Mom & Dad in Africa

For almost two years, I never held a hope that my parents would come and see my home here in South Africa. Between their jobs and health concerns, it just never seemed possible. Then a course of events started taking place in the lives of my parents back in the States and also in our lives here in South Africa that seemed to open up the perfect window of time and opportunity for my mother and father to make the roughly 18 hour flight to come and experience the wildness and beauty of Africa. (Do we really think that was by chance? No. There was definitely some divine planning taking place.) Their journey was not without mishap though as the morning of their departure from the Duluth International Airport my mother had to make an emergency visit to the dentist and was told that she would be lucky if she got to her destination without wanting to pull out all her teeth...or something like that.



So the big day arrived on which my parents would step foot on the African Continent for their very first time...and B and I held no anticipation. Don't worry, my father told me the same thing just a few days earlier. Apparently it runs in our family. Dad was firstly more excited for their two night stop-over in Paris and upon the completion of their time there said he would get excited about Africa. It worked the same for us. B was taking the GRE in Jo'burg the morning of their arrival and until that was over, we could just not muster the excitement that my parents were actually going to be arriving later that night.

There is so much that I could say about the day my parents arrived, but it seems off topic...so let me just sum it up with the word "exasperating" and give a short synopsis. The rental car we were given was a hatch-back with no real boot to put my parent's luggage in. I got Brandon to his exam 20 minutes late and realized that just 10 minutes later and we would have been out the $170 fee and Brandon not allowed to take the exam. The museum that I was going to see with another PCV (Brad) while Brandon took his exam ended up being closed to the public. After Brandon finished his exam, the three of us went to another historical site and took a guided tour. Two hours later when it was still not finished, we decided that to beat rush-hour traffic we needed to leave. Three hours later, we had only driven maybe 20km at best. Another hour later and we were checked into our hotel with Brad, who was resigned to spending the night with us since we couldn't get him back to his own accommodations that night as a result of the traffic. By 8pm, we were at the airport switching into a larger car and by 9pm, my parent were walking out of the terminal. What a way to greet my parents! It all worked out though in the end and we were just happy that we were the ones facing various impediments along the way rather than my parents.



Our real journey started 1 August, my father's birthday. Our first destination was St. Lucia along the Indian Ocean. The highlights of this location were not limited to the Indian Ocean, however. We ate dinner out all three nights and had some amazing meals...all of mine were of course seafood. We had everything from pizza to prawns and oyster in combination with some great South African wine and/or Amarula cocktails. The food selection went from Italian and seafood one night to Portuguese another night.



Besides just the food, we saw some great sites. Our first full day in St. Lucia, we took an afternoon drive through the Wetlands Park and saw several animals like the buffalo and rhino to name a few. We finished our drive by stopping at Cape Vidal to walk along the coast of the Ocean and enjoy the nice weather we were gifted with. This was also my parents first time being exposed to the conniving little vervet monkeys that seem to be present wherever there are picnics taking place. They seem to orchestrate chaos while at the same time amuse everyone watching.



Apparently, even with the large park, Kruger, looming a few days ahead on the trip, we still headed into the Wetlands Park for a second day of viewing after hearing the enticing stories of our B&B host that first evening. It was a crummy day though and perfect for just being inside the car. Even with the lousy weather, we saw one of the most amazing sites that B and I think we've seen...a hippo crossing the lowveld. This huge, ancient looking hippo was just lumbering across the road in front of us seemingly so out of place in the grassy surroundings in the middle of a heavy rain. It was the most beat up animal I have ever seen with scars engraved all over his massive body.



With the rain still coming down heavy, we were not deterred from the evening Estuary Cruise we had booked the day before. While we knew that the evening would not yield us amazing sunset photos, we hoped for the best when it came to croc and hippo sightings and we were not disappointed. The hippos were in their usual locations and out in great numbers playing and putting on a show for the cameras. The crocs were a bit more scarce, but we even spotted one that the tour guide failed to see from below deck.



