Last Few Weeks

The oxwagon we slept in!

Since my first week in Bloemfontein, I was busy with a lot of medical rounds in the hospital. First, I was in surgery. The next week I was in OBGYN. In the afternoons I had lecture, and some evenings I was on call in the hospital. My last week we went to a lot of different NGOs to basically play with children. Needless to say, I did not blog. If you want to know details about those three weeks, go visit my other blog. What I'm going to do now is just talk about my weekends as a tourist.

Margo and I at Goldengate

Cave paintings

The second weekend in Bloem, we went to Clarens as a group. On the way, we stopped in Ladybrand to see some cave paintings. It was crazy to think that these paintings were in that cave hundreds of thousands of years ago. While there, we learned about the culture of these San Bushmen. When we arrived in Clarens, we found out that we were sleeping in oxwagons! It was awesome enough that we braved the incredible cold. And the view was breathtaking! That night, we went into the town of Clarens, which is basically only one block of shops, for dinner and live music. In the morning, we drove to a Basotho cultural village. This was definitely a tourist trap, but they did a good job showing how the Basotho people have adapted and changed from the 1500s to modern times and the role European settlers had in that. We tried their beer and several other foods and listened to their traditional music. From the cultural village, we drove through the Goldengate Nature Reserve. We saw several different animals and enjoyed the natural beauty of the Free State the rest of the afternoon. Upon returning to Clarens, we did some shopping and then drove back to Bloem. During that week, we also learned how to sokkie, which is Afrikaans dancing. It was really fun!

My face after trying Basotho beer! haha

Petting the lion cub!

The next weekend, I went to Johannesburg. We luckily made friends from the medical school who live there, so we had people to show us around and take care of us. Friday night, we went to Montecasino. It was a huge place, with a movie theater, restaurants, shopping, gambling, etc. We went bowling and then had dinner. Saturday, we went to a rhino and lion park. We got to see a ton of animals, and we even got to see them feed the lions, cheetahs, and wild dogs. It was gross, but still pretty cool. Then we were able to play with the lion cubs! They were so adorable. We also went to the Wonder Cave, which is the third largest cave in South Africa. That evening, we went out for a 21st birthday party one of our friends was going to. Sunday, we went to a huge flea market place and played putt-putt. We were sad to say goodbye to our friends and return to Bloemfontein for another week without them.

Sokkie!

Now I'm back at home after around 30 hours of plane flights and layovers and missing my South African friends, rusks, cool accents, sokkie, and 50-cent ice cream cones. But, I'm glad to be where it's warm and back with family and friends here. Now I'm just relaxing until I get on another plane to start my mi próxima aventura en España!

First Week in Bloemfontein!

First of all, I am sorry it’s taken me so long to finally blog from Bloemfontein! We had limited internet access for bit, so I had to use that for my class blog (a lot of this I just copied from my class one and I’m just adding fun things to it though). Anyway, I arrived to Bloemfontein last Sunday afternoon after two weeks of traveling around South Africa. We were welcomed by Louise Steyn, from the International Office at UFS. She showed us to our hostel (dorm), which she had stocked with food and other essentials. We quickly unpacked and headed to dinner with the other ASU students, UFS students, and some professors from both universities. I sat with the four UFS medical students that were there. They were all third years and preparing to take their final exam. Here in South Africa, students begin clinical rotations after this exam, so they were all very excited and ready to start seeing patients and doing rounds at the hospital! The girls seemed very nice, and I am looking forward to spending more time with them when we start shadowing them next week.

The early part of the week, we spent getting adjusted to living in Bloem. Monday, we were given a campus tour and went to the Mimosa Mall to get cell phones, buy some food for the week, and do a little fun shopping. Tuesday we went to the Waterfront, which is another large shopping center. We tried rum and raisin gelato, which we've been told is a very popular flavor here.

