A view from the top

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One of the perks of Peace Corps service is the occasional weekend away from site, which allows the volunteer to visit neighboring volunteers and/or towns in the country of service.  Over the final weekend of June my weekend away was spent in Graskop, a small town in the Mpumalanga Province that is in close proximity to natural wonders such as God’s Window and Lisbon Falls.  This trip did not disappoint.

I began my journey with a series of taxi rides on those public taxis about which I have written. This particular journey required three taxis to reach my destination.  I travelled without incident on the first two taxis, but on the final taxi the men sitting next to me decided it was time to put down a 6-pack of beer…it was 9am.  The bottles from their beer were rolling around on the floor when I reached my destination, and I kept stepping on them and falling over while trying to disembark.  I have no doubt that my fellow passengers assumed I had joined in the party when I was unable to stand up straight or dislodge my bag from under the seat.  It is best that one learns not to embarrass easily when taking part in a new culture…still working on that one.

My stay was in an old train car that had been converted to a backpackers (hostel) which was awesome, but rather chilly when the temperature dropped to about 39 degrees at night.  Luckily the lodge provided plenty of blankets for us to bury ourselves under.  At one point some of our fellow travellers locked themselves in their room and the decision to leave the warmth of the blankets to assist them became a tough one.

An arrangement was made with a driver so that we would be able to see as many sights as possible in one day.  The driver was so knowledgeable about the area, and made sure we had plenty of time to see everything and to take plenty of pictures.  I definitely got a workout hiking to the best vantage points, but was it ever worth it!  The views were breath-taking, and the stillness was soothing to the soul.  At the entrance to each of the wonders there were vendors selling curios such as woodcarvings and scarves.  Amazingly enough none of the sights were very crowded, so there was ample time and space to really enjoy the views.  The day ended with a stop in Pilgrims Rest for beef stew with samp, followed by a stop for pancakes (which is the hot item in this area).

After a weekend packed with activities I made the taxi trip home, this time requiring four taxis.  Sunday is not the day to travel by taxi, and about 4.5 hours of my travel time were spent waiting for taxis to fill before they would leave.  I had a fairly uneventful journey until I reached my shopping town, where I purchased groceries before boarding a taxi to take me back to my village.  While I was waiting in a half full taxi a man approached and began asking the other waiting passengers for 7 Rand, to which everyone said no.  He then asked me for 20 Rand, to which I said no, and then 50 Rand, again I said no.  He then proceeded to reach into the taxi to take one of my grocery bags from my lap, at which point the gogos (grandmothers) waiting on the taxi with me went nuts.  They threatened to beat the man within an inch of his life, and chased him away from the taxi.  A word to the wise, don’t pull shenanigans in front of a gogo, they do not tolerate bad behavior!