wowee cowee

On average, a woman's family gets eleven cows when she is wed. The wife of a king gets 22! In some cases, the parents of the bride will not even speak to the husband-to-be and his family until they throw some money down on the table. A reporter from Jo'burg told us how painful it was for her brother's bride...but as Vusi said, when you must have something, you will pay any price for it. That's $9,163 USD, making the camera worth about 5 cows. Maybe four cows and a little baby cow.

We went to the farm of a traditional healer today, who had over 70 cows...extremely wealthy. And I'm sorry to report that my first monkey sighting was a dead monkey sighting; it was hanging on a tree to be eaten and used for medicine (I promise not to eat monkey, Dad.). The hills were rolling and smooth, the mountains muscular, the footage like BUTTER. I told Sarah to leave me there, but she had to drag me from the site...it was just over the range that separates S.A. from Lesotho, where we'll pass through on our road trip in July. It takes days to walk through the pass, sleeping in caves along the way. I can't wait to watch this tape, of sunlit wheat waving and glassy reflections of purple mountains. We were very happy to be invited back for the coming of age ceremony there for the young women in mid July, where crowds of beautiful ladies present their beautiful bodies in all of their natural glory...yes, my friends, the views are stunning.

Sunday was polo day at the country club with Carol, our gracious hostess at the B+B. The horses were gleaming, and every so often the ball would come rolling our way, followed by a stampede; I love that there were no fences between us and the game; really makes you feel like you're in there, playing. Hopefully we'll be able to catch the big soccer game vs. Manchester United in Durban in a few weekends...

Saturday we walked with some zebra, eland, and whispered to a lone rhino on the plain...and he turned his backside on us. Believe me, it's better to see his backside than his frontside coming at you, very suddenly...