Women's Memorial

Wednesday, we went on a city tour! We began at the Anglo Boer War Museum. Unfortunately, the exhibits were closed for rennovations, but we were able to see various memorials outside and watch a documentary on the war. There was a specific memorial dedicated to women and children who died in concentration camps during the war. We even learned about Emily Hobhouse, the woman for whom our dorm is named. She was an Englishwoman who came to South Africa to expose what was happening in these concentration camps and is buried a the memorial. Our tour guide then told us about the relationship between the Anglo Boer War and apartheid. He argued that the homelands and townships were similar to concentration camps. Therefore, it is important to learn about history so we don't repeat the same mistakes. It was an interesting parallel that I would not have considered on my own.

After that, we drove through a township nearby. In some places, there were homes built for the people living there by the government. However, there were still shacks next door. The families living in the homes rent these shacks out to immigrants or refugees from other countries in Africa, since there are 8-9 million immigrants in South Africa. From the township, we drove into a historically colored part of Bloemfontein. This is an artificial race classification for those not distinctly black or white. During the years of apartheid, various tests were used to determine the race of these people. One specific example is the pencil test, in which a pencil was placed in the hair of the person. If the pencil fell out, the person was considered white. If it did not, the person was considered black. This often separated children from parents who looked different.

We also visited an art museum that had many unique sculptures, an exhibit on African music, and paintings ranging from very traditional to abstract. Later, we drove to Naval Hill. We saw zebras, ostriches, giraffes, antelope, and a wildebeest. Finally, we visited Lebone Village, an orphanage for children who are infected with HIV or affected by it in some way. The village also has its own woodworking shop, bakery, and textiles shop. These both raise money for the children and provide a skill for the children to use later in life. We will be volunteering there toward the end of our internship, and we are all very excited to go back!

The med girls at MUCPP

We started our community engagement program Thursday and were able to see various nonprofit organizations and clinics around Bloemfontein. It was a crazy start to the day as we did not have anything on our schedule and woke up to a phone call at 8:30 saying we were to leave at 9:00. It was definitely worth it though since we got to see several different places! Our first stop was MUCPP, which stands for Manguang University Community Partnership Project. This clinic is in the township and was set up by the Health Department, the University of Free State, and the Manguang community. When we walked inside, there were patients everywhere. The waiting room was full, and there were lines of people outside each department. While they send patients with very serious ailments to another institution, the clinic can provide most services. They even deliver babies there and have a physiotherapy center. All of the services are free, just like all public healthcare facilities in South Africa. Another interesting program offered is called LoveLife. Youth from the township come into the clinic when they have free time to be trained in HIV/AIDS prevention education. Then they go into their community to educate others. Not only does this program increase awareness about HIV/AIDS, it also gives these youth something to do with their free time rather than getting into trouble or involved in crime. It looked so much like the public clinics in Costa Rica it was crazy!

Playing with a Lebone girl! She was the cutest!

We returned to Lebone village to get a better understanding of what they do. They house 42 orphans who are affected or infected by HIV/AIDS. They transport the kids to school each day and provides nutritious meals for them. After school, they offer afternoon classes and homework help. The village even has a computer lab to ensure the children develop necessary skills to secure a job. Lebone village also has a large farm of vegetables, a chicken farm, and a greenhouse of flowers. They use this food to feed the children, feed other poor families in the area, and then sell for a small income. We stayed for a long time to just play with the small children who were not yet old enough to go to school. They were so cute and brought us so much joy!

Our group with all of the children

Outside REACH

Next we went to Heidedal, a colored area of Bloemfontein. We toured the facilities of a program called REACH. They offer life skills training, such as computer skills and hygiene classes. In addition, they provide HIV counseling and an afterschool program and nutritious meals to children ages 7-18.  On the way home, we passed Pelonomi hospital in Heidedal. It was interesting to see that the public hospital was right beside the private one. It was clear that the private one was much nicer and newer than the public one.

Free State Care in Action: People receiving food

Friday, we visited Free State Care in Action. This organization provides a daycare three days a week. In addition, they have a soup kitchen on Wednesdays and Fridays. Pick n Pay, a supermarket here, donates produce to the organization. Therefore, they are able to provide fresh foods to the poor families. The kitchen staff there packs parcels of basic foods for 80 people and their families each week. They also take clothing donations from the community and distribute them to the families that come in daily. Finally, there are social workers on staff to help families apply for grants to help with the financial burdens they face.

