan took us to a small shopping area called the biscuit mill. He had found a wine shop that carried the Pinotoge we had ordered at lunch a couple of days before. We spent some time wondering around the shops and then headed to our Township tour of Langa.

A township is a low cost housing development within the cities. Some are very poor and the houses consist of tin shacks propped up next to one another, however Langa is made up of very small 1-2 rooms houses which are attached to one another. All of the people that live in the townships are black or coloured. They do own their houses and there are basic infrastructures such as power, water and sewer.  Some even have satellite dishes.
There are also some small shops selling freshly plucked chickens, basic groceries and some clothing as well as a traditional healer. The township communities are very strong and close and help one another.

In this particular township one family has set up cooking school to help young people gain life skills and basic cooking skills as well as some work experience which enables them to obtain employment and become self sufficient.  In order to help support the school they also run a small restaurant and cooking lessons.

We had booked a cooking lesson with mama Lindy who was this vibrant 72 year old lady who was the one teaching the students how to cook. We entered a very basic but very clean and organized kitchen with stainless steel counters and sinks. We were given hair nets, and plastic aprons and instructed to go wash our hands.  Phew she met Bills first test of food safety. We prepared traditional
African dishes of pap which looks like mashed potatoes but is made from corn and is cooked liked cream of wheat. Mama Lindy was adamant that there could be no lumps. Brian was on lump duty and of course he came out smooth.







Our next dish was sup n beans, this was also corn and beans cooked with onions and boiled for 3 hours.  This dish was started prior to our arrival. We also cooked a stir vegetable stir fry, lamb stew and a spinach and cabbage dish.



Once we were finished cooking we were taken out to a traditional African cooking fire and     Told us about the traditions surrounding the fire  and then we were offered some traditional African beer and a “smiley”.  A “smiley” is a boiled sheep head!  To be polite we tried both but neither were our favorite.

 Then we headed into the classroom which consisted of one room with a simple table and about 8 students and an instructor. They were selling hand made necklaces as a fund raiser to hopefully purchase a computer so the students could learn some basic computer skills. Joyce and I purchased a necklace to support them.
We then headed into the restaurants to eat the food we had prepared. Mama Lindy joined us and we had a wonderful meal together.






This was Mama Lindy's house and her son's store.






After lunch Ryan took us to the spice shop where we found great deals and lots of different spices to take home and try. I was looking for saffron deals but they were not as good as in Thailand so only came home with 1 gram instead of a bag full. Ryan then wanted to show Bill the butcher shop and purchase some biltong which is similar to our jerky. We ended the day having beers under the patio misters with Ryan telling him how happy we were to have spent  3 days with him experiencing his beautiful city of Cape Town. We were all sad to see it come to an end.