Swimming and Climbing with Bo-Abuti

Sometimes I just need to get out of my village. A few weekends ago I sent a student note to James in the neighboring village and we made plans to travel to Thaba Tseka and get a plate of food and some cold drinks. A plate of food is the name of the traditional meal of Basotho. It usually consists of nama (some type of meat) moroho (cabbage salad) and papa (cornmeal). Sometimes there are other salads like salsa, beets, carrots etc. In Thaba Tseka you can get plates with really good fried chicken and papa. It’s worth the bus fare and the waiting for hours on the side of the road to get some meat and a cold soda.

I jumped on the bus on a cool summer morning just as the sun was coming up between the peaks above my village. Two hours later we rolled into Thaba Tseka at around 8:00am. The first thing James and I did was find a cold soda, then walked to the house of a volunteer who lives in Thaba Tseka. After visiting with some other volunteers we found our infamous plate of food, then went to the local joalang (bar). James, Jordan and I sat outside and visited over cold drinks. The Lesotho wind blew red dust in our faces as we chatted with Basotho who were curious about who we are. The bus eventually came by and we returned to Mashai.

On Sunday we hiked down to a waterfall and relaxed in the water. James and I like to rock climb and both have recently received our climbing shoes in the mail. We bouldered around the rocks while Jordan bathed in the waterfall. The cliff faces above us were lined with kids watching the crazy Americans climb rocks and laying in the “cold water”.

It was a nice weekend hanging out with the guys. James cooked some amazing food (as always) and it was nice to pull on my climbing shoes for the first time in many many months. I've been bouldering around my house lately, the Basotho think I'm absolutely crazy, but it makes them laugh.