The Vegetarian at a Barbeque

So what do you eat at a barbeque when you're a vegetarian? If you have Wagon Masters like we do, you eat vegetarian hotdogs. One of our group had a birthday and it was decided to celebrate with a great barbeque. The Wagon Masters bought all the stuff, and did all the work. It was great!!! When we had arrived at another ensuite site (forgot again to take a picture) we clamored with some others to do our laundry. The dryer was lousy, and everything came out wet even after two attempts. So we strung clotheslines and hung up everything. The air was nice, but we were hesitant to keep things out on the clothesline since it might rain. It did. It poured!!!!! We realized the next morning we had leaks from some windows. I'm not surprised. Why would they want to fix all the windows. It hardly ever rains in South Africa. So, tonight, our mechanic, So-fi-so, re-sealed lots of windows.

He's kind of a miracle worker. Because of all the rain our next campground is rather muddy and all the sites are full of water. One motor home got stuck in the WET grass. When So-fi-so came he pulled out a fire hose, and he and the Wagon Master pulled the rig back onto the road.

The next day we took off for another national park. These parks are well-managed and beautiful, and clean. We stopped on the way and went to the Basotho Cultural Village.  This complex shows the culture of the native group from the 16^th century to now. It was so easy to see the influence in the architecture of the Dutch and English. As we toured around we were given samples of some of the foods eaten at the time. We were also given a picture into the lives and mores of the people. One of our group was chosen to be chief, and dressed properly. The thing I loved most about his costume was that he wore a pointed hat. This was the decision hat. Then they chose a woman to be his first wife – guess who? Oh yeah, just what I love doing. I didn't get to wear a pointed hat. I guess when the chief was around he made all the decisions. But if something happened to the chief, the first wife ran things until another chief was available. The community chose the chief and the first wife. The first wife chose the second wife. And then the chief chose the third wife. So, you know the third wife was the one he loved. They dressed me up in all these hides, which would have been nice in the winter, but in 100° weather I don't think I would be happy. The clothing also indicated the status of the woman. Once a young woman reached a certain age, she wore a certain piece of clothing; when older, another piece of clothing; when married she added another skin. I didn't get to take the hides with me. But the weather on this trip is not conducive to hides.

The trek this day was a puzzle. One of the roads we expected to travel was ruled impassable, so we were given maps, and were taken through the logbook in a very jagged fashion, i.e. pg 45 then skip to 54, then to 48, etc. Luckily, we ran into another motor home and followed them through the maze. Otherwise, we might still be out there looking for a landmark. Today we traveled pothole trail. I hit one of the big ones – wasn't sure we'd get back on the road, but we did. And the motor home is still being held together. We'll see what the next day brings.