Well, after 19 hours of traveling, we finally made it to the hotel in Johannesburg, Gauteng, on 7.6 at about 1030 in the morning. After power-napping and getting lunch, Cassie and I joined Joe, Sid, and Miriam on an adventure to the Apartheid Museum, which was about a 30-minute drive from the hotel. We were able to see a lot of Johannesburg, which is an interesting city to say the least. Everything is surrounded by huge cement walls topped with barbed wire, which makes sense considering the high crime rate (Sid mentioned it being the #1 murder capital in the world). The museum was fascinating, and reminded me a lot of the Holocaust museum in how it was set up. After that, we came back to the hotel and showered up before heading to dinner at the casino. Because JoBurg is so dangerous, the hotels in our complex connect to this enormous underground casino and ‘boardwalk type’ area with restaurants, a movie theatre, etc. We had dinner at this buffet place, where I was determined to try anything different. I went with ostrich stew, stewed chicken livers, pickled fish, and of course rice and various vegetables.Considering it was a buffet, it ws quite good. I also discovered my go-to South African beer called “Black Label”, which the waiter taught me was called “Zamaleg” in Zulu. Of course it didn’t take long for me to locate the best local beer. You all know me, right? Post-dinner, Sid, Joe, and I played some black jack in the casino with a Portugese Afrikkaner, who said that my accent was ‘different’ from most Americans. I told him I was Southern, which he did not understand in the slightest. When I used the term ‘Redneck’, he was well aware that I hailed from the land in which KFC was born. Apparently they love that stuff here!
This morning, after hitting the local mall for cell phones and modems, we set out from JoBurg to Thohoyandou, which is approximately 6 hours. At first, the view was very…brown. The terrain was stereotypical or the American view of Africa (or at least mine), with fields of sparse trees and low, brown grass. We passed several shanty towns as well as a couple of ostrich and cattle farms right outside of JoBurg, and slowly the ride became more and more mountainous and green. Right after passing the Tropic of Capricorn, we stopped at a petrol station and gassed up and ate burgers before finishing up the last two hours. They were absolutely BEAUTIFUL! We drove through the mountains, surrounded by banana, avocado, and grapefruit trees, and drove through some true rural South African towns with produce markets, women carrying baskets on their heads, and children playing soccer in red-dirt fields.
At about 1800 tonight, we arrived in Acacia Wildlife Resort (which is hardly a resort, as I’m currently assigned to sleeping on a pull-out chair. Not couch. Chair.) in Thohoyandou. After semi-unpacking, I’ve finally been able to shower and unload a bit. Have I mentioned that the water here is undrinkable? Meaning that you can’t even let any get into your mouth while you shower? Try it, folks. It’s much harder than you’d think.
Currently, I’m hiding out in Sid and Joe’s room because they’re computer geniuses. It’ll be an early night, though, because we were informed upon our arrival that we have to be in Tshapasha (the village we’ll be working in) tomorrow morning by 0730, and since it’s about 45 minutes away, that means It’ll be quite an early morning.
Thanks for checking in, ya’ll! Sending lots of love from middle-of-nowhere, South Africa.