Malealea, Lesotho
We experienced a bit of wind last night. It was shaking our tent like crazy! But we didnt blow away. Today we were on our way to Lesotho- another border crossing. We left early and drove through a national park that looked like the Grand Canyon. We made a stop at a convenience store in the park to get a snack. I picked up 2 P.S. Bars (delicious Cadbury bars that taste like a kitkat that they don’t make in the US). Except.. THEY WERE EXPIRED. I didnt notice until I bit into it and it was so ratchet. They must have not restocked. This is the second time this has happened to me. We drove a couple more hours then made another stop at a Pick-N-Pay. I got a 5 liter bottle of water, some cheetos (called Simba Chips), vaseline (my lips were as dry as when Spongebob went to Sandy’s without his water helmet on), a sprite, and a chocolate bar (healthy, right?!) all for only $5USD. It was a deal for sure.
We continued on until we reached Lesotho border. We waited forever to get our passports stamped. Some people were cutting in line too so it took even longer. When we finally made it through I could tell that Lesotho wasnt well off. Boyd and Cardi told us they made less than Swaziland which only made a dollar a day. So imagine that. We drove a bit further and reached the Gates of Paradise where it was almost as windy as when I went to the cliffs of Moher in Ireland. It was gorgeous though! We were going to make lunch and have it there, but it was just too windy to do that! We would be eating sand.
We drove to camp from here. We all upgraded to huts for $7.50/ night because it was supposed to be freezing. Crazy cheap though. The bed was barely a mattress and there was no room at all. But a hut is a hut. There was one little lamp that was in our room, but we tried to turn it on and it wouldnt work. Later we were told electricity only comes on from 5pm to 9pm every day.We walked out of our hut and looked around the site. Right ahead was a little field like area with a mountain in the background. It was beautiful. There was a bench there so Crysten and I sat on the bench and munched on food and talked.
We adventured around the area and came across and jungle gym and a trampoline! Yay!! We jumped on the trampoline until two little girls came running up. One a bit more reserved and the other spastic. The more spastic one was named Gemmi. She spoke great English and reminded me of the little girl Raven Baxter has to babysit in the giant stomach on “That’s So Raven”. She said she was home schooled by her mom. I was eating chocolate at one point and she said “youre lucky you have chocolate, but it’s bad for your teeth."So cute haha. Then we went to listen to ”‘Sotho Sounds" a band from Lesotho. They sang, danced, and played instruments. Then we met Cardi for dinner! She made fried chicken. Ahh.. A little taste of home. Following that we went to the bar and hung out. I played some ping pong against Mauro (A guy on our tour from Brazil). This was the first night I tried hot chocolate and Amarula together. SO GOOD! I am definitely buying some Amarula to bring home! Following that we went outside where Crysten marked her territory.. bahahah then we sat around and stargazed. Lesotho is the absolute best for doing this! They have the best night sky. I saw a shooting star as well! It was unbelievable!
xoxo,
Em