Day 1 Saturday July 15

We get up.. scratch that. I get up bright and early.. scratch that.. I get up dark and early It's about midnight in NY and I guess I'm jet lagged. I'm up at like 3 or 4.. Pops is snoring away.. So I figure I'd go for a run.



Did I say it was cold last night??? It was downright freezing this morning. Because it is winter here, it is dark until almost 7 am and... I'm locked in the lodge grounds.. I've been told that saftey is an issue but?? Oh well. I listen to the sounds of Africa. The birds and.. what.. ever.. else.. is out there?????

:') Wow.

After breakfast..

We all pack into 2 cars and start our trip to the Kruger National Game Park..


Screech!

If you all read from the bottom of this post up, then you know we were TOLD by my father to bring only 1 bag. Well, we each brought at least 3! HA! My sister had her whole dorm room in the back of one car already. This was funny. My pops was pessed. Not pissed. Pessed.. the South African version of anger. HA!

The great people at the Sandton Lodge agreed to hold our bags until we returned to Johannesberg in a few days. Great.
We each pack about 3 days of clothing and head out.

Guess what? I'VE BEEN DRIVING PRETTY MUCH THE WHOLE TIME! KEWL!! Down here in SA, like many other countries they drive on the left side of the road, and the steering wheel is on the right. We all commented on how great the infrastructure is here. I mean the roads are perfect! The only thing that bothered me was that a few of these highways were 2 lane, 1 in each direction, and passing had to be done on the right squeezing between the car your passing and the on coming traffic. The courtesy of the passie will cause most people to pull a little to the left to help initiate the pass but.. Um driving at the speed limit of 120km / hr (about 70mph) or more, with a huge 32(!) wheel tractor trailer bearing down on you, also passing on the other side was a bit disconcerting.. at first. But I got the hang of it and pretty soon I was flying at like 140km / hr.

The scenery was fantastic. I never expected anything this beautiful. The landscape is more than breathtaking yo. Wow. The mountains, the trees. But we also saw other things.. Most Blacks here don't drive, so many of them are found on the side of these highways, 1 lane, 2 lane, 3 lane.. 6 lane.. hitch hiking or jumping on the commuter vans.. they cross these highways at risk and often I hear of accidents and death.. I'm flying at 140, there are guys blowing me away on the road.



We saw some of our first shanty towns.. Our hearts ached. I can't imagine what living in a "house" the size of a large refrigerator does to ones self esteem. And of course a few yards away, real houses, upper and middle classes.. humph.

It is approx. 10 years (?) since apartheid ended. I was curious about what the climate would be like. What was the US like 10 years after Jim Crow? 10 years after Emancipation? I had my expectations, but didn't really see what I expected from the people. Everyone APPEARS to get along, no longer do Coloreds live in one place, Blacks in another area, and Whites in another, but these places aren't necessarily integrated either.. more on this later.