Lesotho Part 3

Hello Friends yet again!
It feels so odd to be writing two blog posts one right after another. But here it goes (I do need to get you up to date!).
I realized that last night I wasn’t very descriptive about the bus stops or taxi ranks. So I guess that I should explain something a bit more about the process of travelling. So in South Africa and Lesotho most towns have a place where there are minibus taxis that you can catch to take you to where ever you need to go (almost...). So for the most part you could arrive in this huge lot that is filled with people, and minibus taxis. Then surrounding the area is alot of street vendors. The Minibuses for the most part have a sign in the front window that points you in the right direction (at fancier taxi stands there are even signs pointing in the right direction). For the most part Kate and I would just ask someone to point us to the correct taxi (generally a driver or someone just standing around a Taxi). It made transfers pretty easy. The worst part about travelling using Minibus taxis was that the longer the distance the slower they would fill up. Take for example going from Pietermaritzburg to Kokstad which is about an hour and a half away it took us about the same length of time to fill up the taxi. The problem is that the taxis would leave when they were full. Another thing about the taxi rank is that it is like a street market. When we were in Maseru catching the bus to Semonkong (which we waited on for an hour and a half before it left) we tried to see what all you could purchase. I will see how I do with a list of stuff that I could have bought: Food stuff: Bread, apples, oranges, bananas, fried fish, fried chicken, pap (Maize based starch), pop, juice, water; Stuff for a home: knives, rat poison, dish clothes, towels; Personal stuff: Razors, Electric razors, combs, brushes, earings, necklaces, sunglasses, medicine, vitamins, handkerchiefs, rosaries, stickers (of a very white Jesus for a little bit I thought it was me in a robe ; ) ), ; and even toys, hats, and anything else under the sun. For the most part they would walk around and sell stuff into the windows. Other times they would come onto the bus and walk up and down the aisle and sell their goods. Just hectic.
Anyways back to the travelling stories. So we left Semonkong on Friday morning (Hey it is crazy how fast time flies when you are telling the story I think I was even surprised by the fact that it was Friday when we left Semonkong) and we took a bus all the way back to Maseru. This time we sat right at the back. Which was just hilarious as we felt like kids all wanting to sit at the back of the school bus for the bumps. Well sort of, the bumps actually resulted in airtime and I swear that I was a good foot off of the seat of the bus at times. We arrived in Maseru and we knew exactly where we needed to go so when our bus arrived at the bus stop (on the one end of town near by the Lesotho Durham Link (LDL)) we hopped into a cab and gave the driver directions. The thing we didn’t do was negotiate a price as to how much it would cost us. When we arrived the taxi driver told us 40 Rand. We were both shocked and surprised as this was the first time that someone had tried to take advantage of us simply because we were white. Luckily we both knew that it would normally cost 4.50R to get to town from LDL so we told him that he was ridiculous but (we recognized that we weren’t sharing the taxi with other people) so we gave him 20R. We checked back in for the night at LDL before deciding that we needed to ask around to find out about getting a bus to get to Mokhotlong and the Sani Top the next day. Luckily we arrived around noon (we left really early from Semonkong), so we walked into town to stretch our legs (after a 5 hour bus ride all morning). We asked around the bus stop and found out the time for the bus, and eventually we asked about how to get to Teyateyateng (aka TY). We wanted to go there because it was a weaving town where they make all sorts of hand weavings.
So we took a minibus taxi to TY and hopped off in town to go for a good wander. We were trying to follow a sign to get to Setsoto Design Gallery which had a workshop that we could look through, and a shop where we could buy designs as well. So we walked through town, way down the street. And eventually (after turning back at least once and then pushing down even further) we arrived at another sign which worked out well for us. So we went down the road and arrived at the workshop. When we came in we got a tour of the workshop and watched the woman weaving. It was beautiful! Some of the designs were huge and custom ordered. Check out the website (I haven’t checked it out but if you are intrigued: www.setsotodesign.com ). They also paid the woman fairly for the work that they did, gave them reasonable hours, and even used locally grown and raised Mohair (Goat Hair) that they would comb, spin, dye and dry themselves hiring only locally. Then we finished our factory tour with a stop in their gift shop which had all sorts and sizes of weavings. I bought a small sized place mat (for easy of transportation as I already had a blanket that was big and bulky). It was really amazing. They also sold a variety of other goods from locals and local NGOs, like a bracelet that I got for Emily from the GRO Collective (www.grofoundation.org). They apparently encourage eco-sustainability, reward local creativity, and produce jewlery. The bracelet is made in Lesotho and paid an artisan to make it as well as giving access to social empowerment programs. Check them out!
So we hopped another taxi back to Maseru (45min without traffic) so that we could try to get to the Internet Café and get some dinner in town. But we hit traffic as there was horrible construction. We ended up walking through town trying to get to a section on the map that had both an Internet cafe and a restaurant but got a bit turned around with the lack of road signs. (Very helpful Maseru, thanks). That night we had pizza which was just wonderful. We were at first confused as to how you could have a pizza with Russians on it. So we avoided the pizzas with Russians, and I got a Hawaiian pizza (yum pineapple which is just coming into season here!) and Kate got a pizza with honey mustard and meats on it (which was surprisingly tasty!). After that we cabbed back to our hostel (for safety rather than walking that far at night). At the hostel we made popcorn and sat and just chatted for a bit and there were many more people around LDL so we were able to spend some time chatting with some of the other travellers. One guy we met was in Lesotho for a week before heading to a Atmospheric Physics conference at U Cape Town. He was from a French Island near Mauritius (I think...). Another guy was busy cooking up Russians in the kitchen (which we found out were a type of sausage) and he was a Kiwi I think. Then there was another French man who was in Maseru trying to do some freelance photography work with the police department in the field of Human Trafficking in the factories. And then there was Seth and Julie, an American couple headed in the same direction as us. They had found out about different times for the bus then we had found out, so we went with the earliest bus time to be on the safe side and we decided to share a taxi with them to get to the bus stop together.
