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We jumped in the car and Laura started driving out of the car park, with a few puzzled Lesothan faces around the place. We soon realised why there were puzzled faces and a few cheeky grins...we had a flat tyre......typical! To be perfectly honest, after our jaunt around the mountainous dirt, stone and gravel roads of Lesotho, a flat tyre was hardly unexpected. In fact, we would be lucky if that would be the only challenge encountered with our hire car before we were due to drop it off in Johannesburg later that day. I had visions of the movie Herbie, where the car splits into two pieces! Nonetheless the flat tyre was a hinderance, something that we could have done without with.
Now yours truly has no idea about changing a tyre. Laura, on the other hand has a limited amount of experience. We had two options. Firstly,change the tyre and expect a big bill from the hire company. Secondly, we could pump the tyre up, hope that it is a slow puncture and chance the five hour journey to Jo'burg. We went for option number two. Something that we were hoping and praying we wouldn't live to regret. We didn't really want to break down in some remote place in South Africa......
One of the locals at the guesthouse helped pump the tyre up and we were on our way. It was about an hour to the Lesotho-South Africa border and once we had crossed there was a tiny sense of relief that we were back in South Africa. I don't do stress usually. But the Lesotho roads had certainly challenged even my stress levels! The poor car was in a mess as well. Outside it looked like it had just raced in the Dakar rally. Inside, well, it did not sound like a happy car that's for sure! We could do something about the outside at least and decided to get it washed.It took over an hour! Good as new. 'Let's just hope this heap of junk gets us to Jo'burg and we don't get charged' myself and Laura were thinking.
The journey to Jo'burg was a nervous one. The car constantly sounded like it was about to have a bigger breakdown than Paul Gascoigne. The tyre got pumped up a few more times and we finally arrived into Jo'burg in the late afternoon, dropped the car off at the airport and hoped that they would not notice anything wrong with it! We had booked Johannesburg Backpackers that morning and were told to ring for an airport transfer when we arrived. Which we did.We waited at the airport. And waited. And waited. Then we waited some more. We went to get some dinner and waited some more. Then we went to watch the Netherlands beat Brazil, waited some more. We received two confirmations that the driver was 'on his way'. All in all we were at the airport for over three hours before the guy arrived. No apology, nothing. As you can imagine, not the best start! Another person was supposed to be picked up, but had probably given up and found his own way to the hostel. Ihindsight, we should have done the same! The hostel is based in Emmarentia. I chose the hostel as the location appeared to be the best. You don't want to be stuck in a dodgy area in Johannesburg!
On arrival we were charged the full price, despite having waited for three hours. The full price, apparently was cheaper than a normal taxi. But I'm not sure this was actually the case. Over the next few days we would have a few encounters with the driver. It turned out he was a bit of a wheeler/dealer. Trying to fleece the tourists that were over for the world cup. Coach bookings, black market tickets, taxi's, airport transfers - he had fingers in a lot of pies. Or perhaps, as we are in South Africa, the expression should be fingers in a lot of brai. A type of Del Trotter figure, if you will. But Del is a bit of loveable rogue. This guy was not loveable in any way, shape or form. The hostel itself was alright, It was a new hostel and it could have been a lot better. They really needed to pop down to Cape Town to look at our first hostel to see how to set-up an excellent hostel. But as with all the hostels we had stayed in, it was a very good standard, especially in comparison to some I have experienced in Australia. Just to think that I was worried about the standard of hostels in South Africa!
I must admit that I wasn't especially looking forward to coming to Johannesburg. It's reputation preceded it and in some cases you hear stories about a place but it is just someone having a bad experience. But, Jo'burg is different. You hear negative stories from almost everyone and for that reason you have to be on your guard at all times. We were to stay in Jo'burg a few days. Enough time to go to Ellis Park, see Soweto and the Museums. I was looking forward to doing all three but not looking forward to Jo'burg itself as a city. We didn't want to outstay our welcome and we didn't feel confident enought to venture out too far from our hostel and surrounding area with it's high security and CCTV.
The following night we had tickets for Spain vs Paraguay at Ellis Park. It was the quarter-final of the world cup and I was really looking forward to seeing Spain play live and also visiting the historical Ellis Park, probably best known for the scene of South Africa's rugby world cup triumph in 1995 after the ending of Apartheid. Ellis Park was very different to the new stadiums built for the world cup for obvious reasons.But history means a lot and it was great to have seen a match in a stadium steeped in history. The stadium has its flaws but most of the older stadiums do. The match itself was a bit of a disappointment. Spain were not at their best but managed to scrape a win after it looked like Paraguay could cause an upset. The game was not without incident with two missed penalties, the second after Spain were forced to re-take a successful penalty, and missed. I did see the fantastic David Villa score which was great. However the match was tarnished a little by the awful sound of vuvuzela's. Vuvuzela's were heard at England matches but not to the same extent. It is a real shame that fans have to sit through ninety minutes enduring an endless constant high pitch. I really hope they are banned, but not before Sepp Blatter receives one where the sun doesn't shine.
