in the traffic standstill, napoleon was able to point out a few landmarks and give us a brief tour of the city. it was nice to see it in the daylight. i asked if he had any suggestions for driving and parking in new town, he
just laughed and said "allison, you can drive here. it is easy." he was still chuckling from last night. he said there were plenty of parking garages, and it was safe part of town so we shouldn't worry. okay. no worries.
once at the airport, napoleon went to pick up his clients and pointed us in the direction of the car rentals. we decided to find another ATM first and look for a hat for jeff, then grabbed a bite to eat at a cafe. even at seemingly 'fast food' places - you sit down and they serve you. starting my list of cultural differences.. jeff got a banana muffin and i got a scone. yummy, but loads of sugar. we then managed to get lost looking for the rental car place. i swear. after wandering for about 20 mins, we found it and picked up the keys. asked about registering SIM cards and were told had to do it with vodaphone directly. so made our way there, but they said they could only register local SIM cards, not our international card. we tried MTN next, and were given the same answer. tried one more place and they didn't even know what we were talking about. i guess no cell phone for us!
went to pick up our car in slot A-29, and there was no car. so back to the europcar counter again (without getting lost this time). the manager was confused and went with us to find our car. he kept pressing the unlock button to find it. ah, D-29. we had a car, but of course it was a VW.. can't get away from reminders of my ex, even in africa. gave jeff a quick introduction to the jo'burg map and away we went. now, just have to get used to driving on the wrong side of the road. kept repeating "stay left, stay left". luckily, there was absolutely massive traffic, so had plenty of time to just sit and adjust. we inched our way up the road that led directly to the city center. and minus the cars that were driving backward down the shoulder (clearly, you can do that here if you change your mind and want to avoid the traffic by taking the exit you long passed), it went pretty smoothly.
parking was another matter. we kept driving to the little "P's" on the map, but those attempts proved futile. pulled into a private garage and asked if we could park there. they said no, but attempted to help us by pointing down the road. thanks guys. then out of nowhere, a man came running up to us shouting "first spot! first spot!" i had no clue what he was talking about until driving up the road a bit, saw an open spot on the street - the first spot. the man proceeded to direct us into the space. thank god i didn't have to try to parallel park! wasn't sure of his role - were we supposed to tip him? or pay? it seemed like it was free for 120 mins, so we parked and headed towards newtown and mary fitzgerald square, which according to LP (lonely planet) was a good starting point.
it was sad looking, to be honest. SAB world of beer was closed, as was museum africa (we later discovered). so just strolled and took in the sights of turbine hall, market theatre and the bus fac
tory - which was a good thing b/c ran into a worker from our hostel (totally forget his name). he introduced us to lami - who worked at one of the NGOs housed in the complex, and lami said we shouldn't park on the street and should move our car to his lot where it is safer. but that's when we discovered the museum africa was closed, so decided to head to the university of witwatersrand's origins center, one of the few places opened on a monday. it was pricier than we anticipated, but was a very well done museum. highly recommended.
quite hungry at this point, decided to go by LP's food suggestions in newtown. tried to find one with a more african feel, but alas - were unsuccessful. omg. the traffic was so crazy. people honked constantly and just made up their own rules. i was certain we would die that day. managed to eventually get into a steady stream of traffic, and rather than staying around newtown just told jeff to get us out of there, which he promptly did. i remembered hostelworld saying there were a few bars and restaurants within walking distance of our hostel, so after only making 4 errors in navigation, found our way back and asked for dining suggestions. our hostel worker friend was there, but seemed to be horrified we wanted to walk anywhere. he said as a black man he would walk around during the day, but not at night. so as white people, we definitely should not. well alrighty then. he then gave us directions to drive to a few places.
okay, so here's the next cultural difference.. unintentionally lackadaisical directions. we followed his directions, or so we thought. he said left at the first traffic light, then go 4 blocks, and restaurant is between hotel and petrol station. well we did that, but it was only residential. so we went 4 traffic lights. nothing. and we went 4 more. still nothing. stopped at a few random places but everything was closed. so we decided to try the next street. and then the next. maybe he meant go left out of hostel, then 4 lights? still no luck. everything was closed, even on the main drag. jeff then made one of my favorite quotes of the trip - "no wonder everyone is starving in africa, nothing is open to find something to eat!" i nearly peed myself and temporarily forgot my hunger. he then remembered seeing a 24hr mcdonalds. not knowing what else to do, we made our way in that direction. would our first african meal really have to be one of the grossest american foods on the planet? ugh.
fortunately, no. on our way there we happened to notice a place called dom's. we didn't know what it was, but it appeared to be a food joint. it was more or less a pub and wasn't busy, but there were enough people in it that we weren't sketched out. more importantly, it wasn't mcdonalds. jeff got a massive chicken and beef burger. i got an ostrich burger. when in africa.. with food in our bellies, we were no longer cranky. back at the hostel, the water was warm. actually hot. unlike jeff's luke warm shower this morning, and my frigid one. i had ended up not showering b/c it was just too cold to bear. so dirty girl made her first appearance of the trip. a shower never felt so good - after traveling for 23 hrs, then going another 24 without showering, it was heavenly. plus jeff managed to jury-rig the window so it wasn't freezing at night. and thank goodness for silk sleep sheets!
