Mom & Dad's Visit

Seeing as Mom & Dad left last week this post is overdue, and I have newer things to report on, but those will have to wait a few more days as life dictates.

Mom & Dad are now back in the US after a jam-packed six-day stay in South Africa. They arrived two weeks ago on Monday. They were very lucky to rent a car with not only an automatic transmission (very uncommon here) but also with the blinker on the left side of the steering wheel--on trips I've taken the American/European drivers repeatedly turn on the windshield wipers when they want to signal. It was a little nerve wracking getting Mom & Dad to adjust to driving on the other side of the road. We were all in agreement that we would prefer to have me drive because I'm used to the roads, and simply a better driver, but the minimum age to rent a car here is 21 and I'm just a few months shy. As soon as we left the airport, Dad started pointing out almost every plant on the side of the road. When we got to my dorm this continued, but with picture taking. Every 20 feet or so he would stop because, "That is the tallest [insert Latin plant name] I have ever seen!" After sorting out the stuff they brought for me from home, I took them to lunch at my favorite place--Kara Nichha's. They were quite impressed with the $.50 roti rolls and now understand how I could live on that place. I think many of Mom & Dad's misconceptions about South Africa were quickly dispelled within a few hours of stepping off the plane. They saw that, unlike Israel (another middle-income country), buildings are well-constructed, roads are well-paved and drivers are polite, vegetation is impeccably maintained, and public spaces are incredibly clean--definitely more so than in the US. Sadly, I think that many of these "good things" can be attributed to severe inequalities that exist here. For instance, South Africa has 30-40% unemployment, so you see three or four people doing the job that you would see one person doing in the US. So here you have many more gardeners, cleaning staff, road workers, etc. Additionally, the cost of low-skilled labor is relatively inexpensive for the more advantaged segments of the population (i.e. even middle class families have full-time domestic servants). After lunch, Mom & Dad checked into the B&B that luckily turned out to be very nice. They stayed in a cottage behind a large Victorian house built in the late 1800s on about 5 acres of land (well maintained of course)--right in the middle of Scottsville. We then went back to the Scottsville Mall to meet Mani, Lauren, and Jessi at Checkers. Mom & Dad were once again shocked by the familiarity of the selection in the grocery store. The way they put it, South Africa is kind of like a parallel universe. It's sort of like looking in a mirror because many things are similar but they are flipped, like driving on the opposite side of the road, water draining clockwise, and flipping switches down to turn things on. The South African mirror also gives you a different perspective on your own life, and how much of an effect American culture has on the world. In the evening I took Mom & Dad to Ocean Basket at Liberty Mall, one of the few places around with sushi although we didn't get any, but the big news is I tried fish for the first time in 10 years! I ate it, but still prefer non-meaty, non-fishy things.

On Tuesday we drove down to Durban to go to the botanic gardens. As we were getting close, an accident shut down the N3 so we had to get off and try to navigate side streets with limited help from maps. The detour took us past the Howard College campus of UKZN where I initially applied to study. Seeing the surroundings I'm very glad I chose PMB instead. With some luck we made it to the botanic gardens. Dad was hoping for more indigenous plants and better labeling, but it was still a very relaxing place to be considering we were in the middle of the city--there were even vervet monkeys climbing around in the trees. Surprisingly, the curio shop at the gardens had the best selection and prices that we saw the whole time they were here. They even had real Magwaza pots, the clan I visited the week before, for only about double what I paid. After getting some African crafts, we went on to the African Art Centre on Florida Road, one of the happening streets in Durban. For lunch we decided to try a Thai restaurant down the street because I hadn't had anything resembling Asian food for months. We had to be buzzed into the restaurant--a reminder that Durban is more urban and probably has more crime than PMB. I didn't have high expectations since this was the first (and only) Thai restaurant I had seen in SA, and sure enough, it wasn't like California Thai, but it was pretty decent. The important thing was that I finally had some tofu! I even asked the waiter where they get their tofu, but it's from some distributor in Jo'burg, so I guess I won't be seeing any more for a while. After lunch we drove up the coast which had been devastated just the day before by the worst storm surges in 80 years. This was the first time I had driven up the coast, so I don't know what it's supposed to look like as a comparison. There were lots of locals out taking pictures, so clearly what we saw is not normal. When we drove by there were still 8-10 ft wind swells crashing against the heavily eroded beaches. We got off the highway to take a closer look in Ballito, which took us past some very fancy developments. The electric fence for the beach villas was seriously more fortified than the Israel-Palestine wall, no joke. Upper class whites in South Africa have a very high quality of life--it's like living in paradise--but the problem I have is that it is at the expense of so many who are forced to remain impoverished to support the posh lifestyle of the wealthy. For every few cars along the roads in Ballito is a kombi packed with 15 people--likely domestic workers or otherwise employed in the area. And just as many people as were in the kombis were waiting along the side of the road for one with space to stop and catch a ride home. Even in Palos Verdes, where there is a large concentration of wealthy people, I don't know a single family with full-time domestic servants. If you want to live a luxurious lifestyle, fine, but don't do it at the expense of other human beings who can't afford to send their children to school. More than anything else, I think the weak social conscience of privileged South Africans (of all races) would make it difficult for me to live here in the long term.

