Multi-faceted

So many things we've seen and done inn the last 2 days; you don't need every details, but here are a few highlights of more whirlwind days.  We've started to see a few other faces of Capetown and South Africa now, although still dazzled by the beauty.
I'll start with last night.  No pics, but in a way the best thing yet.  We drove into downtown Capetown at night, with Steven Carver, to see Boodie Carver's band rehearse.  Already this crossed some barriers we'd set up:  I was driving, "wrong" side of the road, at night, into the heart of a city which although very different than other African cities, still carried the warning "be very careful at night".  We were held up, not by muggers but by thousands of cyclists taking over the street in a web-enabled mob that appears every full moon and just takes over the streets.  Joyous!  Thus we were late and sadly arrived just as the band (Suitcase Hearts) was tearing down.  But we met Boodie's bandmates, lovely funky people.  Then we had a beer outside on Long St., Capetown's equivalent of Queen St. in Toronto, but smaller and more packed with people - mostly young, all races (predominantly black but lots of whites, "coloured" and Asians).  It had a beautiful lively energy to it, music pouring out of various bars, people just having a good time, no obvious reason to be fearful, celebrating life despite the deep political and economic difficulties of South Africa.  We felt lucky to be there, and will definitely try to see some of Jo'burg's street scene when we get there in 6 weeks, whereas we've been told that this was a bad idea by several people.  I don't think we're being naive - we'll be under the wing of Steven and his animated business partner David. More on them and their progressive Win-Win consulting firm later, but let me just say that Steven is yet another remarkable Carver, full of positive energy and brilliance.  Boodie, Steven and David all insist that Jo'burg is the best city on earth, and the most interesting in Africa. Here are Steven and David:

Ok, gotta get to bed rather than nerding away here all night, but a few more pics:
Wonder who lives, works and shops in central Capetown? Here they are...

Of course, not all South Africans are smartly dressed and middle class.  We drove by two "informal settlements" - vast shantytowns - today.

There's a lot of grinding poverty, and the stories of deep corruption, cronyism and derailing of hopeful initiatives by Jacob Zuma and his government make you think they need a new Mandela, and that there's a very long way to go.  There's also violent xenophobia by South African blacks resentful of the millions of migrant and refugee blacks from elsewhere in Africa, who seem to be doing all the service jobs that (according to some) the South Africans don't want to do.
But somehow things move along, and coming back from a tour of wine country today, we saw the roads full of people apparently returning from jobs.

John and Veda continue to be remarkable.  For instance, they talk to every service person they encounter, often in their own language (there are many), because they somehow recognize them as being from Malawi or Zimbabwe, where they lived and worked for decades.  This has a beautiful effect - huge smiles, appreciation that someone relates to them as humans and understands something of their story.