Homesick for the Holidays - 12/24/12

Gabby and Jackie in the early morning light

BEN - Martin requested to get up early and go for a sunrise horse ride so that he could take pictures in the early morning light, so Gareth volunteered to lead the trip.  Gabby and I thought this sounded like a cool idea and were able to jump on as well.  At about 6 we trotted off in the crisp morning air.  Martin is a very large man, and had the biggest horse on the farm, but did not love the saddle, so our pace was quite slow.  This was fine by me, as it gave me ample opportunity to snap some good silhouettes of Gabby on horseback against the sky.  We ambled our way all the way up to Eland Peak and back down (along a route I hadn’t taken before).  We returned to the backpackers just in time to make some breakfast.  After all the rides were successfully sent out, Gabby and I caught a lift into town with Steve’s sister, mother, and Martin.  We first went to the Grind for some lunch, but more importantly, the internet.  I was able to Skype with my parents.  Just as their faces appeared, torrential rain started pouring down mixed with hail, causing chaos on the tin roof.  This made half of our conversation shouting and repeating things, but it was still refreshing to see their faces and talk to them on Christmas Eve.  It really is strange to not be there, and miss our Christmas Eve traditions; church, Indian dinner, ringing in Christmas Day, etc.  Talking to them made me a bit homesick.  Gabby was also able to chat with her family.  

Gabby follows Gareth through the farm

After the Grind, we headed to Spar for grocery shopping.  The place was mayhem.  Lines stretched way into the store’s aisles, and the place was a mess; stuff strewn every which way.  In Steve’s ever colorful opinion, all the Zulu people get paid around Christmas and immediately blow all of their cash on food and booze.  I had to do the beer shopping to restock the backpackers, which meant heading into Tops, the liquor store.  The place was a madhouse, drunk guys dropping bottles and the stench of alcoholic sweat was rank in the air.  Its sad to see poor men drunk, buying expensive bottles of booze, while their wife and children stand outside and wait with almost nothing in their grocery basket.  After we finally waded through the mass of humanity we headed back to Khotso for dinner.  Gabby made an awesome meal of salad, sweet potatoes, and roast chicken covered in a Dijon mustard cream sauce.  I was at first skeptical of the Dijon, but it was extremely tasty.  I covered everything in it.  Merry Christmas!