Lil Mama

Ariel just posted three entries about our weekend at Afrika Burn that I love and wanted to share with everyone....

ARIEL'S BLOG

xxx

e

Slide Show of Afrika Burn

Greg fixing our tire


The very destroyed tire


Arts & Crafts


Neon flower garden


Metal art car behind this woman


"Leave No Trace" made out of cigarette butts


Neon lights


Pirate ship party bus


EAT ME cupcakes


Jules


Drinking a LOT of water, Anna looking VERY dehydrated...


Pink bunny slippers art car


Pink heart lollis

Ariel, the cutest

Playing in the tent

Anna

Fun people

Harrison & Dexter

Dance class we stumbled upon

Talya & Anna in one of the art gardens

An amazing journey!

AFRIKA BURN 2010 Karu, South Africa

When I Arrive I Want.....CANDYLAND

It's weekends like these that force me to step back from reality and reassess life. We rented a car, a tent, and scrambled together enough food,water, and warm blankets/sleeping bags for the freezing nights. Anna, Ariel, Julie, Talya & I were set for Afrika Burn. The African spin on Nevada's Burning Man, Afrika Burn is an indescribable desert turned magical land for four days- a celebration of happiness and love. It is an inspirational, community orientated art/trance festival that is built on the concept of replacing monetary value with sharing and community. On Sunday night the "man" ( a large sculpture) is literally burned and there is no trace of the activities and participants from the weekend. Try and visualize a 60's acid trip deep in the African desert and that is Afrika Burn.

Although we met about fifteen other friends at the festival, traveling as five American girls in Africa again reinforced our incompetency. About three hours outside of Cape Town the "road" to Afrika Burn turns to complete dust for about two hours. We overwhelmingly felt as though we were driving through a desert post card.

MINOR BUMPS ALONG THE WAY WE CAN NOW LAUGH ABOUT...

Problem 1: We accidentally drove about 80 kph on this "road" and completely shredded one of our tires. Oops. Luckily, two guys from Joburg (I'll call them "guys1") drove past on this desolate road and helped switch our destroyed tire with our spare. Unfortunately we quickly discovered a second flat tire, luckily not completely destroyed yet.

Problem 2: After thanking and parting ways with Guys1 we realized we couldn't continue driving without fixing destroyed tire #2. About ten minutes later, two friendly guys (guys2) in a large truck stopped to help us. They were heading to AFrika Burn with all of the equipment for their band, Creme Brulee and the Seasonal Fruits. They reassured us that they were the Creme Brulee and we were their seasonal fruits. Luckily they had a small generator that they helped us use to pump air into our tire about every 10 k's for over an hour. This allowed us to drive on the flat tire the remainder of the way, but we would still need to fix it to leave on Sunday.

Problem 3: Because there are no purchases made while at Afrika Burn, we had absolutely no idea how we would find a new tire to replace our flat. After recognizing this minor problem we decided to enjoy our first night and deal with it in the morning.

Problem 4: Considering I spent the majority of high school summers on backpacking trips, you would think setting up a tent would be a simple task. Not so much. Due to our tire problem we didn't actually arrive until dark when the desert is horrifyingly cold. A nice guy (guy3) camping next to us offered his tenting skills once he realized five ditsy girls were virtually being blown away with their tent. After about an hour the tent was up and this problem was solved.

*We spent Friday night running around chasing the loud music trying to find the best party spot. Ran into some friends and met some cool people along the way.

Problem 5: Woke up early after almost freezing to death to blazing African desert sun. Julie, Talya & I ran around trying to deal with the tire situation before the festivities of Saturday began. After getting no coherent responses back from the organizers of Afrika Burn, our friend Greg (guy4) offered us his spare tire, not realizing that meant he had to actually replace the tire for us. After rolling under our car in the dirt, accidentally punching himself in the face, and finally realizing that his spare would not even fit on our rim, a pick up truck with two Afrikaner men came to our rescue. (big thanks to Greg for trying).

Problem 6: These two men (guys5)apparently are local farmers that come to Afrika Burn every year to help people with inevitable tire problems. The younger of the two stuck some tire sealant in the hole in our tire and saved our day.

Problem 7: Although we had four working tires on our car at this point, the reality of getting another flat tire on the drive home out of the desert was too risky. To say the least, we put way too much trust into (guys5) by letting them take our shredded tire to fix. They ended up loosing our tire and then finding our rim and putting the wrong size tire on the rim and having to take it off again. We at least were able to leave with a rim and knew that driving VERY slowly was going to be part of our ride home.

*Five groups of men helped us reinforce female ignorance and sorted all of our problems out. We are very grateful.

It is hard to actually explain the events of this weekend. Maybe it was because we were high on life, had a few too many drinks, or were running around baking in unbearable desert heat. The whole experience was magically irreplaceable. I think the best way to show everyone is through pictures because for me the weekend was visually stimulating in a way I have never experienced. We stumbled upon art cars (my favorite shaped like a pink fuzzy bunny slipper), yoga classes, massive art sculptures, a neon flower garden, a living room themed party, an Alice in Wonderland tent, bourbon cherries, and of course Creme Brulee and the Season Fruits playing on the back of their moving truck. Truly once in a lifetime.

SEE THE ABOVE POST FOR A SLIDESHOW OF PICTURES!

xoxox

emma

Coming Up...

