In the last few days we have continued our non-backpacking part of the trip that has been on going since we left India. We are sleeping in the comfiest bed ever, taking hot showers, driving in a car and eating large amounts of tasty food regularly. We have had large braiis (barbeque) with all the fixings almost every night followed with desserts. I am not sure if we even remember how to be backpackers which may cause some trouble in the next few months. We have been sleeping in and touring the city during the days. While Johannesburg has its problems, as does any other city in the world, most of it has been everything except for the crap they show on television. There are definitely the poor slummy areas that seem to be mainly populated by black people. They seem to live in the lower class areas in tents and shacks and there is not a white person in sight. It is quite strange and I cannot explain it. That being said, we see a mix of people living in the upper class neighborhoods but we cannot deny that (based on what we have seen and heard) that a large majority of the wealthier people are white skinned. The stereotypes of the people living here are mind boggling in this day and age. The different cultures seem to steer clear of each other and live comfortably in this manner. It is a strange concept for me to grasp as I pride Vancouver on its unity in diversity.
The "Africa" that is portrayed on the news and in movies is not the reality of South Africa. I understand that other countries in Africa may vary of course, but the difference in rich and poor is vast and clear. If you are looking for the third world Africa then you may want to visit another country. We have enjoyed going to the crummier looking areas of town where the people are overly friendly and upbeat. People are singing and dancing with big smiles on their faces at all times. It's difficult to be in a sour mood.
We walked through the botannical gardens on a Saturday where we saw six weddings taking place. The gardens were lovely and full of people enjoying the great weather. South Africa is in autumn now and this is the first autumn we have seen in two years. The temperature was cold the first few days we arrived here but now has risen to the high twenties and we are quite comfortable in only one jumper.
We went to a local market where people were selling crafts and African souveniers. The sellers are quite forward and we found it difficult to walk away without buying anything. This is similar to the selling style in Bali, Indonesia. Having travelled for a while now, we are becoming more comfortable saying no. We went to an organic Africans shopping center with a huge windmill in the front. Here everything was exactly how one would find in Holland and the Africans language also sounds quite a bit like Dutch to us (but what do we know).
One night we went out with the younger son of our hosts and he took us to many of the sight seeing areas of the city. We went to see the water tower that people hang out at and we walked around the ecological park for a while. This is where him and his friends used to roll boulders down the mountain into the fences of unsuspecting neighbors. We went to a fancy area called Montecasino. This is a covered area full of many restaurants, shops, casinos, theaters, clubs, children's parks, arcades and more. It is a huge place and the ceiling is painted like a sunny day so no matter what time it is, it feels like day. We also went out to a couple of pubs and hung out for a while. It was exactly like one we would expect to see in Vancouver except there were big black bouncers at the doors (so it's the same?). Other than that the music was the same, the people were dressed the same, the drinks were the same and the pukers at the end of the night similarly annoying and classy. We walked by a guy sniffing glue and another guy pepper spraying a group of partiers. A semi tralier drove by with loud music and people dancing inside. Apparently the call this a party bus. We had a great time and set off the motion detector alarms when we got back home which caused quite the cafuffle. That night there was a huge lightening and thunder storm but of course Tyson and and I slept through it.
We have gone shopping some of the days and the prices seem very close to what we would see in Vancouver although they have much different electronics available. We also went to see a graffiti contest because our friend has been painting for a very long time. I have posted some pictures of the work and it was unbelievable. Much of the artists have been published in magazines. We were very impressed. Graffiti seems to be very common here, it exists everywhere and they do not seem to be in a hurry to cover it up around the city of Johannesburg. We drove by some graveyards where hundreds of fresh graves had been dug out. As you may know the Aids epidemic is still huge and rampant here. People are dying everyday and about one in three people here are infected. From home it sounds like so much is being done for aids in Africa but it is obviously not enough. The education level surrounding the fatal disease is so low. People believe that things like hot showers and vegetables can prevent aids and that condoms are not necessary. One guy gave a lesson about how a condom works and he used a broom handle for the example. Next thing he heard was people were putting condoms on brooms during sex to prevent diseases. As in other countries we have visited, South Africa needs education and this seems to be the big issue here.
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
The "Africa" that is portrayed on the news and in movies is not the reality of South Africa. I understand that other countries in Africa may vary of course, but the difference in rich and poor is vast and clear. If you are looking for the third world Africa then you may want to visit another country. We have enjoyed going to the crummier looking areas of town where the people are overly friendly and upbeat. People are singing and dancing with big smiles on their faces at all times. It's difficult to be in a sour mood.
We walked through the botannical gardens on a Saturday where we saw six weddings taking place. The gardens were lovely and full of people enjoying the great weather. South Africa is in autumn now and this is the first autumn we have seen in two years. The temperature was cold the first few days we arrived here but now has risen to the high twenties and we are quite comfortable in only one jumper.
We went to a local market where people were selling crafts and African souveniers. The sellers are quite forward and we found it difficult to walk away without buying anything. This is similar to the selling style in Bali, Indonesia. Having travelled for a while now, we are becoming more comfortable saying no. We went to an organic Africans shopping center with a huge windmill in the front. Here everything was exactly how one would find in Holland and the Africans language also sounds quite a bit like Dutch to us (but what do we know).
One night we went out with the younger son of our hosts and he took us to many of the sight seeing areas of the city. We went to see the water tower that people hang out at and we walked around the ecological park for a while. This is where him and his friends used to roll boulders down the mountain into the fences of unsuspecting neighbors. We went to a fancy area called Montecasino. This is a covered area full of many restaurants, shops, casinos, theaters, clubs, children's parks, arcades and more. It is a huge place and the ceiling is painted like a sunny day so no matter what time it is, it feels like day. We also went out to a couple of pubs and hung out for a while. It was exactly like one we would expect to see in Vancouver except there were big black bouncers at the doors (so it's the same?). Other than that the music was the same, the people were dressed the same, the drinks were the same and the pukers at the end of the night similarly annoying and classy. We walked by a guy sniffing glue and another guy pepper spraying a group of partiers. A semi tralier drove by with loud music and people dancing inside. Apparently the call this a party bus. We had a great time and set off the motion detector alarms when we got back home which caused quite the cafuffle. That night there was a huge lightening and thunder storm but of course Tyson and and I slept through it.
We have gone shopping some of the days and the prices seem very close to what we would see in Vancouver although they have much different electronics available. We also went to see a graffiti contest because our friend has been painting for a very long time. I have posted some pictures of the work and it was unbelievable. Much of the artists have been published in magazines. We were very impressed. Graffiti seems to be very common here, it exists everywhere and they do not seem to be in a hurry to cover it up around the city of Johannesburg. We drove by some graveyards where hundreds of fresh graves had been dug out. As you may know the Aids epidemic is still huge and rampant here. People are dying everyday and about one in three people here are infected. From home it sounds like so much is being done for aids in Africa but it is obviously not enough. The education level surrounding the fatal disease is so low. People believe that things like hot showers and vegetables can prevent aids and that condoms are not necessary. One guy gave a lesson about how a condom works and he used a broom handle for the example. Next thing he heard was people were putting condoms on brooms during sex to prevent diseases. As in other countries we have visited, South Africa needs education and this seems to be the big issue here.
"If we are not happy and joyous in this season for what season shall we wait"
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