More pics to come and wanderlust

I’ve only just organized the first photo dump (~214 pics) and still have at least another 200 not including the 2 rolls of black and white film I shot. This could go on forever… I bought a copy of the Reader’s Companion to South Africa before my trip but didn’t get past an excerpt written by Mark Twain. It’s a cool collection of travel stories about the Continent (one of my fave type of writing) beginning with the earliest explorers during the colonial period to present day South Africa. I think it’s better I didn’t go to deeply into the book before my trip. I think I will get some porch time this afternoon and start reading. There are a few other of these in the series, and I sent J one on Alaska. This trip has been an eye opening experience (I’m sure I’ll have more to say on this) and has reawakened my wanderlust. I would like to go back in 2010, but am seriously thinking about exploring Fulbright opportunities. One of the librarians on the trip spent 8 months in Uganda on a Fulbright training other librarians. In the meantime, I’ll have to be satisfied planning an extra long weekend holiday in London in November or December. Time to replenish the Airwaves stash, and I love London (even though the dollar is really weak there). When I was there in January, I read a travel article about eco vacationing in Mozambique. Sounded amazing. I am sooooooooo very open to being whisked away to some exotic locale…

Re-entry………I’m Baaaaaaaaaack

5:55am – Plane lands after 18+ hour flight from Jozi via Dakar. The refueling stop in Dakar at about 12am Senegal time was a little wild. They blast the inside of the plane with this cold moist air and make us take all of our carryons out of the overhead compartments. I don’t get my original space back which made me very bitchy and mean to the woman sitting behind me who was feigning concern although she had taken up all of the space in the compartment over my seat with her stupid drum. No regrets about being mean.

7:07ish am – Checking in early never pays off, my luggage is last unloaded which means I have to hall it to the ticket counter to recheck my bags.

7:30ish am – Line is snaking around, but I look pitiful enough that they agree to check my bags so late (not entirely clear since my flight doesn’t board until 7:51 am). Really need to pee but no time.

7:40 am – Go through security, took my socks off on plane so have to walk on the floor in barefeet. Ick. I’m pretty sure I didn’t catch malaria in zA or the crud the from the guy with the hacking cough sitting next to me on the long flight (thank you Airborne) but who knows what I’ll get from walking on this floor. Stop at the ATM (cuz the free cart concept has not hit domestic US flights yet), US money now looks weird to me. Race to catch shuttle to my United gate.

7:50 am – Still have to pee, but haul it to gate because they are doing a last call. WTF. Go back outside on the tarmac to get on the teeny plane. Sour looking faces on the flight. Can feel the shift happening. Welcome home girl. Fall asleep in my seat for a few and didn’t even feel the plane take off.

9:45 am – Land in Providence. Wait for bags to be unloaded. My gift bag has been inspected and the bottles of Amarula and Chenin Blanc have been broken and everything is soiled. Plus those jokers kept my brand new TSA approved lock. Very much wanting to rip TSA a new one right now, but apparently that can only be done via a facsimile or USPS. Whatever.

Apartheid museum…and last night in zA

The Apartheid museum is located in Gold Reef City in Jozi. Gold Reef City appears to be one of those mini amusement park style entertainment complex. Why the museum is here escapes me. It’s still a powerful experience (you enter by self-identifying yourself by color (optional…but I went through the nie-blankes (non whites) door), and a little unsettling spatially as you must go through each area in order to move through the exhibit and get to the end. I made so many wrong turns and felt like I had no control (probably intentional). There is a beautiful outdoor reflection area at the end as well as a cafe and small gift shop. No cameras were permitted inside the museum:

After the museum we checked into our hotel in Sandton (Jozi suburb). The Sandton Garden City (very upmarket Holiday Inn) is directly across from the Sandton Shopping Centre, a mega sized upscale mall (that seemed to go around and around instead of straight up and down) with a library. I was hoping to take a look but I was wrapped up trying to find the post office to mail back my IFLA stuff and the super heavy voltage converter (which worked and didn’t fry my hair the one time I used) and blowdryer. Should arrive in the States ten days after me. There was another group dinner, but I’d had enough time on the bus and couldn’t take one more trip on it or a buffet meal. Ended up having dinner with J and R , the other two amigos who didn’t get to go to the primary school. Had a stingily prepared (should have gotten a double) Sapphire Gimlet and gnocchi with pesto and was introduced to this game where you pick three male celebrities (can be any variety of celebrity) and you have decide which one you’d kill, which one you’d marry and which one you’d sleep with. As you might imagine, it quickly turned into a giggly meal. At various points I had Mini Me, the black little person from Bad Santa (because I was not believed when I said I hadn’t seen Bad Santa), Gary Coleman, or R Kelly. I was much more generous with my new friends…

