Vacation

Spent some time overseas for a vacation, in an unusual place: South Africa. The plane flights were a little long, but I had a good reason to take the long flight to Johannesburg.

The visit was the result of a developing relationship with a woman. She was visiting her hometown, seeing family, and helping an elderly relative celebrate a birthday. I was offered an opportunity to travel to see the relatives and the homeland.

A few odd details stick out in my mind:

• The countryside is a mix of beautiful vista and small towns. The small towns range from cute to poverty-stricken.
• Everyone is friendly.
  This goes double if the person thinks they can sell you something.
• The big cities aren't much different from big cities in the U.S.
  Except that all houses in the middle-class neighborhoods are behind walls, and electric wires are not uncommon on top of the walls.
• Almost everyone I met had at least one dog, but dogs are considered outside animals. Cats were allowed inside the house, though.
• Traveling to visit a game-preserve in the bush can get a little...interesting when the directions weren't perfectly clear, and phone service is spotty.
• The game preserve is peaceful. The guys who were there with me hunted some, but seemed more intent on having fun than on getting game.
• It seemed that every tree or bush in the preserve had thorns on it.
• Everything looked cheap, after I did the SouthAfricanRand-to-USD conversion in my head
• The old gold mine is interesting, but the ratio of mined-rock to extracted-gold is mind-bogglingly-large.
• Descending 220 meters (~740 ft) in a caged elevator can be a little scary, even though the tour guide entered the lift cage with us.

The experience was good. I like visiting the area. I could probably live there short-term, but I'm not sure I could settle permanently.