Guest Blog 1 of 3 - Im in Jozi "now now" or "just now"

Hi,

It's the 90's again and I'm going to be blogging about all the crazy things I did this past weekend and talking shit, NOT!

In actuality, I'm writing this post as a guest blog for Melissa. Yup, it's me, Mariano Phillip Penaflorida Yogore IV or you can refer to me as Little Phil for those that know.

After a 23hr layover in Abu Dhabi I arrived in Jo-Berg on Saturday. My immediate first impression going through the jet bridge and feeling the outside air, was that it's not scalding hot. So right away, I need to say this. If you grew up in the United States like I did, throw many of the assumptions you have away because a lot of what we see and hear about Africa in general is not true, especially in South Africa. In South Africa, Simba from the Lion King is not waiting outside of the airport to eat you, Shaka Zula and his warriors will not attempt to throw spears at you and there aren't kids dying right in front of you of malnutrition that you can save for 50 cents a day.

So anyways, as I walked through the terminal, I got stopped a total of three times on the way to the arrival area. The first time I got stopped was for passport control. Very typical interaction here. They asked me how long I was staying and stamped my passport.  After this stop, I walked about 100 meters and made eye contact with three officers that were standing near an "agricultural check" sign.  He signaled me to come over and I did. He asked me, if I had anything to declare and if I have any beef jerky on me. Weird Right! Then after 10 meters I got stopped again by another set of three officers standing near a "customs check" sign. Alarm bells went off in my head and said "Here comes the American shake down,"These guys are going to ask me for money so I can get into the country." I've seen and have had family deal with the similar issue going to the Philippines. Instead, they asked me some really bizarre questions like "Where does your wife work? How long have you been married? When did you get married? and so on and so on." Out of all the people that walked by, I did not see anyone else get stopped., maybe I look shady. After going through these three checks and trying to navigate the crappy internet of the airport, I was saw to this sign!

I feel loved!

After we got home and unpacked we went out to dinner right away  at The Baron. The closest thing I can think of that is like the baron in the US is a nicer Ponderosa. This is where I first saw how strong the US Dollar was. I didn't want to get anything super fancy so I ordered a burger which was around 88 rand. That sounds like a lot right? Turns out that 88 rand is about $5.80. I decided to live it up a little and order a steak for $150 rand which is a little under $10.

THANKS OBAMA!

After dinner, we had a couple of drinks at the The Hotel Nicol, Melissa's place of residency since late October. We drank our South African 5hr energies and Uber'd off to Taboo Night Club for Black Coffee's Birthday party. All I have to say is WOW! Great party! Lots of people there, tons of diversity from different Europeans to Afrikaans to Coloreds to Americans and everything between. Great vibe, lots of dancing and we talked to a lot of locals who were happy to talk about the local music scene. I have to say, not a lot of attitude there at all. We stayed out till about 4:30am. It was well worth staying up for. If anyone with a Chicago-centrific view on house music believes it's not progressing anywhere, please see Johannesburg. It's enjoyable to hear house music on multiple radio stations, several stores in the mall and on TV. You will find the scene well, alive and burning! 

The next day we went to Groenkloof Nature Reserve and walked 10K. 10K on flat Chicago streets is a breeze. Walking 10K on a rugged mountain up and down took us 4hr and our muscles were screaming in pain. Shouts out to my co-workers, BM and CG for suggesting hiking gear, what a blessing! Along our hike we saw Zebra, Ostrich, Blue Wildebeest, Cranes and Red Hartebeest. Here are two animals we saw:

Striped horse

Red Hartebeest

After that, we had dinner at Ocean Basket. I give it 3 out of 4 mehs. After spending our nicely valued American earned coin, we had drinks and went to bed....

I need to go to bed. I'll try to update next Sunday.

plur