July 13, 2009 On the road again…
Another day, another bus ride. This time, we are enrooted to Durban on the East Coast. It will be our last stop on the coast before we head into the interior to the animal park and onward to the Drakensberg Mountains. Durban has the reputation to being one of the most dangerous cities in the world…just behind Johannesburg where we will be headed next week. Pretty intimidating, but as long as we stay together, only carry with us what we’d be wiling to lose, and be smart, we’ll be alright. There are some pretty interesting things on the agenda for tomorrow, including a visit to a huge Indian Market, some townships, and an Hindu temple. Durban is the Indian capital of South Africa. Here’s looking forward to some good Indian food!
Last night in the compound turned out pretty fun, despite the fact that we were going stir crazy and got a little goofy. We decided around 4pm when we got there do have a picnic, so we headed to the grocery store. Which was an eye opening experience as there were security guards down every single aisle. There was a watch tower in the parking lot with an armed guard overlooking. Definitely not like any place I’ve ever been before. We grabbed some cheese, crackers, fruit, veggies, and dessert, of course for our picnic. When 6:30 came around, it was pretty darn cold. We bundled up in all the warm clothes we had, but since it was a one night stop, we only packed our one night bags with limited stuff…so we wrapped up on our blankets and sat out there for four hours just talking about life…and laughing a lot. The highlight of the night was when we were talking about our favorite places to travel, and when Mary mentioned Salzburg, Austria we all started singing Sound of Music. This turned into a half hour sing along of every song from Sound of Music, because let’s face it…we all know them. We then decided we were going to be our own band, the VonTrapped family because we were stuck in the Compound. We rewrote some of the lyrics to reflect our stay in the compound…pretty hilarious, but I guess you had to be there. We decided that our debut cd would be called, “The non-indigenous VonTrapped Family Ensemble: Live from the Compound in Umtata!”
This morning we stopped at the Nelson Mandela Museum, opened by Mandela himself in 2000. Oh random fact - Mandela’s 91st Birthday is on the 18th, so the entire country is already starting to celebrate his birthday week. The museum was an overview of Mandela’s life as told through “Long Walk to Freedom” which is the 600 pg behemoth that I am still working through. There were lots of artifacts including letters he received from his family while on Robben Island. Prisoners at Robben Island were only allowed to receive one letter every six months. The letters were read and scanned by the guards and large portions were cut out before the recipient received their letter. I can’t even imagine experiencing the feeling of loneliness and separation. It was just another way that the guards tried to dehumanize the prisoners. The other interesting thing I got from the museum was how the prisoners used to get news from the country. No newspapers were allowed because they didn’t want the political prisoners to get their hands on anything to bind them together. When any information was discovered or news was shared via outside sources, the men used to write it down on tiny slips of paper during their “study time” at night and then wrap it in plastic and stick it under the rim of the toilet seat for others to find. If they were discovered doing anything like that, they were punished by going into solitary confinement where they would only receive three glasses of rice water per day. No rice…just the starchy water it was cooked in. Truly sad. It was a great museum, but the general consensus was that we needed more time there ( we only had an hour).
So now I’m just sitting here on the bus…about 3 more hours to go, yet. The terrain is constantly changing: from hilly/mountainous, to arid grasslands, and finally to deciduous and coniferous forest. There are tons of Aloe ferax plants dotting the landscape which look alien like with their huge aloe leaves and strange bright red flowers sticking up. We’re passing through lots of poverty areas, paired with a large amount of rural establishments. There are plenty of women walking around with baskets and other items balanced on their heads. This definitely feels more like “Africa” than any other place has thus far. The bus has even had to stop multiple times to allow for the vagrant cows and goats to move out of the road. Every once and a while we will drive through a rudimentary town; there are often markets set up. For many of these places, it is small stands where people are selling produce, shoes, clothing, bags etc. The goods are laid out on tarps on the sidewalk and the shoppers rifle through the merchandise to find what they are looking for. It is a very interesting side of life that we Americans rarely, if ever, get to see. I consider myself lucky.
Well, I’m going to try to nap some more to help this ride pass a bit more quickly. Our hotel in Durban is supposed to have internet access, so hopefully these blogs will be posted soon!
For now, a few more random observations:
1. Yogurt in South Africa is really delicious - they even have mango, pineapple, and granadilla flavored yogurt.
2. I am so sick of “chips”. It seems like every meal comes with French fries…even breakfast. I simply cannot eat them any more and am totally repulsed at the sight of them. I guess that’s a good thing?
3. I’ve discovered some great new South African artists, thanks to some people on the trip. Some favorites include anything by Yvonne Chaka Chaka, Ladysmith Black Mambazo (they did a lot of the music for the Lion King…specifically the opening), Johnny legg, and Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika by Lungiswa. So, if you want to hear what I’m listening to, check some of it out!
4. There are electric fences everywhere…even wrapped around the KFC. KFC is, by the way, the only “American” fast food place I’ve seen often. Even South Africans love their KFC. Surprisingly, I’ve only seen one McDonalds, which was just built next to the new Green Point stadium for the World Cup next year. Instead, there are plenty of Wimpy’s and Steers - both SA fast food chains. Seems like every one of our lunch “on the road” stops is at one of these two places. I am really getting sick of “toasted cheese” sandwiches…
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