Sleepy Lion!

That afternoon, we went to a place called the Cheetah Experience. It was basically a huge farm full of cats, so I obviously loved it! The really big cats, like leopards and grown lions were in cages, but the cheetahs, lion cubs, caracals, and servals were just running around, and we could pet them whenever they came close to us. I could not get enough! They were adorable. They also had meerkats. The girls giving the tour are volunteering there for a few months. It’s so tempting to stay there and play with cats all day instead of going back to school! Later that night, we went out for dinner with some of the medical students and had a lot of fun just spending time together.

WE GOT TO PET A CHEETAH!!

Can I have a pet meerkat please?

My favorite animal, up close!

Saturday, we woke up early for a game drive. It was so cold! It actually started hailing halfway through the safari! I really should have packed warmer clothes for Bloem. I didn’t realize it would be so cold. We saw lots of animals, and our guide knew a lot about them, so it was fun and interesting despite the cold! We came back to warm up and then two medical students took us to Pelonomi Hospital to take a look around, drove us down the main legislative street in Bloem, and we had dinner and watched rugby. It’s so cool to hear about all the medical rotations they are doing. We’re the same age, but they seem so much further ahead of us since they don’t have to do undergrad before medical school. However, after talking to them we can see positives and negatives to both systems.

So, my time in Africa is halfway over! It’s crazy!  While I liked traveling around, being in one place has been awesome. We’re finally able to make some friends from South Africa, so I’ve learned way more about the country in this last week. I’m really excited to begin shadowing the medical students on Monday. We’ll be with them in the clinics and the hospitals and then attending their lectures—hopefully I won’t be too lost! 

Finally, here’s some funny/interesting tidbits:

1. We’re so lucky we haven’t been kidnapped (now, don’t start worrying, I’m only kidding). But a different person picks us up for things everyday. We never know who it’s going to be, so we stand outside of our hostel waiting for someone to arrive. Typically, someone approaches us and asks, “Are you the Americans?” We tell them we are, and we climb into a car with them. So strange, but it’s worked so far.

2. Just like in Costa Rican “tico time,” South Africa has “African time.” So, add anywhere from 10-30 minutes from when someone says they’ll meet you.

3. When it was maybe around 60 degrees outside and we would walk around in shorts or go running outside, people immediately identified us as foreigners.

4. My Clarks, wallabies, hushpuppies—whatever you call those shoes—are called grasshoppers here. We’ve been told that mainly colored people wear them here. Fine by me. But apparently they’re cheaper here, so I may be coming home with a second pair!

5.  Margo and I smoked hookah, called hubbly here. Much better name in my opinion.

6. I’m sticking to Spanish. Afrikaans makes no sense to me.

7. A lot of people here like instant coffee. I don’t understand it, but I was so happy to get my first cup of real coffee in several weeks today at dinner!

8.  Each hostel here has an a capella singing group that competes in July. I’m so sad we won’t be here for it. We hear them practicing all the time, and it’s gorgeous! We need to have that back home, for sure.

Overlooking Bloem

9. People here think Bloem is so small. For some reason I recall someone saying it has a population around 800,000 (that may not be accurate though), it has two huge malls, an airport, and bars that aren’t in trailers. They should see Boone.

10. We went to a “Mexican” restaurant one night. It served seafood, ribs, and wings. I’m already feeling an immediate trip to an authentic Mexican establishment ASAP upon arriving back home.

Wine and Sharks

Well, today is my last day of touring South Africa before I leave for Bloemfontein tomorrow morning to start my internship at the University of Free State. It’s been an awesome two weeks, but I’m ready to be able to settle down in one place and get into a routine.

Afrikaans Language Monument

Some of the old wine barrels

Yesterday, we toured several wineries around Cape Town. But first, we stopped at the Afrikaans Language Monument. It symbolizes all of the nationalities and languages that contributed to this language that is less than 100 years old—it only became an official language in 1925. It was interesting and had a great view of all of the vineyards below. The first winery we toured was KWV. We learned a bit about the different barrels that are used to make the wines, the grapes that are used, and how long the process takes. Then, we went to a tasting and learned more about the different aromas present in the various wines, foods to pair them with, etc. We tried several delicious wines, as well as some brandy and liqueurs. Then we went to two other more casual tastings at Tocara and Neethlingshof. We had lunch in the adorable old Dutch town of Stellenbosch and were able to walk around the town a little. It’s home to a university famous for viticulture (grape cultivation and wine making), since it’s in the heart of wine country.

