June 29, 2008

Before leaving Johannesburg for iNgwavuma we had a chance to visit the largest African crafts market in South Africa. It was a much better experience as we managed to collectively bargain for some excellent paintings from the vendor Rebecca and Alex recommended to us. I was not as much of a sucker today and actually managed to barter (some). We left the market after only an hour, which was unfortunate because we hadn’t had the chance to see over half of it, but in the end it will be better for my wallet.

The drive in iNgwavuma was fairly uneventful. The traffic was still slightly terrifying, as cars will fly past you on blind hills and corners on a two lane highway. I can’t tell you how many times I thought I was about to witness a devastating wreck before the car (or minibus, more likely) would swerve back into its lane directly in front of another car.

We were completely packed into the Toyota Avanza rental, with Alyssa and Sue in front and Danielle, Cheri and I in the middle seat. The scenery was slightly disappointing for the first half of the drive. We might as well have been in southern Illinois. (Except for the settlement camps composed entirely of homes built from scrap sheet metal along the highways)

The second half of the drive much more than made up for the first half. It was stellar. Each hill we crested was more scenic than the last. It was bizarre to see people standing along the highway, especially considering there were no guard rails. One man was actually running head on into traffic on the road, seemingly for exercise.

We stopped at South Africa’s most popular fast food place on the way, called Steers. It was interesting because the food was actually cooked, and did not, in fact, taste like crap.

We arrived at Ann and Paul’s house in iNgwavuma around 7 o’clock. After a delicious dinner we arrived at iNgawavuma Orphan Care (IOC). We were greeted at the security gate by Sipho and Nozi who were extremely friendly and show us to our rooms. While loading our stuff into our rooms, Danielle screamed and pointed towards my window. It turned out to be the nastiest/largest spider I have ever seen. We tried to get some pictures but I doubt they turned out due to the darkness. It was like something out of Indiana Jones.

The stars are spectacular here. There’s dark and then there is Africa dark. I wish I were a better writer so I could give them a proper description but I doubt I can do them justice.

June 30, 2008

I awoke this morning to the energetic sounds of dogs barking, shouting in Zulu followed by laughter and the sounds of about a hundred different birds I couldn’t possibly recognize. Good news, the view from my room is absolutely gorgeous. It’s funny when you arrive at a place in complete darkness and have no idea about the gorgeous scenery right in front of your face.