Capetown the First, again

Our second day in Capetown included a full day tour of the Cape Peninsula and a funicular ride up Table Mountain just before sundown (they call these events “sundowners”). Our local travel contacts attempted to rearrange the Robben Island trip, but it wasn’t to be. The little cutie on the far left wanted my camera but was sweet enough to agree to having his picture taken instead (you should always ask if you can take someone’s photo). I wanted to take him home with me, but that would probably be kidnapping. Oh god, I think I might actually have a biological clock…When I was a kid I wanted to do what Angelina Jolie has done: adopt a child from every ethnic group (including one from Lappland (the kids had great reindeer sweaters on and toothy grins: yes I am a little weird, but some find it très charmant), but that could have more to do with having a full set of Childcraft Worldbook encyclopedias around the house). Back to the day long tour…

Capetown the First

I promised I’d come back to post about Capetown, so apologies for the random order. We spent two nights in Capetown, still the most beautiful city and in the most beautiful province (Western Cape) I’ve seen thus far. Our hotel was pretty posh (Protea Victoria Junction) and the decor can best be described as African Nouveau. If there was a cooler bar in the hotel, I would put it right up there with the Schrager boutique hotels (Hudson, St. Martin’s Lane, etc.) I identify my pics in Flickr by city so the images should be easy to find (I took pics of our nicer lodgings).

This would be the first time the entire group would begin traveling together since IFLA (some people opted to take the Victoria Falls excursion during IFLA). Warning: Grumbling about Travel Malfunctions ahead…Upon leaving Durban, the group was to stop at a primary school to drop of books (and school supplies) before heading to Capetown. The 3 of us that traveled a day ahead of the group because we were giving pre-conference presentations were excluded from this side trip. The schedule was slipped under our doors in our Durban hotel the night before we were to leave so to say this was a surprise was an understatement. I still have not received an adequate explanation. I gave the books and school supplies to my roommate. The students apparently put on a very moving program for the librarians able to attend. There was also a Cape Winelands excursion I wasn’t able to participate in. The group went to the two new black owned wineries (aargh…my mother had given me a writeup about these same wineries last fall). I was totally bummed. (note to self: This is a recon trip….this is a recon trip). Missing the trip to the school and then Robben Island (we stopped at the District 6 museum and the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens (one of the world’s six floral kingdoms) first and didn’t make it to the boat launch in time) were major disappointments, but having a chance to travel to zA was an amazing experience I’ll never forget. We had our first group dinner at the Africa Cafe in the Long Street area of Capetown. Everyone stood up and introduced themselves. Fun evening, though our waitress was a bit of an “Evilina”.

With Robben Island being a bust, I took a solo trip (others opted to check out the popular Victoria and Alfred Waterfront nearby our hotel) back to Long Street after a quick trip into the South African museum (I bought the puzzle there) and the gardens near the Parliament. The guides let me in free to the Museum since it was nearing closing time. Nice. The Slave Lodge nearby was closed. No surprise if you know me, but it felt good to be away from the group and do something on my own. Cool area, looked pretty happening. Must come back to Capetown.

Mandela Family Museum

Just a bit more on today’s visit to Soweto (though I am happy to talk more about it in person)….they have two professional soccer teams! Also, the Mandela and Tutu families lived on the same block in the early days of the struggle, and it is very unusual that two Nobel Prize winners would live on the same street. The Tutu family still uses the family home and the very modest Mandela home is now a museum (we were not allowed to take photos inside the house), but here are a few of the exterior:

The house is very small inside and chock full of memorabilia and family keepsakes. Most of the original furnishing are gone because of a petrol bomb thrown at the house (in the late 50’s/early 60’s I think). The original house had no running water. Mr. Mandela lived here with his first and second wife. Three of his four children from his first marriage (his first wife died) have passed away, the son most recently of AIDs. One of his daughters with Winnie Mandela is now married to the Prince of Swaziland. It was a very solemn experience walking through this house.
Even though the days of the Bantu educational curriculum are long past, learners still struggle here because there aren’t many teachers and the public schools are still pretty disadvantaged.