01.31.08
South Africa
It’s been a little over a year since I was in Lesotho and South Africa. There was an article today in the New York Times about ongoing electricity outages in South Africa. Apparently the company that powers the country doesn’t have enough power grids, so they are scheduling rolling blackouts where each town takes a turn without electricity. Lesotho, which is an independent country within the borders of South Africa, is most likely effected by this situation as well. I emailed my host family to find out more about the situation. Ironic though, considering they might not get the email since they don’t have power!
This article got me reminiscing about my trip. I was actually able to find the town that my host family lives in on google earth. None of the roads or neighborhoods are labeled (not that I would recognize them anyway), so I just searched for landmarks that I recognized. I wasn’t able to find the actual house that I stayed in, but here is downtown Maseru. I recognized it by the distinctive shape of an art museum roof, that is large and round and made of straw material.

Location of Maseru within South Africa

Downtown Maseru, Lesotho, Art Museum is marked
There was a lot to do in South Africa for the few days that we were there. One night we went to a 24 hour bar called The Cat’z Pyjamas. Another night, on my birthday, we went to a restaurant in Sandton that was amaaazing. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the name and can’t seem to find it online. I do remember that we all signed the guestbook and basically got all of our food for free! Here is a photo of us with the chef.


It was basically the best night ever!