From the Author Thanksgiving

We had a quiet Thanksgiving in our small home in Khumbula and were thankful for our blessings and each other.

Suzanne describes our trip to Sabie and Taxi Ride Story,,so I will not repeat it.

We had a wonderful weekend seeing many of the sights we hoped to see; God's Window, the Potholes and many wonderful waterfalls. We looked down into Blyde Canyon and learned the story of the River of Tears and River Joy where the women and men found one another after thinking both were lost to one another. The tour took the morning and part of the afternoon, afterwards we stopped in Graskop for lunch.

We visited a Shongan Village and were told about traditional marriage and wives of the chief. We were introduced to a Shamgoma,Traditional healer.

We did a night drive through Kruger National Park where the highlight of the day happened toward the end of the ride.After seeing many Waterbuck and Impalas we saw  two male lion walking along the road marking their area. They stayedwith us for about ten minutes.It was quite thrilling and scary too. We were in an open vehicle that if they were startled they could have easily jumped into. The driver instructed to not talk and be quiet for this reason. The pictures we took of them we have yet to see if they turned out.

Happy Holidays to all and Bless Everyone

This is Suzanne's Tahnksgiving update:

We take the bus to work every day, it is crowded and usually we stand for an hour, of the hour and a half we travel to work.  I have come to know many of the ladies on the bus by face recognition but I have a hard time remembering thier names.  They tell me it is summer now, her in Nelspruit, but the weather has been dool and rainy.  The ladies tell me this is unusual.  It is usually sticky, hot and muggy.  I am grateful it is usually cool and rainy, but it is starting to get hot.  It will get very hot and sticky as this is the sub tropics.  

Today was a lovely day, and we spent most of it in a taxi.  It was bright and very hot, but we climbed into the mountains at top speed.  However, it took all mornng to fill the taxi with people.

The ride today on the taxi from Nelspruit to Sabe had the flavor of many taxi rides we have been on before.  We boarded the Sabe bound taxi at 9:10AM and there was a slender black man and his wife, a tall over weight black lady already in the taxi.  She had many large vegetable and fruit packages she directed him to put under the seat.  She told us in broken English that the bus had to fill up and it takes a long time.  In about 15 mins a young black man with a large speaker, entered an agreement with the taxi rank chief.  The taxi rank chief told the elderly couple they had to sit in the back of the taxi.  So the young man with the speaker took two seats with his speaker, towards the front of the 15 seated Quantum van they call a taxi here and the elderly couple left the taxi.  The older man of the couple came back with two more beers.  He grumbled about not having a choice and went to sit at the back of the bus. About 10:00am a young black lady boarded the taxi.  I asked her if she might know  how long this taxi might take to fill and if she thought of taking the bus.  She told me that this was her first time taking the taxi to Sabe.  She thought it would leave at about11:30am.  She told me that she had heard if you take the bus to White River then you had to transfer to Hazy View.  Even if the bus left at 9:30 AM she would get there faster taking this taxi.  So, we sat and waited, practicing bladder control and getting out of the taxi to stretch every hour or so. 

A young very good looking black lady came into the taxi and we invited her to sit with us, and she did for the entire ride.  A young  slender black couple entered the taxi and took two seats in the back of the taxi.  They were very friendly and talked to everyone on the taxi.  The older black man brought another beer and went on and off the bus.  About 11:30 an elderly black gentleman and an younger healthy looking black lady approached the taxi.  She had a huge canvas suitcase.  This couple got into a verbal argument with the young man and the speaker.  She said she had purchased the extra  seat, and he needed to move.  The taxi rank chief came and told her she could put her suitcase on her lap, as the young man had already made arrangements.  At 12:30pm  The taxi rank chief collected our $35 Rand apiece.  The young man with the speaker told him he didn’t have enough rand to pay for 2 seats.  The chief told him no extra rand no trip to Sabe.  The young man came up with the extra rand.

Doors shut and we were underway with the full taxi of 15 people.  We rode through the mountains.  The older lady from the couple had not returned and her husband called her several times, and was speaking very loudly.  While under way the couple in the back and the older man sang about going to Sabe.  The trip itself was about an hour but the older man in the back seat apparently could not hold his beer.  We had to stop so he could relieve himself.  The taxi driver honked all the time he was waiting.  The couple in the back seat laughed all the time we waited for him.

We got off in the central taxi rank in town.  The older man took off the produce.  We asked directions to Merry Pebbles, the guest house where Marty made arrangements for us.  We found the town was maybe ¼ of a mile up the street and the guest house was about 2 miles from the town and a wonderful walk after sitting all morning.  Sabe itself, is a beautiful small town set in the mountains of South Africa.  It is south og Hoespruit and very close to Kruger.  After our trip, we had dinner, explored the shops and swam under ¼ of a moon under African skies.  It was a beautiful and restful day.

May goodness and mercy follow you all wherever you go!  Love, Suzanne