Cape Town: Post-race

That afternoon I washed my clothes with a washing machine. This was and still is a big deal to me. It was a process: waiting hours to get the tokens, then having to walk to a shop to purchase soap, waiting for the washer to be vacant… but my clothes were super muddy and I figured it would be totally worth it. It was.

An aside: As I write this I am soaking a load of laundry that I previously washed two days ago. That had been the second time I’d washed my clothes using a sink hole near our fields. We had been without rain and water for quite a while. I do not want the kiddos to have to schlep water from the river up the hill to the homestead for me to wash my clothes so I opted to wash at the sink hole. It seems clean enough and I am pretty sure the snails I pick out are not carriers of anything. Anyway, later on that day we got an amazing storm. It filled our tanks and barrels…and hearts. It also soaked my clothes. This is nothing out of the ordinary, especially in the summer, and we all just consider it a second rinsing. Today however, I noticed something that was out of the ordinary. Nearly all of my clothes had been targeted and bombed by birds. I guess I needed some adversity thrown in to balance out the gifted water.

Anyway, I liked being able to use a washing machine aaaaand more importantly the dryer.

Once I had my clothes all nicely packed away I decided that I should get some food. It was around suppertime anyway. I headed down to the waterfront area and watched the people as I ate a strawberry frozen yogurt, get this, in a waffle cone! I walked around to nearly every single restaurant there and looked at menus, seating areas, view, etc. hoping to be inspired enough to choose one. I walked by a pizza place and got a big floppy piece of “Deluxe.” It really shouldn’t have been called “deluxe” but it was tasty enough and I hadn’t decided where to eat yet anyway. I walked around for quite a while looking at more seafood options until I found myself at McDonald’s ordering a McChicken and a large fry. Don’t judge me, it was great and McDonald’s has class in SA. It’s also a lot more expensive.

Cape Town: 2 Oceans 21km Day

At 4 am I woke with probably a cumulative 4 hours of sleep due to staying in an 8 person dorm and being nervous about my first 21kay. I ate breakfast and hitched a ride with Kelly and her family to the University of Cape Town where the race was to start. It was packed. There were a ton of people wearing stupid plastic garbage bags. We commented on how dumb they looked. That sentiment only became more negative when the race started and they stripped them off and threw them on the ground. There were countless bags and probably even more trips and falls. I really disliked those bags.

We walked probably the first 2km. There were 16000 (?) people running/walking down single lane residential roads so it was pretty difficult to advance. There were a few near collisions. The first half flew by. We had a nice long hill in the beginning which was meant to break up the pack. Maybe it worked but it seemed to just cause congestion. Once on my way down the other side it was significantly less crowded.

I have never run a race like this before and found the water/powerade delivery interesting. Both came in plastic bags. Pretty efficient but the water tasted like plastic. Still, I took at least one water and one powerade at each stop. Every once in a while you could hear a “POP!” as someone stepped on a dropped bag. Not so fun when it shoots a stream at you but soon it didn’t matter anyway.

That is because it rained. Some people did not appreciate that but I LOVED IT! I thought it felt really nice. Sometimes it was a light rain but at times it was fairly heavy. The puddles were my favorite. At one point some of us ran through a body of water that was above ankle depth.

I found the crowd to be very motivating. There were a lot of spectators and a few choirs, bands, and sound systems set up along the way. I heard my name called quite a few times and remembered that my name was written in large letters on my number. Kinda cool that so many people came out to support the 21km. I wonder what the 56km route was like. The only thing I wish I hadn’t noticed was the smell of grilled meats. I could have done without that.

The last hill seemed to take up the last quarter of the race. It was undulating, zig-zaggy, and so tiring. I was running too slow that people could have walked passed me (I bet some did) though I kept passing a few people who were doing a run/walk. I was surprised at how easily I was breathing but not at all surprised at how very weak my knees were. I really should have strengthened them more. At one point I had to stop to tie my shoe. My knees were so weak I almost fell over. Motivation to get going!

The finish was out in the university’s athletic field. It was all muddy by 2:27 with thousands having ripped through it before me but I made it over. It was a cool feeling and one I hope to have many more times.

