July 12

Long bus ride day. After waking up to no water, and a hasty breakfast, we drove from Grahmstown to Mhumtata, the site of the Nelson Mandela museum, and his childhood. The Mhumtata Savoy is NOT at all like the other Savoy’s. It was pretty comical watching Rich sort out the rooming reservations, about 40 minutes of faulty conversations and frustrations that leaves most of us in rooms with just a double bed. Fortunately, I like Kori enough and she’ll probably forgive me if I snuggle. Oh, and we had to wait 30 minutes to get toilet paper, and Jason had to have the desk call the manager to get us an extra towel, imagine wanting two. The drive however was beautiful, full of slopping hills, cows on the road, and rows of Xhosa styled houses. If you can get beyond the sheer number of plastic bags stuck in barbed wire running across the country side, there is a beauty in South Africa that takes my breath away. At every turn there are deep crevices, flat plains, rolling hills, high trees, and color. Along the road, there are small groups of houses, usually two round and one square. I asked Xolani about it this evening. The round houses use to be for families, or for each wife. The square would have been a common cooking and storage place and the round homes were for a son and his family or a second wife. However, Xolani said few people practice polygamy today, although the current South African President, Zuma is currently engaged to his third wife.