This weekend was the best weekend of my South African tour so far!
I started my adventure by hopping on a greyhound bus to Mthatha. After a four hour trip, I joined Clemens at the Centre for Rural Development. Fastforward to the next day, we left Mthatha at 7am to embark on a 12 hour road trip to White River, Mpumalanga for his former boss and mentor’s 60th birthday.
On this adventure, we drove through 3 provinces – Eastern Cape, Kwazulu-Natal, and Mpumalanga. The highway took us up and down mountainous regions. To attempt to describe the landscape would be a dishonour to its natural beauty.
Clemens is a funny man. His sarcasm left me in stitches. At one point, he had cut off three slow drivers. I applauded him by saying that his move was “gangster”. To my surprise he took this compliment as an insult. When I described that being called a “gangster” was good, he said, “In South Africa, a gangster is one who robs people and deals drugs. But in Canada, if someone was to go to my mother and say, ‘Your son is a gangster, she will be proud?”
The party represented the rainbow nation of South Africa. It was attended by Xhosa’s, Swazi’s, Zulu’s, Afrikaaners, Indians. Also, I was able to connect with volunteers from Germany and other folks my age who were part of development projects in Mpumalanga as well. Dancing and singing the night away with them was pure fun. The next night, I joined the same crew for a "Cuban themed party on a farm". Translation = Cigars and Salsa music!
But it was Volker’s (birthday boy) wife, Rani’s cooking which was the icing on the cake. She made the best Chicken Biriyani I have ever tasted.
All in all, the trip to Mpumalanga was much too short. I will have to return there sometime. As the South Africans say, “We’ll make a plan”.
