WEEK THREE - ZA

WEEK THREE

DAY. 15 - Monday - 1.21.13
Yesterday - Forgot to mention we transported a minister and his wife, Human Resources staff person for the diamond company, from Luderitz to Keetmanshoop. Nice people and we talked all the way about the country and the conditions of the government, education and blacks. They were going to Windhoek  for a weeklong company meeting and rode with us because the company bus was over booked.

To the Canyon .... Fish River that is!  Not worthy of the 240 mile drive with half on gravel roads.  Dramatic in its structure and remote with mono color... limited viewing and access. It's not well developed so one can't interact with it like one can at the Grand  Canyon in the US or Copper Canyon in Mexico - only limited hiking and 10 ks rugged drive from camping and park office. We have traveled 750 miles in the southern area and only met 30 cars total.  Back to our B&B in Keetmanshoop for a nap in the heat of the day... 90 deg here and 88 deg warmer than home. Drove thru the majorities living areas and cannot figure out the school system ... Looks like schools are divided by race as we see 3 schools, each in one area - white, half and black - but can't confirm. Saw a hostel where remote kids live to attend school.

DAY 16 - Tuesday - 1.22.13
Calling for 106 deg here today.  On to Windhoek for an organized city tour. A few goats along the road, but little else. The vehicle of choice here is a Toyota mid size 4 door pickup  with a topper called a Hilux - straight stick, 4 wheel drive (like our Tacoma) for the gravel roads and car camping (the tent is on top of the topper and cab for the best rigs).  We have a Nissan Livina, 4-door sedan, 5 speed, with trunk, AC, radio, small SUV with a missing piece in the grill area, white. 80% of the travelers are from Germany and are here for 4+ weeks. Very few people are hitching in our direction today..   Just crossed the Tropic of Capricorn - 23+degrees south. The closer to Windhoek the more trees and greener. Road crews live in tent communities along the road near their work. Major and farm roads go off this main road with asphalt for 1/2 block before turning to gravel. Outside of small towns we've seen little habitation, as houses/farms are far off the road and can't be seen, generally. For the most part when we go by a larger town it's built along the main road rather than spreading away from the road, unless the area is inhabited by people with vehicles. The fences are primarily small animal and varmint proofed (chicken-wire-size type for the lower meter then usually 2 strands of wire above that). Game farm fences are double high, we suppose constructed by the farm owner rather than the roads department. The further north we go the more green vegetation we see, and bushes and trees are far more numerous and healthy looking( greener) though there is still savannah and desert sand. By no means are we out of the desert climate.. When we got to Rehobeth the vegetation had changed from further south. Trees are taller. Just south of Rehobeth we even noticed grass (or dense weeds) along the road and in the pastures. At least along B1 there is a lot of debris on the roadside. On the C and D roads there is less debris because there is less traffic and the people who live out there don't have the money to buy packaged items. Again today, around Windhoek the sky is developing cumulus clouds in the afternoon, as we noticed when we were here before.

On the way to our pension we met the young female worker who works the kitchen and the office/credit card machine. She was waiting for the bus and we offered to take her home, partly to see more of the city.....and we did. After 16 kilometers we ended up in the corrugated buildings town with many milling people, dirt streets and walks, street stores, and no water or toilet facilities in the homes that went on for blocks. We have frequently seen these condition but were surprised the worker here lived in these conditions. She leaves at 5 AM for her 6:30 job arrival on a 70 cents bus ride. In spite of her physical environment she has graduated high school, had a year of hospitality training, and been employed for over a year... She should be proud... She should be given our sense of the odds against her.. She lives with her two older sisters who also work. We went to the very popular Joe's Bar for hamburger dinner.  In the south there was just an overlay of Afrikaans but in Windhoek it is much more prevalent.  

