Hello Friends so I am going to try and keep my Lesotho posts down in word count to make them manageable while getting them up quickly this week. This is going to be in addition to my 2500-5000 word count this week, so hopefully I will keep it short and sweet.
Anyways Lesotho trip:
Monday morning Kate and I got up early, (well her way earlier then me...) I set my alarm for 6 am but it wasn’t turned on so I slept until about 7:10 (when we were hoping to be on our way out of Scottsville) when Kate hollered into my window, ‘Hey are you ready!’ and I got up about as quick as I could, and I was packed and out the door in 30min. (I figured I was doing really well...). We walked through campus and stopped by an ATM to take out cash for travelling with. We then hopped on our first minibus taxi to get from here in Scottsville to the City Centre. When we arrived at the taxi stand we asked around as to whether or not we could get to Kokstad from Durban or from Pietermaritzburg (it turned out easy to do from PMB). We got pointed towards another taxi rank that was in a building (like a parking garage), and we found our taxi really quickly (it was roughly 8am by this point in time). We arrived and there was only one person in the taxi ready to go to Kokstad, so we waited until the taxi filled up (it was a minibus taxi if I call something a taxi it means minibus, and a cab is a car taxi). It took almost 2 hours to get the minibus full. (talk about a long wait... but we had worse during our trip). By the time we got to Kokstad it was around noon, and we pushed our way onwards to get to Matatiele. It was a really easy transfer (we waited maybe 5min before the taxi left). From there we arrived in Matatiele at a larger taxi rank. There we had to ask around for directions to help us find another taxi to go as far as Qacha’s Nek. (The Q is clicked represented by a ! in phonetics, so it is !acha’s nek but if you can’t click you can always just say it like a q or a k). The taxi that we hopped into was a pick up truck which made for an interesting experience. The Pickup truck left when it was really full. We had 12 people in the truck bed (which had benches around three sides) and it was covered. The 12 people all had various things in it that they were taking with them (Kate and I had backpacks) other people had huge long packages of bulk ‘cheesies’, I think there was a roll of flooring, other food stuff, luggage, and loads of people. It made for a very odd ride, (I chatted a little bit with an older man that was beside me). But we bumped up a very rough road into the mountains, and we got further and further up, we saw less and less people (and signs of civilization). We arrived eventually at the border crossing which was just in such a beautiful place. Nestled in the mountains and there was very little in terms of fencing around the border. But stunning. Unfortunately I couldn’t take pictures (an SLR stays closed and away during and around borders, it is an easy way to get arrested for Espionage, not that I am a spy or anything, just photography is dangerous like that). So we got an exit stamp from South Africa then found our way to the Lesotho side using a cab, and got Lesotho entry visas. From there we went into the town of Qacha’s Nek, and tried to find another taxi to get us to Quthing (!uting (The ‘th’ is pronounced t). Unfortunately we couldn’t get all the way there, but a ‘helpful’ local put us onto a taxi that would get us ‘close’. Kate and I tried to find out where it was going but we didn’t stop to ask each other questions about where we were going to stay, how we were going to sleep, where we were going, and consult each other on opinions about this. We sat and just were a bit frustrated once we realized that we were going to end up in God-knows-where and eventually we arrived at the end of the line. Mphaki (as we found out during our ride). We were blessed truly. What happened next when we arrived I can only describe as God sending an angel to provide and protect us. A woman in front of us realized that we were ending up in a place we didn’t know, without a place to stay. Amazingly she spoke really solid English, and was able to get in touch with the Matron of the house stays in town. She then convinced a Taxi driver to go with us to get us to pick up the Matron and find us a house to stay in. They then went to a wonderful guesthouse (which had water (Very significant)) and they showed us in (after discussing with the owner of the house if it would be ok to use the house for us). We ended up having beautiful rooms with amazingly comfortable double beds. And separate rooms as well. The next morning we woke up and it was trying to rain, but it blew past really quickly that day. And the woman who helped us get set up met us on her way to work (She worked for the municipal government) and took us to the Ministry of Agriculture where we met with the matron and paid for our night (120 rand for the two of us). She then waited for us until the next taxi arrived heading towards Quthing. Just a huge and amazing blessing. We didn’t even get her name, but we were blessed incredibly. It is just amazing how God can provide in the worst of settings and make a crappy evening change and turn into a beautiful home stay.
(For those of you who are secularists I know that you would probably argue that it was happen stance, and hospitality, and that is an option, I prefer seeing God at work in people’s lives, just a theological stance and view. Plus Angels in the biblical tradition aren’t divine spiritual beings until after exile into Babylon, for prior writers of the Hebrew Scriptures they would have viewed angels as Messengers of God (Mal’ach in Hebrew) that could be either divine or human. )
Also as an aside a random story for you from the road; While we were waiting in the General store in Mphaki we met a police officer in the grocery (I think she may have been slightly enebriated because she wasn’t making much sense, and was a bit odd... but very friendly hard to tell). She introduced herself to us and pointed out that she was a police officer, and would be able to help us. She then told us that we should come and visit where she lives so that she could show us caves where the San (bushmen) lived. Also she would show us where another local tribe lived at one time that was a tribe of cannibals. That was when we suspected that she wasn’t fully sober. She also made some comments about wanting us to try and get her a boyfriend from both Canada and the States (So that she could choose one and go to that country to live). Just a funny random person, wonderfully friendly and wonderfully welcoming, just perhaps a wee bit tipsy...
Anyways that is the first day in Lesotho, just some brief thoughts on the country: It is frickin’ beautiful. All I could say was holy $#!% when we first drove into and through the country. On the drive from Qacha’s Nek to Mphaki we were just stunned by the beauty. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take pictures as my backpack was on my lap and my camera was under my legs. But it was stunning. Just rolling mountains, that are covered in grass, the landscape was just open and free flowing with no fences. The Road and the Electric/telephone wires seemed out of place as we drove through. It was like a time warp. We drove past shepherds, and other herdsmen with their flocks and herds, they had their Basotho blankets, and just made it so calm and tranquil. The habitations we drove past were mostly rondavels (in the country side) and they formed up beautiful little villages. Just stunning and amazing. Mphaki was just stunning as well. We had a beautiful view and it was just a tiny town on the highway between Qacha’s Nek and Quthing.
I guess I should give a brief preview of the next couple of days: The trip followed along the plan for the most part. I unfortunately didn’t get to do either of the ‘Highests’ but you will hear why later. We met up with some wonderful other backpackers. I practiced my French, and was able to learn a wee bit of Sotho.
More posts later this week!
Blessings and Peace!
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