Zimbabwe Absurdity

Well at least the internet works. I am sitting in the “porch” area of Gillian’s house, not far out of Groblersdal in Mpumalanga province of South Africa. I took it easy getting here, stopping off at a guest house outside Louis Trichardt last night.  I think I have got to the age now where I can take my time getting to places and don’t have to tear around getting to places quickly in order to save money – old habits die hard.

For the first time in a while fuel was easily available on the Zimbabwe side. The road was not in great condition though and the last 50km were littered with people, goats, cattle and donkeys which made for tedious driving. The contrast on the SA side was stark; clean, well maintained roads and no animal obstacles. Getting used to SA prices is still an ongoing process though – my entire bill for the whole night was R520. Was it a lot? Convert to US dollars – $52, OK that’s a bit better!

Buying a cellphone sim card is simplicity itself; as it is in most civilized places but getting it to work took 4 hours. Oh, well, we ARE still in Africa!