Pretoria: Tastes of America, Rugby, and Biltong

Following Durban I made my way to Pretoria to visit friends my mother and I met when she visited Namibia way back in 2013. They had big plans to teach me the ways of South Africa through rugby, biltong, partying, and game drives. My biggest excitement was sitting in a Lazy Boy with OnDemand on a giant flat screen and two dogs to cuddle with.

The first day was nice and quiet, which was quite perfect. We went to the mall and hung out at home (bring in Lazy Boy, TV, and indoor family dogs). That night was where the excitement began. Gerhardt had a surprise for me and wanted to take me somewhere special and it was a surprise and when he pulled the car into the parking lot of a large mall with a Hooter’s I thought “Nooo, he wouldn’t take me to Hooter’s…” Sure enough, that was the surprise! He wanted to give me a taste of home and nothing says America like big boobs, beer, and wings right? Two nights prior I got one view of America through South African eyes in Durban at trivia night and now 48 hours later I was getting a TOTALLY different one. To be honest, I had never even been to a Hooter’s in America so this was a huge milestone for me I guess. After a few drinks and shots (South African inspired of course) we began to talk of what to do for dinner. Gerhardt started laying out options for me. There was Chinese, sushi, pizza, burgers, obviously Hooter’s. Anything I wanted. I hadn’t had this many choices in a long time. I was overwhelmed and knew I would be happily satisfied wherever I ate. I didn’t want to decide. He said that was fine, Dominos was right next to the sushi place that also served Chinese. So lets get it all. *Cue jaw drop* We literally got a pepperoni pizza from Domino’s, a sushi roll for an appetizer and some sweet and sour pork for a side. Oh but wait we weren’t done. We then proceeded to go get frozen yogurt for desert (like the kind where you take a cup and put whatever you want on it à decisions, decisions), and we obviously needed something to drink, bring in Bubble Tea!

"A little taste of home"

There was so much amazing good food that I’ve been deprived of that I was ashamed my poor little village stomach had shrank and couldn’t take it all in. I left their house 2 days later with my frozen yogurt still in the freezer L

Saturday was the big day. There was a rugby game on and Gerhardt and Surita planned a party with some of their friends for me to learn all about being a South African and rugby. We went to the biltong shop and picked out a prime piece of meat to be expertly sliced and devoured in the pregame activities, picked up other meat to braii at the specialty supermarket, and visited a liquor warehouse to pick up a case of Budweiser just for me (among other beverages). Apparently this store is owned by the Walton family of Walmart and thus carries one and only one American beer, Budweiser. It was wonderful.

Budweiser!

The next morning was obviously a later start but there was one more surprise activity for me before catching my flight back to Namibia. I had seen 4 of the Big 5 in Namibia. The elusive water buffalo was only found in Waterberg in Namibia so chances are I wasn’t going to see it. Conveniently (because this is Africa remember) there was a wonderful little game park a mere 20 minutes from their house. Unfortunately we were not able to find that damn buffalo (don’t worry I saw hundreds on my trip in September!) but we did see a lot of other animals and I thought it was just really cool to be at a game park in a big city.

I then got a short tour of Pretoria, which is gorgeous and visited this giant statue of Nelson Mandela.

I am there at his foot hugging his leg 

I was sad to leave. South Africa was extremely impressive as it was uniquely first world and Africa at the same time. There is culture, there is game, there is rich and there is poor, there are comforts, and there are opportunities to push your comfort zone. Two thumbs up and a great vacation to have just before starting my last term teaching!

A Peace Camp Reunion in Durban

Post Cape Town I planned to jump around South Africa a bit more to visit some friends. First stop was the beautiful Durban located in KwaZulu-Natal. Durban is located on the eastern coast of South Africa, home to beaches of the Indian Ocean, rolling hills of Zulu land, and my friend Taryn J I met Taryn back in 2009 when I traveled to Jordan on my Peace Camp with People to People International and being so close to South Africa for so long I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see her. I was only with her for a few days but we were sure to pack in as much as her list of touristy activities as we could.

Cape Town became my number 1 city but Durban comes in at a close number 2. It’s a large city located right on the coast home to pristine beaches, excellent food, warm weather, and lots to do. I don’t really know what to compare it to but it was a perfect combination of a vacation spot but not over the top. You know when you go to a beach town and all along the waterfront there is an obnoxious amount of the EXACT same store or restaurant and no just pure beach. Well Durban is not this. There was plenty of beach, a gorgeously clean large boardwalk, and wonderful individual stores and restaurants/cafes that were their own. I don’t want to jump to too many conclusions because I was only there for like 3 days but it was just perfect. I guess I was also there during the week, but whatever, it was amazing.

