Yes, it has been 4 weeks!
Yes, it has been 4 weeks! D'ja miss me? Well, I missed you! I was off on my long anticipated trip to visit my son and his wife in South Africa, with a few days r&r in Bali (had to do a round the world ticket to save $$$, so why not
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What can I say about SA, in my limited command of the language, that could live up to it's glory? The country is beautiful. We saw mountains, the coastline, the wine country, desert, the veldt, forests, stunning cities. Delightful people, smart, well read and curious about what's going on here (they worry about our election as much as we should) engaged me everywhere I went. They asked probing questions and were very funny. Of course, the wild life in Kruger was wonderful to see, however, nothing like what's to be seen in Kenya and Tanzania. Did I say that the weather was perfect and the land produces copious amounts of produce and then there are the diamonds, gold and minerals! So, perfect place, right? NO!!! The overwhelming sadness about South Africa is that is is a country about to topple over the brink. Not because of it's assets, but because of it's politics and police. The politicians are famously corrupt. The soon to be president is at the moment on trial for embezzlement and RAPE forgodssake! The police departments in the big cities barely function. Every day we were in either Cape Town or Johannesburg there were huge headlines about children being kidnapped or killed. One girl of 11 was STONED! It took the police 5 hours to respond to the site. No clear minded person can live like that, and I can't tell you how many people told me that they loved their country, but were leaving. They were saving to go or were leaving as soon as the kids got old enough to have to go to school. I saw lots of VERY expensive cars, but they were driving past gorgeous homes, which had razor wire on the 8 foot walls and signs that said "armed teams will respond" The topper of it all was the 50 year old black taxi driver who told me that "We were better off under Apartheid. We may not have had freedom, but at least we were safe." That was just awful. My heart went out to him and his beautiful country. Enough. Now I need to go outside and feel the sunshine to restore my spirit. Sorry for the rant, but you asked.
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