Posted June 23, 2022: Concern for how my unruly stomach would behave caused a good deal of pre-travel anxiety—after all, Sara deserved relatively healthy travel companions (even if a little long in the tooth as the horsey expression goes) on her first big trip abroad. Well, I made it until last night without one single down day, and now about 12 hours later I believe it’s come and gone. I have a long-term, non-fatal (apparently?), stomach affliction which visits periodically. So now it’s over and done with for this adventure hopefully. I would apologize for starting a travel post with a whine about my stomach but, hey, you’re traveling with a crone, remember. Stuff happens.

Celia and Sara are out for a day in Soweto with South African history writ large in the itinerary. Although I’ve been several times, I was looking forward to one last jaunt about the city, but will have to be content with yesterday’s visits to the Sandton City Mall (think Houston). I purchased a giant suitcase to replace two small ones that made maneuvering in crowded spaces awkward. The story goes like this: I brought my hiking sneakers and hiking poles for the adventure part (that story to follow) and of course all my devices and power sources, plus warm stuff for day and night since I’m always cold. Needless to say…and as all travelers know…packing well is a skill comparable to…well…maybe rocket science. Normally I’m fairly good at it, this time not so much, therefore the new Big Red Suitcase. Bad Marj.

It turns out the mall has an excellent bookstore and I found several books from African and European writers of current events/history/adventure of which I would not otherwise have been aware—a sensible person would have noted their titles and gone back home and ordered them. But there’s something about returning from faraway with books about faraway that’s so satisfying. My big find was Anxious Joburg: The Inner Lives of a Global South City. Johannesburg is a fascinating place to me and apparently to many people studying urban spaces, the realities of geography, racial politics and interactions, and the effects of colonialism. This city so starkly exhibits the extremes of wealth and poverty, of white and black, of past and present and it’s all there on any drive through. Our first day here we went to a grand old city art museum, nearly abandoned, still with powerful exhibits, just no maintenance, visitors, or hope (see photograph of two pieces from the museum); through a downtown that has been completely abandoned to the huge migration of Africans from throughout the continent, through lively college neighborhoods, and out here to Sandton, said to be the richest suburb in all of Africa…we got a glimpse of it all.

I’ve been around the city in the past and it’s one of those places where waves of energy seem to pulse through and around it, but unlike New York, there’s an edge here that’s uncomfortably apocalyptic. I regret not feeling up to taking in a couple full days of feeling the city, but my many times here when Dance Umbrella was one of the best dance festivals in the world were so happy and full of life and art that I’ll remember this whole place with love in any case. We’re actually in Sandton because of a major snafu on the part of the guesthouse where we were booked. I had to find lodging at 4am, and did what one does…found a reliable-seeming driver in the airport, and let him recommend. He’s a fan of this hotel [actually very reasonably-priced] because his daughter works across the street, so here we are, nice really, each of us with our own small room, large tv, much hot water. Our digs in Joburg also had a lovely lobby, but we made dinner a peasant’s picnic.

While I’m disappointed in my lack of stamina today, I very much wanted Sara to have a look at a big city in this part of the world and especially get a sense of South Africa, which, along with France, New Zealand, Vietnam, and maybe Romania, is one of my favorite countries. And perhaps Kenya and Russia and Morocco and on and on. Damn, doesn’t matter how old I get or how my body objects, I really would wish to keep traveling around the world forever. I still seem to have that every-country-in-the-world dream lurking in my psyche. How very silly of a cranky crone.