Margo and I at the vineyard

Today, Margo and I woke up at 4:15am to go cage diving with sharks! Remember when I said riding an ostrich was the scariest thing I’d ever done? I lied. This was much more terrifying. When we got there, another boat was leaving, so we didn’t even have to wait for the sharks to come. We put on our wetsuits and got right in. Well, I shouldn’t make it sound so effortless. The skipper had to coach me in for a good five minutes. The water was very cold and the cage was tiny! I was already scared, and I hadn’t even seen a shark yet. Within a few minutes of getting everyone into the cage, a shark appeared. We were lucky because the visibility under the water was very good, so we could see really far—not that it was necessary since the sharks were close enough to touch if you were crazy enough to want to do that. We didn’t have snorkels or scuba gear, so when sharks came, the guides just yelled “DOWN!” and we had to take a big breath and go under. It was so hard to stay under the water, even with the weight belts they gave us. Since there were so many sharks, we were constantly going down, which was exhausting after a while. It was so cool to see the sharks that closely though. It even bit the cage right in front of me one time, and several other times, its fin came into the cage as it swam by. I can’t even describe how scary it was to see it only inches away from my face. We had an awesome day. We saw 13 sharks over all, and the biggest was 4.5 meters long! It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I’m really glad I did, but I don’t think it’s something I’d repeat. Sorry I don’t have any pictures from today. It was so rushed since there were so many sharks and they wanted us to be able to see as many as possible!

Speechless

The harbor

Today was by far the best day I’ve had in Africa. We drove along the coastline of the peninsula of Cape Town, and it was probably the prettiest drive I’ve ever taken. The road was cut into a mountain, and it paralleled a lovely blue ocean. We began the morning with a cruise to Seal Island. Not only were the hundreds of seals adorable, the view of the cliffs meeting the ocean at the harbor in early morning light was beautiful.

Next, we made our way to The Cape of Good Hope, the most southern point of the African continent. It’s also where the cold Benguela current from the west meets the warm Agulhas current on from the east. Therefore, most deem it the meeting point of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. However, the oceans geographically meet at Cape Agulhas. Just a few minutes drive away was Cape Point, with a lighthouse and huge cliffs rising out of the sea. We rode a tram, apparently called a funicular, up to the top. The view was breathtaking. You could see forever into the distance, and the sea was so blue. I was happy to see this area so well preserved and unaltered by humans. I really have no words to describe it. It left me speechless and awestruck. It was one of those moments where one feels so very small and insignificant compared to the beauty and glory of nature that demands such wonder.

View of Cape of Good Hope from the lighthouse

The lighthouse

Cliffs

The penguins

After that, we made our way to Boulders cove to see a colony of African penguins. They were so cute! I wanted to keep one as a pet, but we found out that they’re actually quite mean. Our guide told us once that it kicked a man and broke his wrist, and that their bite could break your finger. No thanks.

Cable car up to the top!

The weather was gorgeous today, so we were lucky enough to go up to Table Mountain. You ride a circular cable car up to the top of the mountain at 1,085 meters above sea level. The cable car was actually really cool, because the floor rotated so everyone could take a look from every angle. Once we stepped out of the car, we realized we were so high that we were above all of the clouds! From one side, we overlooked the entire city of Cape Town. We were even able to point out a few landmarks that we had become familiar with in the past few days.  From the other side, you could see a mountain range called the Twelve Apostles and endless ocean. I could have sat and watched forever—it really felt like time had stopped. It was the most surreal thing I’ve seen. It looked like the clouds were floating on the sea in the horizon. It was impossible almost to distinguish between water, sky, and cloud. I’m sure others have tried to explain its beauty in words, but I don’t know that words would ever be sufficient, and mine certainly would not be. So, since a picture’s worth a thousand words, I’ll just show you a few of my favorites.

