WEEK FIVE

WEEK FIVE

DAY 30 - Tuesday - 2.5.13
Marnie walked early and I languished avoiding exercises. Finally up, exercised and breakfast.  We had immediately noticed we were back in a walled and electrified city. The manger of the guest house had a friend who was the principal (who reminds us of Gretchen Scott - ball of energy contributing everything she does- of a school for street children who have some learning, social or related problems. She came to pick us up for a look at her school and we went thru every classroom. There are 120 students who are place by skill level, 1st grade had a 14 yr old who had only been is school 6 weeks and 8th grade had several late teens who had had little time in school. The school is in buildings vacated at the train station and portable classrooms brought in and secured by 3 security. The school provides 3 nutrition injections (high nutrition breakfast, bread breaks and full meal of rib sticking local diet before leaving school) per day and sends food home for the family each weekend (maybe be the only food the family has). If the kids schooling is jeopardized by the family losing its housing or electric, the school pays the bill. The school will provide all transportation as insurance for attendance.. Jane Bradshaw is a fireball. She then took us on a tour of the township, a building there she wants for her school, Queen Victoria housing/land given to blacks who fought for England, the colored s area and the mental hospital/forensic lockup. She reported unemployment for the city is 65%. We then toured Rhodes University, St Andrews college/high school and the catholic girls school. At Rhodes we returned to my favorite earth sculpture - "the cycle of life" by Gavin Younge (google it and him for more info).    I brought back pictures and information thereabout in '06 for the IU student and regular foundation to commission one for Little 500 and the campus- no results yet... If you can build a fire under anyone there please do so. Then on to Port Alfred and ended up staying with Greta, the widow of Diane Cowan's uncle Derick, on the seaside of the Indian Ocean.

DAY 31 - Wednesday - 2.6.13
The Wild Coast - what a day! Took our hostess, Greta, to the bus then we had breakfast at Wimpys, while parking in a handicapped zone with my sticker. The police investigated a complaint about me until I showed them X-ray of my hips. Out of town, picking up a couple heading 75 klms for East London for a day of shopping by hitching. Drove in beautiful lush green areas overlooking the Indian Ocean. Turned to the ocean on tar road and picked up two men who were going to the next road - we had tar until the last 10 miles on bad and worse roads (got a phd-pot hole dodger) to HagaHaga, stopping on the way at a farm for feeder cattle and a heliport/copter. HH had a hotel, library and 100 houses right on the beach.. 10 miles back after consulting with a farmer. Took a ferry across Kei River....on the way to the river a frail old lady was carrying a sack of corn and walking slowly ..we picked her up... .The ferry is 50 cents for walkers/$6 for the single vehicle.. On the ferry we parked next to an old lady (turns out she was only 55 going on 100).. We offered her a ride as well.. Had to back off the ferry and up the bank to the road... Gravel potholes again.. After 5 more miles we checked the back seat and had 3 riders (we do not know where #3 came from). After 30 kilometers on terrible gravel we came to a junction- a major shopping and transportation hub... Thousands of milling humans going every which way. Behind the central area was a new housing development of 3 room homes... Some moved into and others vandalized..30% occupancy but all given to poor people by the govt. Finally, hard road but hard driving 80 miles all the way to Mthatha (formerly Umtata and the stomping ground of Mandela). 280 miles total today.... The road from the first gravel to Umtata was littered with cattle, goats and sheep, and people (particularly taxis and students going home), look out cars. The country side is huge rolling hills with scattered plots of land with houses,  roundos, and farmsteads with roaming animals (no fences) - no compression of living space in this area until you get to a city, which are far between and few. In Mthatha we are at Cumberland guest house after finding two others full. Dinner and wifi at McDonald's nearly by ourselves! Open 24 hrs but no customers.

DAY 32 - Thursday - 3.7.13
This is the Eastern Cape and Transkei region are from a simmering pot of revolution from which Mandela arose and the minister in "Cry, My Beloved Country" who traveled to Soweto to find his son. The Mandela Museum in Mthatha was closed for renovation so we went to the museum of his childhood but it was underwhelming. All the hillsides are terraced by past strip farming practices. They serve a great conservation service for hillside maintenance and grass growth for animals today. On to CoffeeBay and the Indian Ocean again while dodging pot holes, sheep, people, taxis, and goats. The rondos are round or six sided with thatched roofs painted green or pinkish except for a patch of brown on the backside, made of mud brick and plaster construction. Many plots are a long walk from any road so the women carry bulky, heavy things on their head. Many mothers with babies on their backs with both wrapped in a tied blanket. They hold the infant overhead by the arms, lean over letting the baby lay down and slide down to the mothers rump, then wrap them both before standing up. We arrived in Coffee Bay at 1:00 in time for lunch and check in with full pension. We have a room with a view, #2... We had stayed here in '06 as well as it is the only 1st class place within 80 miles.  We saw a heavy haul vehicle today... Three diesel pull-push trucks.  22 axles front and 22 back with 8 tire per axel...352 tires not including the trucks...!! Dinner and reading before an early bedtime listening to the surf.

