I'm all over it (SA)

swazi sunrise!

After a seven hour journey to Swaziland (neighboring country), a six hour journey to Eshowe (back in South Africa), and an 1.5 hour journey, I am back in Durban, sitting at a backpackers/hostel with 9 other classmates. Finally "home", whatever that means. Every place we go feels like a different kind of home. We move in with our new homestays (Indian family in Newlands neighborhood) on Friday.

Swaziland can be summed up in this: beautiful.

After much thought and deliberation, I think it'd be safe to say Swaziland is the most beautiful place I've ever been. Keep in mind I'm from Minnesota (one of the most beautiful places in the world), and I'm still saying this.

Mountains gently curved upwards toward the sky on almost every horizon, mostly covered with trees, but occasionally exposed rock and bluffs would characterize different peaks. Between where I was and the mountains there would be woods, grassy plains, or lakes. The air smelled like hot, sweet grass baked by the sun. The sky and horizon was endless... but what I found myself most taken with was the deep red earth. The trails we walked on were bright red with creamy orange mud puddles.

my friend kelsey w. and I in front of a pond filled with hippos and crocs

I saw hippos and crocs and zebras and springbok and impala and giraffes. We just walked through the game reserve- no big jeep, because there were no big cats. The rhinos were sadly moved to a different area of Swaziland. It seemed surreal, kind of.

Eshowe was the SA town with a Phoenix women's prison. The prison operates on restorative justice, and I need to write more about it later... what I will say now is that it was beautiful, those women are as beautiful as Swaziland.

I feel like I'm spinning within experience.