Train Ride

Train

We seem to be having extreme difficulty arriving on time to our travels. We nearly missed our flight out of Knoxville first and then we did not account for traffic in Joburg when planning when we would leave our safari. We did get to our train in time, but there was great stress in our taxi as we were stuck in traffic in Joburg due to the soccer match. Our train was purple, which made us feel as though we were on the Hogwarts Express (although that is scarlet), and although we did not arrive at Hogwarts, we did make it to a magical land called Cape Town.

Our train ride was supposed to last about twenty-five hours. Around dinner time, we stopped at what we assumed was a train station. When we had still not moved at our bedtime, we wondered if maybe the train driver had to sleep… but that was very strange because somebody else could have stepped in! In the morning, we were told that we were running about NINE hours late, which put us in to Cape Town at 1:00 AM. We made up a tiny bit of time and made it a little after midnight, but by that point we definitely had cabin fever.

Our train ride continued the expansion of our stomachs as they fed us five courses for dinner and four for lunch. As we were so late, they had to serve us a second dinner, which was unplanned. They attempted to disguise the meat from the previous night by frying it, but we were not fooled. However, they were extremely accommodating as they clearly tried to make us feel at home by feeding us chicken fried steak. Perhaps South African and southern cooking is the same (or maybe not!)

We should certainly not complain about our lovely train ride, but those extra nine hours were just very tiring and frustrating. However, I, at least, counted my blessings that I had a door rather than a curtain and no mice ran across my feet! There was a definite step up from the train in India!

Mary Emily and I are thrilled to now be in Robertson and to have seen some beautiful country side in South Africa. We cannot wait to get started on our volunteer work and immersing ourselves in South African culture.

Love,

Mary Emily and Martha