Drakensberg to Jo-burg
Jungle of eye-mighty events and music for people in trouble. The war of the insects and turmoil of leftover bites. The fall of the rainbow nation and the rise of the mob affairs.
Instead of the desired and
pre-imagined contemplation experience, silence and mountaineer spirit, I
arrived into Drakensberg area right in the middle of South African long weekend. Welcome to South
Africa! Braai, all day drinking, alcoholic breakfasts, late night drunken
talks and people coming into your room in a fugue state thinking it is actually
their chambers. I got so upset that I have hidden myself in the area far, far
away from the bar and guilty watched the entire season of Game of Thrones without
having an eye contact with the actual human being for a day.
Now, about that mountaineer experience. Ladders
and chains – no, thank you. I go with families, kids and people in sneakers,
flip flops and plastic bags. I chose completely unambitious and extremely not
challenging trail in favour of the hottest view points on the top of the
Dragon mountains.
Soon after, I rushed to Jo-burg and decided
to stay in Maboneng district. Yes, I’d love me some of that industrial places, organic stores, art galleries, murals, boutique whatevers and beautiful
people. You know what – I loved it. I really did.
And lord, I loved this city, too.
Jo-burg is scary and extremely
attractive at the same time. You’ll love it if you are, by nature, a firefly.
You know what I am talking about, right?
I felt in love with the city with
no heartbeat. The postmodern town centre full of quirky sky scrapers. All
of them empty, my dear friends, all of them abandoned in the apocalypse of post-apartheid.
And there is a real war going on out there. Illegal squatters, the unwanted and poor are
the real mayors of this deserted part of town. Garbage, urine smell, crime and
ever-lasting hustle. The crippled institutions unable to deal with the
post-apocalyptic mess. Mob justice coming to fix the problems of living in this
forgotten town. Is it dangerous – yes, it is. You have to be street wise and watch
your steps. You’ll be fine or you won’t. Easy as that.
You watch garbage bags flying with
the crazy winter wind and you hear music all around. People are dancing on the
street corners of Soweto. They create,
they sing, they dance, they make art. They go for a daily hustle runs. They
believe in dollar and they want to get out. Or they stay in, drinking
themselves unconscious until they feel it is all fine.
They live in the numbers or in
the upcoming, middle class part of the forgotten town. The rich are hanging out
in hot bars. Immigrants from all over Africa are trying to get into this weird
dreamland. They are your Uber drivers.They remain strangers. There is no rainbow nation. It remains
divided. But it is alive.
My last morning in Jo-burg I woke
up with millions of bed bugs bites. I thought – well, there must be a
punishment where there is a crime. What really happened in Jo-burg must stay in
this odd, behind-comprehension town.
How was it? It’s all in this
tune (thanks Alex!). Give it a listen and go for your own hike.
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