Raining in Cape Town

I'm recently back from a fabulous vacation in South Africa! I began by taking the overnight bus from Bloemfontein to Cape Town. While in Bloem I hung out in the mall until the bus left at midnight. Unfortunately I was a big tool walking around the mall by myself with my giant backpack on, but I got to see the new Indiana Jones which was exciting.

Once in Cape Town, I walked to the Waterfront and met my friend JJ in a big beautiful hotel called The Commodore. We hugged and sat down to chat over coffee after I cleaned up. I was so happy to be with my good friend and looked forward to our week together. Artist and photographer, JJ L'Heureux, had returned from 2 weeks on Robben Island assisting researchers with a penguin study before meeting me so we both had interesting stories to tell. We went to the museums in central Cape Town, including the national art museum--I was in heaven even though it was a bizarre museum. Soon we were off to the Addo Elephant Rserve via Port Elizabeth. There, we were welcomed by the most romantic, luxurious lodge I have ever seen. JJ and I were surrounded by couples, and nobody was quite sure what to make of us. They couldn't tell if JJ was my mom, my sister, my sugar momma, or what, haha. Only one man had the audacity to ask, and we replied, "No, we're friends!" The Nguni Lodge in Addo offered game drives twice a day which we always attended, except for one day when we went on an Elephant Back Safari! The experience was unforgettable and indescribable. When I try to describe it, my words don't do it justice, and it even sounds cliche. But I will tell you that I have ridden, walked with, and fed very large elephants. They have large molars and soft tongues; and apparently elephant testicles are inside their bodies high in their rears which I didn't learn until after I was petting them. My elephant really loved me. Afterwards JJ and I were speechless--we had done something truly magical. The next day we returned to Cape Town for a couple rainy days in the city. We mostly relaxed but walked around the historic Muslim area, Bo-Kaap, one drizzly morning (with our ponchos on). Then we said our goodbyes before JJ left for Los Angeles, and I flew to Durban before taking a mini-bus back to Qacha's Nek, Lesotho.

I received a warm welcome home from friends and co-workers. I had been away from Qacha's Nek for some time so I was happy that people didn't forget about me. Soon I'll help train the new volunteers who just arrived, then I'm gearing up for a new school year in August. :)

Traveling Lady

It's been almost a year since I arrived in Lesotho, and it feels like time is really flying. I've been traveling around the north of Lesotho for the last 3 weeks. I'm happy to be gone from site (although I miss my friends and co-workers at site) because it's freezing up there and snowing. At first I went to Butha-Buthe to paint a mural for PSI. The mural is kind of a big condom ad so it's not something I'm dying to show everyone, but it was good practice in case I want to paint some murals of my own. The mural took a week. Then their was a security threat in Maseru (that actually turned out to be nothing) so I was told I couldn't travel through the capital to get home to Qacha's Nek in southern Lesotho. I took that opportunity to visit some of my other friends in the north who I don't see very often—and some new volunteers too. It was good to get some fresh perspectives from other volunteers, particularly a new volunteer who is in her 60s and doesn't waste her time here because she left a beautiful family to come to Lesotho.

Now I'm in Maseru doing some research for a few training sessions I will be holding for the brand new Community Health volunteers that just arrived a few days ago! I'm trying to find some concrete information on the laws affecting women's equality. So far I've found out that married women gained equality to men in 2006 which means unmarried women (no matter their age) are minors according to the legal system in Lesotho. Lesotho is a strange country in that women are more educated and literate and responsible for almost all matters of the family (including financial), yet culturally Basotho men have all the power. A funny thing about this power struggle is that Basotho men are small, skinny, and often intoxicated while the Basotho women are traditionally large. They could easily physically overpower their smaller male counterparts, but because the culture states that men have the power they succumb to their husbands' and fathers' abuse.

Anyway, it's about that time again to go on vacation! JJ, my good friend and previous boss, is already on Robben Island off Cape Town working on a penguin project. I'll meet up with her in Cape Town after the project is over and explore the biggest, coolest city in Africa! More on that later! Miss you all!