JoBurg Day 3 Part 2/Port Elizabeth

Today was the Day of Reconciliation of South Africa. Sort of a day of healing all the crap that's happened. It used to be an Afrikaner celebration of the Boers, but that was done away with. That afternoon we were able to spend some time with people Philip baptized. We picked up Peter and Mondi in Katlehong and took them to the Apartheid museum. What better way to spend Reconciliation Day?
I found out that Apartheid is the Afrikaner's word for segregation. Didn't know that. It was such a cool museum. Showing all the tribes and how they were separated geographically so that they wouldn't unite. We saw video of what was happening in Soweto during the protests and during voting time. It was incredible to see the cards that people used to carry to monitor their movement, work and family life.
Mondi was a policeman during that time and had never been to the museum. He said he liked it. Peter had been before and was a great tour guide. He told us about the forming of the constitution, the ANC taking over and governmental transition. He still has his card to show his kids how it used to be. An interesting thing were the pictures of Nelson Mandela and other leaders of the ANC and to see the guys that are running the country in the background of those pictures. Too bad they're not good leaders. Everyone votes ANC because they don't know different according to one person I talked to. There are some oppostion groups that are getting momentum like COPE and we did see some TV ads for them. I think it'll take 2 more generations before things can really be labeled ok.


After that we head straight to the airport to catch our flight to Port Elizabeth. It wouldn't be a Hall vacation if we weren't always on the run now would it? There was Toyi toyi(strike) for South African Airlines people so there was no food on the flight. Reminded me of Italy. We Americans don't realize how great we have it with our government.
PE is on the Indian Ocean and it was BEAUTIFUL!!! Our hotel was right on the beach and had a great view. There was a large boardwalk and a huge party going on. After dinner of some yummy kingkilp fish we walked along and saw a free concert. Little did we know that it was Philip's favorite group Freshly Ground. It was so cool. It is the first day of Holiday so everyone was out and at the beach for some fun.

Here are some pictures of the crowd, the lead singer and of course the traditional Christmas wild dog. I love the Christmas lights here. They are of oceanic animals and safari stuff. Forgot about that christmas tree or snowman.