before leaving the u.s., i had been in contact with celia walter, the gender studies, psychology and political science librarian at the university of cape town (uct). while in town i visited uct, a beautiful sprawling campus perched above the city with majestic views, beautiful historic ivy covered buildings, (clearly the ivy league of cape town in contrast to uwc, the university of the left; aka the bush university) and a multiracial and multiethnic student body, now. it was the first day of classes for a new academic year, so the energy was quite high. 
once i made my way to the library through the throngs of students making their way to class, celia gave me a comprehensive tour of the library: the knowledge commons (computing w/support), serials, special collections, the africana studies collection, reference areas, their state of the art electronic classroom. joan rapp, an american, with a connection to detrice (aul for hr) at the ucsb libraries, is the director. unfortunately, she was away during my visit.the library is as beautiful as the campus. it's bright and airy with original art everywhere, including a metal life size metal sculptor of south african saartjie baartman, the hottentot venus.
after visiting the library, i spent some time at the uct african gender institute. i would liked to have spent more time there, but had afternoon plans. a full day at uct would have been better.
later in the day, i visited bo kaap, the cape malay quarter of cape town. cape malays are south africans of south asian decent that came to the county as slaves, political prisoners, and from other parts of africa. their lingua franca was malay, hence they became know as cape malays. they are also referred to as "the merchant class". a wordsworth bookstore clerk recommended a restaurant there (Biesmiellah that serves cape malay cuisine), which i'd been trying to get to since my first day in town. while there, in addition to enjoying the colorful neighborhood of brightly colored homes (see photo), i also spent time at the atlas trading company, where spices, herbs, teas and other culinary goodies are sold.
throughout cape town, coke signs (gratis to merchants of course), like table mountain, can be seen everywhere (townships, waterfront, city bowl, bo kaap, etc.). unlike coke, table mountain is beautiful and comforting, and serves as a good reference for getting one's geographic bearings. coke is an aesthetic, social construct, and expense one can live without.
nearby is the city bowl area, where i previously visited the national gallery, company (botanic) gardens, long street and african music store. parliament and the national library are also in the area, but were closed the sunday i strolled by.
