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December 14 thru December 21, 2005 - Umtata and the Nelson Mandela Museum, R61 toward Port St. Johns, camping at the Monkey Jungle Backpackers, leaving for Port Edwards, driving through the Wild Coast, staying at Bernice's Vuna Valley Backpacker in Port Edwards, walking along the Umtamvuna River, the Pondo Cultural event, great early morning yoga with Bernice on the river dock, moving on to Umzambe, staying at Monti and Moon Backpackers in Umzambe, arriving at Nomad Backpacker in Durban and meeting Barbara, Valley of the 1000 hills, visiting the uShaka Marine World


Photos

Due to poor Internet conditions, the photos bellow are the only ones Shiffy and Benny were able to send along with this report, however, we (the editors) are not sure they all belong here...please enjoy!!

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Wednesday, December 14

In Umtata we went to the Internet caf?, did our grocery shopping and visited the Nelson Mandela Museum. It was 3:55pm and the museum closed at 4:00. “Don’t worry about the time, we will keep it open for you”, said the young man who was our guide. We were the only visitors in the place. The Nelson Mandela Museum is the only museum that is dedicated to a living president. The young man walked us through the exhibits of Mandela’s childhood, school, university, activities in the ANC, life as a freedom fighter, treason trial, prison, family and presidency. There is a large exhibit of the many gifts that he received as a president.

Mandela is very much admired in this country by blacks and whites. People admire his capacity to forgive and promote a rainbow nation, after so many years in prison.

When you ask for directions people will tell you to turn on the robot, which is what South Africans call a traffic light. We needed to fill up the gas tank in the car, and the local word for gas is petrol.

We stopped in Ultra City for petrol, but the station was out of leaded gas and we had to wait for about an hour until the petrol tank arrived.

We continued on the R61 toward Port St. Johns. More green hills with African villages. We pass a few towns with crowded streets. People are buying and selling or just hanging around. Woman carrying bundles of wood on their heads, children are balancing pails of water on their heads. Many people hold large umbrellas to protect themselves from the hot sun. A few women are selling hot corn; others are selling vegetables along the road.

Port St. Johns was a favorite place for honeymooners before the Apartheid. You can still see some beautiful mansions that were deserted. During Apartheid, the Transkei area became a “homeland”, an area that was given to the blacks to run their own affairs. It is still governed by the local chief. People cannot own land in Transkei. The chief will give the family land to build their home, grow vegetables and keep cows and sheep. Most whites moved away and the area became very poor. After apartheid ended, the area became part of the Eastern Cape Province. Today it is again a popular vacation destination.

Tonight we are camping at the Monkey Jungle Backpackers in Port St. Jones. The location is beautiful; we have a 360? view of mountains and ocean, beautiful mountain formations, some old mansions in the hillside. I went into the kitchen to prepare supper but the place is so filthy, and there is no space in the refrigerator. The young German couple invited us to share their dinner, they cooked Thai food and made too much. Ron and Muler are camping here too. We all discussed how mismanaged and run-down the Jungle-Monkey Backpacker was.

Thursday, December 15

Benny is not happy at the Jungle Monkey and he will not take a shower here. The bathroom stinks and the kitchen is dirty. So while I did my yoga up on the deck, he folded the tent, we are moving. We will catch the Wild Coast on our next stop; we will go to Port Edwards. The ride is beautiful, and I wish I could film the ride and keep the memory. We are driving through the Wild Coast with winding roads, green hills and many Africans villages. We are passing Lusikisiki, Flagstaff, Bizana. We crossed a bridge and the road sigh reads “Welcome to Kwazulu Natal”. Port Edward in on the border of Transkei (Eastern Cape) and Kwazulu-Natal. The scenery changes: more tropical, high grass, colorful flowers and banana plants. The Vuna Valley Backpacker in Port Edwards is a true paradise. The property belongs to Bernice, an attractive, free-spirited French woman who was born in Mozambique. She loves her home and her garden and does most of the painting and the work herself. “It is all about nuts and bolts, and some paint”. There are many papaya trees in the garden. We set up camp in her beautiful garden under the mulberry tree. Benny and I look at each other and smile. It was such a good decision to come here.

