Ponies and Huts

 (Oops.  can't figure out how to rotate it. and it's out of focus.  you get the idea.)

While I thought I had been in the Africa since June 9th, tourist brochures tell me that I wouldn't see the "Real Africa" until I trekked up the mountains of Lesotho on a pony to stay overnight in a hut in a village with just a few families with children who have never seen a car in their lives.  so that's what i did.  i guess you could say i'm back to "fake Africa," where white people still own the majority of the land and complain about "the black people."  but that would be generalizing. and unfair.  but seriously, what a contrast from south africa to lesotho, where white people are all foreigners, called mahoas, and there are no wounds from apartheid that need healing.  or counseling. 

I've spent the last 3 days traveling with a couple other americans, which has brightened my days and made me forget that i'm on my own.  i'm off tomorrow to cape town.  i refuse to take the Intercape bus, which blares in-your-face, horrendous acting, christian movies through speakers that cannot be controlled.  It's all a plot to convert the riders, said our driver.   The train only offers economy class to cape town tomorrow, which i've been told by some is unsafe and by others will be beyond uncomfortable.  There's a convenient bus on Road Link, but a simple google search reveals why their rates are so low.  Unlicensed drivers, buses without breaks, numerous fatalities, you name it.  So...

Please note: If you are my mother or my oldest sister, please stop after the next sentence.  I've decided to fly to Cape Town.

Okay, now for the rest of you.  I think i'm going to hitchhike.  should be fun.  i'm hoping to get there in time to try to get tickets to see argentina vs germany.  perhaps get a cheap single ticket at gametime.  i'd really like to see the sweet stadium.

go paraguay! go ghana!

cheers.