Once I had finished I realized it was extremely cold. I noticed that everyone who had one of those dumb garbage bags on seemed happy. Unfortunately I did not have my pullover or my phone. I did find my way to some rooibos tea and though I was shaking so hard that I slopped it all over myself, a few cups in warmed me up. Eventually I found Kelly and her parents. By that time I think everyone was ready to get out of the rain and get warmed up.

Cape Town

The next day I walked down to the Waterfront and saw the fun run precursor to the next day’s race. I saw flags from both the US and Swaziland so that was pretty cool.

I wandered around and gaped at the stores in the mall. It was so odd to see all the shops selling their designer whatnots (think dedicated Haagen-Dazs, Louis Vuitton, and Le Creuset shops). There was even a shop selling biltong and an “Old’e English Shaving Shop”. Imagine the draw! I can always eat jerky and I have lost both my strop and my shaving soap. Unfortunately I couldn’t really justify the prices.

Later I saw someone shoot heroin and another huff something out of a paper bag on my way to the race registration. Never seen that before so I guess that was an experience. I probably should have taken a taxi.

At registration I perused the sports vendors’ wares and saw all the cool things I had no ability to purchase. Puma was sponsoring and had a massive selection of 2 Oceans merch that looked pretty cool. I got shirt in my goodie bag so I was happy enough with that.

Earlier I had run into another volunteer, Kelly, and was invited to dinner with her and her parents. We had a very enjoyable seafood filled time down at the waterfront. That area is very pretty but filled with tourists. I was one of them though so I cannot complain.

Cape Town: Getting There

I went to Cape Town early April. The reason was to run my first 21km and get a little vacation time. I ended up getting a ride from Swaziland to Nelspruit from a friend and then hopped onto a khumbi to Johannesburg. I had been advised to go to a grocery store and get some food for the ride but standing some 15 people from the front of a line to use the parcel counter did not fit into my sched.

As it was, I just managed to get the last seat on a sprinter bus to Johannesburg. I shelled out the cash and we were off. It went really well and I was even able to get some shut eye until we got into Jo’burg. Then there was an explosion. The kid next to me had a 2L orange soda which he had been sipping. I don’t know how but as we were driving around, in what seemed like a circular route, his bottle top shot off and orange pop sprayed all over as the bottle tipped and rolled around. I quickly reached down and somehow found the cap and twisted it on. Both my bags were among the casualties and I noticed that everyone now had their luggage on their laps. Yay.

Not going to lie, I felt scared at the bus rank. Not necessarily scared for my life or anything just that I felt that I really did not belong there and that I wanted to get out as soon as possible. I pretty much ran to a neighboring KFC and hid in there while I tried to figure out where to go without having to pay someone to show me. I ended up buying some chicken and hanging with a little sisi and their giant bags of purchases while her mum stood in line for their food. For some reason I had believed I needed a 5-piece and a side of fries. After eating a few I realized that my stomach had no business trying to finish it and gave the rest to the little girl. You can do that here. It was good to make a friend. I was pretty uneasy in this bus rank.

I wandered, though tried to make it look like I knew exactly where I was going, through the bus terminal in search of a bathroom. Found one and but it was closed. Walked hurriedly to the opposite end and found another. Closed. Finally I asked one of the 10000 security persons in sight and she pointed me to the one and only open men’s restroom. It was a terrible experience and I would suggest not relying on public restrooms in the Jo’burg bus terminal. No tp, no toilet seat, floor was covered in…stuff. Good thing I had brought travel wipes and strong quads.

During my random roamings in a quest for the facilities I found the Intercape terminal where I would depart. I had over an hour before I would need to get in line so I sat down on the immaculate floor (seriously there were always at least 3 people in sight who were cleaning the floors at any given moment) and read a little. At 5:15 I got up and walked to the line which had already formed at the gate. For some reason we remained there for nearly an hour and a half. It was strange. I was the only one who was not getting upset about what was happening. During a discussion with another passenger I mentioned that I was traveling from Swaziland and that I considered this to be quite normal. Many thers started chain smoking as soon as we got out the door.

