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Published: September 17th 2007
Hello again everyone!
We've had an amazing experience since we last wrote. We're over the jet leg...yuppee😊 We were both awake on Friday night for a few hours around 2am but last night had a full nights sleep. Yesterday morning we were picked up by our driver Mandala. He took us to a place called "The Top of Africa" where we took a lift to the 50th floor of a building in downtown J'burg. The view was amazing and you could see the city from all directions.
Mandala was extremely informative and so proud of his city. Its hard to wrap your head around this city. Its huge, 10 million people or so and all I can say is it is very random. I'm glad we didn't rent a car and attempt to drive...one because I'm not sure Nick and I could ever navigate it (they are all driving on the wrong side of the road!) and two...well I don't think we have the right 'driving skills' that would get us safely from one place to another. All most all the property is walled with fences (mostly iron) and all the windows have bars on them.
After the
"top of africa"we were off to Soweto. Soweto is a place where on one side is the rich and on the other..the poor. We ventured far into the poor area and stopped at Kliptown...the place "the city has forgotten". I have never in my life seen anything worse. Its an image that is forever ingrained in our memories and really changes your perspective of things. No one wants to see it, yet everyone should see those 3rd world conditions in person at some point in your life. Watching the infomercials on tv just doesn't do it justice. It truly is a hellish place yet the people are still smiling because they have faith, community and hope that tomorrow will be a better day. The worst was to see the children. They were all smiles, were so excited to see us and all wanted to touch my hair to see if it was real. Their bellies were so swollen and their noses running and most of them didn't have shoes while they ran around in the river of garbage that went through their community. There was no clean water, no houses (just forms of shacks they have created for shelter), no
electricity and I'm not sure what they ate?! Our hearts ached for these children, we couldn't imagine what those people feel who live there. I wanted to take these two little girls home with me in particular. They were so cute and loved each other walking hand in hand. The two of them couldn't be more than 4 or 5? They didn't speak English but one other little girl did....when I picked her up, her bottom was soaked. Oh my. They loved Nick! All they wanted him to do was swing them around and around and take their picture 😉 Although it was one of the worst things we have ever seen it truly was an amazing experience!!
From there we went to lunch. We ate in this little cafe where we had a yummy meal and of course some SA beer 😊 Next stop was Nelson Mandella's house and the Apartheid Museum. The Museum was fabulous, very moving and informative. It took you through the history of the Apartheid in SA and the movement from segregation of blacks and whites to everyone being free.
We were super tired when we got back, long day. We had a
barbecue at the hostel and hit the hay. This morning Mandala drove us to our new Inn. Its beautiful!! Honestly...all I'll say about our first hostel is...SKETCHY!however, it did the purpose, we survived and after our visit to Kliptown we have nothing in the world to complain about! We're just waiting for our room to be ready at the Inn. It's truly beautiful with a gorgeous garden and beautiful surroundings. This is the same company our tour is run out of so I'm thinking our accommodations are going to be great throughout the trip...fingers crossed 😉
This afternoon we're going to venture out to find a bank and veg by the pool. Breakfast tomorrow is at six and then we leave on our 18 day adventure. We'll write when we can...holy this email is lengthy. Love you all.
xoxo nick and ali
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