A cute girl from Switzerland is here too. She volunteers with the Sisters of Blue Blood in Umtata, working in an orphanage. The police bring the children in. They do not know where the parents are. Some of here friends volunteer there too and she will stay there for one year.

In the afternoon we walked along the Umtamvuna River, where J’bourg residents come with their motor homes, boats and Jet Ski to enjoy the holiday.

Bernice does not lock her doors. Friends come in during all hours. We met a few of her friends; many of them are free spirited like her. She welcomes everyone with coffee or tea and sometimes cooks for her friends. Richard is from J’bourg. He is a very inspiring young man. He is dedicated to community work, promoting African culture. “We have been so selfish for 300 years, using the people and the resources of this country. It is time to give back”. He is part of the Rainbow culture. Taking care of Mother Earth.

Bobby works at the Wild Coast Casino. He worked in Casinos all over Africa and on cruise ships all over the world. He is telling us about the black empowerment policy of the government. People with no experience are getting positions in the casinos and the service in the entire department is down and the efficiency is down. He recognizes that they have to give opportunities to the black community, but he wishes that they could give them proper training. They took over the municipality, accepting huge salaries and the town in falling apart. The municipal governor is paying himself an 800,000R annual salary, the officials are driving fancy cars, but there is no money to fix pot holes in the roads. There are many problems with the new administration.

Gillian has a clothing store down the road, she designs all of her material and they all wear her clothes. Judd is working in community development in the area. He has an adorable little girl, Leila. We also met Ghislane, Nadine, Tommy, Louise and others. There is an ongoing stream of friends. Two local African men came to invite the guests to a cultural event the following day.

Friday, December 16

Getting out of the tent, I picked few black mulberries and watched the birds. Bernice joined me for yoga this morning.

After a delicious breakfast, we went to see the Pondo Cultural event that took place in the Mzamba Village Market. It was a community celebration to promote Pondo culture. Pondo is the only tribe that was able to resist the Zulu attack and they are related to the Xhosa. Local artists displayed their crafts. There were crafts of wood, embroidery, beading and leather.

There were performances of traditional dancing, singing and plenty of speeches. Many of the organizers were women. A few of them gave passionate speeches.

The food kept coming: lamb, meat, maize, sweet potato, butternut squash and spinach. We spent about five hours there. It was a great experience. We went with Richard and were the only whites at the events. It started as a very hot day, but in the afternoon it started to rain very hard and everyone got under the big tent.

From there we went to visit the local Wild Coast Casino, where Bobby works. It felt very much like Vegas.

Next stop was at the Red Desert, the smallest desert in the world. It is a small area of hard red clay in the middle of the tropical landscape.

Bernice suggested doing yoga at 5:30 am on the river dock.

On our way to the tent, we saw fireflies in the garden. There are many frogs here and we fell asleep to their chorus.

Shabbat, December 17

Benny and I greeted each other with Shabbat Shalom but you really need a community to observe Judaism. It is hard when you are on your own in a strange land.

Bernice, Benny and I went early this morning to the river dock and had great yoga session there. Some of Bernice’s friends stay overnight. Paul and his little son are from Durban and own the Nomad Backpacker there. Durban was not in our plan, but now we might stop there.

His son is four and few months and he walks into the kitchen with a dry dandelion in his hands and said “look, Bernie”, and Bernice, in serious soft voice said, “You must go and blow it in the garden, so it will continue the cycle of life.” And she continued, “And when you blow on it, the fairies will come out and fly away”. A few minutes later he came in excited “I cannot believe it, I really saw it, I saw the fairies.”

Bernie throws all the organic waste into the garden, “somebody will eat it,” she says.

The plan is to go on an 8km hike that is graded strenuous. The sky is cloudy and it is very windy. The local experts say that it is a west wind, so we should be OK.

We are hiking along the Umtamvuna River. Along the way there are so many flowers that I am used to seeing at nurseries, not out in nature. We pass dense tropical forests. It is a very steep mountain. I count 100 steps, and stop to catch my breath. And so on…until we get to the top. The wind is blowing very hard. The view is breathtaking. There is a deep gorge that was cut by the river. On the other side of the river is Transkei, with the green hills and small homesteads. On the Natal side it is more tropical, high grass and forests. The wind is getting very strong and we start heading back.

