Day 8- Robben Island and Back To PE

This morning we finally were able to sleep in! After meeting in the lobby around 10:30, we began our search for a restaurant open on Sunday morning to eat breakfast at. Twenty minutes later, we found a nice spot and enjoyed easily the best breakfast of the trip. Afterwards, we rushed back to Daddy Longlegs and met our driver to take us to Nelson Mandela Bay so we could catch our ferry to Robben Island. Upon arriving, we boarded a bus and took a guided tour of the island. Surprisingly, the island has a large population of "African Penguins". I must admit, it was a bit confusing seeing penguins in Africa! We proceeded to tour the limestone quarry where the prisoners of Robben Island were forced to mine. Although the heat within the quarry was unbearable at times, it was the only time the prisoners were able to talk freely amongst each other, discussing various political topics. The motto on the island was "Each One, Teach One".

After the tour by bus, we entered the actual maximum security prison and took a tour guided by an actual ex-political prisoner of the island. The tour was extremely interesting and out guide, who had once worked in the kitchen during his sentence, told us stories of how they had stole and smuggled uncensored newspapers from the guard's houses and distributed them amongst the prisoners so they could catch up on current political events. The most ironic story he told us, was that they usually hid most of their political contraband, comprised of books, newspapers and personal manuscripts under a compartment in the warden's desk. He began laughing hysterically when describing the look upon the wardens face when he had approached him on the day all the political prisoners had been freed, asking for access to the warden's office so he could retrieve the contraband. Once our tour came to an end, we took the ferry back to the bay and caught a taxi back to the hotel, then straight to the airport to catch our 6:00 p.m. flight.

Upon landing, we retrieved our silver van from the parking lot and went to dinner near the casino, enjoying some live music as we ate. We headed back to the B&B afterwards and prepared ourselves for tomorrow when we would be meeting with Ubuntu. Once again, we had a beautiful, busy day and continued to learn more and more about this fascinating country and its tumulus past and present affairs.