The Journey Inward

Walter was feeling better, so we planned a visit for Saturday. Before he came, I went to the petrol station to have them take a look at my tire. The security guards at my school noticed a nail through my back left tire when I pulled in Friday morning, like a cartilage piercing. The attendants said they couldn’t fix the tire, but they did put my spare on. I drove to the tyre center and bought a new tire that will go on Monday after work.

Walter wanted to see my yard and how all of my gardening is coming. Plants that he had brought me from his garden are thriving in mine and he was delighted to see that.

I treated Walter to lunch at Chocolat et Café in honor of his house being sold and his new house being bought! We both enjoyed bobotie omelettes and split a big chunk of carrot cake. It was delicious and we caught up for several hours.

We hiked Wonderboom (Afrikanns for Wonder Tree), which is atop one of the four corners of Pretoria where forts were built during the Anglo-Boer War in the late 1900s. We climbed 123 meters up to Fort Wonderboom (circa 1896) to take in some beautiful views. We both loved the remaining ruins of the stone walls and steel doors. A young man stood atop one of the walls and sang the South African national anthem. It was quite moving.

We had views of the city of Pretoria as well as the countryside. Walter answered more questions I had about the British and Afrikaaners, of the black, brown and colored people living in this country.

A favorite experience was visiting the 1,000 year old Mother Fig Tree, surrounded by her daughters and granddaughters. The original tree branches bent and propagated 7 young trees around it. Three of the those 7 propagated new ones in a third ring. Fig trees don’t typically grow with their branches reaching down to the ground and regenerating, so this was something very special.