A tourist in Soweto

After 18 months living here, I finally made a point to go visit Soweto (stands for South West Township). I found Mandy's tour company (Imbizo Tours) in the guide books and gave her a call. Saturday turned out to be a fantastic day. It was a small group of us two from England, one from Holland, and me. While I did get to see all the typical tourist spots, it didn't seem like we were ticking off a list of sites. Rather, we journeyed through the range of living conditions and neighborhoods from multi-million rand homes to shacks. We had candid conversations with Mandy about life there before and after Apartheid and also bought food- pumpkin and cabbage- for the families in the shantytown of Kliptown as a Sunday treat.

site where the freedom charter was signed

buying pumpkin at the market

cabbage

the river in Kliptown where they do their washing

handing out cabbage to residents in Kliptown

hector pietersen memorial- he would have been my age!

me, Mandy, Silvia

The afternoon tour went into the night where we ended the day with dinner in Newtown- a neighborhood in Johannesburg I've been wanting to visit to check out the music scene but it's too dangerous if you are unfamiliar with the area.