drop!!

The next day was spent researching on the internet - in fact that’s how all of our days here were spent as there was nothing else to do. Even the daily shuttle to the shopping mall which had been advertised was in fact charged at over ten quid for both of us!! Thankfully the internet was free otherwise we’d have gone mad with boredom. Already we were missing South America where you can just go out anywhere any time you liked. We were also noticing a strange kind of atmosphere here, the hostel was owned by a white couple, and everyone who worked here was black, and although you couldn’t quite put your finger on it, it seemed that there was a definite master and servant kind of relationship. It seemed to us already that although apartheid ended some years ago, the remnants of it were still very much in place and it is going to take some time before this country truly becomes equal.

We decided to check out the South African wine growing talents with a couple of bottles from the Spar, and for a couple of quid a bottle we were pretty impressed. We chose against the meat-fest Braai we’d been offered and I made us a curry and after eating we joined Denas and Joni in the outside bar. It turned out they were heading out to the local pub and asked us if we wanted to join them. The bar, Hippos, was a very strange place. It was jam packed full of white South Africans all very much involved in the business of drinking as much beer as possible!! Also to my amusement was the choice of South African beer. The main brands are Castle Lager, familiar to all fans of cricket who’ve ever watched a match involving South Africa, and Carling Black Label - familiar to anyone in England, and avoided like the plague due it it tasting like watered down gnats P!! We had a great night there though, and once again got to bed in the early hours!!