We took the bus to the outskirts of the village and the women were given sarongs to wear, as a sign of respect. Notice the king’s face on them. I think he is a bit of a narcissist. This fellow was our local guide and translator, although the chief herself spoke fairly good English.
The tour gives you a firsthand peek of life in a traditional Swazi village. The “spokeswoman” would show us something; for example an animal skin, and then the children would sing and show us how it was used as a mattress and blanket, or she would show us a woven bowl and the kids would sing and show us how to balance it on your head. It was very interactive and the children would come and grab our hands and coax us into trying things out....from grinding corn to sleeping with a wooden pillow and learning dance.
Our three men had to sit separately from them women, and their dance was also only for the men.
We each had one child who came and grabbed our hand and helped us to weave a bracelet, which we then tied to a wall for good luck. The kids didn't speak English and it was hysterically funny as we tried to follow their instructions.
The chief is explaining her clothing to us as the kids cleaned up. Everyone knew their job and there was no fooling around!
Even the littlest kids were a part of the demonstration.
The chief has 24 orphan children that she cares for who live in this village, and over 250 in the catchment area that she also helps support. They are mostly children who have lost their parents to HIV/AIDS.
After this we decided to walk back to our resort and pretty much got hopelessly lost. We ran into another couple, from Wales, who were also lost so we walked with them and eventually came to a farm where we were directed towards the proper road and before long we were all back where we belonged. I am not the only one with a horrible sense of direction here, and I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. It’s nice to not be alone in my constant state of being directionally challenged, but then again....there is often no one to lead us to the correct road or path.
Once, I walked out of a dining hall and as soon as I got to the front step I realized I had forgotten my coffee, so I turned around, went and got it, and left....striding towards my room only to hear “Shaaaaannon.....are you getting lost?” from Wellington. I would have said “Why, no, not at all, I’m just going for an evening stroll”, except it was pitch black and I was heading in the wrong direction towards the river. Dammit.
Dinner here is always a buffet, tonight it was impala and wildebeest as well as chicken for those who are not interested in trying local foods. The buffet is empty in this picture because it was still mid-day, but the picture does show how it’s all outdoors. In the morning there were birds helping themselves to the cereal and granola!
Impala is the meat on the bottom, and wildebeest (or gnu) is the stew-like chunks above it.
Later that night was a really well done cultural display of singing and dance. It was extremely enjoyable, unlike the rainy, short performance in Santa Lucia.
Early to bed as tomorrow is a 5 AM wake-up for a final hike. It gets incredibly hot by 10 AM so our guide wanted us to get an early start. I love my little bee-hive hut.
No comments:
Post a Comment