26. From a Village of Thatch-Roof Huts to a City of Gold: A journey of culture shock

Monday 29 April
Travel from Tshulu Camp, Hamakuya to Johannesburg, Gauteng

At 5:30am we set out on our long drive to Polokwane airport. Again in our safari vehicles, we battled wind and cold on our rapidly-numbing faces.

Nothing feels colder than wind blowing in your face in an open safari vehicle at 6am in winter. 

After about 40 minutes, we hit paved roads once again which was a huge advantage in terms of reducing bumpiness and getting dust blown in our faces. However, it just meant Jim could drive our vehicle faster and it got even colder! We drove for a few hours, with slowly more and more buildings appearing, more road signs, more people. At about 10, we had to take an emergency bathroom break on the side of the road behind a big tree; we would have hijacked the car if Jim had not let us. 

We stopped about fifteen minutes later at a lovely shopping mall and grocery store in a town called Louis Trichardt where we stocked up on our last road trip snacks, and then piled back into the safari vehicles and drove the rest of the way to the Polokwane airport, still a one-gate airport, but much bigger and more airport-like than the one in Hoedspruit. Again, however, security was a breeze and we cruised into our/the gate with no problems. However, there was something wrong with the plane, so our flight was delayed for almost three hours. 

I wandered into the upstairs of the airport which had the oddest place I've ever seen, the Millionaire's Lounge, a multi-million rand five-star restaurant and champagne lounge. Again, I've never seen anything like it. Add it to the list of unprecedented encounters and experiences for me on this ten-day trip of a lifetime. For reference, there was half of a BMW, lots of shiny, sparkly, bedazzled bars and chairs and counters that can really only be described as bling-y (ouch it hurts to say that). And there was a hot tub. And I just really really wondered who in the world who is flying in and out of Polokwane airport in Limpopo, South Africa, wants to use this Millionaire's Lounge. Some things in life I will never understand...

Polokwane Millionaire's Lounge

At long last, at about 3pm, we got onto our tiny prop plane (our group of 20 students + 2 professors almost completely filled the tiny plane). And flew the hour-long flight to Johannesburg. 

When we landed, I realized we were back in an urban environment, what was the City of Gold. It was Monday afternoon. Yet Sunday morning - a lifetime ago - I had woken up under a thatch-roof hut on a cow dung floor in a Venda hut in Fandani, Hamakuya. What is my life?!

We were picked up at the giant, bustling O.R. Thambo Joburg airport by our tour coordinator and bus driver for the week and driven to our hotel in the bohemian neighborhood of Melville. I had my eyes peeled out the window for a few minutes staring at the city, taking in the sights, getting used to seeing other vehicles, freeways, buildngs, traffic. I felt that horrible, out-of-body, almost sickening feeling of reverse culture shock hitting me. I've only felt that once before, when I landed in O'Hare airport after spending ten days in Nicaragua for the first time. Yet here it was again. 

We got stuck in traffic for about an hour, and I realized that my eyes were glued to the back of the seat in front of me. I was in a new place, a new city. My normal MO would be to gaze out the window taking everything in. To be making a mental list of observations, comparisons, questions. That's how I always work when I travel to someplace new. Not this time. I literally couldn't bring myself to look out the window for more than a few seconds. For most of the ride it wasn't even conscious. It was just a coping mechanism. My mind and senses was on overload. My eyes and ears and nose and tongue and fingers had experienced so many - almost too many - new things in the past 9 days. This whole new world of new was over the top. I needed a tiny bit of time to process.

We finally arrived at our place of residence for the next 4 nights. It was the first time I'd spend more than two nights in any one place since we left Stellenbosch. Packing/unpacking 7 times in 9 nights. It was a marathon. 4 nights in once place - felt like moving in!
They gave us some time to say hello to our fellow NU friends who were also staying at the same place, the Ginnegap in Melville, to settle in to our hotel, and to shower off the dirt road open vehicle drive's dust, the airport's idk what, and the plane's sweat. Second best shower of my life! Except this time, it was in a real indoor shower with a white tile floor and the floor became muddy and I could see it... ewwww.

We went to dinner at a place called 'moyo' in a nice area of town that reminded me of the Plaza in Kansas City. At the restaurant, there were traditional African drummers were playing music and an artist came around and painted everyone's faces with intricate designs. Jacob ordered the whole table two giant seafood platters. I decided to try being adventurous (after all, I'd eaten a worm the day before) and I tried some calamari for the first time (it wasn't even fried) and some prawns... which I immediately regretted because I had an allergic reaction to something and became really sick immediately. I don't remember much of that dinner besides Jacob and Amanda hovering over me worrying and the two bites of my roasted springbok I tried to eat. Oh well... win some lose some I guess.

I started feeling a bit better when we got back to the Ginnegap and I immediately went to bed and passed out for the night. Sometimes, there's no cure like sleep!