City on a hill

We arrived the capitol city of Mbabane on Friday. Driving up from the Ezulwini valley, we probably ascended a kilometer to the top of a hill. The city was as high as many of the mountains we spent time looking up at during the past week. Our short time downtown showed us a vibrant center of activity and a well-planned shopping area. It was easy to navigate. We found a guesthouse in the diplomatic section of the city, with an absolutely stunning view. It reminded me of southern California in a lot of ways,with eucalyptus groves, deep valleys with scrub brush, and houses with tiled roofs.

This scenic city belies its many problems however, as our friends Todd and Yolande from Namibia pointed out to us. They moved here about eighteen months ago, and while their quality of life is outstanding, they struggle with the political corruption, apparently rampant domestic and child abuse, alcoholism, and general status of women. While these are social problems which are common in many countries, we know that some places are harder to live in than others because of the prevalence.

We enjoyed our time with them, as we reminisced about how Namibian beef is so much better than anywhere else in the region and swapped stories about friends we have in common.

Crossing the border back into South Africa did not pose a problem and by noontime yesterday we had descended into the steamy lowveld and Nelspruit, the self-described entry into Kruger Park. It is a good city in which we discovered the largest Spar supermarket we had seen. Because of the oppressive heat and humidity, we stayed in the air-conditioned complex for quite a while. We discovered what must be the best breakfast cereal ever – nutella in a corn pillow. It didn’t even make it to breakfast. Genius.

We lucked out at Old Vic Travellers Inn. This backpacker’s place was awarded four stars by someone, and because of the slow season we were given an entire apartment for the price of an en-suite room. Yes, we will certainly be here a few days as we have just about completely moved in. A large tropical garden envelopes the yard and there is a good-sized aviary with several types of birds. A very peaceful place to be. Glad there is a pool though because it is bloody hot.