The Real World: Southern Africa Pt. 2

After Bulungula we flew from Mthatha to Johannesburg, where we stayed for about 3 days. And lucky for us, our good friend Dara was able to join us for this leg of the trip. We stayed in a backpackers in Soweto, which is an abbreviation for Southwestern Township. Soweto is home to about 5 million people, most notably Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu! The backpackers was right in the center of the township, which we loved. The owner, Lebo, was probably the coolest person ever. He started the backpackers when he was 19, after he got sick of selling arts and crafts outside of the Hector Peterson museum. He told us that he really just wanted to party with internationals, and opening a backpackers was a good way to do that and still make cash. Sounds like a solid business plan to me!

            On our first full day in Soweto, Annie, Corie, Dara, myself, and our new Norwegian friend Katrinne went exploring in the historic part of Soweto. First we went to the Hector Peterson museum, which commemorates the riots that were held in the 70’s, protesting the use of Afrikaans as the dominant language used in schools. We were all very moved by what we saw and read. The riots got so bad at one point that the United Nations had to intervene. Despite how big of a deal these riots were, this was the first time any of us had ever heard of them. It’s upsetting how little history of apartheid is taught in American schools. But enough of that! So much more awesome stuff happened that day! After the museum we meandered over to historic Vilakazi Street. This is where both Mandela and Tutu’s homes are located. The street is gorgeous and colorful and lined with restaurants and vendors. We had a great time. First, we went to Mandela’s old house. For those of you familiar with Mandela’s family history, you know that he and Winnie lived at 8115 Vilakazi, and how important 8115 was to Madiba. The house was very small, and the walls were lined with tons of awards and honorary degrees given to Madiba and Winnie. It was awesome. It was definitely one of my favorite things that we did. We also stopped by Bishop Tutu’s home, but we couldn’t go in. We think it’s because he still lives there when he isn’t in Cape Town.

            The next day, we planned on heading into Joburg to visit the Apartheid Museum, which is one of the things I was most looking forward to doing in South Africa. HOWEVER, we were unaware that literally NOTHING in Johannesburg is open on Mondays. NOTHING. So we didn’t get to go to the Apartheid Museum, which was a huge bummer, but we made it work. We were able to go to the Top of Africa, which is at the top floor of the highest building on, you guessed it, the continent of Africa. We got a pretty sick view of downtown Joburg, so I’d say it was worth it. Afterwards, we grabbed some melkterts (kind of like a buttermilk pie) and headed back to Soweto. After all, we needed to rest up before our trek up to Zambia!

See you in Livingstone!

-       G