Travel like a local

Taxi:

The great think about not having wheels, is that we live more like black South Africans than White South Africans. When I am done with the computer, like every monday we will hop on a 30 min taxi ride to take us back home, an experience that hardly any white people living here have had. It is seriously one of my favorite things. One of the best things is that there are NO signs or organization at the bus depot. You have to ask the driver: "Where are you going today" and then hop on the right one. Once you are on the right bus it is wise to sit by the window. First, the obvious reason is the escape from the stiffling air in the bus. Secondly (and more importantly) is the window seat is a prime place to do some last minute shopping. Vendors will crowd around the busses offering anything from chips, to tomatoes, to fruit, cigarettes, jewely and anything else that you forgot to buy. By far the most ingenious item for sale are these little frozen guava juice packets. For 25cents you get the ice pack, sweet treat combo.

Nothing better than sitting back nursing a frozen guava juice packet and rocking out to African tunes as the landscape goes whizzing by.

"Hitching"

Out where we live there are only several taxies that wont budge until they are packed full. (This could take quite a long time) The other alternative is flagging down any car that might be willing to pick you up.

Satuday was Eli's birthday and we were treated by the Sheldons to a feast at the nearest restaurant. We walked out to the main road, hoping that a taxi would soon roll by to pick us up. Our stomachs were growling and we could almost smell the pizza so we decided to try to flag down the next car. After several failed attempts, a delivery truck stopped to pick us up. We had a neat chat with the black driver and he was able to drop us off right by the restaurant.

So... the restaurant is located in the middle of no where. Most of the patrons are white, with some Middle Eastern ones as well. EVERYONE that goes to this posh place pulls up in their own rig either out for the day touring, or visiting from Joburg or Druban. The best thing ever was the look on the faces of people when they saw us hopping out of this delivery truck waving goodbye to our new friend. Totally priceless.

After we were done with our meal (which was delicious, thank you Sheldons! 18 bucks got us: a drink with dinner, two entrees, dessert, and after dinner coffee (for both of us, pulus tip) Back to hitching home. We were soon picked up by a white guy and hopped in the back of the truck. We told him where we lived and he seemed a little skeptical that we knew what we were talking about. He stopped at the place we told him to and again he seemed confused and asked us if we were SURE that this is where we wanted to be dropped off.
We are for sure the only white people in the area and it is pretty unheard of for two white guys to be living in this area. We thanked him for the ride and he drove off... still looking pretty confused.