Where in the World is me?

- This country has the largest gold reserves in the world
- This country has 7 UNESCO World Heritage sites
- This country has thousand pound great whites that jump clear out of the water to eat seals
- This country is the most violent country in the world not at war
- This country is the most developed in Africa
- This country was recently host to the Fifa World Cup

If you guessed South Africa you are correct. We flew into the capital Johannesburg to start a tour de Southern Africa. I didn’t really have plans to travel south or be in South Africa at all but when the wonderful Rwandair had a major sale to go to SA, we packed our bags and headed south. This was the first time I have been back to South Africa since I went on a horribly misguided “mission trip” the summer of my junior year of high school. Although I frown upon that trip now, I don’t think I would be where I am today with going on it. With the whole other side of the equator thing going on, seasons are reversed. Living so close to the equator in Rwanda has made “winter” here no big deal but when you head south, it made me realized that it can get quite cold. I managed to keep a cold almost the entire trip.
Johannesburg was still sparkling a few weeks after hosting the world cup. The rainbow nation still had tons of banners and flags waving as they are trying to hold on to the spotlight of the World Cup as long as possible. Too be honest, winter in Johannesburg reminded me of a crisp fall day in one of the tougher neighborhoods in New York City. I can deal with some tough neighborhoods but Jo’burg was a bit intimidating to me. The sheer amount of barbed wire, electric fences, security guards with AK-47s (although this isn’t an uncommon all over Africa, just the amount of them was amazing) and strong racial tensions that could be felt from a mile away kept me on my toes our entire stay there. Apparently my cautions weren’t enough, I have returned to Rwanda sans one cell-phone.
My memories of SA were a little fuzzy because I had a little culture shook going to a legitimate developed country. I mean I know SA is called a developed country but you never know what’s being exaggerated or straight up lie in Africa. For example: while we were away, Rwanda had free and fair elections. You just don’t know how much truth you get but nobody was lying about SA being developed. Usually when folks go on holiday, they don’t go to the mall to buy shampoo, check the latest movies and lounge around the hostel or hotel and chat with folks but that’s what I wanted to do and spend every minute enjoying it. We walked around the mall, saw not one but two movies and enjoyed just eating something different than rice and beans. I’ll just say SA was a great lounge stop over.