Waka Waka We in Africa

I wish I could say it was a long, arduous journey but in reality it was relatively painless. Getting loose ends tied up before leaving was a bit stressful, though. Things always take longer and there is always more to do than you think.

I shipped my laptop and the last of my belongings back to Ohio, dropped my cable box off in Northeast DC (thanks to Margo's brother!) and we were off by 11:15 to our 5pm flight. My last meal of veggie burrito bowl was amazing and getting to the airport was a cinch and traffic-free.

Yay! we are at the airport! Right? NOPE! As we went around back to grab our bags from the bed of the truck, we realized Margo's mattress was so jammed against the gate it wouldn't open, nor could we unlach the the cover to pull them out topside. After about ten minutes of trying to open both with no avail, tensions obviously started to rise. Margo's passport was trapped in the truck, as were the Oreos Erin has hidden in my bag!

After about 25 minutes of going through every possible scenario, we used brute force to stretch the cover upwards and there was just enough room to slide them out to freedom.

I had to check my bag which was a bit irritating considering there were people with much larger bags than mine rolling their way to an overhead compartment, but everything made it to Johannesburg without issue. Security only took about 30 minutes and the flight was broken into two 7.5 hour segments (and viewings of Marley and Me & Invictus) making the trip much more enjoyable. Customs took all of five minutes. I have never had a more positive experience having nothing to declare! The best part was we had two wonderful hosts waiting to greet us :).

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For dinner we went to a yummy traditionally South African restaurant and had a plate called 'Wild Thing' which had a piece of Ostrich, Warthog and Springbok to try which was all amazing. I think the favorite was the Springbok. For dinner I had a pepper crusted Kudu filet cooked medium with potato wedges and a great glass of South African Pinotage to go with :). After, we headed to an art gallery/lounge for Hannah and James' friend's birthday party. It was such a great space seated on a hill overlooking the city, and we were greeted at the door with yummy mojitos in old coke bottles. As the night progressed the DJ's started up the strobe light and smoke machine, and as artificial smoke filled our lungs we began to dance to more and more house music. After about three hours of dancing Hannah and I were a bit spent from all the jumping around, so we headed home to crawl into bed for a good nights rest.

Waking up at 10am this morning was a bit rough and I definitely could have stayed in bed, but I'm glad Hannah roused me so I could get the wonderful day started! The skies are clear and blue. All I needed were jeans and a sweater to walk to the outdoor market, which has such amazing and affordable food. Organic whole chickens are about 40 rand a kilo, which equals about $6.50/kilo. We bought two bags of home made beef and springbok for 15 rand each (about $2.50).

Whew!!! That was a lot to spit out but I hope to write shorter posts with better detail as we go. Brunch is coming next, and maybe a nap?