Clouds SA

I've been taking pictures of clouds all week. It is only now that I have posted them that I realise that I haven't seen clouds for a while. Not big fat rain filled ones anyway. Here are a few.

Feel it. It is here.

For two days we are staying on the Weltewrede Fig Farm near Prince Albert. A rambling old farmhouse with a piping hot iron stove in the kitchen, paraffin lamps, no electricity, no television and only radio for the world cup action. Last night's Australia Germany game was certainly all the better of listening in in Afrikaans with a gentle translation of the events by my friend Josh.

We've popped in to town for chores and sight seeing and coffee and I am happily left to myself in a lovely cafe with strong coffee, a warm fire and wireless internet. The Denmark Netherlands game is on in the background with the vuveselas buzzing constantly behind the action.

This is the start of Week 2 of our road trip. If you are familiar with the geography we have been from Baardskeerdersbos to Barrydale, Kruiserivier, Joubertina in the Llangkloof, Jeffreys Bay on the coast by Port Elizabeth (top surf beach), Bathurst, Graafe Reinett, Nieu Bethesda, Willowmore and now Prince Albert.

We have kept mostly away from people and have been driving in search of mountain views and quiet cottages with big fireplaces to cosy up in. Angela and Josh like to keep off the beaten track and away from the towns often. Visually there is so much to look at, even in the places where there are few people. And when we hit the towns it is curious to see the range of places. I am still struggling at times with the contrasting poverty and wealth of the population. The extremes of wealth and poverty was less apparent in the Eastern Cape though, a poorer province with patched roads and plenty of potholes. In Graafe Reinet, a bustling busy town where we stopped for shopping, there was lots of industry and hardly any white people. Braziers were burning on the street to keep folk warm, there were people selling everything from oranges (naartjies) and shoes and nail polish on the streets and the supermarkets were full of people and very few of them were white. Very different to Hermanus and the other towns near Cape Town. I liked the place I think because it felt African, rather than Afrikaans or European, even though there were galleries and cafes and chocolate shops which wouldn't be out of place in Melbourne, in amongst all the bustle. Although I doubt it would be easy to live there.

In Bathurst, east of Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown, we stopped for a take away breakfast from a kiosk at the back of an Afrikaans family's home. It was about the only place in town we could find some food before midday and so we had russian sausages and chips from the fryer for breakfast. We stood there half an hour with the mother, son (who is a fisherman - fish and chips being the other option on the menu) and a couple of girls kicking about badly underdressed for the weather, while the fryer heated up and the sausages microwaved. It was a truly random moment in time. The family had the look of eastern europe in their features and their take away was obviously an important part of their income. So far east it was evident that anyone could be poor and have to strive to make a living.

And everywhere we go there are vuveselas blowing at all times of day and night, and people asking if we are following the soccer and shouts of Bafana Bafana. There is a party atmosphere everywhere we go, before the matches even started. Yesterday we had a SA flag clipped on the bakkie and we got waves and smiles and shouts all of the day. It is surprising how everyone's emotions are stirred by the World Cup being here and the recognition that this couldn't have occurred here even a few years ago.

I am unprepared for blogging and am pulling random thoughts together as i type. I won't apologise as I doubt I'm going to get any more prepared or succinct in the coming weeks.

Net we head to forlorn Sutherland in the Great Karoo Wilderness. Then right over to the west coast of the Cape before turning for home at the end of next week.

More some other time.

South Africa

For the last couple of weeks I have been in this here house staying with my friends Angela and Josh in South Africa - in Baardskeersderbos which is near Gansbaai which is near nowhere exactly. Somewhere east of Cape Town and then east of Hermanus. I have been reading (Paul Theroux’s Dark Star Safari – Cairo to Cape Town over land), cooking, pottering in the garden, learning to crochet, playing with lego and living the life that Angela and Josh normally lead. A lovely life with a wonderful home at its centre.

For the last couple of days we have been in Stellenbosch for the opening of Josh’s art exhibition at an old winery there, Delheim. For the price of one of Josh’s woodcuts we are staying in a nearby lodge and so I have the luxury of wireless internet when the cafe is open.

So for a few minutes I have the chance of a quick blog. I've been thinking about what to say as my initial impression and I am sorry that it is negative rather than positive, when my friends have made me so welcome and I am so enjoying spending time with them

South Africa feels foreign, unfamiliar and uncomfortable when we are out and about in it. I can think of lots of things that are unfamiliar and unsettling but mostly I am uncomfortable being white in a place where that puts me in the small minority of people who have, rather than the majority of people who have next to nothing. I feel responsible here, simply for being white.

It's taken me half an hour to get that far with how I feel and here is my breakfast. A glass layered with yoghurt and muesli and fruit and honey with a frothy coffee on the side.

Next time I'll be better organised and have more to say about the beautiful places we've seen and the animals and the rest.

On Saturday we head off on a road trip to the Eastern Cape and the Great Karoo. More from there.