Johannesburg, South Africa

We’ve been here for a couple of days now. We were incredibly jet lagged when we first got here so we stayed at a hostel by the airport for two days and just slept and relaxed after the long flight. The plane stopped in Dakar, Senegal, on the way from Washington and all in all we were in the air for 19 hours. Since I’m scared of flying it wasn’t all that pleasant. My parents wouldn’t be all too proud if they’d seen me brown bagging rum at Dulles. 

To be honest I don’t really want to think about leaving DC, because I’m really sad about leaving Becca and everyone over there (her dogs included, of course). I have this weird feeling of being homesick, though I know it’s not my real home. I love and miss my Cayamo family.

But Joburg is awesome. Apparently it’s the biggest manmade forrest on earth. It’s so green everywhere! Bushes, plants, trees, parkways … I especially like the jacaranda trees. The entire suburb we’re currently staying in, Yeoville, is filled with them. When they bloom all the streets turn purple from all the flowers.

You see, that’s the kind of thing you never get to hear about Johannesburg. Sure, it’s a dangerous city, and sure, you have to be street smart, but when people back home talk about it they paint this picture of a war zone in my head. People here are friendly, beautiful and this town in filled with culture.

Today we went to Newtown, which is the “cultural heart of Joburg”, with four others that are staying at the hostel. Frieda, a Belgian woman, has been in Joburg many times before and is working here with art students at the moment, so she was our guide. If I could, I’d put up pictures of the street art, Miriam Makeba Street, the Brenda Fassie statue, but the internet connection here is a bit too slow for that, so I guess friends, family and others who might follow our blog will have to wait until we get to Singapore to see them.

Apart from the internet connection this hostel is the best hostel I’ve ever stayed at. We were welcomed by Patience, one of the four people who work here, and felt at home in an instant. The place is called 2B Happy Backpackers Lodge, so if you ever go to Joburg, please stay here. You won’t regret it! The entire house is colorful, the kitchen is great for cooking in and it seems to be blessed with nice and interesting guests as well. The backyard is really pretty with two grills and what they call “the jungle”, which is a really cozy sitting area where you can light a fire. We tried to use the grills the other day, didn’t fully succeed, but did our best to throw a braai party. A braai is a South African barbecue and people here are crazy about it. And people are crazy about meat too, so us vegetarians feel a bit out of place when our mushrooms get burned over the fire. We talked to a really nice guy from Zimbabwe today and he said that if you’re in South Africa, that’s how it is - having a braai is a way of hanging out.

Tomorrow we’re thinking about going into town to meet one of the girls we’ll be traveling with through Africa, but we’re sure if we’re going to get a hold of her. Anyhow, the adventure starts on Monday. Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya, here we come!

Cat