On Saturday I participated in the first-ever #SpazaShopTour, starting and ending at African Accent Spaza Shop in Katlehong.
The weather was miraculously perfect for a six-kilometer walk. We wound through Katlehong and Thokoza, visiting spaza shops and street-side cafés and historical sites, chatting with each other and those we met along the way. Bongani, our host, walked us past his family home and explained what it was like to grow up in Katlehong in the early 1990s, when a deadly war broke out as the apartheid regime came to an end.
We learned about the history of spaza shops – which became a lifeline during a time when South Africa’s retail food chain didn’t reach most South Africans – and how the spaza shop industry has evolved and adapted over time. We ate pap and ox liver and spicy boerewors. We drank ice-cold Fanta from a glass bottle, which tastes so much better than Fanta from a plastic bottle. We walked down a residential street that used to be an airplane runway.
We visited Kumalo Street in Thokoza, where the biggest battles of the 1990s were fought, and learned about the origin of the conflict between ANC and IFP supporters during that time. We rode in a taxi driven by a man who was once shot 16 times.
Have you ever felt like you’re witnessing the start of something really special – something no one knows about yet except for the small, privileged group around you in that moment? I felt that way on Saturday.
I’ve done a lot of walking tours in and around Joburg. I’ve never met a walking tour I didn’t like. But there’s something about walking around this area that speaks to me in a particular way…I don’t know how to explain it.
I have far too many photos from this walk. Deciding which ones to share is agonizing.
At the end of the walk, which took about four hours, we all gathered at African Accent for a braai organized by Bongani’s mother. We stuffed ourselves, shot a group picture, and prepared to drive home.
When I went to leave, I realized my car’s battery was dead and I was also locked out of the car. (Long story.) So my friend Joy and I waited around African Accent for two hours until a locksmith showed up, which was not the end of the world. We got to hang out longer with our new Katlehong friends, and I took more photos in the golden afternoon light.
The next #SpazaShopTour takes place on 14 November. If you’d like to book, sign up here.
How have I never blogged about 44 Stanley Avenue, the coolest shopping and dining complex in Joburg, which is only five minutes from my house?
I guess it’s wrong to say I’ve never blogged about 44 Stanley; I’ve mentioned it countless times over the years (see here and here) when writing about specific restaurants or shops that are there. But I’ve never written a dedicated post about 44 Stanley as a destination and it’s about time I did – especially now, with the holidays upon us.
I’ve been dreadfully uninspired lately, struggling to think of anything I want to blog about despite having a long list of great ideas (many of which you, my readers, provided in September). I’m finding it hard to feel positive about life at the moment. But on Saturday Thorsten and I got the chance to visit Indwe Park, an indigenous garden and sculpture park in Braamfontein, and I knew I had my topic for today.
Given this week’s political nuclear bomb blast, it feels like a weird time to publish a light-hearted post about my recent (pre-election) jaunt through the United States. But I’m hoping you’ve have had enough of the U.S. election horror show – I know I have – and are ready (at least temporarily) for some wholesome American travel adventures. If so, please read on about my four-day visit to Maine, the northeastern-most state in the lower 48, with my sister, Susanna.
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It makes me smile, when I see it.