The day left me exhausted! Tomorrow we tour several vineyards and are going to a few wine tastings. Then Saturday, Margo and I are going cage diving to see great white sharks! Finally, Sunday we will fly to Bloemfontein and convert from tourist into student. I’m so excited and can’t believe how fast the days are passing.

Last Few Days of Holiday

A bridge in Tsitsikamma

Sorry I haven’t been very diligent about updating this blog, but internet has been very hard to come by—especially on a college student budget. I promise I’ll be better about it once I’m settled in Bloemfontein!

Knysna

On Sunday, we flew to Port Elizabeth from Durban. It was a very small and short flight, so it wasn’t bad at all. We were greeted there by our tour guide, Mark, who we really enjoy. He is very good about suggesting places that locals go but that are safe for tourists, and he tells very entertaining stories to pass the long car rides. Then, we drove about 4 hours to Knysna, a small town on the second largest estuary in South Africa, the Knysna Lagoon. On the way, we stopped by a bridge that overlook a huge ravine and was built by an engineer who never even saw the site in South Africa.  We also stopped at Tsitsikamma to see “Big Tree”, a yellowwood that is over 800 years old. Knysna was so gorgeous! It reminded me a lot of Greece. Although I’ve never been there, Margo confirmed my intuition. We explored the shops on the waterfront, then returned to our adorable hotel where we built a fire (Well, I should say our fellow traveler Denise built a fire for us. Margo and I were pretty unsuccessful to say the least), and shared some wine.

 

Monday, we went to Featherbed Nature Reserve on Knysna lagoon. The weather was divine! We took a ferry across the lagoon, and a tractor took us to the top of the reserve.  We enjoyed a gorgeous view of the lagoon and the ocean from the top! Then, we hiked down and enjoyed all of the beautiful cliffs, waves, and shorelines. At the bottom, we had a delicious seafood buffet, then headed back into town to do a bit of shopping. It was nice to be able to walk around and explore the town. We went to dinner at a seafood place on the waterfront that our guide suggested, called JJ’s. It was delightful, and we tried the typical South African shot, called the springbok, and we were able to decorate a label for the bottle of wine we drank and place it in wine racks on the ceiling as a memento. Very fun. The waiter even showed us a bottle that a group of students had made just a few weeks ago from Charlotte. Small world.

Me riding the ostrich! 

Tuesday, we drove from Knysna to Oudtshoorn. The drive itself showed how diverse South Africa is. We started by the estuary, drove past beaches, and ended up in the semiarid desert. We stopped at a few viewpoints along the way and saw zebra and springbok. Then, we made our way to the Cango caves, where we toured some of the earliest caves. After that, we went to an ostrich farm, where we tried ostrich steak. It was delicious, since it is even leaner than salmon! Then, we toured the ostrich farm, learning all about the history of the ostrich feather industry and the current meat and leather industry. Finally, Margo and I rode an ostrich. It was honestly the most terrifying experience of my life because the animals were not trained to carry humans, but I’m glad I did it!

Margo and I at Cape Town's version of Rainbow Row!

The Country Pumpkin: A stop along Route 62--the equivalent of the USA's Route 66

Today, we drove a long while to get to Cape Town. Along the way, we stopped at Mark's favorite place for lemon meringue pie. Little did we know he was going to make us have shots of a South African equivalent of moonshine called white lightning at 10am. I can say I won't be doing that again. Later, we stopped at Rooiberg Winery for a wine tasting. All of the wine here is delicious, and at the winery, it is only 4 dollars a bottle! Hopefully I'll be able to bring some home. Cape Town was very overcast, so I’m excited to see what the city looks like in good weather. Tomorrow, we are going to see penguins, seals, and Table Mountain—weather permitting, so I can’t wait! 

