track our trek

after 20 hours of travel from auckland, we arrived in johannesburg friday afternoon & went through our usual new airport routine: find an atm; get cash; get a local sim card; arrange transport to the hostel. michael and mandla from diamond diggers backpackers picked us up after a short wait, & we were off...once we checked in, we proceeded to sleep the rest of the day away! of course, then jet lag had us awake and ready to go around 3am...we spent most of the next day at the apartheid museum...the museum is really nicely put together and crammed full of information about south africa's history, both distant and recent. once again we arranged to be shuttled there and picked up by mandla. anytime we inquired about exploring the city on our own, or getting out for a walk around town, we were strongly discouraged..."joburg is much too dangerous...just tell us where you want to go, & we will arrange transport for you." yikes! we found it very difficult to get our bearings in the city, since we had to be driven everywhere; and we were overwhelmed by all the high security walls and razor wire everywhere! everywhere we turned people were living behind walls and fences and bars and barbed wire. it is very disconcerting! johannesburg's reputation for violent crime is notorious, and it's the first place we've been where the fear of crime seemed so palpable. on the other hand, we felt good to not be in the minority for the first time on our trip so far...people even speak to us in zulu or xhosa first here! we'll have to add more than 3 words to our vocabulary! jokes...