Our trip to South Africa 10th June-24th June 2010

Presentation We have decided to go to South Africa during the World Cup to support our country, Mexico, and to visit this amazing country. We have another hobby besides soccer: music. So we have decided to take advantage of this trip to discover South African music.

Flight informations We bought our plane tickets in October 2009, and in February 2010 everything was sold out or very expensive. So we leave Mexico city on the 10th of June at 9.50 am and we arrive at 5.40 pm in Johannesburg where the first match of our team will be. We have to stop in Washington. We chose South African Airways for this trip and it cost us US dollars for three people. We come back on the 24th of July from Johannesburg airport and we arrive in Mexico city after two stops this time in LA and in Atlanta as it was less expensive )

Our itinerary 10th-14th: Johannesburg 14th-18th: Polokwane 18th-22th: Rustenburg 22th-24th: Johannesburg

Our trip programme

Johannesburg

10th of June: arrival, installation at our hotel 11th of June: guided tour of Soweto, the biggest township of the city, match against South Africa 12th of June: visit of the museum of Apartheid and of the market where we can see lots of street singers 13th of June: visit of the the Walter Sisulu Square and Hector Peterson Square, two important places in the South African history, night in the famous night club Taboo 14th of June: Shopping in Sandton, the biggest mall of the city and departure for Polokwane in the afternoon with a rented car.

Polokwane

14th of June: arrival in Polokwane, installation in our hotel 15th of June: visit of the Makapan cave, the Gwasa cave and the Hearths cave (archeological paintings) 16th of June: visit of the traditional village of Ndebele to buy African jewels and paintings, night at the Jembe Tavern where you can listen to local bands 17th of June: match against France in the Mokaba stadium, walking tour in the center of the city 18th of June: departure to Rustenburg with a rented car, stop at the Fundudzi lake

Rustenburg

18th of June: arrival in Rustenburg, installation at our hotel. 19th of June: excursion in the Rustenburg Nature Reserve to observe wild animals and plants. 20th of June: day at the « Valley of waves », an aquatic park with lots of slides, night in the famous local taverns like Mikes’s Tavern or Lucky’s tavern. 21th of June: excursion in Sun city, in the heart of an old volcano surrounded by mountains. 22th of June: match against Uruguay in the Royal Bafokeng stadium, departure to Johannesburg with a rented car

Johannesburg 22nd of June: arrival in the evening, installation in our hotel 23rd of June: visit of Constitution Hill where we can attend lots of conferences. The first constitution of democratic South Africa was written here. Johnny Clegg concert in the Civic Theatre in the evening. 24th of June: return to Mexico City

Music Music is a really big part of the culture of South Africa. Music also had an important impact on apartheid. Black people used it to express their feelings, their need for peace or their anger against the authority of White people. We did some research on the most famous South African singers.

Johnny Clegg - Johnny Clegg. He is a musician sometimes called « the White Zulu » and he is an important figure in South African popular music history with songs that mix Zulu with English lyrics and African with various Western European music styles. With his two bands, Juluka and Savuka, he recorded 23 albums.

Miriam Makeba She was a South African singer and civil rights activist. She is also known as « Mama Afrika ». She lived in the United States for a long time but Nelson Mandela persuaded her to return to South Africa in She inspired a really sense of hope during apartheid. She recorded 30 albums.

Marcus Wyatt He is a trumpeter, composer and producer. He was introduced to music, mostly folk and blues, at a young age as his father was chairman of the local folk club. He recorded albums with a lot of artists such as the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Paul Stocker and Bug Band, Fra Fra Sound…