Flying into Johannesburg with very mixed feelings. have always wanted to come here, yet the city is known to be quite dangerous to those on foot in the downtown area. Hard to believe I will visit a place and not go downtown...baut that is what happened. I figured once I got the lay of the land, the reality would no be as bad as reported. Unfortunately, all signs pointed to staying away from the downtown, even in daylight. Too weird.
My purpose here is to get to Botswana, so may not see much of South Africa. This is too bad, but this has been true throught this trip. Everywhere I go, I am missing things. I tend to focus on what I see, not what I miss.
The more you travel, the less you it actually seems to be. I've been on the raod 8 months, travelled mucho kilometers and really am just chicken-scratching my way around the planet
Stayed at a funky hostel and did a trip to the Apartheid Museum and a small walking tour of a Soweto slum. The museum setup the slum very well. I do not like the concept of canned tours and certainly not a slum, but somehow this all worked very well.
The Apartheid Museum blew me away. I have been aware of the news out of South Africa for many years, but the reality doesn't really hit home.I knew Stephen Biko died in detention, but really, what did that mean to me? The reality, scale and scope of apartheid (especially in the years prior to all the laws passed in the late 40's) is breathtaking. Like a slow forced genocide. Not unlike what is done is so many other places in the planet at any one time. Humans can be astoundingly cruel to each other.
Our guide introduced the 3 of us to his friend that lived in one of the many Soweto slums. Soweto's population is around 4 million people, obviously not all slums, but also with no real downtown, industry, etc. It was the SouthWesternTownship and was created to keep a large population close enough to Jo'burg to work there, but not actually live there. Our guide was trying to show up 2 thinsg, the conditions that people live in, but also the sense of community that each little ghetto has.
The only water here was a public tap for each group of about 40 families. Each group of 5 families shared what we would call an construction site toilet (locked with 5 keys). This replaced some fairly static toilets. There was no electrcity just big batteries and a battery re-charge center. But there was a daycare, kindergarten school, rec center (it had lights) and gallery. Like a little village, just a really poor little village. We got introduced to a lot of people and stepped into a few places and homes and stores (tuck shops). All around, a very cool and enlightening visit. Was very glad that I decided to go. Felt odd walking around, but the people there realize that tourism is a valid way to generate money.
Did lots of walking and running in Jo'burg. I was 5 kms from downtown and still all the properties were compounds with electric razor wire and all the signs said 24 HOUR ARMED RESPONSE. This means that the boys show up with guns in a truck. Forget calling the police. Interesting town. Drove thru downtown once. It was un-settling.
OK. Off to Botswana and who knows what. Picture is buddy Roger, who travles with an iron. Go figure.
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