On Saturday, the day after we arrived back from Gugs, we went to the Winelands. It’s one of the richest places in South Africa and the point of going was just to see the difference between there and Gugs. Since I’ve never gone wine tasting before it was an experience for me. The first wine estate that we went to was so beautiful. It sort of made me think of old plantations back in the South, just the architecture of the building. There was a bit of coffee tasting, but since the smell of coffee is revolting to me and gives me migraines I stood outside and looked around at the beauty of the place. We went inside and sat at a nice table and then we were given 3 types of wine that were paired with 3 types of chocolate. I don’t drink wine other than what I get at church so that might be part of the reason why I only found one of the wines okay.
The second wine estate that we went to was very different from the first. We didn’t wine taste while we were there, but there was so much more to see. It was on a lake and we got to take amazing senior pictures. It also had an area designated for birds and the smallest of cages in which you could pay to go in and pet a cheetah. Since I didn’t agree with the conditions that the cheetah was kept in and I also don’t know if there was a reason but some of the birds were chained down to keep them from flying away. We ate lunch at a restaurant on the estate called 8. It was pretty good and I loved the décor and lighting so much so that I took pictures of it just so when I get home I can show it off to my family.
The last wine estate we went to we were given a tour of all the buildings on the land. It was organic and the weather also made for great pictures. We sat outside to do the wine tasting and we got to try seven different wines. This is where we took the cute picture that Aaron uploaded and tagged us all in on Facebook. I bought a pear cider that I surprisingly loved. I just figured since I hate apple cider that pear cider wouldn’t be that much different but it was good, and with a price tag of about $3 I couldn’t pass it up. I also bought a sparkling wine called Cape Jazz and will be honest in saying that I only really enjoyed this because it reminded me of sparkling grape juice. Now I’m just living with the daily concern of how I’m going to get it back home to the states through customs.
Throughout the whole day I found myself struggling with a lot of things inside of me. How can so many people be living such a high life when so many others need there help. It was showing us the tale of two cities the exists here in Cape Town. I also noticed a huge difference just in my perspective while we were in the Winelands. The first and biggest difference in my perspective that a lot of us noticed, is that we thought the bathrooms at the winelands were high class ritzy joints just because they had soap. One of them was even more amazing and suitable for a president because it had soap and towels to dry your hands on. When we got back to Riverview I also was so thankful to have a shower that previous complaints I had about it were gone, same with the toilets. Then thinking back to my home I live in a palace and I’ve always taken that for granted. Talking with some other students in my group about this they all reminded me of the basic thought that you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone. Just because of the way we lived in Gugs I was so glad that we dressed up to go to the winelands because it was a place that I instantly felt I needed to be dressed up for. I know when I get home I’m going to be far more appreciative of what have.