Seafood pasta for lunch with a view

We toured their soccer stadium constructed for the World Cup in 2010 and even climbed to the top of it!

I also got a taste of a Durban original “Bunny Chow”. Bunny chow originated when migrant workers from India needed a way to eat lunch while working. So they hollowed out a loaf of bread to fill their curry dishes in. The result, your favorite Indian dish in a loaf of carbs ready to eat on the go or I believe to soak up a ton of alcohol on a drunk night. I don’t know why this hasn’t caught on yet on college campuses because it’s wonderful.

Bunny Chow of Butter Chicken

We also took a drive out into the rolling green hills of South Africa to Zulu land to see the traditional dance and village. Zulu life was very similar to traditional life in Namibia, with regards to the food they ate, how they prepared it, the style of housing they lived in, etc.

Later that night Taryn was taking me to a fundraising trivia night at a local school where her friend taught. There was a theme called Stars and Stripes and we needed to coordinate outfits and table decorations, the whole thing. To be honest, when she initially told me stars and stripes I thought oh so people will interpret it as they see fit. We’ll probably all go as jail prisoners like with black and white stripes and others will come as rock stars. I took it literal, not even thinking it could be American culture. SO even when Taryn said we were going to dress up like cowboys I thought to myself “well that’s random”. Sure enough when we arrived the theme was definitely American “Stars and Stripes”. At first I was terrified at what I was going to see. I wasn’t expecting anything specific, maybe the unexpected was the scary parts. Well anyway I got there and was instantly embarrassed. Omg this is what people think of Americans? We do not all wear cowboy hats, have braided pig tails, and drink out of mason jars! One table had a fake sign selling road kill soup. Like no. Then there was a woman with a fake pregnant belly and a beer in her hand. After about 10 minutes of looking around in slight horror, I got a sense of humor about it and began to proudly declare myself American and had a ton of fun on my last night in Durban.

Shark Bait

Shark Bait

By far, the most anticipated part of our trip to South Africa as a whole was going shark diving. Its usually a crowd favorite among volunteers and a large tourist attraction of Cape Town and when we checked into the hostel the first thing we asked to book. Friday morning came with great anticipation. We were to be picked up from our hostel at 6 am and driven to the town where the boats launch from. We woke up, made sure to get a bit of food in our bodies and when the hostel doorbell we all jumped up saying, “He’s here!” like it was Santa Clause bringing a bag full of presents.

When we arrived in Gaansbaii we were given a small breakfast (in order to take our Dramamine), were debriefed on safety and procedure, then made our way out to the boat. Gaansbaii is a coastal village along the migratory patterns of the apex predator, the great white shark. The bay is typically a bit warmer than the open ocean so sharks will come in to feed, check things out, get bored, and then move on. Every day brings new sharks; even each launch in the same day will see different sharks. The boats will go about 5km off shore drop their cage in the water and start chumming. The boats bring out tuna heads to use as bait and federal regulations limit the amount of bait per boat (so that we’re not just out there feeding sharks all day). Your time in the cage is not limited, the captain and the skippers try their best to judge how much “viewing time” you get with the sharks, and they do a pretty good job.

Within a few minutes of being out there, the sharks came to check out what was going on. After our first few sightings the bait was ready and the crew asked “Okay so who’s first?” Only crazy people willingly jump into freezing cold water with sharks first. The four of us thought, well we’re Peace Corps Volunteers, we’re already crazy, and this is probably safer than much of our lives back in Namibia. So we jumped in.

The cage was big enough for 5 people and was held afloat by buoys tied on the inside (probably as a buffer for when people freakout). There was a bar to hold on to at about chest height and when a shark came by you were supposed to pull yourself under and look in the water with your goggles. You will only see the shark for a short period of time as it passes so there’s no need for breathing equipment, you just hold your breath. Even if we had a mouth piece, you wouldn’t use it underwater, chances are your mouth was open anyways from screaming, gasping, or just having your jaw drop. The cage was also just like a normal cage…like with openings big enough to stick an arm, leg, or god forbid head through. You just had to be trusted that you weren’t stupid enough to try to touch the shark.

I’ll admit, it was scary. We jump into this freezing cold water and are just sitting there, waiting. Visibility underwater was only a few meters so you were only going to see a shark when it was right in front of you. So were floating there, in a cage, shivering, seeing a tuna head on a rope thrown out in front of us and pulled back right in front of our faces, just waiting… we were in the water about 10 minutes when the first shark came by. We threw ourselves underwater and gasped, screamed, probably peed, and definitely swallowed plenty of salt water. Its really cool and almost like a HD movie to see the head and gills and fins go by but when that tail comes by, getting within feet of your face and feeling the current off of it, that was my Oh Shit moment. Like this thing is ACTUALLY right there! The sharks never hit the cage while we were in it, although it did a few times with other people while trying to get the bait. But there were a few times where it turned around very suddenly towards us and the tuna head and we jumped.

