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We were between flights on New Year's Day 2012 so we caught a train into town early in the morning. The clouds were thick and there was almost no light.
We found the place almost deserted except for a few Asian tourists already lining up to get up there.

Diggin' through archives, photoshoppin' and stuff.

We drove around Soweto trying to find a place to stay, all were closed or we couldn't find them. So we got something close to the airport and booked a guided tour. Got a chance to visit both the high end parts and slums. It started raining hard while we were inside one of the shack and got stuck in there for a long time. It was too dark to shoot anything in there, but at some point I gestured to one of our young guides to open the door just a bit. Then I snapped this.

One girl in our group thought this was a terrible, voyeuristic thing to do, just visiting them. I don't think that's entirely true. One of the guys was telling us that the reason he gets by fairly well is because he earns extra money from taking tourists around, and he had a lot to talk about, how things work and all. I had plenty of questions regarding school and organization, flood risks, government subsidies, etc. I wasn't just snapping pictures and certainly not shoving my camera up anyone's face. It didn't seem any different then looking through my neighbour's window while climbing the staircase at home.

And I've seen enough street kids through my travels to feel like those guys were better off. Not that I would trade places with any of them, obviously. I would have loved to get a chance to chat longer with them though.

Cape Town, South Africa

Cochamó, Chile