Having just cracked into our fourth week, we finally feel semi-settled.  Unlike the first two weeks, which were mission-impossible hectic, the last week has thankfully been slower, enabling us to take in this mesmerizing place.  At the risk of sounding repetitive, I can’t say enough about the endless beauty here.  The hills are everywhere, covered with an abundance of fantastic hiking trails, some traveling up steep, rocky inclines; others weaving through thick groves and alongside exotic streams/ waterfalls.  Alongside this natural wonderland, however, is a complex and sometimes unsettling past.  A profound dichotomy exists that, in certain respects, mirrors our own - one of extreme wealth and privilege on one hand and shattering poverty on the other.  The opulent villages in the Cape Town suburbs are decorated with gorgeous Dutch homes, adorned with sprawling gardens and lavish pools.  Directly beside which, townships suddenly surface, claustrophobic communities gorged with hundreds of tin huts, all serving to highlight apartheid’s prior precision in isolating and depriving eighty percent of the population.  Paradoxically, while traveling through a village last weekend, a stretch of Gucci stores and Pilates gyms lined one side of the road and an ominous wall encircling ramshackle homes the other.  And though apartheid is a thing of the past, a lingering resentment permeates the air, with many wondering how to heal the wounds (which President Zuma greatly exacerbated as President).  The foolish optimist in me believes education is the way, but, as I’m told by the locals, education can’t work if children don’t see the value in it.  Which begs the question of how to break through this chronic sense of disillusionment.  What’s more, as the principal of my kids’ school pointed out, “if all the nice homes are guarded by walls and electrical wire, how does South Africa become a closer, more inclusive country?”  Great question.  Nevertheless, many others with whom we’ve spoken are extremely positive, pointing to the new President, Cyril Ramaphosa, as a “burst of sunshine” and referring to a number of his recent initiatives.  According to them, we have come at a perfect time, one which will see a much stronger South Africa in the near future.