South Africa

I will put in a few blogs about South Africa because it was such an amazing place. I loved every minute of it. We were blessed to be able to stay with Monte Christo ministries at their farm. This picture shows the valley that we looked across. This is taken about a quarter of the way up the gorge behind the farm. The farm is 600 hectares. It is located in the town of Porterville. It is a small farming town with good ol country folk. My kind of place.

In the town of Porterville was this great little restaurant. We ate there several times. We were well received. It was run by a guy named Booty. O.K. so he had a more Africanse name but everyone called him booty. He was a trip. The food was great and the staff was really neat. The gal you see waiting this table was studying to be a teacher. The South Africans grill out like we do and they take extreme pride in their abilities. However, they call it a braai. They start a fire on the ground and use a metal rack you can close over both sides of your meat and then they flip the rack when it is time. They laugh at our primitive methods of using a grill. I told them the night before I was to leave that if I were staying a little longer that I would challenge them to a braai/grill cookoff. They were all over it. The owner said he would shut down the restaurant any time we wanted and he would bring in tasters from all over the county to see who is the best. O for another day in South Africa.

So South Africa does not do Thanksgiving. So we decided we would do it for them right. We got several turkies and hams and everything. We had six pies brought in. And Daniel who is a most excellent chief helped us out. This is one of his creations. We had about forty people at the farm for Thanksgiving Dinner. We told our traditions and then had a talent show afterwards. They never looked at us quite the same.






One of the great things about South Africa is how cheap the food is. This was a wonderful dinner at a place called Beltazhazzer. it was right on the waterfront. We were outside and this was a sampler plater someone ordered for one. It probably could have fed three. The food was soooo good. It was a four star dinning experience and we ate for about thirty US dollars for the two of us. We just hung around and ate and talked for about three hours. The idea of eating out here and in Congo is very European. If you eat in under an hour it is considered fast food. We got to watch the sunset and then eat in the dark. We had some sweet deserts. I love this place.