The First Few Days

May 4-5th

Beer, Benedryl and an Eye Mask….

The great thing about South African Air is there are a gazillion movies to choose from to watch during the flight – the bad thing is there are so many it’s easier to stay up for the all the movies than it is to sleep. The food in economy was great, the sleeping aspects not so much. So after trying a beer with dinner….a sleep mask and pillow….one benedryl…a few hours later I decided two benedryl would be so much better. Had a great sleep for a few hours. We made it through customs and immigrations with no issues – except a suspicious bag without an owner in line that would have probably shut a US airport down.

We walked out of the baggage and immigrations claim area and we were met by quite a few Rotarians – including the District Governor and his wife – who were both lovely. Anoton and John were the two in charge of us women and lead us to the car. We hiked to the parking garage with all of our luggage and the porter couldn’t figure out why any of us women weren’t answering his questions – he was talking in Afrikaan – which of course none of us speak. We packed the luggage into the trailer behind the VW van we were riding in and got on the road for a two and a half hour ride to Olifants – a “lodge” near Kruger National Park. We were doing pretty well on the road until we got off the main highway – then the seats of the car became like little vibrating massage chairs. The suspension and shocks in the car were shot and we could tell why – because of the roads. Right before we got to check in – we almost ran into a Zebra hanging in the middle of the road – just minding his own business.

We got situated in out little lodge that all 5 of us are in and went for dinner. We assumed we were eating in the main room with everyone else and then we were lead out to the back porch which was set for dinner and two great bon fires – beautiful location and great food – we had a South African BBQ. At about 8 pm I thought it was near 11 pm and figured that was a good hint that it was time to go to sleep….

May 6th

Oh My God – There’s A Monkey In The House

Well for some reason I thought it was time to get up at 3 am this morning. Makes sense though – we went to bed at 9 pm – which was 3pm US time so at 3 am my body thought it was time to get it. I feel like my mom ;) We got up and went for a walk around 7:30 – not a heck of a lot to see at the lodge but pretty landscape (no animals). We went for breakfast and bumped into a bunch of monkeys – got a lot of great photos. After breakfast we were in the main lodge and all of a sudden we heard some loud noises and saw a few tails – the monkeys had gotten into the lodge. After breakfast we met Corra, who works at the lodge, who volunteered to get the van and take us to the other side of the lodge property and then to the mall. On the way we picked up her son and then drove by and through the mining plant and property. The coals mines in this area have whole communities built around them for the workers. Most of them were off today playing futbol in the fields.

At the mall, Meesh and I were looking at diamond bracelets. We were all excited about the deal for a 4.5 carot bracelet for $500 until the shop realized that they were giving us the wrong price and that it was $5,000 not $500 (the difference between $4,500 rand and $45,000 rand). We left the shop quite quickly….

So – after dinner I decide to try my luck and get on the Internet. The only place to do so was to displace the front desk person at the lodge and sit at his computer – he didn’t seem to mind the company. I tried to get to my blog site and every time I went to log in the computer booted me off – did I mention it was the slowest dial up I’ve ever experienced? It puts the first dial ups in the US to shame. While I was checking e-mail Corra came into the front desk area and told the guy that the security guard currently working was never allowed to work again – he was sleeping at the front gate. And then she looked to me and asked me if I was ok to get back to the lodge. Seriously – it was a very short walk – I could just about see both places from each other. I got off e-mail and the guy at the front desk asked me about 10 times if I was ok walking back – I really wanted to ask him if there was a reason why I shouldn’t be but didn’t want to know the answer. It was a very fast run back to my lodge….

May 7th

Beauty and Fire

Alright Emily – points to you. I blew up my hairdryer this morning. I’m going to have a great month of really bad hair. And – the Radio Shack “Mr. Know It All” guy is going down when I get home. He sold me the wrong adaptor – it doesn’t fit. He was so uppity uppity when he sold it to me about how many he sells and how well they work – in Africa as well. Grrr….

Copper and Dust

So we took a tour of a Copper Foundry – ask any of us if we know anything about what we saw and we’ll all say no. There was a whole lot of metal, a whole lot of heat and a whole lot of dirt and dust. I did get to see copper poured and interestingly enough – the consistency is more thinner than water – who would have thought.