Day Eight: Dodgy backpacking and vintage shopping

Last night was an interesting one for this confused traveller. After a free filter coffee from the Ultra-Stop in the Midlands I took out my little backpacker boekie and searched for a backpackers in Pietermaritzburg. Called them, and although the lady who answered the phone did not sound enthusiastic at all, and although my gut told me not to, I booked a room.

Eish.

This was my first time in a backpackers and I don’t know if all backpackers are like this but I am definitely not going back. Not alone anyways. I had a private room in the house, luckily, as there were seven or eight other people there too, half of them construction workers, two from Holland, and another few who I did not speak to. There was one bathroom with a toilet and one with a shower. The shower room was so small that you can’t have both the shower door and the door to the room open, so you basically have to get in the shower, close the main door and then close the shower door. It was awkward. There were pubes on the bathroom floor and men’s underwear hanging in both the bathrooms. OH EM GEE. Guess I had to experience it at some point. Oh ja, AND my room didn't have a key so I couldn't lock it. Needless to say my pepper spray was close at hand all night.

Anyways, creepy evening aside, I spent the morning in the Voortrekker Museum in town and learned a few new things about my man Retief and his Trekkers. For example, Pietermaritzburg is named after Voortrekker leaders Piet Retief and Gerrit Maritz and it was established as a township by March 1939. Also, the Voortrekkers used herbs and other natural medicines to heal the sick among them and each house had a ‘Huis Apoteek’ (home pharmacy) which had mostly Lennon’s pharmaceutical products. I totally rely on Lennon’s. The bergamot essence apparently makes your hair grow quicker.

The best part of the day was meeting up with a friend from Durban. It was soooo good to see a familiar face again and to be pulled back out of the travel haze I have been living in. Thank you Lauren! We did some vintage clothes shopping as well and I am now the proud owner of two new lovely items. Thank you Lauren!

Tonight I am in a very shmancy BnB in the beautiful Hilton and tomorrow I am hopefully heading to uMgungundlovu- the secret conclave of the elephant. It is where King Dingane’s kraal was and also where Retief’s gravesite is. My trek is nearing its end physically but emotionally and spiritually it will live on forever. There’s some yummy cheese for you to enjoy on this lovely Wednesday evening. 

Voortrekker/Msunduzi Museum, Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. 2013.

Church of the Vow. This church was built in commemoration of the vow made by the Trekkers before the Battle of Bloodriver, Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. 2013. 

Piet Retief as he came over the Drakensburg. Statue is in the Voortrekker Complex, Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. 2013.

Frankie and I outside a charity shop in Pietermaritzburg. Big smile after a good day :)