The bus was pretty nice. It was a double decker and the seats were able to open up an advertised 150 degrees! I sat down, passed out, and didn’t leave my seat for the first 16 of a total 20 hours. I felt kinda bad about that because after I had boarded, the lady next to me said she would be right back. I figured she was using the onboard facilities but when I woke up later she wasn’t there. After our first stop she came back to her seat. I asked her if she had changed seats, though she had left her bags, and she said that she had gone inside the terminal and when she came back the bus was gone. Luckily there were two.

I originally booked the bus because I figured it would be cool to see the SA countryside since I would be crossing so much of the country. Around 11am the next day, and a little after 16 hours of sitting in my seat, I woke up as we pulled in for a pit stop. So much for seeing the countryside. Actually, the ride reminded me a lot of riding through the central Midwest. In other words, not too interesting. A couple hours out of Cape Town became more interesting. We hit some mountains and in a valley there was a bit of wine country. There was even a really long tunnel thrown in there. Fun stuff.

Cape Town is pretty big. It took quite a while to get through it to the terminal. It felt pretty weird to see all the businesses, hotels, and touristy sites along the way. We arrived around 3pm and the place was packed. One thing I noticed was all the White people. That may not be the most politically correct thing to say but it is true and part of a different discussion.

If you stay in Cape Town and you do not have a lot of money, around 20USD will get you a bed at The Backpack. Go there, it’s GREAT

Popcorn and TV Night

This last weekend we had some new additions to the homestead. We got three visiting young’uns on Friday to bring the total to 12 people on the homestead. One of the kids was my brother’s daughter who had previously been living with us but was now schooling elsewhere. She had loved my popcorn before (she could down a 5 quart sized batch easy and she’s less than 25kg) so I decided to make it while she was visiting. I stumbled through the dark with my four batches of popcorn, dodging dogs and attempting to keep them from jumping up and pulling the bowls out of my hands. Unfortunately the wind was picking up and blowing kernels onto the ground. Wah wah. Once inside, everyone was gathered together and my popcorn was demolished, even the two batches of slightly bitter/burnt kettle corn (never used refined white sugar before and it didn’t work). We watched SA news and part of Beowulf. It was a good bonding time with some pretty funny moments. At one point half the family started exclaiming their surprise while watching a news interview. I didn’t understand until I noticed that the woman was holding a child who looked to be 3+. Apparently the child was hungry so she just whipped one out and started feeding her kid. Apparently I was the only one who didn’t notice. Instead I just seemed to not find it weird. Then I saw a commercial for internet connections. It went through a series of rooms in a house with family members all connected to the internet with their computers and other gadgets. I got a little excited as I had just read an article about internet in southern Africa and how it is being upgraded to a level more comparable to connections in other countries. I was more than let down when I saw the advertised speed was 1Mps. Later there was this really sexy commercial with hot couples jumpin around and all. Then this lady’s voice came on and was all like “masculine this” and “sexy that.” I figured it was for some crazy designer fragrance but then the visual cut to a bottle of Brute. Wow. Pretty sure I bought a 10oz spray can of that at Walmart for a few bucks. It was shook up and tossed into Brent’s Jeep with its nozzle duct taped down. He probably felt super sexy.

Wildlife

I was hoping to see some wildlife while here. So far I have missed chances to go view the big cats, elephants, and whatnot. I have seen some zebra, hippos, deer-like things and a lot of birds, snakes, and insects. I had an altercation with some wild donkeys a little while ago. I say they were wild because I was told that they do not belong to anyone. You’d think that in rural Africa I would not have to cheat but I’ll take the win anyway.

