On the Move...

Yesterday was an adventure; our first day of driving in South Africa. I need to preface this, however, with the important note about the topography of Durban. Durban, and its surrounding area, is the hilliest place I have ever seen. There is literally no place that's flat for more than three metres. The hills are huge -- too huge in the Westville area to use a stroller even. We've walked everywhere the last few days, but have carried Jeremy in the baby wrap; the stroller is just too difficult. We have huffed and puffed up hills to buy diapers, a cell phone, and just to get dinner, and we have the shin splints to prove it.
Now...I do drive standard. I swear I learned to drive in a standard car, and a terrible one too -- Chevy Malibu with a stick shift so stiff I had to use two hands to put it in third. Everyone in South Africa drives standard and so, when we were told that to rent an automatic is $500.00 more, we opted for the standard. Marc would learn in a parking lot somewhere. We`ll save the money.

We "hired" the car and the Avis guy picked us up at the bed and breakfast. When he heard we had no GPS, he actually drove us to the mall and brought us to "Game" a Wal-Mart-ish store so that we could buy one. You can`t do without this, he said.

GPS in hand, we signed the paperwork and were given a sporty little Toyota Corolla. That's when the problems started. To leave Avis Rent-a-car, one must first drive up a very steep driveway. Using the left-handed stick shift, on the left side of the road, with the steering wheel definitely on the wrong side of the car, I placed the car in 1st and promptly stalled it. Six times. This did not aspire confidence in the Avis guy. I got out of the car and he placed it in first for me, (which is where the reverse is supposed to be, by the way, I swear it). Properly in gear, we hobbled up the driveway, and crossed traffic to the left side of the road into a busy intersection.

Now, I'm normally very good at lane positioning, I distinctly remember getting an A+ in lane positioning in driver's education, 16 years ago, and in my defense, the curb was on the wrong side of the road (who knows why) and I was on the wrong side of the car (crazy South African cars), and I hardly left a mark. Well actually, we didn't check. We didn't dare stop the car; who knows if we'd find first again.

Geraldine (as we refer to our GPS) politely guided us, turn by turn, back to the bed and breakfast. She did not, however, remind me which side of the road to drive on. That became Marc's job. Every intersection, before I turned, he would calmly state, "remember, you`re going into that lane", pointing patiently to the left side of the road. I would have gotten annoyed by his left-seat comments, but I was so stressed I forgot. I didn't even mind when he reminded me to look the opposite direction when crossing traffic. When he tried to help me find first, however, I admit, I did tell him off -- he can't even drive stupid standard cars.

The final hill into our bed & breakfast is, in fact, one degree short of an 90 degree angle, really it is! And I think first gear ran away in fear. I'm not sure what gear the car actually was in while we roared up to that height, but it sure was smokey. The car lurched to a stop, almost in the driveway, and I turned the car off. Without missing a beat, the phone rang. The Avis man, offering to personally bring us an automatic car, for only $100 extra. (I think he had been wringing his hands the entire time we drove home). Marc and I looked at each other's white, stressed faces, and quickly agreed that it might be a good idea to have an automatic after all.

Half an hour later, our little automatic hatch-back filled to the brim with our giant suitcases (and we left two in storage at the B&B), we were on our way again. I was still driving, Geraldine and Marc both switching off with giving directions. This was another adventure; we were going on the highway -- lots of highways.

In case anyone is wondering, in South Africa the slow lane and the fast lane are backwards. The left lane is the slow lane, and the right lane, the fast one. So...while I was so courteously moving over into the right lane to let people pass, I actually was cutting them off as I ambled over at a mere 100 kms an hour in a 120km per hour zone, into their fast lane. And who could blame me when the police car, sirens blaring and red lights flashing came right up behind me, who could blame me, really, for pulling over on the shoulder-less fast lane on the right side of the road instead of moving over to the slow lane and coming to a halt on the wide shoulder?

Apparently, a police officer can.

Actually, I only got a dirty look and a wagging finger, he wasn't after me after all. Still shaking, and a little humbled, we continued on our way. This time in the slow lane, Geraldine still pointing us where to go, Marc growing quieter and quieter.

Things you see while driving in South Africa: Cow-crossing signs on the highway, people walking around on the highway, pick up trucks loaded with people sitting on the sides and tailgate, going 130 kms on the highway, Renée's little Avis rent-a-car hatchback driving in the fast lane slowly, on the highway.

Once we recovered a little from our initial frightful driving experiences, we began to look around. Geraldine got quieter and quieter as the highways got simpler and simpler. Soon we were just coasting up and down and around the steep hills of the greater Durban area. South Africa is a beautiful country! Absolutely gorgeous. It was a beautiful drive.

And what of little Jeremy through this all? Jeremy slept soundly through it all!