DAY 17 - Wednesday -1.23.13
To ZA late TODAY....  Spent the morning on an organized city tour.. But. We had to educate our tour guide.. % white in Namibia. He called his office to find out 6. 4 (six point four) % of 2.1 million+ are white, after guessing 20%. 250K in Windhoek as of 2001, but immigration from the rural areas and foreign countries is huge. We went to the government areas and park- Germans colonized here until 1916 when it became a protectorate of SA. Gained independence in 1990 and they are very proud. After the central city-gov't-business area we went to the old location township for the 4 tribes from which they were moved by SA in 1959. Then to the colored area, previously the area assigned to the blacks. Then to Katatura (composed of letters of the names of the 4 tribes) where 60% of the population lives in townships - corrugated houses with dirt floors, no electric, communal toilets and water - too hot in the summer (no windows in order to thwart thieves) and cold in the winter. The plots on which the homes sit are sold by the city and the system seems well organized. There is a sophisticated system of water distribution and garbage collection. We visited several areas where day laborers congregate to get jobs, called MSR centers (meaning Men On the Side of the Road). Back downtown for crafts and bought a basket as a memento of Namibia.  To the airport where the car check-in has not found the part missing from the grill area. Waiting 5 hours for our flight, as the car had to be checked in early.

Gas was between $4.79 urban and $5.10 rural.. North miles =1545 / South miles =1885 / Total in Namibia = 3430 miles.  Arrived in Joburg at 9:30 PM, Gary picked us up, and we talked til midnite.

DAY 18 - Thursday - 1.24.13
IU is coming back from their big drop to 7th from 2nd last week. Off to Lydenburg in our 3rd rental car in 2 weeks. Pleasantly we have found that everything we planned and organized has happened with only a late leaving from Windhoek due to a strong thunderstorm which hit 1/2 hour before loading time.. I hope our good fortune and thinking about does not sabotage our next stage of travel.

Beautiful drive from Joburg - first thru tasseling corn, beans and beef areas and then into the hills.. After the brown of Namibia, the green of ZA was stunning. We carried a couple with a child on mom's back to the separation of the road to Nelspriuit and had a discussion about their travel for business. Arrived in Mashishing (place of high grass) (formerly Lydenburg, "place of pain" due to malaria outbreak in the 19th c.)at 4 and got a b&b before driving around the city and township.. The place has really expanded in size and population in the last 6 years because of two mines opening, one platinum and one chromium. Construction is attractive and the township is drastically improved with few temporary corrugated houses and more permanent houses with mowed lawns. The b&b owners have friends in Madison and have visited there and central US. Exhausted, we need a couple of days for down time with no driving. Our car this time is a VW polo - blah.

DAY 19 - Friday - 1.25.13
Leisurely morning as we were to arrive at the secondary school at 10... We snuck up on them early so we could go to a class... First a Zulu language class (they study 2 tribal languages) and English. Next to geography class where they knew very little geography of the US. Then computer content class where we demonstrated the iPad. At 10:30 we gathered in the teachers' lounge with 40 students and several faculty- a program for us. We had originally gotten involved with the school thru poetry, debate and UN extra curricular programs after being invited to the township by the poetry students 6 yrs ago. We have been funding part of their program periodically since. There were many parts to today's program- a Zulu dance group of 10 members; then several individuals who recited the poems they wrote particularly about their city, country, new freedoms and empowerment of blacks and women; three excellent A cappella groups of Zulu, english, and religious music; interactive poems of romance; and remarks by the minister and us. It was an inspirational program and the students clearly were excited about being involved. We then went to 2-8th grade classes of 80+ students which were amazingly well behaved and working diligently. We then attended an upper level computer class. After that they had a reception and food for us in a teacher work area. We took some additional funding for the program to keep this work going. We were very impressed and thankful with the program and tours thru classes. The administration and faculty are doing an exceptional job and should be commended, given the community and school's limitations - $$$, book limits, oversized classes, under staffed and in a township. Expectations for the kids who performed are very high and most include university. On the road back to Jo'burg after figuring out how to unlock Gary's phone and took a worker to town.  PHOTO - Marnie and Johanne outside the school - Johanne is our contact and the head of science curriculum and the special poetry, debate and UN programs at Mashishing Secondary School. Drive back to Joburg, had dinner, and talked til mid nite.



