Swaziland Blog Day 2: 6/20/2015
After nearly 26 hours of planes and layovers, we arrived at King Mswati III International Airport near Manzini, Swaziland (after nearly losing Erik at TSA in Johannesburg) very grateful to be stepping on ground and staying there, yesterday.
It took a number of hours to get our rooms and itinerary arrangements sorted out properly before many of the planning staff were gone for the weekend. We also soon realized that we had to buy our wifi hours. But the rooms were lovely and clean and the beds comfy as promised, and the food at the restaurant delicious.
After lots of rest, today was even better. We had breakfast together and devised a plan to walk a short way (15 min) to get to an ATM and a cell phone store, then go on further if we felt like it (supposedly another 30 min walking) to a larger shopping center that promised banks and other goods. We walked the whole way, which ended up taking about 2 hours. We agreed sometime in the middle we would take a taxi back. The mountains were gorgeous the whole way and we met many small children who didn't speak much more english than 'hi' or something that sounded like an imitation of 'how are you?' but always took a moment to give a small, shy wave, or a more enthusiastic one from a safer distance away.
When we finally reached the shopping center, it was really modern and rather posh compared to most of what we had seen in Swaziland so far (admittedly, not much). There were fashion clothing stores, and prom/wedding dress stores, many banks and ATMs, and a large shop rite where we looked for various materials needed for demos as well as snacks and goods for our rooms. On the way in, there was a cluster of young boys skateboarding in a corner of the parking lot. They had a rail and the curb. Miles asked one of them if he could borrow their skateboard, and while the boy was hesitant to turn it over at first, he soon had no regrets as he and his friends were soon dazzled by some tricks Miles could perform for them. We decided on lunch at the pub we saw coming in after shop rite, and sat outside where we had a good view of the large skateboarding ramp now built. Our food took awhile and Miles went back to show the boys more moves on the ramp.
They were rather impressed - Erik took a video. Miles tried to explain that what he was doing was basic compared to others back in America, and one of them responded this was the first time that move had ever occurred in Swaziland (ah, teenagers). We also had a lengthy conversation about Swazi culture and economy and life with a man at the pub originally from the UK. He attempted to convince us that moving to Swaziland was the best idea ever.
One of the skateboarders was very interested in physics, so Erik and I spoke to him briefly. He wanted to know some other famous physicists, besides Carl Sagan, so we started naming a few. I told him I would email him a book list and more. He had just finished his A-levels and was waiting for results and wanted to go to a university in British Columbia. Both Erik and I gave him our email addresses and encouraged him to contact us. We then caught a taxi from the hotel across the way, and discovered the distance it took us two hours to walk was only a 10 minute car ride. We had a late dinner together, planning tomorrow and Monday at UNISWA - where we think we are expected. We have not heard back about a time that is ideal, so we currently plan to show up and hope for the best.
Sunset over the mountains from our backyard - not the same, but still good.
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