After witnessing Spain's victory we went out in Emmarentia with a Scottish guy that had spent the night in jail the night before for ticket-touting. He'd actually spent the night with a Ghanaian official who also got arrested for innocently handing out tickets to his colleagues. The poor Ghanaian official missed the whole match. TIA - This is Africa. The police obviously decided to have a blitz that night targetting even the innocent, despite touting going on at all the matches. The thought crossed my mind that we even sold our tickets after we lost to Germany and could have got arrested ourselves! The Scottish guy though was as guilty as a puppy standing next to a pile of poo - he was blatantly there to make money! But he was a good lad and we had a few beers with him and his mates and partied the night away in the safe part of Jo'burg.
The next day we decided to book an all in one tour of Soweto and the Apartheid Museum. I was really looking forward to doing both. This was to be a very educational and sobering day but one which was a 'must-see' for anyone visiting Johannesburg. We had an excellent guide for the tour which always helps and the tour started off with a tour of Soweto. Soweto, or 'South Western Township' is probably the most famous township in the world. It's world renowned for being one of the most populated and poorest areas in the world. 3.5 million people live here and most of them in some of the worst conditions imaginable.
Our guide started off in the rich area of Soweto. Yes, I was surprised as well but Soweto is much like any area. It has some beautiful, massive houses where some very well-off people live, including the likes of Winnie Mandela, whose house we saw. At least from the outside. Then we went from one extreme to the other extreme. Total poverty, small shacks built within feet of each other with no running water and no facilities. We were shown around by one of the guides who lives in Soweto. He introduced us to a family - a grandmother and her grandchild. She explained to us that eight of her family lived in an area only big enough for one or two people. She told us how she had been on a housing list for over 30 years and there was no chance of ever moving. She told us they had no money, no facilities, no hope. It was heart-wrenching to see people living in such total poverty. It really emphasises how lucky we really are. The kids are very friendly to you, until they realise that they are not getting any money! We are told that any donations should go to the 'elders' who will ensure the money will go to important projects valuable for the community. You can't help but give generously. The visit into the heart of Soweto, the 'real' Soweto, which you read and hear about was a very sobering experience indeed.
We moved on to visit the Hector Pieterson museum. This excellent museum is based in Orlando, Soweto and is named after Hector Pieterson, a 13 year old boy that was shot and killed during the 1976 student protests, started as a result of the government implementing 50/50 English and Afrikaans instruction for all schools. The photograph of Hector being carried after being shot became a symbol of the South African resistance to the brutality of the Apartheid government and the day he was shot is now known as youth day in South Africa. The museum itself had an excellent collection of TV news footage of the protests, interviews, photographs and the like. It was extremely informative and I would recommend anyone to visit to learn about this important part of South Africa's history.
Before heading to our next destination, the Apartheid museum, we went for lunch in Soweto sampling the local cuisine - T Bone steak and 'Pap', a popular dish with the indigenous black people of South Africa. It is very starchy - a bit like mashed potato. It wasn't the nicest food I've ever tried but it was enjoyable to try something different. The steak was good though!
Onto the final destination then - the Apartheid museum. This museum is also a 'must-see' charting the history of apartheid, right from 1948, when it was introduced by the white national party right through the struggles and resistance to the eventual liberation in 1994 with Nelson Mandela as the figurehead. Nelson Mandela, obviously figures prominently in a lot of the exhibitions.As does Steve Biko, Hector Pietersen and other notable figures during this time. Upon entering the museum we received a random card stating 'white' or 'non-white' and entering into the museum in a different section to the other, forcing people to separate for a a few minutes. The museum gives as excellent insight into South Africa's apartheid system.A country which implemented racial legislation violating the most basic of human rights. It is another sobering experience which really does make you wonder why and how these things can happen. People treated as second class citizens jut because of their ethnicity. It was a sad state of affairs.
Seeing Soweto, the plight of it's inhabitants and the conditions they have to contend with is an experience in itself. Not a pleasurable experience, but one you have to go through to try to begin to understand modern day South Africa. Learning about Apartheid and the history of South Africa was, for me, extremely important as well. It's amazing that these things can happen.They still do and, I guess,a lot of lessons can be learnt from South Africa for other countries. South Africa still has a lot of challenges ahead, as myself and Laura have witnessed first hand on our travels so far and a day like today certainly helps us to understand the current culture and climate a little bit more. This excellent, insightful day gave us a lot to comtemplate.....
So, our Jo'burg adventure was coming to an end. The next episode was very exciting though....we were off to Kruger National Park!
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