On the way back we passed through coffee, banana and Macadamia nut plantations.

Back at Bernice’s home, it started raining. We got home in time. It is pouring outside, but it is warm and nice in the house. Richard let me use his laptop to write.

Sunday, December 18

It was raining all night and in the morning. I love to fall asleep to the sound of the rain on the tent. I got up at 4:30 am and went to the main house.

I feel at home at Bernie’s home. She is a yogi too and we practice early in the morning. She paints her walls with wild colors and designs; she even paints the tiles and the bathtub. She did her floor with cement mixed with colored acid, which created a marble look. The living room has big windows that open to the garden with mountain views. There is African art throughout the house, bottles filled with colored water are on the window sills, many books, tie-dyed material covers all the couches, her garden, her friends, her four friendly dogs and the funky atmosphere. Bernie likes my tops with the butterflies, hearts and buttons and I like her tops which were painted by her friend Gillian, so we swapped clothes today. We also visited her friend Gillian and I got myself new tops and tie dyed pants.

When our tent was dry enough to fold, we said good-bye to our new friends and move on to Umzambe. We are now in Kwazulu-natal, the Zulu land, sub-tropical weather and plants. Driving along the R102, passing many beach towns, bridges over wide rivers that flow into the Indian Ocean. Zulu villages, tropical forests. We stop at flea market and vegetable stand run by an Indian family.

We settled in at Monti and Moon Backpackers in Umzambe, and the rain is coming down hard again. Monti was a small fly that wanted to sit on the moon, so that everyone would see him, notice him and admire him. He tries to reach the moon, catch the moon, but the moon always manages to go away. We sit in the lobby and read and talk to some of the guests, some of them we already met at previous stops. The German guests will sleep in the dorm tonight, their tents are too wet. Our tent has double protection and water does not get in. I enjoy talking to a woman from Colorado, who together with her husband and her ten year old daughter is sailing the world. They have a 40 ft yacht and over the last four years have been to 35 countries. The mother is home-schooling her daughter. Umzambe is famous for its beautiful beaches, so when the rain stopped, we took a walk on the beach and watched the many monkeys who were playing around. An Afrikaans woman that we met along the way said “Be careful from the blacks”. We met few black along the way and greeted them with a smile and Hello. I prefer to greet people with smiles and not with fear.

Monday, December 19

The woman from Colorado got her yoga mat and did yoga next to me. She told me that she practices yoga every day on the boat. She is very good. When her daughter woke up I asked her if she does yoga too. “I don’t like the name Yo-ga”, she said, twisting her face, it sounds like yo-gurt.

People in SA spread Marmite on their bread. It is yeast extract and tastes salty. It is rich in vitamin B.

Benny and I took a long walk along the beautiful beach of Umzambe, fold our tent and continue on to Durban. Durban was not in the original plan. Benny wanted to avoid big cities. We heard too many horror stories about crime in the big cities. However, after meeting Paul, the owner of the Nomad Backpacker in Durban, we decided to go to Durban. Back on the R102. crossing so many rivers, beach towns, tropical greenery on both sides of the road, and we are getting close to Durban. We see many townships, match-box dwellings, tin box shacks or what are called squatters.

It was rainy when we got to the Nomad Backpacker and we settled in. The receptionist gave us a city map and marked some areas “keep out”. We went grocery shopping, and engaged in conversation with a nice local man who invited us to his home. His four kids moved to San Diego, but he loves it here and says that many people who left are coming back and that the economy is very strong.

Barbara is staying at the Nomad in exchange for painting murals by the pool. She is also a rainbow person who is wandering around the planet with her dog. She was talking to us about the universe, the stars, astrology, energy, love, forces, the Zulu people and mother earth. “Our world is in real danger.” With her soft voice and her South African accent, I kept nodding my head, but did not understand most of her talking. She used to live in Durban and loves the city. She feels very safe walking around town during daytime. “The energy changes in the night, but during the day the city is fine.”

“Will you take me around the city?” I asked Barbara. Barbara said she will take us to all the areas marked “Keep out” and we can judge for ourselves.

Tuesday, December 20

The wind was howling during the night. Benny said, “It’s a good thing that we are in the tent, otherwise it would fly away.” It started to rain, but with the rain and the strong wind we slept so soundly, my watch said 6:45 am when I woke up.

