Do NOT Sting ‘em, Hornets

It is now April 16, which means that it has been more than a month since my last blog post.  That is easily my worst bout of laziness since I arrived in South Africa in July, and for that, I once again offer my apologies.  I don’t want to say that the interregnum has been totally unworthy of the blog, but at the same time, you should be relieved to know that you haven’t been missing THAT much.  During that period, I finished off the first term of the South African school year and then enjoyed what I think was a well-deserved two weeks vacation. 

That fortnight allowed me the chance to travel to Mpumalanga, one of South Africa’s eastern provinces, which is a beautiful area with rolling hills, mountains, forests, and overall green upon green landscape.  The region is actually known for its timber industry (“green gold” as they call it there), with ample verdant forests, such that were it not for the large changes in elevation, there were times I could have imagined I was back in the Piney Woods of Texas.  I got the chance to go caving for the first time in my life, which, those of you who have seen the pictures can attest, had the side effect of also making me look like a miner, with my jumpsuit, light, and resultant dirty face.  As part of the experience, I received the added benefit of being stung by a hornet, who had decided to take up residence in the boots that were given to me.  It made me seriously regret all those times during Huntsville High School pep rallies that at the urging of our bee mascot, I shouted “Sting ‘em, Hornets”.  I guess I neglected during such rallies to inform the fighting hornets that such aggressive action should not include myself.

Miner/Caver

The pain from the sting was not so intense, though, that it prevented me from taking in a spectacular set of waterfalls also found in my holiday town of Sabie.  Despite the hike required to reach them, the effort exerted was well worth it once I finally felt the spray and got an up close glimpse of the shimmering cascades coming off the cliff.

Bridal Veil Falls

Oh, and then there is that thing about me running the 56 kilometer ultra-marathon.

Pause for a second.  Now read that last line again.  Yep.  That’s right.  For the first time in my life, I ran a marathon.  And not just any marathon – a 56 kilometer (34.8 miles) ultra-marathon for which the first 37 kilometers were going up a mountain.  Needless to say, it was a very stupid idea as not only had I not had the time or will to train for the preceding two months, but let’s be honest, running 56 kilometers is just stupid in general.  Despite the consequential pain, I suppose I had enough idiotic youth left in me to grind it out.  So 7 hours and 16 minutes after starting, I crossed the finish line, received my finisher’s medal, and then proceeded to be paralyzed for the better part of the next week.

If ever decide to run 56 kilometers again, just shoot me

The interesting thing is that everything that I’ve written about in this post, could just have easily happened in America as South Africa.  People back home go on vacation to hilly wooded areas like the Pacific Northwest, they go caving, they see waterfalls, they get stung by hornets, and amazingly, some also engage in the masochistic practice of running distances God never intended.  It just continues to boggle my mind that I can have such “American-like” experiences, meanwhile there is always a township or rural village not too far away, where the people might as well inhabit an alternate universe.The facts of the proximity of such different cultures and environments, just further reinforces what an enigma this country is, in which a first-world society totters precariously on an overwhelmingly third-world population (and just for the record, that first-world society is not exclusively White).  For any of you who have ever been to El Paso, Texas, you have witnessed the shocking disparity between the American and Mexican sides in that one area.  On one side is poverty, and on the other, wealth.  Now imagine that they were the same country.  That is South Africa.