World Cup - Pretoria & Melville

Pretoria

Before coming to South Africa I really wanted to visit Lesotho, a mountainous kingdom which is an exclave within South Africa. I had heard that it’s a very unique and beautiful country. As it turned out, with the weather being brutally cold in Jo’burg I decided not to pursue Lesotho as it would be even colder and hence I turned my attention to Swaziland which also is a small Kingdom nation sandwiched between South Africa to the north, south and west and Mozambique to the east with slightly milder weather as its closer to the Indian Ocean and at a lower altitude that Jo’burg. The only problem was that I could not get a visa ahead of my travel to South Africa; the only way I could do it was going to their High Commission in Pretoria and applying in person. Pretoria is actually the capital of South Africa and lies about and hour away from Jo’burg so the next day I decided to head there.

Union Building

With my new found freedom I decided to take the local taxis (they are actually minibuses). The taxis that we normally know are called maxi taxis and are far more expensive. A typical ride in a local minibus taxi costs about 4 rands (50 cents) while in a maxi taxi the equivalent distance costs about 70 rands ($9) so it’s pretty amazing to see the difference in fare. Most Black South Africans travel in the minibus taxi. When I took the first minibus taxi from my hostel I was introduced to an interesting concept of waving for a taxi in South Africa. If you point your second finger upwards it means that you are going away from the city center and if pointing downwards it means you are going towards the city center. As I had to catch a minibus to Pretoria I first had to get a taxi to the city center of Jo’burg which is commonly called North. To people who are familiar to Indian buses, it’s a place very similar to an ST Stand.

Supporters of Chile referring to the
devastating earthquake

Once I got there, I went straight to an Internet café and checked the required documents to apply for a visa. The important things I needed were a passport (which I obviously carried with me that day), passport photo (which I now carry with me on all my travels), proof of accommodation (for which I booked a random hostel in Swaziland for $3 on www.hostel.com right at that very moment I was in the internet cafe), application forms (which I printed and filled up on my way to Pretoria) and payment slip of 80 Rands into the High Commission’s bank account (which I did as soon as I reached the Pretoria).

So technically, taking away the time it took me to go to Pretoria and the High Commission’s office, I spent about 15 minutes to gather all my other documents. Unfortunately, I could not collect the passport the same day and was instructed to come back in a couple days. Not withstanding that I think I am getting pretty efficient at applying for visas after having to do it for 12 countries. One of the problems of having an Indian Passport is that I have to apply for a visa to almost all countries in the world. I think that’s got to do with a lot of Indians trying to immigrate to foreign countries in search of greener pastures.

Bunny chow

The union buildings (seat of the SA Government as well as the President’s office) were around the corner from the Swazi High Commission so I decided to check them out and they are actually pretty nice with a panoramic view of Pretoria. After spending a little time I went back to the Pretoria center city but there was nothing good to see there so I decided to return back to Jo’burg.

As I was walking back to the bus stand a stranger came by and greeted me. He asked me where I was from and where I was headed and then asked if I would mind if he accompanied me. He said the area was not the safest to walk around so I said ok. He was a nattily dressed young guy maybe around 21-22 with a stylish scarf around his neck.

Waiting for the taxi to take me back to Johannesburg

As we started chatting, he offered to show me around Pretoria and was genuinely very polite but I sensed something out of place so I asked his opinion on the South African women and that’s when I got the message that he was not into women. I politely told him that I don’t share the same sexual orientation as him but he seemed a really nice guy and I was curious to know how life is for a gay Black South African so we decided to have a bunny chow (which is basically hollowed out loaf of bread filled with anything to curry, meat or fries and eggs) at one of the street side stalls.

It was interesting when he mentioned that he is relatively well accepted in South African society, especially the younger generation though his mom disagrees with his sexual orientation. I read in the news papers that gays are dealt severely in the African society so it was good to know that he felt safe in South Africa.

Good times at a bar in Melville

After the meal it was time to head to the bus station to catch my bus to Jo’burg and it was very nice of him to walk with me all the way till the bus station and wait in line till I actually boarded the bus before he said goodbye and left. I wish him the best in his search for a suitable partner.

While I was in Pretoria Fabian stayed back at the hostel. Back in the dorm room I also caught up with Joaquin (from Argentina) who had checked in our 4 bed dorm the prior night. That same evening we decided to check out Melville (a trendy neighborhood of Jo’burg flocked by students). We decided to take a maxi taxi to a bar in Melville and by the time we left we were joined by 3 more guys who also stayed at the same hostel. So here we were, 2 Argentines, 2 Brazilians, a Panamanian and an Indian heading for a night out in Melville. The bars there were all packed with Dutch fans (the Dutch had won their game earlier that afternoon in Jo’burg against the Danes). I don’t quite remember what time we got back but we stayed at the bar till it was closing time late into the night.

All in all it was a very interesting day but tomorrow was 15th and I had 3 more night in Jo’burg before I get out of the city to maybe go to Kruger National Park.