The next morning (another ridiculously early morning 5:30am getting a cab from LDL to town) we hopped on our last big bus to get us as far as Mokhotlong (a town in the North East of Lesotho). Which was a very relaxed and long bus ride, we went around the northern side of the country and stopped in Oxbow for a rest break (at Afriski the place to ski in Africa!). We made it to Mokhotlong mid afternoon and started trying to ask if we could get as far as the Sani Top that night. Unfortunately it was a no go. So we set out trying to find a place to stay for the night. The guide book had several options (most of which were out of town or rather expensive) but had one option called GROW which had dorm rooms for people to stay at. We asked how to get there and wandered way down the road and found GROW and asked there if there was any room for the night. Unfortunately there was no space at all. But they did point us to a guest house a bit further back from the road. So we walked down and asked there about a room. They took us to a beautiful rondavel (with some 8 Beds anywhere from queen down to a single) and they started negotiating a price with us. Seth (being very practical and quick talking unfortunately for him) was very eager to go and find a cheaper place to stay (they were trying for 180R per person), but they were very insistent that we were just talking and that we need to talk about a price before we leave, (that wasn’t very good negotiating Seth) and the older woman preferred when I was talking because I would chat slower and more clearly then Seth (no offence meant). She eventually agreed to let us pay 500R for the four of us (at 125R) on the promise that we would tell other people about her guest house, but in all truth it was a wonderful place to stay and a very comfortable night. A very welcoming family and helpful for my learning of some Sesotho phrases like thank you (Ke Bua). Anyways that night we tried to find a restaurant in town but with no luck. So we ended up getting soup to make from hot water and had a wonderful night hanging out with each other. So if you ever end up in Mokhotlong and need a place to stay go to GROW and then ask for directions to the Boikhethelo Guesthouse and Catering, your choice B&B Accomodation in Mokhotlong Town.
The next morning we were up bright and early to catch the first minibus taxi to the Sani top. Unfortunately we had to wait for several hours before leaving to get to Sani Top. Yet at the same time we got to enjoy a beautiful morning in Mokhotlong. It was clear and crisp and enjoyable a perfect day! And then during the morning I got all sorts of strange looks about my blanket, and I was even taught by one man how to wear it properly I just need to get a big safety pin for it. One older man in walking through the bus stop on his way to town decided that he would come and say good morning to the four of us. He came over and shook all of our hands and said good morning to us. And then he asked where we were from and reshook all of our hands when he found out we were from the states and Canada!
Eventually the Minibus taxi got going and it was just going so slowly. For almost an hour and a half we were driving at less then 5km/h. (I was sitting in the front seat). And eventually we pulled over and turned the minibus around and we all got out because the engine was getting too hot. They asked around for water (and eventually went down for a big bucket of water from the stream) and poured it over the engine to cool it off. Luckily the engine block didn’t crack or anything but shortly we were back on our way at a really solid pace back towards the Sani Pass. We arrived and who did we see just getting out of Customs? None other than the Israeli Couple! We got our Lesotho exit stamps and then hopped back into the taxi to head down the Sani pass (Which was just so stellar and beautiful) and got stamped back into South Africa. From there the Taxi took us to the Underberg where we knew we could get a taxi to PMB, at least we thought it would be easy. The taxi that we had transferred onto was waiting to fill it up before it left to go to PMB and we knew it would take a bit more than an hour and a half to get back to PMB. The worst thing was we were a pretty full taxi but they would send us until we were full. Eventually they left with two spaces (which were filled up quickly on the road) after much complaining from passengers hoping to get as far as Durban. Luckily we got underway and had a stressful fretful ride into PMB. Kate and I were busy conspiring about what we could do for Seth and Julie to help them out. So we invited them to come over and spend the night in our dorm rooms. We took them with us back to Scottsville and gave them a place to stay in our dorms (Actually just Kate’s dorm as I had 8am class on Monday). But they cooked us dinner that night which was just wonderful.
Yeah that is my trip to Lesotho, the mountain kingdom. Pretty exciting and epic all things considered. God was really good in providing for both Kate and I during the trip. It was a good experience for the two of us to grow together as friends. We met some pretty cool people, did some pretty cool things, learned a couple of good lessons on how to travel and how not to travel in Africa. And were blown away by the hospitality of people we met. On a whole for a deeply impoverished country we found a huge beauty that isn’t just in the scenery and the freedom of the land, but a beautiful and helpful people. In fact it was only in the urbanized centers that we ran into the most problems with people trying to scam us because we were white. In fact after having heard from people a lot of questions about why anyone would ever travel through Lesotho like that for a week using local transit I think there is a horrible stereotype that goes with poor countries. ‘That Lesotho is not safe’ or ‘That you are going to get mugged in Maseru’ or fill in the blank with the assumption. For the most part they were hospitable, warm, kind and compassionate, and it is just stunning to see a country that has almost no fences, and to see herdsmen along the side of the road. It is truly a beautiful and untouched part of Africa by travellers I really think more people should try to get to Lesotho, it is a very different flavour to South Africa, yet is so cool. As for safety, really you could be mugged in downtown London Ontario and get killed there. Really you need to realize that it is just about being aware of your surroundings and not putting yourself into dangerous situations (like walking through downtown Maseru at night). Anyways I will hopefully get to blogging more experiences later on this week!
Peace and Blessings!