Ben Oostdam's SA 2008-2 JOURNEYPart 12 : December 01, 2008 - UPINGTON to GRIQUATOWN |
|
Last night, I did not get to see too much of Upington with the wide avenues, but instead I saw van Damme fighting in Hongkong while meeting his lost twin brother...
After that, I relished a good night's sleep and woke up at unknown early time, took a bath, cut my nails, made coffee and wrote up page 100 of my journal...
Around 0715 I went to see the landlady, Kitty Klaassen, who made me a nice breakfast and advised on immodium and which road to take: R10 to Groblershoop/Prieska/Britstown, but turn left at Grob onto R 64
to Griekwastad/Kimberley then R8 to Bloemfontein... Also found the 2008 SA school schedule:
It was a hot day, and I could hardly find a shady spot to drink my lichee drink; at 11:30 I took a brief nappy break, then decided that I was too sleepy to drive any further today than Griekwastad (Griquatown)(Google 38,700/680) . In the first side street I noticed a pleasant B and B on the corner where I was referred to another house nearby where I met Jim de Villiers and his daughter. He took me back to the B and B, which was run by his wife, but they were on the verge of moving to Pretoria. We agreed to talk more later since he took a vivid interest in the Amish, as much as mine in the Griekwas, earlier known as "Basters"... I tumbled in bed and slept till 15:00! I got up, took an immodium, a drink, a knife, my bag of biltong and another bag of fruitflakes and sat outside in the shade of a nice tree at a stone table, together with one of the other guests who had just returned, a black B.S. Geology student named Mousa. The weather changed rapidly and a marvelous thunderstorm materialized, so we spent most of the evening inside watching TV and talking geology. The party chief was a very tall Indian PhD Geology (the first from University of Capetown) named Avinash, hard rock ...) and there was a charming Zulu lady geologist with the euphonic 4 syllable name of Siphelele who reminded me very much of Cicely Georges, my assistant in IMA, Trinidad, in 1981. She did the cooking for the fieldparty. I managed a short walk where and when I noticed that most shops were about to be closed, but I did buy some milk, fruit and pack of oxtailsoup. Some schoolgirls wanted to talk with me and also professed liking school. I managed to get back home before the rain started, and cooked my oxtail, borrowed a cell phone and called my brother in law Gus in Bloemfontein to tell him I would be there tomorrow afternoon, d.v. When the rain stopped for a while at dusk, I sat outside and watched the cosy family life in the black servants house in the backyard. When they went to bed, I joined the geologists again in watching TV ....it seemed Siphelele knew not only all the actors and jokes and songs, but also all the commercials! They were on contract to a Chinese mining company to drill for Manganese. Avinash told me that he and his brother, I think resp.1.96 and 1.98m tall, were in Holland - now the record holder for the tallest people in the World - and did not feel outstanding... NOTE:Back home in PA, I ordered a copy of Scott Balson's fascinating book:which solved the problem I had to understand why Griquastad is so far from Griqualand! I also recommend the report and photographs of Scott's Sep 2006 visit to Griquastad - which is an excellent example of how to present your (time) travel experience!
|
