Johannesburg - Soweto - Pretoria

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Day three: July 6th Johannesburg, Soweto, Pretoria
1st full day in South Africa.

We got up on the late side and had to skip breakfast but we did have coffee and tea in the room with some biscuits I’d bought at Paris Airport. By the time my cousin made it onto the bus everyone else were on board (or so we thought) and ready to go. 1st stop mall to find a change point to change our USD and Euros to Rand. 1 euro = 11,74 rand.

When we got to the mall we realized a member of our group was missing, the Guide joked he usually lost 10%!a(MISSING)long the way. She’d gotten out just as the bus was pulling out and the hotel arrange a ride for her to meet up with us, so by the time we realized she was missing she was already well on her way.

Changing money requires your passport and is a 20mn process per person. We were delayed further when trying to leave the mall because some members of the group went shopping for SIM cards for their cell phones then had issues with the sales person when the cards wouldn’t work. This is the Peril of traveling in a group, few persons or even one person can delay the entire group.

Once we got everyone on board, we headed out to South Western Township, or Soweto. The disparity of poverty in Soweto which is barely more than a slum and Johannesburg and Pretoria is astounding.

The thing that struck me the most, was the power plant, which supplied electricity to the white neighborhoods exclusively during Apartheid but was implanted in the black neighborhood so that they would bare the brunt of pollution and their side effects.

We drove past Mandela’s house (pre-imprisonment) which is now a museum but was closed renovations.

We lunch at Wandi’s place, our First African meal and you know what the surprising part was for me, is how similar it is in cooking style and items used to our Caribbean cooking. Lunch was buffet style and we served ourselves directly from pots.

My initial impressions were that we are so close yet so far. Certain African flora and customs were brought over by the slaves and live on with us in the Caribbean, Like carrying heavy items on ones head, food preparation, plants like bougainvilleas, prickle (cochon) trees, fruits like guava etc….

The food was simply delicious and certain well know celebrities have passed thru there, everyone signs on the wall. Interesting place.

We then visited Pretoria where all the administration buildings are. And the Voortrekker Monument.

The visit to the Apartheid museum was nixed because we were running behind schedule all day due to our stop at the mall in the morning. Really disappointed by this one.

Dinner at Carnivore was replaced by Dinner at the hotel, I was looking forward having some wild game at Carnivore. Instead we were served a delicious meal at the hotel of roasted beef and fish. Our second night at this hotel.

The other group (which traveled by BA) came in that morning and went directly on tour, they did get to visit the apartheid museum, they lunched at the same place, drove thru Pretoria but never got to the monument we visited.
We met up with them at dinner.


Wandie's Place








SOWETO


Flora






Monument

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