Woke up early so we could get started on our day trip as soon as possible – how sad is it that getting up at 9 on a Saturday in June is “sleeping in”? Clearly I’m getting old.
We had decided earlier in the week to head out to some of the villages around Gabs for the day – Gabane was our projected first stop, which is famous for its pottery, and Thamaga, where there’s apparently a glass factory and a traditional village meeting place, called a kgotla (prn. ho-t-la). We only had a very vague idea of how to get there, but that started with catching a combi outside the west gate of the UB campus, to the central bus station. Combis are the buses here, and they roughly adhere to a set route, though not to any kind of schedule. According to Jose, another intern in our program who works near Gabane, we needed to get the Tlokweng 4 bus. We thought we had gotten really lucky when the first bus we flagged down turned out to be a Tlokweng 4 – but then it was totally full, and there were 6 of us (Kim joined us). Same story for the next three buses. We eventually gave up and hailed a cab, then openly flaunted the traffic laws by cramming all 6 of us into the one cab (five in the backseat). We got to see some new parts of the city, including the Ministry of Health, which looks like something out of 1984. We also saw where the president lives, though by saw I mean we saw the wall topped with barbed wire surrounding it.
Julia had made us all a little apprehensive about going to the bus station, because she had been once with Boitumelo in the middle of the day, and she said it had been really crowded and confusing. It was busy, and there were buses everywhere, but it was also kind of neat because there were a bunch of vendors selling clothes, shoes, vegetables, candy, etc. Our cab driver was nice and dropped us near the ranks for Gabane, so we found the bus fairly quickly. Only 3 pula!
We piled in and enjoyed the ride out, seeing cows and traditional houses along the way, though we got a bit anxious towards the end because we had no idea where to get off. Also, a girl on the bus told Olivia that she looked like Rhianna, which was really sweet.
Got off at the last stop, which basically looked like a dirt road with some random buildings. We saw a sign for Pelegano Pottery, 1.5 km, so we started walking. It was definitely more like the stereotypical African village – dusty dirt road, chickens and cows wandering about, thatched roof huts mixed in with more modern cinderblock houses. Basically it was awesome. The weather was really nice, so we enjoyed the walk, and everyone that passed us was really friendly and greeted us. Two mothers passed by with their children and told us that they wanted to be our friends – people say that a lot here, and we’ve decided that it clearly means something different than what we think it means.
Made it to the pottery place, which basically seems to be like an arts collective. Everything seemed to be closed – they told us that two of the buildings had been closed for renovations, so we were a bit disappointed. The door to the pottery building had a sign that said “Open – call Martin” and a number, but when we tried the number it didn’t work. We sat around wondering what to do for a few minutes, then Kim had the brilliant realization that the big black mark in the middle of the phone number that we had been including as a 1 wasn’t actually part of the number. We tried it again, and it worked! Within a few minutes, Martin had appeared, let us into the building, and was giving us a tour of the works!
The pottery is made from clay that they take from the hills around the village, which is a typical sort of brownish red. They have two kilns, but they import the glazes from South Africa. Martin’s job is to throw the pots on the wheel, which he did right in front of us! It was fantastic, and we all very enthusiastically purchased some of his wares afterwards.
We wandered back to the main road, stopping at a “general supply” on the way, which is basically like the equivalent of a CVS here (they had Cokes in glass bottles!). We asked for the bus to Thamaga, but the vendors told us that we’d have to bus back into Gabs to get the bus to Thamaga. It was only 1 or so, so we headed back into the city, where we discovered that the bus to Thamaga would be another hour and 45 minutes one way. None of us particularly relished the idea of being out after dark, so we headed to Riverwalk to get tickets to the soccer game the next day and pick up some groceries, while Kim split to go to a French music festival.
I was running a little low on cash, as were a few others, so the first stop at Riverwalk was the ATM. Olivia’s card has still never worked, so her dad transferred me some money to withdraw for her. So of course, my card decided not to work. Great. Next we got our tickets to the Zebras game (yes, that is the national team’s mascot – Botswana is SO much cooler than the US), got ice cream at Milky Lane (the ONLY ice cream shop in Gabs), picked up some wine, and headed back to UB.
Sat around talking, pretending we were going to watch a movie, and drinking wine the rest of the night. Very classy.
STAY TUNED! -- Next up, CHEETAH PETTING!
No comments:
Post a Comment