I'm living in a South African paradise

On January 29th I got on a plane in Casablanca and 24 hours later I arrived at Johannesburg International airport, via Madrid and Zurich. Not the nicest connections, but the price was right. Not wanting to deal with the crime in the 'world's most dangerous city' after that kind of flight, I opted to stay in Pretoria over Jo'burg, or Jozi. If my abysmal hostel in Casablanca had an sister estalishment that was its diametrical opposite, my hostel in Pretoria is it. I'm not even sure you can call it a hostel - it's surrounded by tropical vegetation, has a pool, a bar, laundry, hot water any time of the day, a great, friendly staff and is walking distance to a shopping centre and the major bar area. The place is paradise!

Only after 3 days I am completely in love with the country. Mind you I am staying in a rich suburb, but I did spend yesterday in Soweto, the country's most notorious township during the apartheid era, the sight of numerous violent and deadly clashes with police in the 70's. I also hit the apartheid museum to learn a bit about the country's history, which is extremely tragic and fascinating.

For me, observing modern South African society has been incredibly interesting. From my calculations it's about 85% black and 15% white. Everyone lives in harmony and the people are extremely friendly. If you hold a stereotype about black Africans being gregarious, always smiling, dancing and having fun, it would be accurate. Their love of life is contagious! I was unsure of what to expect in Soweto. I had heard horror stories about these townships being some of the most dangerous places in the world. Hell, compared to some places I've been in Detroit, the places here looked like a country club. I was almost ashamed to have been so ignorant. Again, I've only been here for 3 days, but I think the world needs to get a freakin grip on reality and change its preconceptions about Africa.

Tomorrow I venture out of my ivory suburb into the Drakensberg (Dragon's) Mountains for a few days before I cross the Sani Pass into the otherworldly, cloud shrouded, (enchanted, perhaps?) mountain kingdom of Lesotho (from what I'm told my rhetoric is not unjustified), before I trek back to Jo'burg to collect Lesley so she can join in the fun for 3 weeks. No pictures posted this round as I don't have anything too spectacular besides a really cool subway train in the Zurich airport that looks like a scene from Half-Life (/computer nerdity).