Quo Vadis: What is Your Journey?
Day Three
While I realize that my previous posts have kicked off with a little taste of who is riding along with us on the train (and I will get there eventually), my mind has been more focused today on what I've seen off the train as we move through these small towns of South Africa. As I am slowly finding, rail travel is equal parts a blessing and a curse.
The blessing is that there is probably not a more charming, historic and intimate way of moving through a country as large as Africa than this. The accommodations are lovely and we have been treated fantastically since we boarded. The curse is that, depending on where the rail is geographically situated through the countryside, you are exposed to things that you would never otherwise see from any other vantage point imaginable. The extreme poverty is everywhere and, though not ignorant to its existence, I was not expecting to be so close to it at almost every turn. It is the Good. The Bad. The Ugly.
There are many "Townships" (as the government refers to them) spread throughout the rail system along our route. The "Township" title makes them seem far less awful than they really are. They are more literally shanty towns. They are what we would refer to as "slums". The worst kind. They are hand made, tin sided and cloth covered dwellings where the residents hope to survive every day. They burn their garbage on the side of the rail because it is the safest place to get rid of it without threatening their homes. As we pass by, most of the children in the town run towards the train and wave. It is both heart warming and heart breaking all at the same time. Someone on the train had commented that - at such a young age - they don't realize that they are living in such extreme poverty...so they are still hopeful. Happy. Care free. Until...there are not. I'm really not trying to sensationalize this in any shape or form...it is just truly the experience.
The older townspeople are not as warm to us, perhaps because they finally know better. In fact, there was one teenager who ran behind the train and threw "rail rocks" at us and screamed what I can only assume was the absolute worst kind of profanity that he could manage. At first, I was put off by it. But today it hit me...as I sat on the OC and watched life play out in these Townships. It kind of made me sick to my stomach. Here was a train filled with people who are on this leisure journey through their country, that costs more than they can ever imagine having...sitting on the back of a train drinking wine...and invading their life. Their space. Their reality. It is jarring and uncomfortable and unsettling. But....like all else on this trip...a lesson to be learned and embraced.
We started off this morning intending to have a quick and easy trip to a town called Pretoria, which is actually the "home base" of Rovos Rail. However, we found out during Breakfast that there had been a train derailment on the tracks ahead of us, which made our route to Pretoria impassable. When you travel by rail through Africa, there are not a lot of "Plan B's" because there is not a lot of shared rail. So the "Plan B" became a stop at a rail station about 30 minutes outside of our destination that we would travel to by Coach Bus. Once the track was cleared of debris, the train would meet up with us and continue on.
This was, at least for me, one of those "everything happens for a reason" type of occurrences because what we would not have gotten by rail was granted twofold by our journey through the back roads of Pretoria by coach. Raw. Unedited. People Living their lives. Someone getting their hair cut on the side of the road sitting in a metal folding chair. Men trading cheese puffs for cigarettes. Women chasing their children along the side of the street so they didn't run in front of our bus. Men knocking on our coach window with hands open begging for something. Anything.
We arrived in Pretoria several hours after we initially planned but it was well worth the wait. We had lunch at the Rovos Rail Yard and got a taste for exactly how involved this whole rail business actually is. It was a working yard, so we spent a good amount of time watching the craftsmen building rail cars and managing the mechanics. Our Pretoria tour took us through the City Center where we learned the History and took in the culture.
Pretoria - luckily for me - is known for its Botanical Gardens and beautiful landscaping. I was in heaven. A stark contrast from how I spent the first half of my day. Pretoria is home to over 70,000 Jackaranda Trees, a beautiful maize blue flowering tree that lines almost every street in the City. They are not actually indigenous to South Africa, but were brought in from South America back in the 1880's and have thrived in this climate ever since. They also have Birds of Paradise literally everywhere. I feel like these are a rarity in the States but here, they are blooming at every turn and they are gorgeous.
In the midst of all of this thought and activity, it should also be noted that I am having one of those days where I am missing my boys (including my husband)...much more than I have since I arrived. I was standing out on the OC this afternoon thinking too much about PJ and William, wondering what they were up to and if they missed me as much as I missed them. At almost the same time, out came Matt and Shelley - my new favorite couple from New Zealand. For starters, I had noticed much earlier in the day that while I had just finished off my morning coffee, they were topping off their first beer. Between that and the fact that I could listen to a New Zealand accent every moment until the day I died - they had me sold.
Matt and Shelley seem somewhere around my age and have two small children that are ironically the same age as PJ and William. Their children's names are Thomas (9) and Millie (6). This is the first time they have left them since they were born. She has done her "girls trips" and he has done his "hunting trips" but they have never been gone together for this long. He owns his own engineering company and she proudly tells us that she "works as a Mom"...which Matt very wisely tells us all is harder than what he does every day.
Over a few drinks, we really bonded. Matt and my Dad have similar humor. Shelley and I share that common motherly output that sort of says - not out loud - we are having an incredible experience...but desperately missing our little people. As we got to talking about Parenthood, I asked them if there was any guilt about leaving the little ones back home, as I did. Matts response, though not groundbreaking, was exactly what I needed to hear : There is nothing better for the human spirit and the cadence of routine than shaking it up a bit. Moving it around. Flipping your script.
He told me I should find great comfort in the fact that this trip is as good for those back home as it is for me and my Dad.
I suppose I'm getting there. Getting closer to believing this is true.
Baby steps.