Being in the cage itself was incredible but even just being on the boat was cool enough. Cage diving or not, just being able to see a great white shark up close was fascinating and something that The Discovery Channel just cant replace.

Upon reaching dry land we ate a wonderful lunch and were educated a bit more on the sharks that visited us. There were 6 different ones, all female I think, and anywhere between 2-4 meters long. In general the sharks that come up to the boat, that anyone would interact with while cage diving, are the young inquisitive adolescent ones. The older “Great” whites have a more fine tuned sense of smell and know that the chummed water is just that and there is nothing to explore, it would be a waste of time and energy. So these monsters that we saw were actually just awkward teenagers.

Definitely cool, definitely a highlight and definitely worth doing if you are ever in Cape Town. Even if you are not interested in jumping in the water, there were a few people that joined us on the boat just to watch and get good pictures.

Wine Wednesdays

Wine Wednesdays

It’s no lie that South Africa is home to some of the best wines in the world. So in planning our trip we set aside a whole day for a tour of wine country. We had heard from many a PCV that the Wine Tour is a must and who could say no to all day wine and lunch? Not this girl and her Tates!

We were picked up in the morning and driven about an hour or so to the first vineyard. I don’t think I had been drinking that early since college. Our tour guide Grandwell, was wonderful, a lot of fun, and extremely knowledgeable of all things wine and South Africa related. He explained to us all about how wine was made, the different processes for different things. I tried really hard to pay attention but it was either the excitement of being on a wine tour, the amount of wine I drank that day or just being on holiday, but my brain was turned off.

Each vineyard had something different to offer. The first one called Villiera we were taught how to properly taste wine (maybe not properly because I think our guide was trying to have fun with us…) and a few of the wines were paired with traditional South African biltong or droerwors. Jerky. The second place, Fairview, was my favorite because they paired cheese with their wines and while the wine was not unlimited, the cheese was. Shannon and the other 7 PCVs who also live villages were very happy and satisfied. The third location, I don’t remember the name of but we ate a wonderful lunch and were able to taste wine right from the barrel, as many times as we wanted. It is also where Derek and I took our engagement picture.

The fourth vineyard, Lovane, was a smaller scaled winery also a bed and breakfast, had a beautiful view of the winelands, and paired their wines with chocolate. Holla cheese and chocolate with wine. Could this day get any better? Why Shannon, it can.

Classy cheese and wine pairings

Our fifth and final stop was Annandale. Another small winery with history to boast. The wine tasting room had dust, cobwebs, and artifacts to tell centuries of stories. Their claim to fame is making the wedding wine for Prince Albert of Monaco titled Chalbert Merlot. Very classy and while it was not available for tasting, plenty of other bottles were, including their brandy. Our tasting expert felt we weren’t having enough fun by the fifth winery so he made sure we left with plenty in our systems. Once again I’ll spare the gory details on a public forum but I’ll just say that we had the guide drop us off at the bars at the end of the day, we bee-lined for the Mexican restaurant, I ordered some delicious Mexican dinner and a drink with vodka and jalapenos (which was surprisingly delicious cause I also had it another night), and we ended the night at a drag show featuring Tina Turner.

Thursday was our chill day for obvious reasons. Lawrence and I laid in bed as Derek made us bagel (yes our first bagels in two years!) breakfast sandwiches with avocado. I’ll be honest, Derek is such an early bird that this happened pretty much every morning and while it was delicious, I still needed that extra boost to get back on the horse for the day.  Enter McDonalds.

I feel no shame in admitting that McDonalds was one of the more anticipated adventures of going to South Africa. Nothing says “America’s global dominance” r home quite like a McDonalds in multiple locations in one city on the opposite side of the world. And nothing says “that mythical place called America that you once knew still does exist in the world” quite like walking into a McDonalds and seeing something you recognize on the menu. It tasted the same, from the fountain pop to the ketchup. A double cheeseburger, fries and a diet coke still does the trick.

We enjoyed the rest of our day walking along the Cape Town waterfront. It was gorgeous, the waterfront condos and apartments and sailboats and yachts made us just stare in wonder and we found some really cool artisan/local shops and eateries. Cape Town really is just an amazingly wonderful city. I didn’t believe it when one of my best friends said she almost didn’t come back to MSU after a summer internship there. She spent 3 months and I pretty much fell in love in 5 days.