Whenever you travel, there are decisions to be made. There were two highways to get to our next night's stop in Barrydale. Both had scenery and stops to recommend them, and they took about the same amount of time. Both are hosts in Hermanus and Franschhoek recommended taking the more Northern route, so we decided to head that way.
It was Sunday morning and on our way out of town, we got to see a number of colorfully dressed women with large, fancy hats heading to what we guessed was church.
We didn't realize that we'd be passing the Drakenstein Correctional Facility. Nelson Mandela was transferred to this minimum security prison in 1988 where he lived until he was released in February of 1990. It is a South African National heritage site. There is a large statue of Nelson Mandela outside the gates.
The drive was absolutely lovely. With early blooming fruit trees nestled in pockets of tall rocky mountains.
There were two surprises along the route. The first one was a sign that said, "Stop, proceed when safe." During the week when the workers are present, there would be someone flagging when it was safe to go and when it was time to stop. But this was Sunday morning... We waited for quite some time behind cars waiting to proceed while car after car after car came towards us. One of the cars in front of us got so frustrated that he decided to drive on the shoulder of the road. Denis thought of following but thought better of it. Finally, one of the men in a car in front of us hopped out and decided to take matters into his own hands.
The second was the Hugenot Tunnel. During World War II, a pass was begun over the Du Toitskloof Mountains using Italian POWs as labor. It was completed after the war using local labor. But the pass is long and considered dangerous so plans to drill a tunnel were set in motion. In 1984, blasting and drilling began from each side of the 2.5 mile tunnel, meeting four years later. The tunnel saves over 20 minutes in travel.
We are in Barrydale for the night. There isn't much to this town and we wondered why people would come here. Apparently, there is good hiking and opportunities for other outdoor sports. We arrived a bit late for a hike but we walked around admiring the Dutch influence.
We are staying at the Karoo Art Hotel. We are their only overnight guests this evening. It is a lovely, recently restored hotel.
The room we are staying in is the Baines Room. There are many of the artist Thomas Baines' works in our room.
Because we are the only overnight guests, the dining room is closed. We had our dinner in the pub and were treated to live piano music during most of the evening. Totally unexpected and very nice.
There are a number of visible signs of how the effects of apartheid are still affect the people. Aside from the townships and housing slums, we often see groups of men hanging out at intersections, or large groups of people packed into the open back of a truck, or people carrying sticks they have gathered.
Jenny works with a charity that begins supporting children in third grade, mentoring them and giving them support in hopes they will attend university. While they have the had a lot of success, it sadly hasn't been 100%. There are so many factors that go into being able to lift a child from poverty. I know it is similar in the US. So much must go into successfully breaking the cycle of poverty. While much has improved on both our countries, there is still so much work to be done.