DAY 20 - Saturday - 1.26.13
Party today for Gordon's (Diane's son) 21st birthday. We helped to make preparations for the party for 20+ people and made runs for last minute things at the store. Family and friends came to a lovely luncheon and lively conversation in the shady, but open air, patio. Everyone here complained of the heat, but we did not think it uncomfortably hot - Joburg has moderate (70-80) temperatures year around in the mile high city. Relaxed and ate more before an early bed time. Thinking of trying to change our dogged car for something more powerful. Must pack our clean clothes we washed yesterday and prepare the car.

DAY 21 - Sunday - 1.27.13
The four of us ate breakfast, cleaned up, and went to the mall for the African market. Much of it was new products and flea market stalls, with some African crafts mixed in, then there was a separate building dedicated African crafts. We really didn't seen anything unique but did decide to buy 3 small baobab trees for 150 Rand total. There were a few rustic looking items but nothing that struck our fancy. We still have 3 weeks of traveling through the countryside to look for some interesting artifacts. We emailed CuldeSac in Oudtshoorn to make reservations for late week, finally heard from Sampie in Robertson and by the end of the day had travel arrangements made. We'll take 2 days to get to Robertson (driving hard) then spend 3 days in Oudtshoorn. Gary and Rick got back about 3:30 from changing the car from the 1.4 automatic VW to a 1.6 manual Polo, and it drives much better.. Resting and napping. Dinner of great ham with the family and waited for IU basketball.. Found the play by play on ESPN and IU radio station.. 44-38 half time score.. IU projected to win by 9.5.. IU wins 75-70. Slept well. Rained very hard over nite.

DAY 22 - Monday - 1.28.1
On the road to explore ZA by heading south for the other end of the country. Drove 120+ k/h on 4 lane toll road thru countryside which could have been IL or SD - flat grassland interspersed with cattle, corn, sunflowers, millet and hay. We are on the run to catch up with our overextended schedule... First to Robertson and the aids orphans and then the Little Karoo -Oudtshoorn. Then the Garden Coast and Addo elephant reserve. After that who knows. Our new car is great.!  We set out on N1, a toll road, in the first half and a 2-3 laner thereafter. Negotiation on the roadside a for craft baobob tree failed. We picked up two female travelers from Winburg to Bloemfontein looking for work. We dropped them off and did a quick tour of Bloemfontein's downtown, govt. buildings, athletic facilities, the university of  Free State. We toured Hanover township as we passed through this small town. The Veld turned into Karoo with pushed plateaus and much vegetation. To this far there were thousands of cattle, sheep and goats in very large herds. Finally, south of Three Sisters (where the Joburg and Kimberly roads meet) it turned to semi arid desert with many rolling hills of the Karoo, which looks like West Texas or southern Utah. Where there was water there were hundreds of Century plants with bloom stocks ready to fall and start a new plant. On these isolated stretches of road there are Driver Alert Sections, which are a series of grooves in the road which will waken the drowsy. After many road construction areas and 985 k or 610 miles we stopped in Beaufort West at the Donkin Country House. We drove like mad dogs to get as many miles as possible to make tomorrow's trek under 6 hours over the mtns/hills and 2 passes.

So far we have passed thru Mpumalanga (Masishing), Gauteng, Free State, Eastern Cape and Western Cape Provinces.  5 of 9 total...

We traveled 120 K/HR (75 MPH). The semis here pull 2 trailers. The back of the first one is a platform for the attachment of the 2nd  one, so they're about 50-75% longer than in the US. As a result they have 3 double-axel dually sets.

Hurrah! IU went from 7th to 3rd nationally in basketball!

THE END OF WEEK THREE...