Saturday 9 February 2013

24 Hours

We met for lunch at around one thirty in the afternoon. After a frantic phone call from yours truely because my computer was dying from ten thousand viruses, most of which I have now sorted out.
There were a good few familiar faces scattered around the room, the one that was a little more out of place was that of my dear friend and bunk buddy - Yoni. We had shared a bunk bed for a little less than a month over the December holidays and I hadn't seen him since the Night Before New Years, when we were on Long Street, dramatically being pulled away from each other in fits of laughter and watering eyes.
He politely introduced himself before pulling me into a bone crunching hug and what I believe is called a nugi- Something Israeli men are fond of. We sat about the lounge room sharing stories and reminiscing about Cape Town and him sharing new stories of his travels with the rest of the group. We slouched on he couch, both engrossed in a touring book of Johannesburg. It was mostly ironic.

We piled his and his friends gigantic backpacks into the boot of Rosa's car and squashed into the back seat. Me, and two broad-shouldered, hairy men, fresh from a months worth of backpacking along the coast of South Africa. Cape Town to Johannesburg in 30 Days.
Our first destination was Town. We headed along the highway, complete with a small historical and political tour of the old, dilapidated buildings that lined the streets of the city centre. We pulled up to the Maboneng Precinct, piled out of the tiny car and proceeded to indulge our intrigue with trips into all the little art galleries taking in the contrast of the new, modern area of town and the intense contrast of the older buildings. I bombarded them with Fun Facts about the city and Mitchel kept them sane with some political facts, just to shake things up. Much silly-ness was enjoyed on our tour and we soon were in need of sustenance and found Arts on Main.
Feeling a little peckish we ordered some chips and drinks for an afternoon snack.
We also drew on the big, blackboard in one of the galleries. The Israelies wrote silly phrases in Hebrew about Bamba.

Afternoon turned to night and we ventured back to Town to investigate the night life of Johannesburg. We started at Kitchner's, sneakily getting stamps before they started charging entrance. We decided that the whole idea of sitting and drinking in bars was beneath us so we drove across Mandela Bridge and watched the moon rise, like an orb of yellow creepy-ness over the city. We attempted to get into the massive psytrance party, failing dismally and headed, almost defeated back to Kitchner's for another beer and some really bad dancing.
It was at this point that Rosa would tell everyone about her spectacular parking skills, and everyone, being amazed would clap and bow down to her.

The night ended with a kitchen party and exhausted conversations in the dark.

We still had a few more hours to go, though, and many more adventures to have before Yoni left South Africa for somewhere a little more African- Uganda and then Ethiopia.
Our long road trip to the airport and then to a small, weird hostel on the other side of Jo'burg had its perks. Yoni and I had another dramatic goodbye and we got McFlurries because it was hot and lunch time.

xxx

PS. Enjoy North Africa Yoni!