Sunday September 7th, 2014- Johannesburg (Jo’burg) South Africa

Today is our only day in Jo’ burg. We woke up early, to grab some breakfast and re-pack our stuff. We received a phone call from the hotel desk that our tour guide was here, so we headed out to the lobby where we met Cornelis (Cornelius, without the “u”). Cornelis was an older gentlemen who had led a rich life as a political journalist and shared his experience with us from his journalism days. We started out heading to SOWETO, “South Western Township”, pronounced “Sow-et-toe.” A formerly “black” area where during apartheid in South Africa many people were moved to this area, given homes, and racial identification cards which were required to be on their person at all times before they could go into the “white” areas. Brad and My primary concern was safety. We were told by several people to be on guard, but if we’re going to go… we should stay with our tour guide and not take anything valuable.

When we arrived at SOWETO, I hadn’t realized we were there. The area was dirty, with bags and bottles over the streets, goats walked casually alongside the road, and many people jaywalked. While normally, with two people on our tour we are in a sedan… instead today we’re in a camouflaged mini-van which could easily be mistaken as the taxi system I wrote about earlier, even if we did have the travel agency listed on the side. We drove around, the main roads, hardly venturing off as Cornelis explained SOWETO’s rich history to us. We stopped off at a church where a some children were chased during an anti-apartheid movement started by the youths in 1976. We parked and walked inside to find a church service was in session. We looked into the ceremony which had beautiful choir singing in one of the native languages. We went upstairs to look at some pictures of the uprising, which put a lump in your throat while reading the photograph descriptions to the heavenly choir singing behind us. We parted the church were we were shown to a youth uprising museum whose name I can’t recall right now. We walked inside where we were the first to arrive. I had originally thought the museum was closed, but Cornelis walked us in. We were shown around the museum which described the youth uprising of 1976 where thousands of kids from secondary education walked out on teachers in a peaceful uprising against the language requirements of the school. 5,000 to 6,000 students marched but were stopped by police which turned into violence and rioting. The youth uprising was a loud cry against apartheid, and caused several international regulations to be put against the country. What started with a peaceful protest wound up with 20 people killed, including several children, a doctor, an aid worker, and so on.

We left the museum humbled by the experience, and left to see more of the area. We passed by a wildfire which was fueling itself on some tall reeds in an open area with some animals. I asked Cornelis if our lunch was a venison or goat. He laughed and said it was neither. We stopped off for lunch near the “SOWETO Beverly Hills” a rising middle class neighborhood known for its tourism and restaurants. We ate at a converted house, turned restaurant which was an all you can eat buffet. Everything was fantastic, and we were even serenaded by a musician singing lion king and Lois Armstrong songs. The house had a long entranceway lined with white table cloths and table settings. The food was located in a converted living room with a kitchen off to the side. The walls were covered in hello messages from all over the world, including foreign currencies, business cards, and pictures. Not to mention the post from Paris and Niki Hilton from 2011 on the walls in big letters. The food was really good, and a variety of flavors. My favorite item on the menu was a pepper and carrot serving which tasted of curry and added a lot of flavor to the meal. The mashed potatoes tasted as expected, but the mealipop (spelling?) which is a maize mashed mixture was certainly unique in texture but quite tasty as well. I dined on the chicken which seems to always be served on the bone here, and finished with some coleslaw because I hear that cabbage is very popular here. It had a very similar taste to that of the US, so I also tried a bean mix which was brown beans, corn, and a few other unique flavors that I can’t place. It rounded off the dish nicely, and was also an inexpensive way of trying the local cuisine. The dessert was an incredible fruit salad and chocolate mouse with cherry on top. Incredible!

We left lunch and headed to Mrs. Mandela’s house, who now resides in SOWETO’s Beverly Hills, and saw a converted electricity plant which was decommissioned long ago. The old steam towers were made into a beautiful mosaic representing the culture of SOWETO, which now hosts a bungee jumping area between the stacks. I politely declined the offer to go up, and we were on our way out of SOWETO and into the other half of our tour which was a city tour of Johannesburg. We drove down empty city streets, closed up for the weekend and saw areas such as the new court house, and the old jail known as “number 4.” We stopped off for a tour of the old jail, where we were read about accounts of life in the jail cells. The Prisons were over crowded by 300% and the inmates, many are political prisoners, were forced to sleep head to foot on the floor, similar to the way the tree stooges slept on a bed. We read about how the prisoners were separated by color, and how everything from workload to food was different depending on which category you fell into. What’s most interesting about this jail, were some of the prisoners. Amongst their alumni were Nelson Mandala, and Ghandi. He had spent time in South Africa for 20 years before returning to India. There was a full section to his life and accomplishments.

We left the jail, and wandered over to the new courthouse which shares a wall with the old jail. This was meant to represent the pain of the past, empowering the future of the new county. The building has a much newer architectural sense than the rest of the city. Brad and I wandered into the court, where I sat in one of the justice seats. The national colors were present throughout the building, from places like the stained glass windows to the carpet on the floor. We walked down the hall where we read about the history of the new government and the 21 bill of rights. On the front door to the court house the bill of rights are etched into gigantic wooden doors, in all 11 national languages including sign language. We left the courthouse for a drive around the city. We passed through the old business district to see where businesses had left, and squatters had taken over the building, placing on the street barber shops, shoe sellers, book vendors, and a variety of other services. If there was free room, there was someone selling there wares. As you would probably expect, we didn’t stop in these areas, we merely drove by and watched the day to day life of the residents. When you see TV shows like Anthony Bordain’s “Parts Unknown” he spends some time in SOWETO and the area we were driving through. I spent my time looking for the restaurant he went to, but to no avail. In many senses, I think he got it right but it was also pretty clear to me that he was in the nicer areas of those parts of town. It’s fascinating to compare the lives in Jo’ burg versus cape town, and port Elizabeth. The areas vary as much as the outback to the LA. We stopped off at a statue of the Ghandi, with the assistance of a young boy who was, according to our tour guide, a homeless kid who gets food from the tour guides by helping with parking. We soon traveled back to our hotel where we re-entered Stanton and saw the beautiful shopping centers, Lamborghini dealerships, and modern restaurants. We returned to our hotel, where we unpacked our cameras, and locked them up. Then decided on where to eat. There was a place called Nelson Mandela Square in Stanton about a block away from our hotel so we walked over to a Thai restaurant in the square and had dinner. The food was… well, awful. I’m sure south Africans would love it, but I’m not sure that can be called Thai.. Or perhaps not even noodles. We headed back to the hotel where we relaxed with some more delicious crèm brulee. We went back upstairs and packed for our flight out the next day.