Wacky Wine Fest- June 7th

Saturday we took a bus with a group of locals to the Wacky Wine Festival. It was about a 2 hour drive (mostly because the locals started pre-gaming and needed frequent bathroom stops) but it was definitely a very scenic drive. We saw a lot more mountains and some had snow on top which from speaking to these locals this is not very common. They said prior to the climate changes it was more unheard of to see snow on the mountains. At the first rest stop we all piled out to use the restroom and as I was standing in line by the sinks I see a box on the counter with smaller boxes inside. They were about the size of travel Kleenex. Then one of the girls jokingly asked if we should grab some condoms for the bus ride. So then I grabbed one of the boxes and sure enough, it was a small pack of condoms. At first I thought that was so odd seeing how usually you have to pay for them in bathrooms like you would for a tampon. But then I remembered that I am in Africa and the HIV/AIDS pandemic is very bad here. I was reading something this morning saying that South Africa has the highest ratio of persons with HIV than any other country. So I guess that would not be uncommon to see and actually a quite necessary prevention method.

I took many photos of the landscape and along the way I saw a peculiar sign that said it was against the law to feed baboons. I am looking around widely at this point, wondering where on earth you would find a baboon in this area. Crazy. We finally arrive and only make it to three stops. You first buy your “passport” which is your wine glass and golden ticket to all the wine you can drink. Unfortunately for Mitch and I we only found two different kinds which were decent. Actually, at the last stop we ended up buying three bottles. It was sooooo cheap! Buy two get one free, and the cost was R30 per bottle ($3). One of the guys we are with here from Notre Dame was walking around the last stop with a bottle of wine (not uncommon to see at all) and offering it to all. I guess he wanted to buy a glass but at this particular location they only sold bottles after 5pm. So the guy told him R40, and our friend is thinking 4 bucks for a glass but it was really $4 for the entire bottle. Still not a bad deal.

While we are walking around I notice at the very first location that almost everyone is wearing boots. Ugg boots, fashion boots and rain boots (including the men). We ask someone if this is some sort of fashion trend and they tell us no. At the second location I see more people wearing boots, but mostly rain boots and I have never seen so many men in my life wearing rain boots. So then we asked a girl on the bus on our way to the third stop as she happens to work in fashion. She and her fiancé elaborate that last year the weather was horrible and rained a lot. As these events are located outside and in the middle of nowhere, it is often very muddy. Thus why everyone is wearing boots. I did snap a few photos of the boots everyone was wearing.

At the end of the night everyone was under these tents watching the rugby game which South Africa won by the way. Once the game was over the music began. Lots of American covers. I am not sure if I have ever heard actual South African music thus far. We were supposed to meet back at the bust around 8ish but everyone had drank so much by this point it took quite awhile to round everyone up and we didn’t end up leaving until 9pm. But we still had fun.