Winter Vacation

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After waffling back and forth between going to the Dolphin Coast near Durban, the Cape Town Wine Route, or up to Mozambique, Sarah and I decided to spend her last week here traveling to the warmer beaches of Mozambique via Swaziland. Due to our combined inability to make solid decisions or plans, (too) early one morning we headed to the border post at Ficksburg. We had been hoping to catch a direct ride to Swaziland from Lesotho, but found that the only public transport route was via Johannesburg. This was not unanticipated, but did make the journey to Swaziland's capitol, Mbabane, a dawn to dusk affair, ending with a thrilling/teeth-grinding kombi ride to our hostel, as the driver tried to drop us off before he raced back to the border before it closed for the day. We never did find out if he made it, but bless that guy for hauling us all over the place in search of an elusive hostel and putting himself at risk of sleeping in his taxi all night, stuck in Swaziland!

We spent a couple of days in Swaziland, checking out the markets and wandering around. We really only spent time near the bigger cities, and I was impressed with the quality of their infrastructure. It is a country that has been made easily accesible to tourists.  The roads were all well marked and maintained. I'm not sure if that is also the case in more rural parts of the country however. Swaziland has the highest HIV prevalence of any country in the world and it is the last absolute monarchy in Africa. The HIV epidemic may not have an end in sight (though it hasn't worsened considerably either) but we got the sense that the Royalty are in for some trouble. I was surprised to find how vocal many of the citizens were about their dislike for the current government and the abuses of power they saw. A copy of the daily paper in Manzini, one of the larger cities, was almost entirely filled with stories of government ministers and departments making off with absurd amounts of money and giving each other raises, while the people's basic needs go unmet. 

The paper didn't have much direct criticism of the King himself, but the displeasure with him was apparent. A couple taxi drivers we talked with had no qualms about bashing “His Majesty.” King Mswati III has something like 9 wives (he can take any woman he wants, married or otherwise for his wife) and draws silly amounts of money from the public coffers for his family and friends. Meanwhile teachers and factory workers have been striking for better pay, workers rights, and such things. The country was actually closed to visiting Peace Corps Volunteers a few months back during a large factor worker strike. Rubber bullets and teargassing seem to have become the normal police and military reaction to the protests. With tales of officials absconding with large sums of money, my general impression was that many people see the inevitable change and are getting away with as much as they can while they still can. Let me reiterate that this blog represents my personal views and in no way reflects the stance of the Peace Corps or the U.S. government. That being said, I would not be surprised if this last monarchy sees it's end before I return to the States. The transition seems inevitable with about 1 million unhappy citizens, lets just hope it happens peacefully. I have confidence that it will, especially since Swaziland has such good examples in it's neighbors, South Africa, Lesotho, and Mozambique.

A cold week in the mountains

After the workshop in the lowlands, Sarah and I were planning on returning to my site in Mokhotlong for a couple weeks before going to Swaziland and Mozambique for some warm weather vacationing. However, the day we were set to leave, a storm came through the mountains and all the roads to Mokhotlong and Thaba-Tseka were snowed under. Now, coming from Wisconsin, my first reaction is that this must be one hell of a snowstorm, otherwise people would just drive right through it, or they would plow the road. But, this isn't Wisconsin. Although almost every year these places get snowed in for a week or more, the country does not own a snow plow, and everyone just sits tight till it melts. We ended up waiting only 4 days for it to clear, which wasn't the worst thing in the world. For one, we go to stay at the hotel for a while at Peace Corps expense! We also got to spend more time hanging out with volunteers in Leribe and Butha-Buthe districts, who we don't always get to see a lot of, even though they are the nearest ones to Mokhotlong. Sarah wasn't loving the sudden change from chilling on the beach in Kenya to looking for cheap winter coats in Lesotho, so this also gave her a little time to adjust in the relatively warmer lowlands before heading into the highlands. Despite some initial grumblings at the chilly climes (who can blame her?) she acclimated remarkably well to our frigid land, and did so faster and with less complaining than I'm sure I could manage.

Once the snow subsided a bit, the folks at Letseng Diamond mine, near the snowed under pass, brought out their grader and some other big machines, to clear the road and make it at least somewhat passable by minibus taxis. The next day we piled into one and took the ever-so-long trip back to Mokhotlong, which was made even longer by the precarious driving along icy and snowy mountain roads. The next week was fine but not very eventful. Mostly we just tried to stay warm.  Sarah met my host family and everyone got along fine. My host mother even lent Sarah one of her blankets that the women wear around their legs to keep warm. I had always been a little skeptical of how much good they do, since they are worn like a skirt with the bottom open, but she was an instant convert and didn't take the thing off until we left for vacation. Since we had been snowed out for some time, we only had a week or so to spend there and most of it was spent reading, cooking, and huddling by the heater. Speaking of which, we are all provided with these little propane powered heaters by the Peace Corps. They are an essential in this country, but not the best designed things. You open the gas and push the starter till it lights and what results is like a gas grill on it's side, spitting blue flames out at you. This startup procedure has already claimed it's fair share of eyebrows. Now, there are three settings, the lowest of which would indeed be hot enough to cook up some good burgers with. The problem is that, at the rate it burns gas, you can easily go through your whole month's supply in a week. The pain and cost of replacing the gas cylinders has led me to become incredibly stingy with the thing. I kept myself to only 30 minutes or so each at morning and night, during which time I can just hear my money burning away. Despite my draconian heating policy, Sarah stayed strong and survived her time in the mountains.

Not only did she endure, she helped pull me out of a bit of a slump. When I first came to my site, last summer, I had a lot of time on my hands before school began. I used that time wisely; cooking good food, exercising, and reading. With the daily toil of school and the increasingly cold weather, I had slowly but surely cut out those first two items. Instead of the homemade bread, lentil burgers, and stir fries with lots of running and working out, I had fallen into a trap of lethargy and making massive pots of samp and beans every week. Now, I know the stuff tastes like cardboard, but when it's just me eating, I tend to not consider things like taste and nutrition. Lucky for both of us, Sarah would have no such nonsense. Even though the produce selection is limited here, (the shop had cauliflower one week, but the guy working there had to ask Caitlin how you use it) we took the time to make a fine selection of meals, from vegetable samosas to pizza. At the time of writing this, she has left for home, and although I'm not committing myself to the complex, two-cook meals that we made together, I do take the time and mess to cook up a pizza or chapatti now and then. This made not just us happy, but my host brother as well, who is only too pleased devouring any extras I end up making. It may or may not improve my quality of life as well, but I would never openly admit that!