After a couple wonderful days in St. Lucia and the only day of rain we had the entire vacation, we traveled up through the country of Swaziland and just to the southwest of Kruger National Park where we would stay for the next 5 nights in a chalet on a working Macademia Nut Farm. It was the most beautiful location among the macademia and banana trees, and it appeared that we had it mostly to ourselves. For me, the best part of this leg of our journey was the lapa where we shared a few meals after long days of site seeing. We treated my parents to a good-ole South African braai of lamb with round squash on the side and my mom's famous cucumber salad. The atmosphere was very soothing as we sat under the thatched roof and enjoyed the air through the open air lapa with the coals still glowing in the braai pit next to us.



Over the next five days we visited a famous pancake house, saw many different waterfalls and even washed a couple loads of laundry in the bathtub to make it through the rest of vacation. While all of this was fascinating, it doesn't even compare to the day and half that we spent driving through Kruger. Never in the two years that B and I have been in South Africa have we seen more than 3 of the Big 5 while on vacation and of those Big 5, we had never seen the leopard. Well, this time we not only saw a leopard both up close and once far away, we also managed to capture all of the Big 5 on camera up close! We watched rhinos battle for victory, lions stalk their impala prey, and baby elephants flap out their ears in playful intimidation.











The vacation we had experienced with my parents up to this point was spectacular. It meant so much that the animals came out and made their appearances not only for my parents' sake but also for the sake of B and I since this was our last time visiting any wildlife parks before heading back to the States in December.

The next couple days though following "vacation" continued in fashion to be fantastic. My parents were our first visitors to South Africa to get to experience our village as it normally is during the school year. Our regular family was at the house and school was in session. My parents got to see what our normal every day life is like here in just a couple days spent in our little mud house.

Arriving Saturday night, we unloaded the car and mom and I went to work unpacking the two suitcases worth of gifts she had brought for our friends here in South Africa. This is something that I adore about my parents...their bottomless generosity to others. While I know that it sets them back a bit financially, it rewards them emotionally and spiritually watching the happy faces receive the gifts that they so carefully picked out. Even after they left, people are exclaiming how beautiful the table runners are that my mother and her sisters sewed and how much everyone can see that I am like my mother after watching her help with the PGC.



Again, there is so much that I could say about the two days spent in our village, but it is just too much, so I will try and sum it up succinctly. Saturday night my parents gave gifts to the family. I'm pretty sure that by the third gift bag, Mma and Anna were wondering if Christmas was celebrated at a different time in America because they were overwhelmed by everything they were receiving. The kids were equally surprised by their gifts and took them inside to the table almost immediately to try everything out. The most fascinating part of this gift-giving event though was our Mma's reaction to it all. As my mother and father both tried their tongues at speaking Sepedi to Mma upon our prompting, Mma began trying to speak English back (Which she hardly ever does!!) and all of the adults were laughing simultaneously as if there was an instant bond of friendship. Mma was requesting photos with my parents both outside and inside of her house and seemed to just love having my parents as visitors.



In addition, the next day Mma was equally enthralled with my parents and continued opening up to them. At one point during the afternoon, Mma called us outside because she had put on her traditional Pedi tribal wear and wanted to model it for my parents. (I'm pretty sure she picked up on the fact that my parents both had a third appendage which was a camera and thought she would take advantage of it). Not only did she pose for about a hundred photos in this outfit, but then she proceeded to switch her clothes two more times and have even more photos taken. At one point, she even requested to have her photo taken with just my mother.



During this exchange between my parents and my host Mma, I saw a different side of Mma that really gave her a softness of character that I didn't know existed. She was happy and almost uninhibited around my parents. While I'm sure that I could analyze this change in her personality forever, I'm sure that it has something to do with the fact that my parents have some gray hair showing through and she felt the need to show them respect since her hair is still black (no offense mom and dad) even though they are the same age.



While there is still more to share about our day at school, mom's provision of a wonderful PGC, and our afternoon at Lambano Sanctuary with some children with HIV, I need to wrap this up and get some chores done this weekend.



Overall, it was a wonderful time spent with my parents packed with unique memories. After a year and half of not seeing my parents, it was a special time for me to reconnect with them and an even better opportunity for Brandon to finally get a substantial amount of time with my parents to really get to know them. Saying goodbye was not as difficult as past visitors since we all had the knowledge that B and I would be returning State-side exactly four months from the date my parents left.