Joburg, then Leaving On a Jetplane
0 Comments Published by Ben on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 at 6:37 PM.
I took the bus back from Maputo, getting in around 5pm. I made a call to the place where I was staying, and a driver came to get me quickly. I wanted out of that bus terminal ASAP.
The place where I stayed was a full-on internet Monet. There was some story about it being this palace some dude built back in the day. All I know is that it was now sort of dingy and a little gross. I had a room to myself, fortunately, although I don't think it was actually much nicer than any of the dorm options. But it was fine.
Joburg was cold and overcast the whole time I was there, which made my anticipation for leaving even stronger. I barely had 24 hours there, so it wasn't a big deal, but if I've learned anything lately, it's within that amount of time before travel, I just get antsy. I want to get going already. So my whole time there sort of felt like that.
When I checked in, I did ask if there was a crafts market somewhere closeby, and fortunately there was. There was little worth buying in Malawi, and the one in Mozambique was just too busy and overwhelming. I needed to pick up a few things, so I planed to do that in the morning to kill some time. It was apparently a 20 minute walk, which seemed easy enough at the time.
The thing about Joburg is that there is security EVERYWHERE. Seriously, every house has a tall cement wall, a security system, either barbed wire or an electric fence, and often a guard dog and/or human guard. And along the walk, house after house, it just sort of got to me. I noticed getting physically more and more tense, especially since there were few other people walking around. The security quickly became so absorbed that I even found myself becoming sketched out by any black south africans I saw. It was so weird. It's almost like the security system becomes a chicken/egg phenomenon, or maybe more appropriately a self-fulfilling prophecy. The place just made me so tense and uneasy; I just didn't like it.
I got what I needed to get, got some lunch, and then it was time to get to the airport. I flew from Joburg to Cape Town, then London (where I had only 1.5 hrs layover, had to get a security guard to escort me to the front of the transfer line and even then had to run about half a mile because my gate was closing), then New York, then Boston.
The place where I stayed was a full-on internet Monet. There was some story about it being this palace some dude built back in the day. All I know is that it was now sort of dingy and a little gross. I had a room to myself, fortunately, although I don't think it was actually much nicer than any of the dorm options. But it was fine.
Joburg was cold and overcast the whole time I was there, which made my anticipation for leaving even stronger. I barely had 24 hours there, so it wasn't a big deal, but if I've learned anything lately, it's within that amount of time before travel, I just get antsy. I want to get going already. So my whole time there sort of felt like that.
When I checked in, I did ask if there was a crafts market somewhere closeby, and fortunately there was. There was little worth buying in Malawi, and the one in Mozambique was just too busy and overwhelming. I needed to pick up a few things, so I planed to do that in the morning to kill some time. It was apparently a 20 minute walk, which seemed easy enough at the time.
The thing about Joburg is that there is security EVERYWHERE. Seriously, every house has a tall cement wall, a security system, either barbed wire or an electric fence, and often a guard dog and/or human guard. And along the walk, house after house, it just sort of got to me. I noticed getting physically more and more tense, especially since there were few other people walking around. The security quickly became so absorbed that I even found myself becoming sketched out by any black south africans I saw. It was so weird. It's almost like the security system becomes a chicken/egg phenomenon, or maybe more appropriately a self-fulfilling prophecy. The place just made me so tense and uneasy; I just didn't like it.
I got what I needed to get, got some lunch, and then it was time to get to the airport. I flew from Joburg to Cape Town, then London (where I had only 1.5 hrs layover, had to get a security guard to escort me to the front of the transfer line and even then had to run about half a mile because my gate was closing), then New York, then Boston.
Labels: johannesburg, south africa, transitions, travel
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