A birthday in the Gem of the Karoo
Trip Start
Sep 17, 2007
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263
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Trip End
Oct 08, 2008
Graaff-Reinet,
Eastern Cape,
South Africa
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
After Terrence (who rolled his Rs spectacularly with his Afrikaans accent) showed us around the house, he waved Travis into the sitting room to show him how our stock market was crashing. Travis then called me in and so it was that we learned that my bank, where all of our money happened to be, had crashed. Lucky for the US, we've already had a Great Depression and all decent banks are now FDIC insured
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. Still, of all things...After a glorious sleep in a real, big bed with multiple blankets and no springs to poke us, we woke up and set about an exploration of Graaff-Reinet. This little town isn't really on the foreign tourist radar, but there's plenty to do for the adventurous traveller. South of town is a day hike with different length increments for different abilities/energies, northwest of town is a national park with some wildlife and the Valley of Desolation (known for its great vistas), and in town is good food and shopping and some charming Cape Dutch and Victorian architecture. It was getting to be a theme that Travis and I agreed that we didn't have the energy for long hikes outside of town, so we spent our one day in town wandering down all the streets.
First we stopped at the kerk (church), a lovely concoction of brown and white and windows. Then we wandered down to the Reinet house, which was originally the parsonage. This museum was full of historical house relics and clothing. We saw some stuff I never imagined, so I was well-entertained for the hour plus that we were there. Also, if you wanted some trekboer/boer/Afrikaaner history, this is the place to be. Graaf-Reinet was the district capital of the latest boer frontier. Some exciting stuff going down in these parts, let me tell you. And I didn't learn it all at the museum - Terrence and Nita had some great books about the area and its history that answered a lot of questions. For example, a Boer is a farmer, a trekboer is one of those Dutch settler farmers trying to escape the VOC (Dutch East India Company) by going so far inland they can't be reached, and an Afrikaaner is a South African of Dutch heritage (not to be confused with an African or British South African)
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. In the afternoon we had a walk around town to look at all the old houses in the historical streets. And before a dinner of cheese and crackers Travis treated me with a big slice of chocolate cake in honor of my birthday. Yay! When he fussed that it wasn't fair that I got two birthdays on the trip I told him it was his own fault for scheduling the thing. And I pointed out that, at least in theory, we'll be able to have a real birthday celebration for his next birthday, since we couldn't afford any birthday stuff on this trip.
Since we'd checked out and only stayed one night, I wanted to stay out of Terrence and Nita's way and not cause trouble. But they're not the type that are bothered. So we got into a great, long discussion about South Africa, its history, politics, and lost talents (young people these days!). We saw Terrence's family tree, which currently goes back to Henry VIII's England, but he knows the research goes back still farther. The we talked about American politics and war (Terrence was a career military man who fought for ages in Angola), and I think we got a better perspective of South Africa than any other country. And not only because of Terrence and Nita. The politics on the news with Mbeki resigning, the willingness of people to talk about their own lives, and the focus on South African history in cultural exhibits found througout the country. It's really an incredible place, and I realized that when I was sitting chatting with Terrence and Nita rather wishing I didn't have to catch the night bus in half an hour.
Erin
