COS trippn' 1st stop: Jo'burg

The first stop on our trip was a brief stay in Johannesburg, South Africa.

We stayed at Brown Sugar Backpackers. The hostel was really nice. It used to be a mafia mansion. Now it's a really comfy place to sleep and eat and use wi-fi. The free breakfasts were so good too. Scrambled eggs, shredded cheese and real milk-- where are we right now?!?!

I went from summer in the Northern Hemisphere (temps in upper 30°C/80°-90°F) to winter in the Southern Hemisphere (temps in teens C/40°-50°F)...I was coooold & not really prepared for that, so I had to layer in pretty much all my clothes.

We did a free walking tour of the city centre. We learned a little about the city and got to see some of the local sites.

South African flag painted on the side of a building.

One of many office buildings turned into squatter apartments after apartheid ended & all the white people fled cuz they were scared. So a lot of black people moved into the area & squatted in the abandoned office buildings, which is how it remains to this day.

A massive pile of garbage just on the sidewalk.

This statue represents the women that marched in protest of apartheid. She's supposedly holding a "candle" & not a bomb...

Statue comes complete with a baby tied to her back (Stacy pointed it out), which is the traditional way women carry their babies in Africa.

A pretty cool world map celebrating leaders against apartheid (Nelson Mandela, O.R.Tambo).

Statue of Nelson Mandela (he wanted to be a boxer, but God had other plans). The building behind him was his & O.R.Tambo's law office.

Abortion stickers were EVERYWHERE.

As we were leaving, we found a coffee place at the airport with a really delicious dirty chai and they gave you a free piece of dark chocolate with it. We decided this was the best part of our trip to Joburg.