While we were away in Quthing

It occured to me that I never posted what we were up to in Quthing. So here it is.


February 27, 2008
Okay, last night we had a bit of a scare while checking email at Lancer’s Inn. First of all, we walked to the Regal Restaurant in Maseru. It was empty when we got there around 7pm. We were scared. But once we sat down, we saw that it was a very nice looking restaurant. We ordered Indian food (there was a review for this place in either my guide book or on Wikitravel) and we were delighted with what we got. The bathrooms sucked, they were both in big disrepair. I couldn’t figure out how to flush my toilet!

Seeing as how we are coming home early (yay!), we needed to change our flights. Shamus’ department's assistant, Judy, was taking care of that for us. She was emailing back and forth with the travel agent to get things worked out. Well, the travel agent had a bit of an unexpected bomb shell for us - there was no credit for the already booked (non-refundable) return flight, booked for March 19. Remember that the tickets for me to come here cost me $2500, not to mention the LARGE amount of money we had to spend to ship things back home in London. So when we were told it would cost *another* $1000 for a new return flight... well, I wanted to cry. I called my Mom and put her to work on finding a cheaper flight home, and also calling the airlines to clarify why my flights were non-refundable. My searching on the internet did not find a cheaper flight.

We wanted to leave from Port Elizabeth, a town on the coast of South Africa. Addo Elephant Park is nearby, and we were going to go on a little safari. I was devastated. I thought this meant that the safari was cancelled, we could no longer afford it. But everyone we talked to suggested we still go, despite the extra cost. So we wondered if we should take it anyways. We were confused!

Well this morning we got a new email from Judy and while I can’t go into the details now, part of the financial problem was resolved, and so the safari is back on. We had to leave Maseru this morning and we are now out of email contact, so I don’t know how much this will end up costing us in the end. But I feel better about it now. I also quickly booked a B&B in Port Elizabeth and did some research on Addo.

This morning we checked out of Lancer’s Inn and we went to breakfast. I ordered an omelette in the restaurant we waited for it to come. Well, we waited a long time. No servers came over to ask if we needed anything. I think we waited 30 minutes before finally asking where it was (remember, service is very slow here, and 30 min is not long to wait for a meal, but STILL). I think they forgot to make it... and it came soon after. It made me a little mad.

We left the hotel with Tladi, packed all the stuff in the truck and left town. We drove along the road to Mohale’s Hoek, where we stopped for gas, then on to Quthing to the Orange River Lodge. I am not sure why we were so excited to get to stay here now. This place is pretty old. On the plus side, we have two single beds, pushed together. I hope that will mean a good night’s sleep. Also, someone came by and dropped off a bucket of water - there is no water flow! The toilets, the taps, the shower we were so excited to have... nothing. The big thing of water is to refill the toilet tank and flush the toilet. Lovely, right? Bathing is up in the air. At least Mphaki had water!

I was wondering whether the kitchen had water, but they still managed to cook lunch and dinner. At least there’s TV here, but there’s really nothing on the 6 channels available. I did watch a movie this afternoon while Shamus and Tladi went out.


February 28, 2008
Oh, wow, this place is crazy! This morning the maids started coming early. I didn’t go for breakfast at 8am with Shamus and Tladi, I wanted to sleep in. They dropped off buckets of warm water so we could bathe. The maid wanted to clean the room a little before 9am. Luckily I was dressed so I left for a little while. I sat outside, went for a little walk, saw the half empty nasty swimming pool, and bought a bottle of water. I was sitting on the inside carpeted stairs waiting for them to finish when first one woman came by and was staring at me really strangely.... Like she was expecting me to DO something. Like just standing there, staring. It was really awkward. THEN a couple minutes later some local black Army guy comes and starts talking to me, asking me if I was bored (yes, I was listening to my iPod and waiting), and what I was doing here (I was with my husband, thank you very much). And he asked me for my numbers. Ha! I told him I was MARRIED, and my husband would not like that very much. He said my husband didn’t need to know. I ran away at that point and hid from him while I waited for the room to be done. Creepy!

When I got back to the room, the maid said that I had a lot of stuff. I agreed. It turns out that she put away all of the stuff that I had left out in the room, on the dresser and stuff. That wasn’t necessary. I guess they really don’t like mess here. At one point the maid came back to drop off more water for the toilet, and again to turn on the tap of the bathtub. The water was on, except it was only trickling out of the tap, and that water was a lovely shade of brown. I spent the rest of the day in the room watching movies. I went down for lunch and met a doctor from Wales (England) and his wife, a nurse. They are doing volunteer work at the hospital here in Quthing, and in Maseru. They were telling me stories about the terrible conditions in the hospitals here. Children dying from malnutrition, several kids to a bed, a lack of trained nurses. Apparently the nursing here in Quthing, especially, is terrible. Even the ones that are there don’t always seem to care. There is no sense of urgency - even when it is urgent. These sick kids don’t get their re-hydration drips on time because the nurses don’t come around at night and the mothers aren’t trained on how to do it properly, don’t wear watches and can’t tell time to know WHEN to do it. The hospital doesn’t have any water either.

The doctor told me a story about a teacher who’s little girl died from malnutrition because the teacher has not been paid in a year and because she was ‘employed’ she did not qualify for free food from the government. So her child died. I was horrified. I realize I am so lucky to live in a country like Canada where I can take the presence of running water and electricity for granted. Even the poorest people in Canada are rich in comparison to the people here.

Shamus got back to the hotel while I was finishing my lunch and we went back to the room so he could process the information he had collected today. He thinks he will be done around lunch tomorrow, too. And then I think we are going to leave here. First I would like to visit the dinosaur footprints that I read about in my guide book, and then we are going to go to the border crossing that is right near here and cross into South Africa, try to drive around 3 hours, about half way to Port Elizabeth. That way the drive won’t be as long on Shamus. There is a town called Queenstown in the guidebook, so we will see.

We had dinner with Tladi in the dining room, and when I told him about my admirer, he said that sometimes when women go on vacation here, they look for some company... an romantic interlude, if you will. I have heard that before. But still, ew!

Feb 29th, 2008
This is a day that only comes every 4 years. But we barely noticed it was happening! Shamus went off and worked. I had to get up early anyways, so I tried going for breakfast, but they had taken all the food away, so I ate some stuff we had in the room instead. I then repacked my bag to make sure that all of my stuff, plus the souvenirs would fit. All the clothes and stuff does fit, but that doesn't include the bathroom toiletries and stuff. I got rid of a bunch of clothes (I brought older stuff knowing I would) and my 2 books. I am giving those to Robin and his wife, they can donate them to the hospital.

Shamus came back to the room earlier than I thought he would, before lunch. We were all packed and ready to go before we ate, and after lunch, Shamus gave his older clothes to Tladi and we loaded up the truck and we left. We went to the Dinosaur Footprints, but it was a little disappointing. We drove along a long dirt road to Tele Bridge Border Post, and after getting stamped on both sides, we were on our way! There was a woman, the Border Agent, who asked for a a ride to the next town, and since she knew where she was going, I said great.

Tonight (Friday night) we drove for a few hours, until we reached Queenstown. I didn't know where we were going to stay there, so I just chose the largest ad in the Visitor's brochure and that's where we stayed. Dinner was a bad burger at the gas station, then on to The Homestead. It was great place! We used the computer to check our email, and we went swimming in the chilly little pool there. The bed was super comfy, and the room was nice (not expensive either!).

In the morning after the lovely breakfast there, we packed up and kept driving to Port Elizabeth! Where my posting catches up.