Guest Post: Jennifer

The blogger's mom here. The blogger doesn't seem impressed with my thoughts (that I keep asking her to add in) so I've hijacked the computer momentarily.
Some largely unorganized thoughts on South Africa:
 
1) When reading Trevor Noah's book Born a Crime, I was so impressed with the number of languages he speaks (six!). But after a week here, it became clear that most black South Africans speak at least four languages and many of the white South Africans speak three or more. SA has 11 official languages - the most of any country in the world. Xhosa is our favorite language so far.

2) The name Soweto comes from South West Township, as it is the township SW of Jo'burg that the Apartheid government sent the black Africans to when they took over power. But the black people "joked" that it stood for "so where to now?" as they had been displaced from their homes and sent to the ghetto. Seeing the lasting effects of Apartheid 20+ years after the government fell was notably more depressing than learning about it in high school. (Soweto is still home to 3.5-4 million black Africans.) That said, I can't imagine coming to Jo'burg without going to Soweto - such an important part of understanding the awful history (and current situation) here.  Plus, the lunch at the hostel there was fantastic, and likely the most authentic black South African food we'll have. 

3) Everyone here calls Ben "Benten".  I mentioned that I thought this was a cool "new" nickname for him....at which point he looked at me like I was crazy and said, "mom, it's not new; some people at home call me that too." Me: Really? "Yes, mom, it's a TV show. Benten. The main character is a boy named Benten." Hhhhmmm. Apparently, the South Africans watch more American cartoons than I do. 
Addition: If fact, the kids just read this and informed me it's Ben 10, not Benten.....

4) We've yet to have a meal in which the server has written down our order. City, rural, guesthouse, restaurant, cheap, less cheap.....never once. Seems like we have a ways to go in the US in this department.

5) There appears to be nothing more South African than the bar-b-que (know as a braai (rhymes with dry). Regardless of skin color or language, everyone does it.  Every place has one. The grocery store are stocked like folks BBQ every night. The kitchen at one guesthouse had just about nothing in it (to cook with) but the BBQ was stocked with everything you'd need. Where's Walter Afable to enjoy some good BBQ'd meat when you need him?

Day 6 - Tour of Soweto

Trivia Question: What is the white, sticky, South African food that they eat with everything?
Answer: Keep reading!

The morning after returning from the safari we mostly slept, ate, and relaxed. Mom, Ben, and I walked down to 4th Avenue to find some sort of a treat, and ended up in a gelato shop. I had Vanilla-Honey, and Ben got Chocolate, Nutella, Oreo. Why am I not surprised? He is seriously the younger, male version of my grandma. By the time we got home, our driver, Thulani, was waiting to take us to Soweto, a suburb of Johannesburg. When we arrived at the tour company, we were told to make ourselves comfortable until lunch was ready. Ben and Dad watched some African boys play soccer, though they call it football, which makes much more sense, while my mom and I watched some women cook around a fire. They were preparing the traditional African meal we were going to have for lunch. It was fascinating to watch them tend to the fires beneath the massive cauldrons. Once the food was done, we gathered around to fill our plates. We had the choice between bread or paap, the white, sticky food that has forced you to read this. It's basically sticky polenta. We then got carrots, spinach, and our choice of either beef, chicken, or vegetarian stew. I was in hog-heaven. The food melted in your mouth, and I had never tasted anything like it before. It turns out, I could totally live in South Africa.

After we had eaten lunch, we met our tour guide, Mfundo. He showed us the tuk-tuks we would be riding in on the tour through Soweto. They are basically three-wheeled golf carts. I road with dad, and Ben with mom. We drove up to a spot where you could look down on Soweto and got out. Mfundo explained the history of the apartheid government and how the natives had been brought to Soweto from their homes in Johannesburg. He also explained that the black kids we would meet along the way love high-fives and pictures, and he taught us how to say "hello" in Zulu. It's "sonibonani". I have no idea how it's spelled, but that's it's phonetic spelling. As we started to drive again, we discovered that he was definitely right about the kids. Lots of them were walking home from school. They would give us high-fives as we drove by, and then run after us just for fun. I loved it. I think it was the fact that it felt so much like how the world really should be. No one caring about class or color, and everyone going through life together. It makes a lot more sense that way. We stoped at a fruit stand in a very poor neighbor hood and bought some tomatoes, avocados, and candied popcorn. The roads were dirt and full of potholes, along with being lined in trash as the government only pays to have a garbage truck come up those roads once a month. The houses had no bathrooms, and the residents were forced to walk all the way to the end of the block just to use one. Also, because of the neighborhood's lack of a school, children as young as five years old had to cross a four lane highway in order to get to school. It made my insides boil just hearing about it. We then went to the house of Nelson and Winnie Mandela's during the time Mr. Mandela was in jail. 

Three street dancers sung and danced "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", which was sung in the mines during the apartheid government. Unfortunately, the song was later stolen by Disney and changed slightly.

After that, we went back to the tour company, and got to taste some local beer, or in mine and Ben's case, an African smoothie. Then we put on some traditional African decorations for a picture. Jen Riffle, this one's for you, as my mom is actually in it.

My dad's furs really do bring out his baldness don't you think?

The tour was wonderful, and we learned a lot about African history and culture. The next post will be about Port Elizabeth, my parent's biggest blowup of the trip, my dad attempting to drive on the left side of the road, and much more!

Bye for now!

-Abby

Day 3, 4, and 5 - Safari in Pilanesberg Park

It turns out, elephants are really big. Especially when they are crushing entire trees just ten feet away from your car.