Anyway, I was all alone on the homestead, typing away on a new siSwati manual for the new kiddos coming in June, and I heard what sounded like a group of cows trudging through our corn. I looked out and saw a little family of donkeys wandering around. Being a townsperson I could only guess that this was not alright and decided to get them out. I opened the gate and ran out after them throwing rocks and yelling (in siSwati I might add). They ran all the way to the far end of the field and so I followed chucking my rocks which just bounced mildly off their backs. I finally got them turned around and through the gate. But now they were in the homestead. I had forgotten to open the main gate. By now the dogs were awake and helping me. They did a good job rounding the donkeys up while I ran to open the gate. It was pretty easy to shoo them out. I just flailed my arms smacking about while the dogs barked. It may have been fright or a last ditch attempt to cause me trouble, but one of the donkeys screamed and let loose what must have been the whole contents of its gi tract. I proudly missed getting shot but ended up stepping in it anyway. You can’t win all the time. Once it was all well and done, I thanked the dogs and looked around to see if anyone had seen/heard the ruckus. Happily I didn’t see anyone or hear laughing. I get enough humiliation when I go to the dip tank and chase the cattle.

On a more serious note, I keep reading about poachers getting killed in southern Africa. A few got it here in Swaziland a couple months ago and I see 5 were killed in a gun battle with rangers in SA. I know that cancer and impotence are bad but are rhino horns really the answer? And you don’t have to convince me that ivory looks pretty but I think it looks more majestic on a live elephant’s face. I would have thought that poaching their own rhino species to extinction would cause some of the  governments in Asia to take at least a real stance on the demand for and illegal importation of rhino horns. Maybe spreading a ridiculous lie in Africa that the severed right hand of Asian apothecaries cures HIV would highlight the issue and bring more attention in Asia.

It seems to me that the situation is only feeding on desperate people in both continents and causing them to partake in illegal activities which may kill them. Who knows? Maybe rhino horn does battle cancer. Maybe it cures impotence (I hope not, I’d rather not have our next generation relying on rhinoceros horn. Besides from tv and magazine ads, other options are much cheaper and readily available). Back in the day, in the time when today’s traditions were born, people who used it may not have had cancer. They may not have worked long hours with carcinogens either. I am not a medical researcher and I do not know the benefits of ground up rhinoceros horn. What I do know is that while I am here I want to see a rhino that isn’t lying dead with part of its face cut off. I’m sorry if that sounds like I am putting my viewing pleasure ahead of someone else’s health benefit, but really I’m not (Oh snap! That had a double meaning. And both are true!)

Yay free stuff

So my community was given bed nets as part of a malaria prevention initiative. It was pretty cool. Representatives from each family were given enough nets for each person and training on how to properly use/maintain them as well as a brief run-down on malaria symptoms and such.

The nets were similar to those that PC issued us volunteers with their handy tie loops on the corners. Even better, they came with little plastic strings to tie them up and they were blue instead of just plain white. People were pretty happy. I was at least mildly happy. The super snazzy tie-ups work for a person like me with exposed beams forming my roof. As you can see from the pics posted in September, I am awesome and have a gloriously designed mosquito net system. But it only worked because I have something from which to hang the net. The nets do have little eyelets which one can screw into soft wood or like material.

I was helping my Auntie hang up a net and noticed that she has a ceiling made of panels which are much too hard to allow anyone to screw in the eyelets. I used my knife to make a small hole and got the eyelet started. With much effort I was able to get it screwed in all the way. Well I got in into the ceiling. What I managed to do was grind through the sheet rock (oh yeah, found out it was actually asbestos), depositing all the fine dust onto my face, and make a hole too large to hold the eyelet. Failure. Those on my homestead have the same problem though they have hard wood panels which you cannot screw into.

So for now the nets are sitting somewhere unused. It seems that this is the case for many of the homesteads around. Maybe someone can make a cool, albeit see-through, dress or something until we find a way to secure the nets in a proper fashion.

B-town fun

A little while ago I was writing a letter when a bat flew in through the tiny slot between my burglar-door and frame. I reached up smacking it out of the air mid-flight, flicked it outside with my notebook, and continued with my letter. TIA…

Oh, and Wednesday is now “Puff Adder Day”

New posts!

Hey so I added a bunch of new posts and pictures. If you hover your cursor over the sides of the pictures a little arrow will pop up. Click it to scroll through a series of four pics!

You may also notice that the ribbon of pictures at the top has been changed. All the pictures are ones taken with my camera!

