Saturday Vineyard Tour

Back to a different kind of reality. Saturday we spent the day touring two vineyards which included some educational background about wineries, wine tasting, and wine shopping. I felt like we did a 180 going from the townships and seeing how the people live there to touring a vineyard. To top that off, we drove passed another township on the way to and from the wine tours, Khayelitsha, a township with more shacks than actual houses and a population of over one million people. It was really hard to drive passed the shacks... they seemed to be never-ending.
The wine tour was really interesting - not totally switch gears again, but it was. The tour at the first vineyard was really interesting and I feel like I learned a lot more about wine than I did before. For instance, at this vineyard they planted rose bushes at the end of the rows of grapes because roses are more sensitive to disease. If the roses are noticeably diseased, they know that there may be something impacting the grapes as well so they can act quicker to save them. He also showed us where the wine is processed and stored. He explained that red grapes actually have white juice, but the skin on the grapes causes it to turn red for red wine.
After the tour we all sat together in a beautiful dining room and he showed us what to look for when inspecting wine using our eyes, noses, and taste buds. Following the tasting we were all able to purchase the wines we preferred, and they were really inexpensive compared to the United States!





The second vineyard we went to didn't include a tour, just tasting and purchasing. There were a few other shops nearby that we went to as well. Overall, it was a really relaxing and interesting day. Still, I always had the townships on my mind. Every once in a while that day I would think about what the people were doing there. Aaron scheduled this vineyard trip purposely the day after we returned from the townships to see what our reactions would be to the extreme change in environment. For me, I did enjoy the day, but I think I am more aware of the large differences in the two worlds. It makes me really conscious of how lucky I really am and makes me feel like I should be doing more to allow those who are less fortunate to feel even half as lucky as I am.
Speaking of which, a few of us dropped our laundry off to be washed for us, and it only cost me 28 Rand ($4) a load. It feels strange paying someone to do my laundry for me - and only four dollars to wash, dry, fold, and package it. We also have a cleaning lady that comes once a week. That is also a strange feeling to have, but Aaron says that it creates a job for her do so, so I guess I should feel better about giving her a job opportunity at least.... still seems strange too. And finally, we have two drivers that come get us and drop is off places whenever we call them. We have called them at 2:30 am to pick us up from checking out the night life in Cape Town and they came - no questions asked. They are paid through the interstudy program we are involved in here, but to be on call 24/7 to drive students around seems hard - they pretty much have to put their lives on hold it seems, and they are always so nice!