From Traditional Swaziland to Modern Durban

Some of the beautiful Swazi candles

I haven't done anything too exciting since my last blog, but I want to stay up-to-date since I don't know when we will have internet access again. On Friday, we woke up in Swaziland and went to a traditional Swazi candle factory. It was down a tiny dirt road, so I don't know how you would find it if you weren't on a tour. Nevertheless, it was so crowded! There were also a lot of other shops selling hand-made crafts. Everything was so intricate and gorgeous. I wasn't sure what to expect, but the candles were far beyond what I could have imagined. They were all shapes and sizes and colors. There were even candles shaped like animals--elephants, turtles, chickens, giraffes. You name it; they had a candle for it. Margo and I could not resist, even though we have barely any room left in our luggage, and bought some shaped like hippos. After that, I just enjoyed a relaxing afternoon at the hotel.

Speaking of hippos, Saturday morning we took a cruise around Lake St. Lucia and saw tons of hippos, crocodiles, and birds. The hippos were so big! They stayed in the water, often resting their heads on the back of another hippo. We would just stay still and watch a "pod" of them for 15 minutes or so and not get bored. It was fascinating.

Margo and I with some hippos!

Bunny chow

Cuba Lounge

After the cruise, we drove for a very long time toward the city of Durban. I slept the majority of the bus ride, as did the rest of the group. Once we arrived, I was very pleased to see that we were finally in a hotel that had things to do nearby, rather than isolated. We seized the opportunity to go to the huge mall right across the street. It was very fun to be able to walk around and people watch. Durban has a very prevalent Indian influence, so we were hoping to try some good Indian food while there. We had bunny chow, which was chicken and some spicy curry sauce in what was essentially a bread bowl. You eat it with your hands, which turned out to be very interesting. I got what was only a quarter order, and I still couldn't finish it. I can't imagine what a whole order would look like! Then, for dinner we went to a place called Cuba Lounge, which had modern dance music and unique drinks--mostly mojitos to stick with the Cuban theme. It was very enjoyable to be somewhere besides a hotel restaurant for once.

We have an early flight to Port Elizabeth in the morning, so I'm going to get some rest now!

First Impressions

Wow! The past few days have been a crazy whirlwind of sight-seeing, long bus rides, and learning tons of new information about this beautiful country. This is actually the first time we’ve had internet since landing, so I apologize for being a bit out-of-touch. I’ll try to give a brief overview of what I’ve done so far.

Margo and I at our hotel in Pilgrim's Rest

On Monday, we drove. A LOT. First, we rode through Pretoria. It’s one of the three capitals of South Africa and means the “City of Roses.” It is also the largest city geographically. Apparently you can drive somewhere around an hour and a half to get from one side to the other. We made another stop in Dullstrom for lunch. This was a city famous for fly fishing and drinking, although we didn’t see any of that during our short stop. Finally, we made it to our destination of Pilgrim’s Rest in Mpumalanga. This is an old gold mining village and really looked like a movie set for an old Western film. Everything is preserved as it was originally. It had an old post office, gas station, general store, and lots of churches. The most interesting thing was the cemetery. It was up on a hillside overlooking a gorgeous view of the mountains of Mpumalanga. There was a specific grave of a thief called the “Robber’s Grave.” While all the other graves are facing east and west so that the person can see Jesus’ return, this grave is facing the opposite direction. The idea is that he cannot be resurrected. We stayed at Royal Hotel, which was very old-fashioned. We were greeted with a welcome drink, then escorted to our rooms. It had a bathtub (no shower) and a lot of candles. These were helpful, since the power went out constantly! Next to the hotel was a church that had been converted to a bar. It is tradition for every visitor to have a drink, so we stopped in for a beer before dinner.

God's Window

The "Three Sisters"

Tuesday, we saw a lot of the must-see natural attractions along the Panorama route in Mpumalanga, which means “place where the sun rises”. We first stopped at God’s Window. The view was absolutely breath-taking. Then, we went to a lookout over Blyde River Canyon. It has three mountains that are commonly referred to as the “Three Sisters,” with a traditional folk story behind the name. Finally, we visited the “Potholes.” There were many pools and waterfalls in the canyon. This is a special place where the Africans go to communicate with their ancestors. To do this, you throw a coin off a bridge into the water, and if the coin spins on its way down, your ancestors are pleased. If not, they are unhappy with something, and you must try to fix it. Mine spun, so I guess everything’s well! That evening, we went to an elephant interaction. We got to learn all about the elephants, feed them, and ride them. It was one of the coolest things I’ve done! The animals were so magnificent and extremely smart! Plus, the guide knew a lot about the physiology and anatomy of the animal, which, obviously, Margo and I loved!

