I left my village and man oh man was public transport brutal. I left in the dark at 6:30 am and made it to Pretoria at 3:30 pm. Yes folks, that is a 3 hour trip by private car! There was no way I could make it to my destination (another 6 hours) before dark (at 5:30), so I called up a volunteer who lives near Pretoria and crashed with her for the night. I got up again in the dark and headed on my way. I made it to Nelspruit around 2:00, just in time to meet my friend for a quick drink before heading to her friend’s house for the night. It was opening night for the World Cup, so we made it out to a local pub for a great evening. Since South Africa was playing Mexico, we thought we’d celebrate with a shot of Springbok (the South African mascot) for the kickoff and a shot of tequila for any goal that was scored. It was a great night and a fun opening World Cup event.
The next day, we went hiking in the area. The views were amazing and the sun was warm.
When finished, we headed over to the fan park in Nelspruit to watch the US vs. England game. There were surprisingly few people at the park, but we had fun anyway. We even won free vuvuzelas for being so energetic.
Next our trip took us to Maputo. We spent 1 full day soaking up the atmosphere. We walked out to the fish market and had some amazing prawns. You walk through the fish area where vendors are selling their varieties of fish. Others are walking around selling spices to cook with your fish or choice. We chose some prawns and calamari that although we could have negotiated for a better price we were too lazy so took it at face value (which was cheaper than we were originally expecting anyway). Then we took our purchases over to a terrace that was surrounded by “kitchens” where we sat down and had our lunch cooked for us. Vendors walked around selling merchandise like dvds, purses, jewelry, and other souvenirs. We enjoyed the seafood before heading over to the city center market for some perusing. Then we spend the remainder of the afternoon in the air conditioned mall with an amazing view over the city and oceanfront as well as some World Cup games on tv. Our transport “home” for the night was a very friendly driver, driving a funny looking covered tricycle.
Upon our return to Nelspruit, we encountered some more really horrible public transport which took up from 1 taxi, to another, to another, and we ended up on a train in the middle of the dark before being picked up by her friend. I hate public transport in this country. It’s great because you can get from anywhere to anywhere, but it’s cramped, often delayed, and sometimes quite sketchy.
My last day of vacation, we got all jazzed up and headed to the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit for the Honduras vs. Chile game (Match 15). The area was crazy with people everywhere. The fans were crazy with their wacky hats, big flags, and loud vuvuzelas. Being in the stadium with 32600 other fans was amazing. We had amazing seats (thanks to a friend in Nelspruit) in row 13. We were in the corner, but so close to the field and amongst the crazy South African fans. Definitely worth the R140.
We were going to head to the fan park afterwards for the next match, but headed to a local bar instead. They were having a Chile party and the terrace was packed with people and a big screen for viewing the next game. The crowd was much more local and calm with a fire nearby for an occasional warm-you-up moment.
Finally, I headed back to Brooksby. My host family was to meet me in Mafikeng, but called and said they couldn’t. That would mean I once again needed to couch crash somewhere due to public transport issues. I needed to catch the bus in Mafikeng at noon, which means I’d need to be closer than Nelspruit. I crashed with a PCV in Rustenburg and made it back to my site in 2 days rather than 1. It definitely was a crazy last minute vacation.
No comments:
Post a Comment