Weekend

A couple nights ago the volunteers had dinner with a priest who was a chaplain for the ANC (Afican National Congress) when it was in exile in the 80's. He had a few stories about being deported, jailed and generally harassed when he was in South Africa during the fight against apartheid.

Yesterday was my big trip to Port St. John's on the Indian Ocean. Driving on the left wasn't quite as difficult as I expected. Avoiding people, cows, horses, sheep, goats, and mules every few miles was. The road itself was pretty good, but slowing down from 60 mph to avoid jaywalking cows was a test of reflexes. When we got to the beach the shark flags were up so I didn't go swimming. But the restaurant overlooking the bay was open and we had a leisurely lunch. The town itself was busy, hot and dusty. Most of the small surrounding villages don't have anything more than small convenience stores. It looked like everyone had come to town to shop and stock up on supplies for the week. Sidewalks were filled with vendors and people overflowed into the streets.

Today I went to the cathedral for Palm Sunday services. There was a blessing of the palms and a procession down the street into church. I taped the music on my cell phone. Maybe I'll be able to put it on the blog when I get home. Halfway through the Gospel I had a sinking feeling. Last week they read the Gospel in both Xhosa and English. Would we have to listen to the Passion twice? It was already over 80 and the church was packed. And of course, no air conditioning. But we only listened to the Xhosan translation. For some reason we sang three songs in the middle of the Gospel. All together, with the blessing of the palms, the procession, the longest gospel of the church year, a sermon, and about 20 assorted songs the Mass lasted 2 1/2 hours. This would not be acceptable back home.

This afternoon will be a shopping day. They have a local red table wine from Chateau Libertas that costs $2.50 a bottle but they have been sold out at the nearest liquor store. And I'd like to get some music. I bought a CD from the South African Music Awards which had 21 different artists. The "Gang of Instruments" had a pretty good track, so I'll get one of their CD's. Fololo, a local jazz musician, has something coming out this week. If I had planned ahead I would have made plans to go the Capetown Jazz Festival this weekend. Too bad it's 700 miles and a 13 hour drive away.