DAY 33 - Friday - 2.8.13
Tried for "Hole in the Wall"...bad road turns us back. Went to Mthatha and Mickey Dees for free wifi to catchup with you all- to no avail. North of Mthatha the round turned to rectangle houses. Except for at the beach, the roads in the veld of transkie (Wild Coast) are on top of the wide ridges, so everything one sees is down the hillside. Spread out are villages after villages and schools after schools. When school adjourns the school colors dot the roadside as walking the berm is the easiest route home- blue/gold, green/salmon, yellow/black and on and on. Each homestead with its plot of land. In Port St John we went up a terribly steep and rutted road and onto the mountain to meet Ted and Juliette at the Delicious Monster restaurant and accommodations. We overlook the second beach to Port St. John high above the coastal mtns. Another room with a view... Drinks at 6 and dinner at 6:30, wifi not included. This area looks very depressed and there are many people on the street milling around. The lady helper at this place we are staying is 27 with a 5 yr old and walks 2.5 hours each way to work for 8:30-3:30. Another nite of crashing waves. Rounavels...is the word... Hauled 3 older people to a rural hospital, a nurse home for the weekend, and lady and child. All evening we sat with other guests on the balcony at Delicious Monster and ate and talked til way after 10. We sat with a female backpacker who is a sailboat-catamaran worldwide delivery captain otherwise. She may being going back to school in Cape Town,considered the best institution of higher learning in ZA. To bed.

DAY 34 - Saturday - 2.9.13
Up late for breakfast and set off traveling together with a Danish couple living in Norway. Our travels took us off the Wild Coast, out of the Eastern Cape, beyond the Transkei, and past the Xhosa,  into the next province, KwaZulu-Natal with the Zulu. We went back into the hill country with small home parcels spread around the tribal villages but much more forest. We passed thru 2 towns where Saturday shopping made madhouses of the streets. We enjoy driving thru these areas and seeing what is being bought from what kind of places- like huge Wholesale grocery with it courtesy buses and always a Spar grocery with the street sellers spread everywhere possible hocking their wears. When we entered the next province the home plots went to lots, the fields went to large production like banana plantations, and organized town/cities....a stark change and a feeling of loss of the area we learned to cherish. We found a b&b on the water (4th time this week) in a beautiful home setting with all the amenities- particularly a pool to exercise my shoulders in pre form surgery. We have covered 2600 miles in ZA and 5400 overall. We are eating at the second robot beyond the Caltex station - Jaxx. The name of the pension is Cracker Bay, and it was a govt house before a b&b..beautiful and dramatic.. Our room is in the upper right.

DAY 35 - Sunday - 2.10.13
Up the coast and thru the beach areas of Durban and on north to Stanger. We then entered the hinterland heading west. The coast's primary agri product is sugar cane. This product gave way to corn, beans, and pulp wood at about 1100 meters elevation and were traversing an area of large farms and fields. We stopped at Wimpy in Greytown to get free wifi after three days without before heading to Dundee.  Finally we got to the hill country with no farming which was laid out by tribal areas with roaming people, goats, sheep and cattle. The further we went into the hills the steeper they got, the stronger the rain, the worse the roads and the bigger the potholes. As we passed the front the rain stopped, the road was great and we got to Dundee. 290 miles today. Comparatively, tonite we are in a dump in Dundee.

DAY 36 - Monday - 2.11.13
Tired! Up and ate before a town and township tour of Dundee. Went to the national road to make easier driving and faster time- driving mostly above 5000 feet. At the heights we saw flamingoes in salt pan. We stopped and explored each village or town we passed thru - Volkrust, Newcastle, Amersfoort, Ermelo,  Badpaas, and Barberton...some places were very established and others were little more than supply centers for the surrounding farm areas. We were a taxi service for many riders and stopped to look at  any crafts, buying a hand woven brooder coop for $1.50. We went thru corn, beans and cattle until we got into the mountains and tree farming where they clear cut for lumber of eucalyptus. There was a haze from power plants and burning of the debris from tree harvest. We stopped at each McDonalds and Wimpys for coffee to justify free wifi. We have passed thousands of game farms in ZA and Namibia for trophy hunting and in all these places we have never seen any animals. We entered another providence named Mpumalanga.

END OF WEEK FIVE