On Wednesday we went to Tala Game Reserve, where I had gone with a school group in February. Unlike my first visit when it was rainy and cold, this time it was warm and sunny. It was also a public holiday, Human Rights Day, so there were a lot more cars around. We went for a game drive and luckily there were also a lot more animals out than on my previous visit. We saw impala, ostriches, zebras, white rhinos, wildebeests, hippos, warthogs, eland, giraffes, and cape buffalo--all close up. It was very cool and there were even baby giraffes that weren't born when I was there last--they still had the umbilical cord attached. After having a nice lunch at the exceptionally crowded restaurant--one of the few places I have been to that was understaffed (due to the holiday), we went to Howick Falls. On the way back we stopped at Liberty Mall so that Mom could pick up some capris because she felt out of place wearing shorts since other women either wear capris or skirts.

After my Zulu test on Thursday morning, we left for Monk's Cowl in the Central Drakensberg. I took Mom & Dad to the backpackers I had stayed in the month before, Inkosana. I've said it before and I'll say it again: If you're going to the Central Drak, that is the place to stay. This time we got to try the dinner that they serve which was very good. One of the advantages of staying in backpackers is getting to meet friendly people from allover the world, something you miss out on when staying at a hotel.

After a relaxed morning by the pool, we continued on to the Northern Drakensberg. On the way we stopped at Tower of Pizza, a restaurant/accommodation located in the middle of corn fields on the way to the Royal Natal National Park, where they happen to have excellent wood-fired pizza baked in a silo-shaped structure--hence the name. A few more kilometers down a side road was our hotel, the Cavern. I'm not sure why I didn't anticipate it, but staying at the Cavern was like staying at a resort during apartheid. With the exception of our interracial neighbors from Durban and one Asian family, all of the guests at the Cavern were white South Africans. In addition, besides the administrative staff, all of the staff were black. After checking in, we went to the Royal Natal National Park, home of the Amphitheatre and Tugela Falls, the second tallest waterfall in the world (the first being Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwe-Zambia border...probably not going there). The park was stunning, but we arrived at 4pm and the gate closed at 6pm so we didn't have much time. On the way back to our hotel there was a large flat-bed truck going the other direction on the road that must have been packed with 30-40 people who are probably workers at the resorts--very disturbing. Meals at the Cavern were quite formal (we sat at the same table and had the same waiter the whole time) which was nice, but really unnecessary. It was also much less of a communal dining experience than at the backpackers. On our second day there we took a long hike in the morning during which we saw a herd of eland (the largest species of antelope weighing about a ton), baboons, and had a stop at a stream where we had tea and "crunchies" (granola bars). Mom wanted to rest after the hike, so Dad and I went horse riding in the afternoon. This was the first time I had been on a horse in almost 15 years, and my first time riding English saddle, so I might as well have never been on one. Luckily the horses were well behaved and knew where to go, but every time they started to trot I held on for dear life worried that I would fall off. After a shorter hike the next morning we headed back to PMB so that Mom & Dad could catch their flight. Although the Cavern was very nice, I don't think I could stay there again because I just can't support a place like that. For instance, since it is so out of the way the staff stay on-site away from their families. If you didn't know better you'd think it was pre-1994. Despite the comfort of the resort, I am happier staying at backpackers with their diverse clientele and lower reliance on low-skilled workers.

Overall, I would consider Mom & Dad's visit a big success. In the months leading up to my departure and their visit you could euphemistically say that they were apprehensive. The media and travel books make it sound like one has to live in constant fear of being mugged, carjacked, etc. In reality this is very far from the truth, and I am glad that Mom & Dad were able to realize that during their six-day stay. They went from having virtually no desire to travel to South Africa (besides visiting me of course) to wanting to recommend it everyone they know. If that's not a dramatic turn around, I don't know what is.