Blog post #15

On The Road

We spend a lot of time in the car here, traveling from attraction to appointment, and besides being on the opposite side of the road, there are some interesting differences between driving in South Africa & driving in America. First, the signs. After almost seven weeks, we still don’t know what all the road signs mean. There’s one that looks like a Transformer, and one that looks like said Transformer with a no-no line through it. Jamie & I are fond of saying, “No Optimus Prime on this street.” There’s a series of signs with three slanted lines, then two, then one, which we’ve come to understand means, “Exit coming up in ____ amount of miles, now only ____ amount of miles, now here it comes.” Some of our favorites are twisty, turny, elaborate shapes that are meant to let you know what form the road is going to take, but which really distract & confuse. And then there’s the “Goats!” road sign. A favorite, for sure.

The other major difference we’ve noticed is the rest stops. When traveling from Durban to Johannesburg, we wanted to find a rest stop where we could eat lunch & let the girls get some energy out. Now, I am used to the sterilized-yet-still-germy rest stops on the New Jersey Turnpike: Roy Rogers, Cinnabon, Pizza Hut, gas station. I try to get in & out of those places as quickly as possible. When we pulled off the highway looking for a rest stop, we found the loveliest indoor/outdoor café, with a playground and baby bunnies. Baby bunnies! We had camembert and avocado sandwiches. We strolled their rows of lavender and basil plants. What a delightful surprise during a long day of steady driving. It was downright refreshing not to see a chain restaurant.

Something you would not find in Philadelphia is the plethora of men trying to sell things to you as you sit at traffic lights (which they call “robots” here). At one red light, a person can purchase or refuse cell phone chargers, oranges, cold drinks, sunglasses, and DVDs. Sometimes they are not selling anything, but begging, carrying trash bags tied around their necks to carry whatever food or items they are given. They are persistent! It appears very dangerous, having multiple people standing and walking between moving cars at every intersection, but it isn’t illegal here, and there don’t seem to be any rules other than, “This is my corner. I sell the avocadoes over here.”

But in any country, a long car ride hopefully involves solid naps for precious little people.