Hi Everyone,
My first two trips here I stayed in backpacker hostels near the airport and generally avoided the city (except for the Apartheid museum). Carla determinedly scoured the guidebooks for a safe area and found Melville village. We're staying in a mid-range guest house called Die Agterplaas, close to the restaurants, coffee shops, bookstores, and bars in the village....we can walk the 200 meters in the daytime and at night we've tipped one of the security guards to walk us back. Our neighborhood is quiet, pretty---old enough for full foliage, gardens, trees. But every house is walled and gated, with dogs and glass barbs at the tops of the walls, and security guards in yellow neon vests posted on the corners. Bars on the windows. We've taken walks/jogs before breakfast every morning, but I can't say I feel exactly comfortable....safe enough.
I'm actually enjoying this city for the first time, although both of us miss the beautiful landscape and rural villages of Lesotho and Swazi. On our first night here, walking on 7th Street looking for a restaurant, we heard "hi, hi Betty and Carla." Coincidentally, two friends from Semongkong, Lesotho---American health practitioners doing HIV/AIDS volunteer work---were in Melville on their last night of vacation. We joined them for dinner at a Portuguese restaurant, marveling at finding people we knew in this city of more than 8 million.
Our guest house owner is a vocalist and has posters of his past performances on the walls (from the late 70's until the present)--seems like cabaret music from the images. He's filled the house with colonial furniture and antiques and bric-a-brac, but the place doesn't feel stuffy. There are wide windows (with bars) and patios. We were going to move to a cheaper place a few streets away, but Janni said he wouldn't let us go and reduced the price.
Tomorrow we'll go to the Apartheid museum and maybe Soweto township on Monday.... heavy history to take in. The people we've talked to here seem hopeful, but everyone wonders what will happen when Mandela dies.
I'm sure I'll get back to you before we leave on Tuesday. I'm ready to see family and friends, but not for winter (it's summer here--sunny and hot--nice).
More tomorrow or the next day.
Love,
Betty