Feeding the elephant!

Giraffe!

Zebra!

On Wednesday, we woke up to a knock on our door at 5:00am to get ready to go on a safari in Kruger National Park that lasted from 6am to about 3pm. This is something on my bucket list, so I was so excited to finally be doing it! However, when I imagined this experience, I never thought I’d be so cold! I had on a sweater, sweatshirt, and my winter jacket, as well as a blanket. I was still freezing when the car was moving! The sunrise made the cold worthwhile. You see pictures of African sunrises that are so beautiful that you couldn’t imagine it looks like that in person. It did. The sun was a gorgeous bright orange-red, and all the trees and giraffes were just black silhouettes. We saw a giraffe within the first five minutes. They were so graceful and beautiful. Throughout the day, we saw rhinos, elephants, a lion, impalas, waterbucks, hippos, baboons, zebras, kudu (an antelope), warthogs, endangered wild dogs, and many different birds. Our guide was very funny, and he grew up right outside the park, so his knowledge of the animals and plants was firsthand, rather than something he learned for the job, which made it even more interesting. For instance, he showed us a bush that he had used the branches as a toothbrush, as well as a plant that their traditional healers use to treat upset stomachs.

Elephant approaching our vehicle

Dancing with the Swazis

Today, we went to Swaziland, a landlocked country in the middle of South Africa. We drove there first thing in the morning, and got our passports stamped at the border. Then, we went to a Swazi cultural experience, where they explained Swazi customs, we toured a traditional village, and we watched and participated in traditional dances and songs. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen or experienced, and it was so beautiful. We then drove through the country for a while, while our tour guide explained a lot about the history of the country and Swazi people. We then went to a memorial for King Sobhuza II. It was very interesting to learn more about how the king is chosen and how King Sobhuza ruled the country. There was no apartheid in Swaziland, because the King valued racial harmony. He said that just like you need both black and white keys to make beautiful music with a piano, you need all races living together peacefully. Also to represent this, the white portions of the Swaziland flag have black spots and the black portions have white spots. There was also a glass building at the place where King Sobhuza died. This place is held sacred because it is where all the tears of the people were spilled mourning over the death of the king, and a piece of his spirit remains there. Therefore, you cannot touch the building or take photos of it. The guide would not even point at the building with his index finger, as a sign of respect. It’s constantly guarded, and there is a changing of the guard every few hours. Then, we went to a museum to learn some more about the history and culture of Swaziland. I absolutely loved it!

At the Swaziland border!

Ok, now for some final thoughts about the country since I’m caught up on my travels thus far. The food hasn’t been extremely different from the US. However, there is a huge emphasis on game meat. The only unique things I’ve tried so far is kudu, which just tasted like steak, and ox tail, which tasted like ribs. We also tried amarula, a type of liqueur made from morula berries. The bottle has an elephant on it, since elephants love to eat the berries. The wine is also delicious and very cheap. I’m definitely looking forward to the wine tastings we have scheduled later in the week. Also, it’s amazing how many languages the people here speak! I’ve heard so many—most of which I don’t recognize. Our tour guide speaks 20 languages himself! Crazy. I even heard some Spanish in Kruger National Park, which made me happy.

I’ve loved my time here so far! Everyone is so nice and welcoming, and the country is gorgeous! I am looking forward to being settled in Bloemfontein though, so I can stop living out of a suitcase and constantly driving from place to place. My only complaint so far is that my camera is not working. Thankfully, Margo is with me, so we can share! I don’t know what I’d do otherwise! But, that being said, I won’t be posting much to facebook, so you can check hers for more, and I apologize for any duplicates of pictures on our blogs if you are following both of us. Haha. 

South Africa has been called a “world in one country,” and I am definitely starting to understand that. We’ve seen canyons, jungles, grasslands, and mountains, and met people from such diverse backgrounds. I can’t wait to see what more my time in South Africa has in store for me.