It is 9:00am, and we are following Barbara throughout the streets of Durban. We went through the Warwick Triangle, which is an African market. People set up small shops and sell everything. It is very busy and crowded. We walk through alleys of small stalls. Women carrying bags on their heads, babies are tied to mothers’ backs, loudspeakers announcing the merchandise, clothes, shoes, telephones, hardware. Now we come to the produce market. Veggies and fruits look fresh and people are friendly. We crossed through a Muslim cemetery, all plants and flowers, and a Christian cemetery with large tombstones. We pass the herb market where African healers treat patients with medicine made of bones, sheep heads, snakes, turtles, tree bark, herbs and stones.

Barbara stopped to buy her Marijuana, or as the locals call it…… I am getting a very good education during my travels.

Many of the locals do not like to be photographed. I ask for permission before I take a photo of a person. When I took a photo of the chickens in the market, one heavy set African woman came to me aggressively shouting: “give me money, you have to give me money, I am hungry”. I was embarrassed and was going to go away and ignore her shouting, when Barbara approached that woman, held her arm and said firmly “Hey, be nice, sister, you don’t talk like that, you must be nice,” and the African woman changed her attitude, the two women soon began a conversation and the African woman said her name was Lessee. Before we left Barbara gave her a few coins and we departed like friends.

It was a great lesson for me. Many kids in Turkey and Africa come to us asking for money. I usually ignore them, mainly because I do not know what else to do. Barbara does not ignore them. She is trying to change their attitude and in her own special way to help one person at a time. I admire her attitude and will try to use it when the opportunity arises. We went to the Victorian market and the Workshops, another large indoor and outdoor market where we ate lunch at a very busy Indian Restaurant called Orient.

We stopped at another Indian Store where the owner told us that his daughter together with another 240 Indian children attend the Private Jewish School, because it is a very good school. Throughout the day, we were the only white people, crowds of black and Indian people. I am very grateful to Barbara for enabling us to experience real African life. Very few whites visit these areas today out of fear.

We passed through the museum and the theater and came to the water front, and then it began to rain heavily. We took the “black taxi” and a bus back to the Nomad Backpackers.

Barbara is working tonight; she was hired to read tarot cards at a 21st birthday party and the girls in the group are “White Witches”. Women who are into witch craft. I will hear more about it tomorrow.

Barbara is looking at her tarot cards and is cutting her weeds.

Benny is engaged in a long conversation with a local man who predicts that this country is going nowhere. He does not believe in the future of South Africa and is planning to leave. According to him, the locals are lazy and waiting for the government checks, officials are corrupt and there is inefficiency everywhere.

It is raining so hard, we will spend the rest of the day indoors.

Wednesday, December 21

It was raining all night, but the rain stopped in the morning. Today we are going to the Valley of the 1000 hills, the home of the Zulu. The valley gets its name from the thousands of hills which tumble down to the banks of the Umgeni River passing through picturesque Zulu tribal lands on their way to the sea. This valley was the sight where the great Zulu warrior, King Shaka, fought bloody battles, soon after his coronation in 1816.

We passed many tribal villages and stopped at a few craft centers. At the Boy Roy Hotel we enjoyed a view of the valley and went into the Zulu Culture Museum. In the museum there were items make of skin, bones, horns, claws, ivory, straw, wood, clay, cowhide, beads and whatever the people could gather.

In the museum, we engaged in a conversation with an African couple that lives in Jo’burg. They work in IT and both are pastors. They spoke about unemployment and crime and corruption in the government. However, they said that crime is down. People are tired of crime, and the communities are trying to catch the criminals. They see unemployment as the main problem. Many companies left the country. They are very positive about the future of South Africa and are very proud that the change in government happened without a civil war and people are ready to forget the past and forgive.

Back in Durban, we drove to the seaside, to the new uShaka Marine World that opened last year. The drive through the city center is not pleasant. The city center is very run down and dirty. However, once you are at the 700 million Rand uShaka Center, it is like entering another world. It is a beautiful complex with a large aquarium, Dolphinarium with a dolphin show, water slides, large pools, many shops and restaurants.

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