Arriving to South Africa

My trip begins in Frankfurt International Airport. I have a negative PCR test with me and I still have to buy some FFP2 masks at the train station. It's strange to think how normal it is to make those part of the checklist. These are the things we have gotten used to in the past sixteen months. We have learned to fight the virus, to cope with it and now we are learning to live with it. And so, this adventure is not beginning under ideal conditions. Yet I am confident that it's gonna be worth it despite the circumstances.

After many months of preparation I am finally sitting in that airplane. I feel how my body perceives a dissonance: I associate long flights with jumping over the Atlantic to see my family in Guatemala. But my mind keeps reminding me that I am flying in a completely different direction, to an unfamiliar destination.

First stop is a short layover in Qatar. We get off the plane and my glasses turn white - it's 11 pm and there are 37°C outside. The transit is very  smooth though and the waiting not too long. 

10 hours and 7400 km later, the sun has risen. I look outside the window and I can't but awe at the imposing mountains of the Western Cape greeting us in the horizon. We fly along the mountain range and reach the coast, then surfing the clouds over False Bay, almost touching the cape of good hope. South Africa seems to have a talent for great first impressions.

We fly over Cape Town and a not that unfamiliar picture arises: rows and rows of very simple houses made out of sheets of steel border gated communities of large and elegant houses. Just as Guatemala and many other Latin American countries, South Africa is a very unequal society. A product of the long-standing extractive institutions established during colonial times to secure the privileges of a few.

We get picked up by a shuttle from Stellenbosch University and I make a truly foreigner move: The only spot left in the bus is the copilot seat. So I turn around the car to the left side but, oh! There was a steering wheel in there! The pilot could only laugh and say: Welcome to South Africa!

We arrive at our dorm in the early afternoon and after a shower and some grocery shopping it's time for some rest after the long flight.Read more