Day 10 - September 8, 2006

We are having classes at UCT again today, so we all woke up early and made the long walk uphill to campus. Joel made several changes to the schedule, so we spent the morning discussing HIV/AIDS in South Africa and the high rates of incidence, especially among women and children. We also talked about the ethics surrounding drug testing for HIV and then got into a heated debate about the role of pharmaceutical companies in providing aid to developing countries. Joel (finally) gave us the afternoon off, so at 12pm, we all went our separate ways.

Summer and I went down to Main Road where there were some shops, and then we went to the bank, where I changed some money. We then walked back to Ivydene, where a group of us were having lunch. Lauren and others wanted to go to Long Street for some shopping this afternoon, so we booked Steve and the Boogie Bus to take us to Long Street at 2:30pm. About 9 of us went together in the bus to Long Street. We first went to Clarke's Books, a famous old-tyme book shop, specializing in South African books. I picked up a few comic and political cartoon books. We spent the next few hours walking through various shops, including a clothing and music store.

We were meeting up with others at the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, so we started walking down Long Street. We came upon the Greenmarket Square, an African crafts market, and looked around for a while. Then, we continued on to the waterfront. The waterfront was the place in Cape Town that reminded us most of the U.S. Heather, Kara, Cammie and I decided to have seafood for dinner, so we walked to the Ocean Basket restaurant. Cammie and I shared a massive platter for 2 that included prawns, kingklip, mussels, and calamari. It was really good and nice to have fresh seafood. After dinner we walked around the mall for a while. It was done in the American style, with lots of shops, including Guess and the Body Shop.

Later, we joined the others at the Manenberg's Jazz Cafe, a famous jazz establishment. It was really nice as a group to chat together over tea and drinks and listen to the music. Everyone was pretty tired by 10:30pm, so we asked Steve to pick us up at 11pm, and we returned to Ivydene.