maria41
Pack Dog
Day 93 – South Africa, Port St John – Wednesday 29th August – 0 kms
After spending most of the night coughing, I was not keen on doing much that day.
We had decided to have a day rest, as the next ride would be a long day again. We also had to sort few things out and needed Wi-Fi, which luckily was provided, and for free (!) at the backpackers.
I was trying to find out if some Yamaha dealers could source some parts locally for my bike (they could not) and book a hotel for our last 3 nights, in Cape Town.
We planned to arrive on Sunday 16th September, deliver the bikes to the shipping company on the following Monday, and spend the rest of Monday and Tuesday exploring the town on foot. So the hotel had to be central and well located with safe parking for the bikes, as well as providing a shuttle service to the airport. And breakfast! No I am not demanding at all! :biggrin:
Mid morning we decided to walk into the village and get some stuff from the supermarket. We walked among huge piles of litter. As we approached the town hall, we saw many police cars and riot police in full body armour. There were crowds hanging around, rubbish in the middle of the street, some on fire, and all shops were closed with metal gates.
The atmosphere was kind of tense. We decided to walk back to the backpackers, as I did not fancy to be caught up in the middle of a riot and everyone was just staring at us. We were the only white walking around so we felt a bit the centre of attention. I did not fancy being caught in the middle of a violent riot. eepwall:
We asked one of the staff at the backpackers if the shops would open later on the day, but it was unlikely. I suppose looting during a riot is a big risk, so all shops remained shut.
One teacher we met few days before told us how 20 schools were torched following protest on some education stuff.
How is burning down 20 schools going to help the education of the kids? But if this is the norm in South Africa, it is not surprising that all shops were shut!
The backpackers’ owner told us that the local businesses had been threatened so everything was shut.
Even the main gate to the backpacker’s reception was closed. We needed to get some cash but decided it could wait until we left town. We had enough cash to buy some fuel on the road.
After spending most of the night coughing, I was not keen on doing much that day.
We had decided to have a day rest, as the next ride would be a long day again. We also had to sort few things out and needed Wi-Fi, which luckily was provided, and for free (!) at the backpackers.
I was trying to find out if some Yamaha dealers could source some parts locally for my bike (they could not) and book a hotel for our last 3 nights, in Cape Town.
We planned to arrive on Sunday 16th September, deliver the bikes to the shipping company on the following Monday, and spend the rest of Monday and Tuesday exploring the town on foot. So the hotel had to be central and well located with safe parking for the bikes, as well as providing a shuttle service to the airport. And breakfast! No I am not demanding at all! :biggrin:
Mid morning we decided to walk into the village and get some stuff from the supermarket. We walked among huge piles of litter. As we approached the town hall, we saw many police cars and riot police in full body armour. There were crowds hanging around, rubbish in the middle of the street, some on fire, and all shops were closed with metal gates.
The atmosphere was kind of tense. We decided to walk back to the backpackers, as I did not fancy to be caught up in the middle of a riot and everyone was just staring at us. We were the only white walking around so we felt a bit the centre of attention. I did not fancy being caught in the middle of a violent riot. eepwall:
We asked one of the staff at the backpackers if the shops would open later on the day, but it was unlikely. I suppose looting during a riot is a big risk, so all shops remained shut.
One teacher we met few days before told us how 20 schools were torched following protest on some education stuff.
How is burning down 20 schools going to help the education of the kids? But if this is the norm in South Africa, it is not surprising that all shops were shut!
The backpackers’ owner told us that the local businesses had been threatened so everything was shut.
Even the main gate to the backpacker’s reception was closed. We needed to get some cash but decided it could wait until we left town. We had enough cash to buy some fuel on the road.