This coming weekend marks Afrika Burn, derived from Burning Man in Nevada, this five day long festival is based on art, community, and self-expression. After the initial ticket purchase no money is to be spent while at Afrika Burn and one must survive based on trading. We haven't decided what to bring yet, maybe some home made goods and lots of water, but I'm sure we will figure it out. Hoping to head there on friday or saturday and stay until everyone "burns the man" aka burns down the whole field where the activities of the weekend took place. AFRIKABURNS SITE.

Last week my friend Louie invited me along to climb Table Mountain. Considering it is the view from my bedroom window and the University of Cape Town campus is at the base of the mountain, I figured it was about time to get to the top. I had taken the cable car up when I was in Cape Town last summer but didn't get the full experience. About ten of us set out for the day to hike the route Skeleton's Gorge and about five hours later after a very strenuous hike we were at the top! The views of Cape Town were stunning...

thandi,
emma

FINALLY

I can imagine that this is the post that my friends and family have been expecting since I left the states.... I FINALLY FOUND A HOT YOGA STUDIO IN CAPE TOWN! Life is complete. No, really, it is. My friend Molly told me that she went to Yoga Zone, virtually the only hot yoga studio in all of Cape Town, and loved the classes. SO we went the other day and needless to say I've already been back twice. Great facility, teachers and classes in general, everything about it makes me so happy!

YOGA ZONE

emma

Theatre

Last night Talya and I went to the new Athol Fugard Theatre in Distric Six for his new play "The Train Driver." Originally meant to be an evening out for The Wolmunster people (our house), plans changed and a spare ticket for Julie came our way! We were all a little too excited for the play and not prepared for the gravity of the two man show. It was thought provoking and highly interesting. Here is a NY Times review.

JOBURG

Going back to our amazing trip to Johannesburg in February...

Emma and I are taking a seminar once a week run by Quinton Redcliffe, the leader of CIEE. The purpose of the seminar is to discuss our experiences living abroad in Cape Town. One of the perks of the class is that he takes the whole group a trip to Joburg in order to learn about a different side of South Africa. Talya and Anna came along as well...

The city offered a whole other side to South African history and culture that we had not experienced in Cape Town. Constitutional Square and the Apartheid Museum offered a historical perspective on the issues of racism and crime, while Chez Alna Restaurant, Umoja and the bicycle tour of Sowetto illustrated how these issues are manifested in everyday contemporary South Africa. (The Pirates' soccer game was just for fun!)

My feelings throughout the trip were both positive and negative. My Bed & Breakfast was absolutely wonderful: the room and meals were great, and the hostesses were so kind. I was amazed by the energy of the people at the Pirates’ soccer game, in church, and in the Umoja performance. We definitely felt that the people of Johannesburg have a vibrancy to them that is echoed by the city’s rapid industrialization, economic robustness, and growth in preparation for the World Cup. However, there were also many negatives. I was shocked to see the polarity of Sowetto: how people can be living in such horrific conditions only minutes away from the lavish houses of Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. It was also disappointing to see many dangerous and negligent aspects of the city: abandoned buildings, homeless people, and slums.

Our most poignant observation was one that made us very confused about the city of Johannesburg: one that seems to be caught between the Third World and Modern World, held back due to its omnipresent historical past. This brings us to our one criticism of the trip: despite being very educational and enlightening, unfortunately we thought we only scratched the surface of Johannesburg. Perhaps we are demanding a clear answer to an infinitely complex question, but we felt that the trip served to highlight issues surrounding race rather than explain them. During our stay in Sowetto and our trips throughout Johannesburg, racism was obvious. We were surprised by how segregated the races were. We really saw ONLY black people—and manly blacks of a low socio-economic status. While it is very important to be exposed to this marginalized group of society, it is equally important to show how the other half live. We wish we had seen a variety of coloured and white communities so that we might get a fuller picture of South African society. We wish we had spoken more to Johannesburg natives about the issues surrounding race—such as politics, tribalism, and religion. We realize that these might be unrealistic expectancies for a weekend trip, but we hope we can continue expound upon these questions further in class.
Overall, it was an incredible experience in Johannesburg. Thank you Quinton for the opportunity!

Not Just Any Day

I'm writing this while I should really be focusing on the 12 page paper I have due tomorrow on "the politics of memory in a post-apartheid society." If anyone has any idea how to tackle a topic as grave as this, I will be forever in debt. In the mean time I'll focus on the memories from our most recent adventure. On to the most memorable day of my life...




When we heard that this "lion encounter" existed in Livingstone, Zambia, we knew it was an unheard of opportunity that would be worth every penny. The more we investigated, the more eager we were. ALERT, African Lion and Environmental Research Trust, is the organization that is associated with these walks that raises awareness and supports the healthy integration of lions across Africa. Before experiencing the lion encounter I was unaware of the "vulnerable" status of lions (not quite endangered) and the 85% decrease of the lion population over the past 35 years.















The experience basically consisted of Anna, Julie, Talya & I walking through the natural African bush with several trained guides (one carrying a rifle in case of emergency) side by side with two lions. Although the lions are not trained or zoo-like in any sense, they have daily interactions with people which allow them to feel more comfortable walking with us then a wild lion would. Regardless, we were all pretty terrified walking with only our sticks to use as distractions. We were especially scared when the lions quickly became too rowdy for comfort and started charging at us from behind. Oblivious as usual, the guides started screaming at us to move to the side, but we found ourselves paralyzed. One lion ran straight into Julie's tush, literally making all of our stomachs drop and hearts stop. The adrenaline rush took several hours to fade! To this day we still ask each other when else in our lives will we be so close to potentially the scariest animal on earth. I'm assuming the answer is never.




thandi from cape town,
emma