After getting picked up by our guide, we drove the 2 1/2 hours into Pilanesberg Park. After setting up camp and having lunch, we went for a drive through the Big 5 area. At the beginning, seeing a wildebeest 100 yards off was super exciting, but after a few hours, it became much more intriguing to see the animals close up. We stoped at a ridge where we could get out of the van without the fear of being eaten by a lion. The adults had some alcohol, while Ben and I played with the binoculars, as we cannot drink.

As the day turned to dusk, the animals got very active, allowing us to see much more than earlier. The first of our close up sightings on the trip were elephants. Ten feet from our van. There was a mom, baby, and adolescent elephant eating some bushes with massive thorns. They were so beautiful and majestic that I almost cried. The pictures don't do them justice.

After the elephants, we went back to camp, where our guide cooked us a traditional African barbecue.

As it took him three hours to make, Ben was asleep by the time dinner was ready, proving my point that he can sleep anywhere.

The next morning, we got up early. I would say bright and early, but it was really dark and early, so... After muffins, tea, and coffee (for addicts such as my dad), we got to the park gate at six-thirty. Ben got to ride shotgun, and we didn't wear seatbelts. Talk about a new experience for my family.

The first of our major sightings on Saturday morning were zebras right next to the car. And yes, that is just as exciting as it sounds. They were spectacular. I had seen pictures of zebras before, but seeing those stripes with my own eyes was amazing. And unlike with the carrot cake, my whole family agreed.

After seeing a few more animals, we returned to camp around eleven. Ben went swimming while I read my book for three straight hours. We ate lunch around two o'clock and then sat around camp until our night drive from 4-7pm. This time, rather than it just being our family and our guide in a van, we joined multiple other families and a new guide in a open-air vehicle. The only new animals we saw were giraffes. And, I know this is very surprising, but it turns out that giraffes are very tall, especially when they are just twenty feet away from you. This isn't our best picture, but the others wouldn't download, so this is the best we have. It should still give you a taste of these beautiful, long-necked and small-brained animals.

After arriving back at camp, Ben when straight to bed, yet again missing a delicious dinner. Sunday morning we woke up, had breakfast, and then went on a drive. We got lucky and saw about 16 hippos in the course of ten minutes. Very unusual for that time of day.

As we began driving to lunch, we ran into a massive line-up of cars. This normally means a rare animal of some kind. Ben and I had our money on leopard. Our guide talked to another car, and they pointed out the brown hyaena eating some sort of animal leg. We watched it for a while, and then suddenly, the hyaena was running away from a blur of spots and fur. Leopard attack! It wanted the leg, but they both ran off, so we don't know who won. Definitely one of the coolest things we saw.

All of us ate lunch at a restaurant in the park, and then returned to camp at one o'clock. We packed up our stuff, and then drove through the park on our way back to Johannesburg. Lions are generally nocturnal animals, though they occasionally come out in the morning or evening, but definitely not in the early afternoon. Apparently, two female lions didn't get the message. We saw them roaming the distant hills just before exiting the park. Unfortunately, they were so far away that we didn't get any pictures. We arrived back at our guest house in Johannesburg around six, and settled in for the night.

Some fun facts about the safari:

• There are over 13 different different species of antelope in South Africa.
• Hippos can hold there breath underwater for six minutes. (My mom was impressed with this until she found out a crocodile can hold it's breath for thirty minutes.)
• We saw 18 different mammals in total, along with about a million birds.

The safari was a great adventure, and we all had a fun time, even Ben with his knack for missing dinner. Seeing the animals listed here, and the many that went unnamed, was amazing, and I would love to do it again sometime. The next post will be about our wonderful tour of Soweto.

Bye for now!

-Abby

Day 1 and 2 - Johannesburg

We already knew this, but it's official, South Africa is a long way from Port Angeles.
Yet, eight movies, one nap, and 21 hours of flying later, we have found ourselves in Johannesburg.

Last night we enjoyed the first of our soon-to-be many adventures in South Africa. We walked the what should have been four blocks from our guest house to 4th Avenue, a main street with lots of shops and restaurants. Dad was navigating, so we ended up taking a three block detour, but we somehow still arrived at the restaurant, Vovo Telo. The meals were delicious, but the highlight was definitely the carrot cake. Ben disagrees, but he used to eat cherries with ketchup, so... He had red velvet cake and thought it was much better.

We got home at 7:15pm, and I went straight to bed while Ben obsessed over rugby.

Today, we had a delicious breakfast made by our hostess. Afterwards, Dad and Ben spent a couple hours playing cribbage on the porch while I went back to sleep.

At 11:15, we got picked up and taken to the Apartheid Museum in southern Johannesburg. It was very powerful, and reminded me that even Africa is racist towards blacks. The museum was huge, and in the three and a half hours we had there, we only made it through a little more than half of it. The part we missed was about Mandela getting out of jail and becoming president, so basically, we only saw the depressing stuff. 

When we came home, Dad and Ben played more cribbage while I took a nap. It's starting to seem like the only thing I do here is eat and sleep. We ate in tonight, and tomorrow we leave for a Safari at 8am.

Some random facts about this trip and South Africa:

•  Ben has now complained twice that the urinals are much higher here than those in the US, so he has to use the stalls. 
• The South Africans call traffic lights robots.
• Ben can sleep literally anywhere. Here is a picture of him on the floor in the Amsterdam airport:
  

We will be on the Safari and without internet for two days, so I won't post again until Sunday or Monday. Hopefully the next post will be full of pictures with beautiful animals!

Bye for now!

-Abby