South Africa #31

Upon arrival in Graaf-Reinet the weather was WAAAAY too hot. I think I recall hearing that it was something like +37 that day. Literally. We drove to our guest house, only to find out it had been changed to another guest house. The new one was only a block or two away, but oh my God, the drive was like a slow cruise through Hell. The sweat was, as they say, running down the crack of my ass. We go to the new place, and oozed through the door and I heard the words “Here...have a cool drink.” Excitement reigned until I realized it was sherry. I do love sherry, but not in this heat. 

This place was another adorable guest house, with an ice-cold pool. I could hardly get my feet in it, although others did swim. Although just soaking my feet and legs was great, and so cooling.

After we tossed our stuff into our respective rooms, we went for a wander through town. It’s very segregated here. We walked to the end of the Main Street, and at the end of it, it was like a whole different town...businesses were different; smaller, poorer, not as modern looking as the shops on the main drag. There are still black schools and white schools here. Below is the Main Street.

The church is the Dutch Reformed Church, built in 1792. It’s situated on the town square, which isn’t a square at all, but more of a traffic circle. The street is Church Street, probably named that because uase there are three other churches on it.

The town hall. These purple-flowered jacaranda trees are everywhere, so beautiful.

We walked around a little bit and eventually went back to the main area where we found an appealing place for lunch.

I just had a chicken salad with avocado, raisins and spiced chicken, and a drink that was labelled as a lemon and fruit iced tea, but upon arrival I was pretty sure it was loaded with dirt and gravel. In hindsite I think it was tea leaves and seeds/pits from the fruit, but you couldn’t use the straw as it clogged up with the first sip. I sort of had to strain it with my teeth. 🤢

The other girls had a much more appealing meal. Squash of all kinds but particularly butternut is hugely popular here.