The Real South Africa

Today we got our first taste of the real South Africa. On our way to a day at the beach in Durban, about eight of us were standing together outside the Scottsville shopping center waiting for the rest of our group to show up when a guy standing nearby tried to pickpocket Bridget from Rutgers (her backpack was hanging over one shoulder). Wakeem from Rutgers saw the guy doing it and took back the money (no more than a few bucks). A local standing nearby saw what happened and came over (on his own behalf really) to shake the guy up and scare him off. A few minutes later this guy returns with the would-be thief saying that he called the cops. So the cops are now there to figure out what happened. It turns out the would-be thief was supposed to be working there as a parking attendant, but he wasn't wearing his orange vest, and the local who was "defending" us had a six-inch knife in his pocket. The police took in the thief and confiscated the knife. Interesting detail: In South Africa, when you are dealing with the police, you deal with an officer of the same race as you. When the white female officer at the scene asked why the man was carrying a knife, apparently his response was, "Shut up, you don't speak Zulu." Crazy...there is clearly a lot of left over animosity from the apartheid era. I also felt bad that the would-be thief got arrested because I don't see how that is going to ease his desperation or even prevent him from trying to steal in the future. It is true that crime is a major issue here and the police need to set an example, but I don't see how going to jail solves anything. Once Bridget made her statement with the police and the rest of our group arrived we were off to Durban.

A friend of ours, Robert, who is originally from Rwanda arranged a ride for us (16 in all). We went to a nice little private beach that was part of a Miami art deco-style hotel. The water was quite warm and clear, but I didn't go in too far because the waves were very choppy (one person in our group got tired and needed a lifeguard to help them back to shore, but everything was ok). Also, blue bottle jellyfish are very common there, and poor Mani got stung less than a minute after stepping foot in the water. Stings are so common that the lifeguard stations are equipped with a vinegar/ammonia solution to ease the pain.

We had arranged for our driver to meet us where he dropped us off at 4pm. He had apparently just been at the spot, but when we got there he wasn't. We had his cell phone number and he had supposedly arranged for someone to pick us up a few minutes later. It all seemed sketchy, especially since we already paid him half of the fare. We also didn't want to hang out around there much longer because apparently Robert knew a guy who was killed for his cell phone in that area. Finally, an hour later when some people were getting ready to take a taxi into town to hire another ride, a driver showed up and we made it back without any further problems.

Lessons learned today:
1) Do not wait around on the street, even in broad daylight, even in big groups
2) Always swim with a buddy
3) Do not trust the word of a kombi (minibus taxi) driver or pay them ahead of time

Also, although the beaches are beautiful, the parts of Durban that I saw had an overall sketchy and hectic feel, making me glad that I chose to live in quaint little PMB. For a country that is seemingly "modern" in many many ways, I am astonished when I see huge crowds of people allover the sidewalks waiting for transport. In this region there are few to no city buses and no light rail to speak of, which seems pretty crazy because I'm sure that a large segment of the population (if not the majority) cannot afford a car. This means that people are left to walk, or the more popular option, take kombis. As I alluded to earlier, kombis are minibus taxis that carry about 16 passengers on set, but unofficial routes for a very low fare. Also, for a lack of bike lanes, almost no one rides bicycles for transit. It's different, but it seems to work. I'm still getting the hang of it.