Sorry for an almost week-long delay in getting a posting up. My internet connection is a bit more limited these days (sort of like my finances are at the moment . . . LOL!), so it's taken me a bit longer to finish the post. Last week was my week of holiday, so this posting will be a little different that the others I've had so far. That out of the way, let me get started -- finally!
I won't bore you all with the play-by-play travel details; I'll save those for conversations over coffee or smart adult beverages with each of you (Gramma, perhaps you'd fire up the coffee maker now!). Instead, I'll just give you some random thoughts from the one week during my time in Southern Africa where I acted like a tourist for the better part of the week . . .
- I continue to be happily startled out of that "New Yorker silence" by South African's friendliness. I wasn't even halfway to Jo'burg and I was already talking a mile a minute and listening intently to the two men who were sitting next to me on my flight from Cape Town. It only continued as I engaged in a lengthy discussion about some of the similarities between the United States and South African with Tsepho, the 22-year-old driver who picked me up at the hotel at 5:30 in the morning as we started the nearly eight-hour drive from Jo'burg to Kruger. And, as I mentioned in my last post, I met some wonderful people while on Safari and have managed to stay in contact with nearly a dozen of them. Oh, and, yes, I still am sorting through the safari pictures and I'll try to upload a collection of them to a web album tomorrow (Anneke and Owen, sorry for the delay)!
- Jo'burg isn't the prettiest city I've visited, and it certainly is nowhere near as beautiful as Cape Town -- the pictures I posted tell that story more clearly than I can describe -- but I'm glad that I got a chance to drive around and see some of the city's sights. It took me a bit to adjust to the busier rhythm of Jo'burg and it reminded me that I'd best brace myself for the return to New York City (which, by the way, I still don't want to think about all that much!), but I was able to adapt and to take the city in. All that said, staying at the Hands on Retreat made it easy to settle in and relax a bit!
- The Apartheid Museum in Jo'burg was among one of the most informative things that I've had the opportunity to see during my time here in South Africa. The museum's design and layout alone were impressive and they did a good job of conveying the sense of growing darkness, foreboding, tension, fear, mistrust and isolation of life under Apartheid. I had forgotten that the Apartheid regime had declared a state of emergency in 1986, which was followed by another round of brutal repression for several years (you can watch a clip of some of the unrest by following this link), and then the mass student demonstrations once the restrictions were eased in 1988. This was during my time at the University of Rochester, and it brought back for me the sense of urgency that the UofR's South African Awareness Committee had about its work putting pressure on U.S. companies to divest of their South African business until Apartheid came to an end. (Seriously, with all the crap that rattles around in my head, how did I manage to forget THAT?!?!?!)
- Victoria Falls -- the "smoke that thunders" -- in Zimbabwe was breathtaking, and I was there during dry season so I only got to see half of the falls! The Ilala Lodge in Vic Falls was fantastic and the staff was immensely helpful and incredibly friendly. Visiting Zimbabwe gave me just a teeny, tiny, fleeting insight into why so many Zimbabweans venture south of the boarder to South Africa. As friendly and as quick to laugh as Zimbabweans were, there was a hushed code that quickly came about when the subject turned (read, when this foolish American asked) about the current state of the country. The following are perhaps the easiest and quickest examples of the precariousness of the situation in Zimbabwe:
- After talking with a local for about 45 minutes, I asked if the next election was to take place in 2011. The response I got was startling -- the local confirmed that elections were supposed to take place, but then wasn't sure that they would be held because the country doesn't have the money to hold the election (and see this from the Voice of America). And when I was at the Vic Falls airport waiting for my return flight, the power at the Vic Falls airport went out . . . twice. Keep in mind, this was in Victoria Falls, less than a 1.5 hour flight from Jo'burg, the tourism capital of Zimbabwe, home to a world heritage site and one of the seven natural wonders of the world! And I hear that things are worse off elsewhere in the country.
So, until then, may peace and happiness be yours. All the best to each of you and I look forward to catching up with you very soon.
Sala kakuhle,
Troy
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