I hope to get a video up sometime soon (before I come home)

Feb 1 and a struggle with 2 Oceans Half training

So I am now training for my first 21km which will take place in April. I was suckered into it in a pact I made with another volunteer. The deal was that if I ran in the Half, she would jump Vic Falls. Three things have affected this plan. One - she’s injured and is no longer running the race this year, Two - I found a much better bungee (216m fall!) that does not include having to get a visa and travel super far, Three - we were informed that some poor girl’s bungee came undone and she fell to the bottom. She’s reported to be okay but the reputation of the jump is not. Anyway, we pushed it back to next year. I however already signed up for the race and I have been hoping it will motivate me to run. Today was special. I walked to Mgululu with Babe wam’s (Babe wami, “my father” my attempt at being trendy with what has been coined BroSwati) at half-passed five and stood around in the sun until we stumbled home after noon. Oh yes, we complained the whole way bahaha. But it is a long walk. Over the past few months we have been taking shorter-cuts but we now go through a river, around one mountain, through some, sadly dried up, river beds and over a final mountain. Babe is in his mid 70’s. I just like complaining.

Anyway, as soon as I got home, I changed and washed my clothes (2 hr affair). Then I vegged for a bit and snacked on: two bowls of msg-flavored popcorn (thank you Nicole), two forgotten sour candy canes (thank you sisi wam’s), aaaaand a partial bag of beef jerky (thank you David). Sounds like something one would eat when struggling through a boring college lecture. I really should have taken a mat out and napped under a tree like everyone else. Oh yeah, to bring some nutrition to that mess, I ate a fruit leather that I had lying around.

So immediately after that I figured I should do my run. I had decided on a different route to keep things fresh. I was going to run up toward Bulandzeni stesh which is all uphill. I would then run down to make it about a nice easy 40min. Yeah. We were hit with a nice tropical storm a couple weeks back which caused some pretty significant soil erosion and the road was like running on a never ending treadmill of sand which has its elevation setting cranked up. A better way to describe it was like running up a sand dune again and again. For some reason my mood was very positive despite the feeling in my stomach and the dehydration. Having Swazi kids run after you screaming encouragement was nice and it helped me continue up the incline albeit in a zig-zag fashion as I dodged trenches and fought the nauseated feeling. Overall, the experience reminded me of my last semester when, after a long workout, I quickly ate 2 McDoubles and 2 McChickens (one which had jelly beans on it. Dan Cychosz you are a master of fusion cuisine, by the way I miss seeing how late we can stay at Parks “studying” and seeing how many Tootsie Rolls we can fit in our mouths). Ah, I miss fast-food…

It. Is. Hot.

Here’s how hot it has been. I had just finished speaking with someone and as he tiredly turned and walked/staggered away he accidentally kicked a napping dog in the head. The pooch was lying on his side and the kick came right up under his chin. The poor dog’s head snapped back and the physical shock seemed to open his eyes a fraction and pop open his mouth so his tongue fell out but other than that it did nothing and the three of us continued without miserable afternoon as if nothing had happened. None of you would believe me but I’m pretty sure I didn’t even laugh at the comedy of it until much later.

The weather takes up a lot of conversational time I have. Some of it is due to my restrictive siSwati but a lot of it is cultural. I hear a lot of “Hawu Zama, lilanga liya shisa man!” (Exclamation: It is hot). It is usually followed up with “Ngifunamvula” or some similar desire for rain, which we seem to be cheated on this year. Such a conversation is at home in (insert something)-ville, of Midwest USA. Speaking of imvula, it is raining right now!! There is a really good chance that you have no idea how great this is.

I have not bothered to heat bath water in nearly three months. That’s a lie I suppose since I added some leftover shaving water to my shower reservoir today. All in all I much more enjoy as cold a shower as I can get, especially for my late evening shower. Plus, the cost of refilling my Handigas canister is enough to offset any benefit being extra-uncomfortably hot has. The monetary cost is not the main deterrent but rather the fact that I have to schlep a five kay uphill with a substantial gas canister over one shoulder and then return with an even heavier one. I suppose the return trip has the convenience of being down a significant incline but Handigas it is not. Really, I could take a khumbi but I am too stubborn to pay the amount of a loaf of bread when I can walk and talk.